3 Essential Music Sites You Need To Use In 2012
3 SITES FOR 2012 The music industry has had a desperate flavor to it these past few years. We have been continuously told that there is a pending transition, and that the future of music consumption is just around the corner. There has been ceaseless speculation that a new model is what’s needed, and it is only a matter of time before a huge innovation comes along which restructures the way we consume our music.
With everyone vying for a piece of the future, maybe we have blindly put our faith in a new outside source creating this elusive Holy Grail. Ever since Myspace revolutionized the way bands connected with their fans, artists have been hoping that the excitement of discovering music in a new way will repeat itself, and by signing up for every given opportunity, they will be on the cusp of that breaking wave.
Hot on the agenda for 2012 will be how Spotify performs and is utilized by artists, both established and fledgling. However, the most important sites are likely to be the ones that have already built a strong and dedicated user base. Before we whole-heartedly embrace the new fangled, all-shining, latest taste sensation, it may be time to look at the tools that are already right under our noses.
1. YOUTUBE Youtube is without doubt the most important and effective tool for breaking new bands and launching the latest music. If you are not creating watchable and engaging video content, you better be touring your way through every venue that will have you. How else will anyone be able to see what you look like, see how you perform, and make full sense of your sound?
Space on radio and TV is extremely limited and the Majors have a firm hold on those. But with the right video you can slowly, or sometimes quickly, build your fan base on a very low budget. Creating regular effective content is the digital equivalent of playing every dive bar in town on the hunt for fans.
We have eyes and ears, and the more senses that can be titillated when engaging curious passers by, the more likely you are to make them want to stick around a while.
2. FACEBOOK Not because of the band pages – which continue to be drab and faceless – but because its use is ubiquitous. Everybody is doing it – your mum, my mum, your old school pals. It is not so much about getting likes for your own page, it is about creating content on a site like Youtube, that people then share in their own timeline. Viral spread is not achieved because you have 2000 followers; it succeeds because you create something that those 2000 followers just have to share. So, content is king, and the most effective content is hosted on Youtube and shared on Facebook.
Success on Facebook is largely out of your hands, however that doesn’t stop it from being the most vital source for spreading your music. Facebook should be a launch pad for your content, not your main page or substitute for keeping an email list.
3. YOUR OWN WEBSITE It is amazing how many artists don’t have their own site, or if they do, they don’t see fit to make it easily accessible and constantly updated. Your website should be used to direct those people who follow you, to whichever outlet YOU want them to use in order for them to become familiar your music.
In all honestly, if you don’t have a website, you should point your URL to your Youtube page before anything else. And if you cant, because you don’t have good content, then it is time break out iMovie and start creating.
TAKE CONTROL 2012 will be the year of taking control of your content, not spreading it through every Tom, Dick & Spotify. Find a formula and work it hard, stick with it, and perfect it. If people come to your site and you are not definite with your plan, they will get confused and leave.
Your message needs to be: This is who we are, this is what we look and sound like, and here is how we want you to obtain our music.
Yes! The new mantra for 2012: Take control!
Don’t make life hard for your fans (and yourself). Keep it simple.
Thanks Robin.
Best wishes for 2012 to all.
Eliza, The Fan Formula
All good suggestions – but how to create, manage, and propel yourself on those channels deserves much more in depth discussion. Coincidentally, and self-promotingly, here’s a book that’ll help.
http://www.analysisofhype.com
Subtle, right?
Why not Google+ neither Twitter? Google+ is emerging networking site and I think 2012 will be belonged to him.
Google+ has already fizzled and will die in 2012.
Twitter is only for the already famous, it will grow as you do. The click through rate for most is so insignificant. Google + has a long way to go before it is worth spending time on.
For me Twitter is one of the most important tools I use, though I’m not a band. I’ve made so many contacts and met so many great music business people on there…way more than any other social network. Google+ is still growing, but using the circles you can broadcast to your target audience & my G+ is very busy despite what others say about it. I use it daily.
Ultimately, I agree with the sites listed above, though. By far the most important for any artist. Good job, Robin!
I love the rationale behind presenting content via YouTube. I believe that this generation is definitely driven by what they see as opposed to what they hear. In 2012 I will make a bigger impact with my visual content. The first goal is making sure the videos are short and effective. I believe that videos that are longer than five minutes are not as effective as a two minute video. Content will definitely reign supreme though.
I still believe that Twitter can be effective given your niche and your audience.
Good stuff! If a band has $5k to spend do think it is better creating a 5 song demo CD in a traditional recording studio or invest in finding a cool location and shooting videos of the band playing their music live and skip the traditional recording studio all together?
I agree with the sites listed above, though. By far the most important for any artist. Good job…
Invest in a camera and editing software and make unlimited videos.
YOUR OWN WEBSITE – try arkade.com
Join the thousands of artists who already are running their own web sites on Arkade. Links to Facebook, twitter, etc.. No special skills required.
Um: You-Tube – only if you can be sure, ABSOLUTELY sure, that your music isn’t being illegally ripped for free on there; yes, there is software available that allows folk to do that, ad nauseum. Use with the utmost caution. Also, treat film as an ART medium, not ‘visual’ trite bites. There is so much clutter on youtube; make your video stand out, and treat film media with the respect it deserves. Yes, if that means a quality 6 minute masterpiece then do it. If people aren’t prepared to engage beyond a minute or two then they don’t deserve you.
facebook: wouldn’t touch it, again, with a bargepole. Have done, have left it, will never return. It has practically eaten itself anyway, and is busy gorging its passengers. A definite no no. Beware also the beast that is Google; the same privacy and tracking concerns exist there too. As for Spotify? Not a chance. $0.017 a stream back to artists?!! What’s that about!It’s an insult! Mr Eck and Mr Zuckerberg, you know where you can go…..
Own website: an absolute MUST; yes, draw traffic TOWARDS YOU. You aren’t advertising or promoting someone else’s site.
So, one out of three then. Get that unique website sorted folks..and that mailing list. Get to it…….!!
Wow. That is a VERY short-sighted analysis. G+ is to Facebook what Facebook was to Myspace in 2010: The Adults alternative. When people got tired of the glitter graphics and the computer viruses, they turned to the clean, graphic-free easy to use Facebook. Now Facebook is charged with selling user’s privacy and putting Ad revenue before it’s people, and here is G+ just positioned to take over as the alternative. Oh, and Google has more money than GOD thanks to Android, so to retort “J”: G+ has not fizzled and is poised to be the future of social media… Until it sells privacy and puts AD revenue before users and another alternative comes along.
Andre From Idlewood
https://plus.google.com/110377927266039641161#110377927266039641161/posts
facebook.com/andrefromidlewood
ignoring social network sites like youtube and facebook is like being a musician and playing in the basement just for your mom, dad, and close friends. i agree that all 3 need to be a part of any musician that wants to make it in the music business not basement.