Taking the Crowd to the Cloud
Social Media for the Music Industry
Kelli Richards
Published by the All Access Group
Smashwords
Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal
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please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re
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for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase
your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Special thanks to Gerd Leonhard and my colleagues at The Futures Agency – I look forward to many years of disruptive leadership and influence together! And to my amazing team, Chief Strategist, Chad Barr; VP of Client Services, Sandy Schmidt; VP of Operations Dori Etter; Branding Guru, Libby Gill, and my Copyeditor, Mary Agnes Antonopoulos.
Contents
Introduction
Social Media Marketing: The New Backstage Pass
Chapter 1: Bridge Over Troubled Water: An Overview for All Social Media
Chapter 2: Teenage Wasteland: MYSPACE, Don’t Count Them Out
Chapter 3: Face Toward the Sun: Facebook Continues Global Domination
Chapter 4: Tweeter And The Monkey Man: Twitter
Chapter 5: Video Killed the Radio Star: Using YouTube as a Social Connection
Chapter 6: Blogging
Chapter 7: Pump up the Volume: BlogTalkRadio
Chapter 8: Just a Link in Your Chain: Linkedin
Chapter 9: E-marketing and E-Newsletters
Chapter 10: Meet Me Halfway: Meetup Groups, Live Event Networking
Chapter 11: An Overview of Four Direct to Fan Services
Conclusion
Final Thoughts
More About Kelli and How to Connect
Appendixes
Introduction
Social Media Marketing - The New Backstage Pass
The landscape of how audiences are built has completely, thoroughly changed in the last decade – in fact, it has redefined itself more than once. Being malleable enough to “grow” with the flow can mean the difference between big successes or devastating failures in the music and digital arenas. All of us, whether we’re artists or authors or thought leaders, must recognize that, in order to succeed, we must also think and act like CEOs and marketing mavens.
Knowing how to navigate the ever-changing, ever-growing field of social media becomes its own tapestry and can definitely feel like a full-time job if you’re not careful. This ebook is designed to provide an overview of the top ten social networks and a brief look at how to maximize your presence in order to engage your best audiences – and hopefully to turn them into brand advocates and your own personal sales force.
As you use this ebook, remember that an engaged, loyal audience is your endgame. How you find that audience is by consistently sharing content – how you engage them is consistently baring your soul – no kidding. In today’s world of uber-connectivity, audiences want more than they ever did. They’re not satisfied with a great product any longer, whether that be a song, a show, a book, merchandise. Now they want to be connected to you as an individual, and whether they’re right about this or not, they believe they’re entitled to it. So while it’s okay to choose not to go that route, just know that your competition is happy to step in, open their kimono, and eat up your market share (and your lunch). In the recent words of industry thought leader, Bob Lefsetz, “At first you pay your fans, then they pay you, it’s not the other way around anymore.”
Quite simply, in today’s world, Direct-to-Fan marketing is what every artist and band should be doing, whether they’re signed or not, but it takes a lot of time (plus a decent amount of know how, to be honest). At its core, D2F allows artists to keep a higher percentage of their own sales, compared to the old business model where labels, distributors or even iTunes take 30% or more.
Truth be told, if the connections are built with some good boundaries in place, there’s no reason not to reach out and touch your audience. Done correctly, it’s just a win / win. You give them more access, and they, in turn, want more and more of what you produce.
One good safe way to create this connection, and to stay ahead of your audience’s trends, is through inquiry – another is by providing “special” back-stage content and allowing them to comment or give feedback. A simple “thank you” here and there, or better yet, a free offer in response for their time, will both be worth their weight in gold.
In a recent discussion on All Access Radio with Jeff Brandstetter, the co-author of the highly acclaimed book, “The Music Business Explained in Plain English,” he talked about the future of the music industry and where social media would fit in:
Kelli Richards: Jeff, what do you think the future of distribution is going to look like in say, five years, and how much of an impact do you think on-demand digital distribution will have?
Jeff Brandstetter: It’s interesting that you’re asking me this question, Kelli. As you know, eleven years ago I was asked this exact same question on a panel about the future of the music industry. I think people tend to accelerate adoption faster in their minds than it actually occurs. I think the reality is that we will still see physical product around for a while, and there will still be revenue around physical product for a long time… I think what the landscape will look like in 5 years is that content creators will fast become the hub. Right now everybody is chasing the distribution outlets du jour… because they see the largest numbers in terms of traffic going in that direction…. Indie content providers don’t need huge numbers of their own content to recoup their production budget, and that’s what they should be most interested in. Where are they going to maximize their revenues? As long as they’re passing their content along to third parties, and essentially giving them all of the rights, wholesale, to distribute it, and buying into that sell of, “You know, you’re a content provider. Don’t worry your pretty little head about this. We’ll take care of the marketing, promo and distribution. You just focus on making more content.” As long as they buy into that, there’s no rational reason to believe that the outcome is going to be any different than it’s been up until now – which is that the vast majority of them aren’t going to make any money.
Kelli: I don’t want to live in the way back machine, but that was one of the main impetuses, as you’ll recall, for Todd Rundgren and I crafting Patronet fifteen years ago. The goal was to really encourage artists and other content creators to take the reins and go direct to their fans with their brands – and to see themselves as a brand and, frankly, to model 80 / 20 where they were making the majority of the money – to a smaller audience perhaps, but with fewer middle men.
Jeff Brandstetter: No doubt about it, it was a good model
Kelli: So, Jeff, how important is buzz? Do you think it’s vital to a label that an artist has a social media platform and following – or is having a great sound still the number one driver to getting signed?
Jeff Brandstetter: I think the two go hand in hand. I want to believe that, on the audio side, having a great sound – or a great product whatever vertical you’re talking about – is still then number one driver. Now if you’re talking about getting signed – getting picked up by a major label – you’re talking about the distinct minority of artists who actually get picked up by a major. But when it comes to social media, disintermediation is happening on the promo side, but it’s not happening in the terms of the monetization. What I mean by that is that just because you’re able to promote your brand using social networking doesn’t mean that you, as the artist, are actually reaping the lion’s share of the benefit of that.
Kelli: Unless of course the only way somebody can buy your CD – or one of the ways – is through your website, where the vast majority of the proceeds are going directly into the artist’s pocket, I think most fans would want that to happen. Given the choice, I think if they knew that they could support the artist by buying direct, more would do so. And that’s why it’s important for an artist to sell their music and to collect email addresses on their website, in addition to having a social media platform to promote from.
Jeff Brandstetter: That’s exactly right.
(To hear this entire interview, please visit the Resources Page on Kelli’s Website at http://www.allaccessgroup.com/articles-and-resources/blog-talk-radio.)
Chapter 1
Bridge Over Troubled Water: An Overview for All Social Media
Yes, these times are a changin’. Social media is literally your bridge from one reality to another. Unlike actual products (CD’s, merch, vinyl – yes, I said it), social media allows fast and easy digital distribution – and that means content ownership.
Let’s take it from the top. All social media networks will begin with your profile. There are standard pieces of information that you should have at the ready, whether you’re an artist, an author, a band – anyone who produces content. It’s likely that you already have a social media presence. I would use this checklist MONTHLY to give each one a strong overview / audit and make sure it’s complete and current.
1. A picture paints a thousand words. Have a current, gorgeous headshot. No question, it’s vital. If you’re in a band, use a group shot, obviously.
2. Have a folder of other great, compelling photos handy for easy uploading.
3. Have a few choice videos easily available.
4. This vital information will be asked for over and over, have it available and current.
• Email address for your accounts
• Name
• Bio about you or your team or band (have this pre-written to cut and paste - a big time saver)
• Website / URL
• Link to products
• Link to your blog
• Link to your email sign up page
• Label info, if applicable
• Genre (always a potentially tricky one to answer, so have it ready ahead of time)
5. If you have songs or other promotional materials you want on the site, you'll need those handy for the set up process as well.