The Power of the Internet
When we make new contacts, we hope to maintain them. Every time we meet fellow musicians, art-directors, promoters, managers and music fans, those with whom we’d like to keep in touch, we pass them a business card with all our details. Whereas, it is widely accepted that the best and most professional way to maintain the relationship is via email, your email address won’t give much of your personality away to the people you are trying to win over.
Perhaps, you will drop a very straightforward business email and after negotiating the terms, with a bit of luck, you will get exactly what you were after. You’d follow up with a thank you email and would agree to work together again in the future. If something else comes up and you would drop another email to maintain the relationship. However, there is only a limited number of emails you can send to remind them of your existence before your address is permanently marked as “spam”. If only there were other ways to let people know about your upcoming shows and future releases without being too intrusive… Thank God, in the 21st century there are better ways to spread the news without clogging someone’s inbox: welcome to the beautiful world of social media!
In this article, we’ll chat about my favourite social media sites: how I prefer using them, what I expect to receive back and whether all this “admin” stuff is really worth your while… Because let’s be honest, music career administration takes A LOT of effort.
TWITTER @RiaTimkin
Let’s start with social media that I’ve been using for the longest period of time. I started tweeting when I was at school to express my very loud opinion on various matters. In fact, I still use it for the exactly same purpose. I tell my followers about things I enjoy and things that upset me; I share my experience and give shout outs to the people that inspire me. The general consensus is that you should only post about things that would be relevant in the future. However, I strongly disagree with it! In no way am I encouraging you to post 10 times about your breakfast but I think there is no harm in sharing the little things that add something to your life with the world. Twitter is also a quick way to get an immediate response from big corporations and public figures: I’ve used it to track my online purchases, ask celebrities questions, order bank statements and argue with the Financial Conduct Authority about the typo on their website.
So, how can Twitter help a musician’s career? The key point is that it’s very concise. You have 140 symbols to express yourself, hence your new release advert or upcoming tour announcement will be short and catchy. Moreover, Twitter has been designed as a platform for sharing – all those retweets, hashtags and mentions will do a decent job of promoting your material without much effort on your part.
FACEBOOK /RiaTimkinMusic
Facebook, with its simple layout and fantastic popularity, has proven to be the most efficient and reliable way of spreading the word and showcasing everything you’ve been up to. I won’t be discussing personal accounts and will jump straight to talking about music pages.
For a long time, I didn’t have my own website, so I used Facebook for all my official announcements, photo galleries and important publications. My page has become my primary resource for communicating with people who enjoy my music. Such careful crafting of the mutual relationship has definitely paid off – I feel like it’s not only me who’s putting myself out there but also my dearest followers, who get in touch and provide feedback on the regular basis. It’s essential to know your audience and stay connected to them, and Facebook is the best platform to do so! Despite the importance of having your own website (which I’ve finally acquired), its super polished look will never substitute the simplicity and accessibility of the connection that Facebook provides. You won’t see many pictures of my dog on my Facebook music page, like you could probably notice on Twitter, but you will definitely stay updated with everything I am up to music-wise.
Speaking of career management, another helpful feature that I enjoy on Facebook is the synchronisation with apps like Bandsintown and Songkick that notify followers about your upcoming shows. This feature is available on a lot of other social platforms, but you honestly cannot beat the level of delivery that Facebook provides.
Last but not the least, the thing I enjoy about Facebook is that it provides a great and easy way to monitor your posts, showing the most accurate statistics in one click. I’m well aware of the existence of other websites like Google Analytics that help you track how well you’re doing in the cyber world but being a computer dummy, I really prefer keeping things as simple as possible. Facebook allows me to know how many people have viewed my page, which countries they come from, what they’ve liked and what they’ve ignored. It helps me learn more about the market and choose better times to publish my posts. It also flags when it’s time to take a break and stop spamming your feed. Thus, it’s a wonderful manual that teaches me about my marketing strategy’s ups and downs - all in one click!
YOUTUBE /riatimkin
Despite being most famous as a video platform, YouTube is not just a video-sharing website, it’s a social network in its own right. People manage to create an enormous online presence, building whole social media empires on their YouTube channels and connecting successfully with millions of fans. However, unless you are a full-time YouTuber, don’t expect a miracle to happen. Surely, there had been cases when one randomly uploaded video went viral and the newly discovered musician received a call from Sony Music Entertainment in a blink of an eye. Unfortunately, more often than not, you end up posting a bunch of semi-quality material; get 40 views in total; and then maniacally deleting all the content in a year because you start feeling ashamed of your own unprofessionalism… So, take it from someone who’s been through that awkward phase, and wait until you have a video content that you can be proud of and only then invest your time and effort in self-promotion.
YouTube and I have only just started establishing our working relationship. During earlier stages of my career, when I had no access to proper filming or editing, maintaining a YouTube channel was a real pain. It’s getting more and more fun now, especially with such amazing content like my first official music video for the single “Energy” on its way.
INSTAGRAM @riatimkin
You can be obsessed with Instagram or you can openly hate it, but you have to admit that along with showcasing the gallery of your most flattering shots, Instagram also provides you with an easy way to get noticed. All those hashtags, locations, mentions and tags perform a similar function to Twitter, except for they seem to target the audience even quicker and get the immediate response demonstrated in likes and follows. Despite sounding quite shallow with its vanity and “good life” showcasing, if you use Instagram smartly, it can really make a difference to your social media presence.
First of all, the world is currently obsessed with it! Like it or not, the same content will always get more attention on Instagram than on any other platform, except for Facebook. Instagram is all about visualization and this is where its phenomenal popularity comes from: let’s admit it, we just love looking at nice polished shots. However, if you use Instagram smartly, it will bring a lot of positive attention to you. They say, visualisation is every artist’s best friend, and it couldn’t be more true when it comes to this platform - one nice shot will work better than any bulk posting ever could; a quick video with highlights from your last gig will bring more audience than a whole 45 minute set posted online.
As for me, I really think that Instagram should be about showing your personality through nice snaps and quirky captures. It’s not for bragging about your life or coldhearted advertisement. Sharing the moments of your life and presenting your work in the balanced way using the right hashtags are the key points to make your Instagram account work well. There is really no end to the potential of this platform especially with the introduction of the new features such as 24 hour “story” posts and live streaming that totally overshadowed its competitors Snapchat and Periscope.
SOUNDCLOUD /riatimkin
Slowly approaching the end of my list, we’ve reached the platform that seems the most controversial to me. Just like YouTube it’s designed not purely for the music sharing but also for communication and networking. However, with the variety of other free sources that allow you to listen to the music of your choice, it’s difficult to comprehend the benefits that this particular platform provides. I’ve noticed that artists who work with electronic music tend to enjoy the platform more and have a really nice sense of community going on.
So, if you asked me a year ago what I thought of Soundcloud, I would probably answered that it was the best thing that’s ever existed: you could publish your music for free, share it with your friends, discover new talents, make friends with them and stay connected… However, after using the platform for a while, I’ve slowly become more and more disappointed. First of all, Soundcloud has a serious issue with spam – useless adverts, unchecked music, and poor quality material result in a mess, which makes it difficult to find the stuff you’d enjoy.
Well-established artists also try to avoid Soundcloud. You might see teasers, previews or remixes but you will never come across any original material. It’s almost like the industry doesn’t take the platform too seriously.
However, there’s an undeniable advantage that the platform provides. It’s a perfect storage place for your music when you apply for gigs and festivals. No one likes attachments in their emails. It becomes even trickier once copyright issue is mentioned. Sometimes you have to send enquiries to contacts you don’t know that well and attaching your song in an MP3 file could be risky. Soundcloud would safely store your music and will protect your rights, allowing endless number plays – all you need is a simple link.
At the end of the day it doesn’t matter where you decide to host your social media empire. What’s important is that you stay creative, and do everything with love! You shouldn’t be afraid to show your real self and share the small details of your life if it helps you express yourself. It’s important to know what you stand for and always be grateful for the support that you receive. There’s also so much fear of being criticised on the social media and I really think it’s not worth worrying about it. Criticism is going to be around no matter what you do, but if you take on board constructive comments, and ignore the rest, you will be the winner.
Based on the articles from Rock-Vector N18 (38) 14.05.2016 and
All photos are taken by Jamie McNamee.
The logo photo is taken by Matt Walkley.
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