How Music Has Moved On From MySpace To Embrace Social Media
This is a guest post by Ronan Hunt Murphy Who is A Prominent Music blogger And Follows Music Trends And How Bands Use Social Media
Lily Allen, Kate Nash, Sandi Thom, Sean Kingston – what do all these artists have in common? They all came to public attention via MySpace. But now that facebook and twitter have overtaken MySpace in the number of daily users, bands and musicians have been forced to adapt to the changes. For all its flaws, MySpace had many benefits for a musician – the chance to reach out to fans, but mostly the chance for those same fans to be able to stream songs, and sometimes even entire albums. Thus, in the age of twitter and facebook, artists have not abandoned ship entirely. Many acts will even use twitter to point you in the direction of their MySpace page where you can sample a new song or two.
Using Facebook
The really clever acts are using all these avenues to get their music out. Any artist worth listening to has their own facebook fan page or group. From these, they can send out gig announcements and news to every one of their fans. They can also post links to videos and songs which can be easily accessed through facebook. Probably the best part of facebook, from a band’s point of view is the fact that you can suggest a page to your friends. For example, if I really like a new band, I can suggest that my friends become fans of them too. Or if they post and update that I really like, I can “share†it with my friends, and it will appear on the wall of everyone who I’m connected with.
Bands Getting It Right
Musicians have started to use twitter to interact with their fans. There’s people like the outspoken US guitarist John Mayer with millions of fans, who post updates of their every action and bowel movement, and then there’s the clever upcoming musicians, like Northern Ireland’s Two Door Cinema Club who post news of gigs, with links to where you can buy tickets, as well as feedback on how the performances went. For their November shows at the Ambassador, Bell x1 used twitter to direct their fans to a poll taking place on the official Bell x1 forum where fans could help decide the setlist. That’s the kind of interaction social media is perfect for.
Kildare’s Planet Parade have really embraced social media, and use twitter to interact and reply to their followers. They’re a band to watch out for, as they’ve supported some great acts recently (Delorentos, Ellie Goulding, Hockey), and through their clever use of social media, they’re bound to win more and more fans. Bigger, more established acts should take note – fans want to be able to connect with the musicians they listen to. Another newish act are the brother-sister duo The Holy Roman Army. They have really embraced facebook, and their fan page is full of links, gig listings, videos and reviews. Best of all, is that it’s maintained by the band members themselves. There’s nothing better than the personal touch when it comes to interacting with your fans.
How To Get Success These Days?
There’s countless outlets to get your music heard these days – anyone can put a link on youtube, or start a MySpace page – but to really be heard, and to get more fans and followers on board, musicians need to take to twitter and facebook. They need to talk to their fans. Reading feedback in reviews or from critics is one thing, but only through discussion with their audience can a band really grow.
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