It’s not allSocial media is great for networking, and it’s incredibly beneficial for businesses. It allows people to stay connected through the years, and to meet new friends. It helps increase visibility for businesses and offers an outlet for targeted advertising. But everybody and their Facebook friends already know about the personal and business advantages of social media. What people don’t always consider is that social media is useful for any type of promotion or marketing. Social media can be extremely useful for artists and musicians.
Musicians don’t operate like they did half a century ago during the folk music revival. In those days, musicians struggled to get the attention of record companies and radio stations, hoping to be discovered so they could connect with audiences through the gatekeepers of the music industry. Today, it’s become so easy to record and distribute music that musicians don’t have to wait for executives to discover them before they can reach an audience. All that it takes to record a song is a computer, an instrument, and a little know-how.
Virtually anyone can create music and get it out to the world. But that also means that competition is fierce. The number of musicians that you can access from your living room is staggering, and there is no way to get to listen to everything. Some of it is good, and some of it is bad, but there’s really no way to filter the quality of the work. In theory, good and bad music is filtered naturally online. If it’s good people share it, if it’s bad people pass over it. However, that’s not always how it works.
A truly great band can fail to capture people’s attention, where a downright atrocious band might succeed. Ideally, musicianship, songwriting, and taste are enough to bring visibility to a musician or band, but it doesn’t always work out that way.
That’s why social media is such a great tool for musicians. It gives them the opportunity to stand out in a flooded market. Musicians can build a following online just as much as while they’re playing shows. Fans and followers serve as bargaining chips in discussing payments for gigs or getting onto a bill for a concert or festival.
A solid following on social media gives a musician more credibility in the eyes of promoters, booking agents, and the public in general. Social media makes booking and promoting much easier. In addition to adding to a musician’s clout, social media cuts out the leg work for getting gigs. Rather than having a contact, or a phone number, or going to a venue in person, you can typically find booking information and reach out to booking contacts through social media.
No matter how big your town is, as a musician, your audience will always be larger through social media.
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