New Music Bands And Facebook




by Richard Jenkings


As any personally-respecting musical content-writer would do, I've researched this subject as thoroughly as I could before writing the very first sentences. I've really must claim that the endless social sites and content about indy music marketing all say quite similar things. Let me condense it as concisely as possible to the following 10 main considerations : One, Join all the social networks (Facebook, Myspace . com, Bandcamp, Reverbnation, Sound-cloud, Twitt-follower etc) two. Create a music based internet site, 3. Update your site and profiles typically in the realm of alternative music promotion as you can, four. write an excellent biography, five. write an excellent media-release (inc Digital Marketing Kit), 6. make online videos and distribute to Youtube, 7. offer tracks on free download sites, 8. talk with other groups and musicians and artists, 9. interact with your ' web fans', ten. don't over-post useless posts are relevant or be too hard-headed using your potential general public online.

Now, all this would seem common sense to the majority of people which maybe of hardly any help, however some simple marketing plans are lost on many musicians. You can quite easily do these things but still wind up lost inside dense, over-booming clouds of the internet static. Despite the many advancements in technology over the past ten years possibly even more, there exists still something to be said for following more common routes: i.e. playing live as much as possible, getting press coverage as well as radio stations airplay, in spite of the latter's evidently inevitable decline. Bands which may have combined doing this using the online promotional methods mentioned previously have often conducted very well- Arcade Fire becoming one prime case.

There are several other samples of acts whose main talents apparently lie in relentlessly efficient PR and whose songwriting ability is often, at best average, and also at worst, downright mediocre. Try surfing Myspace's 'Music Charts' and yes it seems quite astonishing that such sub-standard music might make it into any chart. Discouraging though this might seem, really the only acts who've any kind of permanence are the type who are able to actually write decent music. It doesn't have to be brilliant or perhaps that original- just 'decent music'. Nonetheless, longevity might not be much of a concern for some- the world's likely to end in any event in the next year- correct?

The issue is that few musicians have a very good talent for PR. They actually do exist, but have been a tremendous minority. Perhaps, because of the opportunities available from the Internet, this minority is growing in dimensions. You might know about now we appear to have inside our midst is the the 'Do-all-Yourself' modern musician, who twitters while twiddling knobs with a mixer, blogging about one minute, hammering out bass-lines and lyrics the next, cutting and pasting links and vocal takes simultaneously. Can this really happen? I think it does, however i would question the quality of work that results. Like every other craft or skill, songwriting requires dedication while keeping focused.

Can this study really go hand-in-hand with the sort of thought-processes necessary for the effective use of online advertising techniques? Can one individual embody performer, management and Pr department? It can't be disputed that creativity in marketing operational plans exists, just as you do in music. But it's a different type of creativity altogether. So what is an undiscovered genius using a couple of brilliant unheard tracks likely to do? Find an undiscovered PR expert who is stacked towards the roof with SEO knowledge and form a partnership. What is better for the alternative musician of the future.




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