Facebook Frenzy!

Hello class and welcome back! As promised I am picking up where we left off last time in our discussion of the three major social media sites that most music artists use. After talking in great detail last time about Myspace, let’s now turn our attention towards Facebook.

Although Facebook may be new to many artists, it has been around since the dawn of the social media revolution. It’s really like the old adage of the chicken and the egg, which can first, Myspace or Facebook? The correct answer is that Friendster came first, then Myspace, Facebook and then Twitter. Now there are even newer sites like Yuniti and Bebo competing for your social media attention, but that’s for another day. To quote Dr Dre, it’s back to the lecture at hand.

So what about Facebook? Is it really any better than Myspace? First off, Facebook was originally only available to college students. You had to have a valid college ID and email to join. The idea was it would give college students a way of meeting each other once they got on campus. So unless you were truly a college indie artist, you could not be a member of Facebook. At the same time Myspace was free to join by all, and it was geared towards artists, which may give reason to why it took so many artists time to join Facebook.

To me Facebook has become the place for friends. Sorry Myspace, even if you hadn’t changed your tune, it's true. If you want to connect with friends or with colleagues it's the place to be. But what if you are an artist or band? Is this the best place to spend your social media time? It is free of content pursay, as in it don't offer or feature entertainment news or otherwise, so what does it offer the user that will attract them to your artist profile? To answer that question let’s examine Facebook a little closer.

Facebook now claims it has hundreds, I repeat hundreds of millions of profile hits a day. That is a staggering number! I have read it was close to 300 million hits a day to be exact. With over 500 million active users these numbers are probably correct. As of 2009 there were only 307,006,550 people living in the USA. That’s like every American logging on to Facebook daily! With that many users’ odds are that artists should be able to use Facebook to gain new fans, but then again maybe not.

Facebook users seem to follow a social media trend and only connect with those people that they directly know. If you are outside of their personal sphere they almost always will ignore you. So what's so social about that? I can already call, email or text these people. Do I need a website to do this for me? No.

Many artists already have email mailing lists that they regular use to send email updates to. These same artists have been doing this nonstop since the invention of email with great success. So why has this not translated to the social media world?

So how can an artist best use Facebook then? With Facebook artists are forced to create what is called a group page or fan page where they can post there music, bio, pictures, tour dates, etc. First though, they must create a personal page which is tied together with the other two. Confused yet? So am I. Facebook will not allow you to sign up as an artist, so this is their way of allowing you to do so.

When someone signs in to Facebook to look up your music they must search for your fan page. Not you directly, or the personal page you setup, so it’s important to include your artist name in your Facebook link if you want them to find your personal page as well. i.e. facebook.com/yourbandname not your personal name. I see lots of artists making this mistake.

Also, you can only add up to 5K friends to your personal page. After that you have to get your fans to ‘like’ your group or fan page. This is not as easy as it seems. It’s hard enough to get users to add you as friend on Facebook. Asking them to ‘like’ your fan page too can be a daunting task.

I can see where artists use Facebook to connect in a much more personal way with fans they have met and have built a personal relationship with. It’s easy to have a one on one conversation by posting on each others wall or adding to a users comment. Yet, once, again it’s all about real relationships. This is where social media continues to fail artists who are looking for success through the Internet. Facebook, as helpful as it is with connecting with people on a personal level, does not offer the close personal relationship ties that can be developed outside of the internet in the real world.

I read several weeks ago that more money was spent on online advertising then on print advertising in 2010. The trend is forecasted to continue to grow in that direction over 2011. As more and more people turn to the Internet for things on a daily basis the more likely they will turn to using social media as well. At this point and time Facebook seems to be the hub of a lot, if not all, of that social media activity and a lot of those advertising dollars. Chances are if you are working as hard in the real world on your craft as an artist as you are with your social media presence, then those looking for new music will find you to on Facebook. And with 500 million users it’s for sure a good place to spend your social media time.

Next time we will take up Twitter and several other new social media and micro blogging sites and examine their impact on the social media world and how they affect you as artists. I can already hear you now, “So what’s micro-blogging?” Don’t worry the answer is on the way!

Myspace or Yours?

After stating that the Internet was dead in my last piece, I decided to ask, if it’s not dead then what's next for social media? I thought it was a good follow up question after declaring the Internet dead. Well, then again, I'm not sure if I declared it dead, or just dead to some. Maybe that is the question I should be asking and answering here, but I'm not. Maybe next time.

As far as my discussion for today goes, I decided to talk about the first of the three most well known social media sites that most every artist uses in more detail: Myspace. Don’t be mad at me Facebook and Twitter users your turn is coming. I know lots of you are saying, ‘I don’t use Myspace anymore’. That’s okay, but my question to you is, why not? First up is Myspace. Over the past few weeks Myspace has totally relaunched itself as a place for social entertainment. No longer as the place for friends as it originally billed itself.

Myspace for many artists was the originator of the social media revolution. It in essence gave you a free web page that you could load your music, pictures, tours dates, etc up to for the world to see. The idea was genius and quite revolutionary to say the least. The idea that people looking to connect with artists in such an all encompassing way had never existed before. In turn millions flocked there overnight. As with all good ideas though, competition soon followed.

Myspace, being the giant it was, didn’t really take any of the challenges to its superiority very serious. They did little, if anything, to keep up with or advance the idea of social media. The word complacency comes to mind. As always the case with such a mind set, Myspace began to slip off the radar of all of the new social media fanatics and soon lead way to the birth of the second great social media explosion: Facebook.

At this point it seems Myspace seems to be resting all of its hopes on its ability to draw in entertainment users. Probably because someone at Myspace realized that the only people still using their site was artists. You can still have a band page on myspace, but I don't see the thrust towards being a future leader in the social media realm. What attracts a user to come to Myspace to meet or network with just artists? Nothing.There are already numerous sites across the web that offer users entertainment news, updates, features and access to celebrities. Most of these sites offer you a free membership where you can sign in to get updates direct to your email or mobile device. I don't think having the option of having a personal page on Myspace will make much of a difference or help separate it from other sites that already provide that sort of content.

From an artist’s standpoint, I can see where the thought of music consumers coming to Myspace for entertainment news might help generate traffic for your own profile, but I wouldn’t hold out hope.

The major labels already spend large amounts of money promoting artists signed to their labels on Myspace. i.e. Myspace Music. Also, major label artists are paid for every visit to their page. I bet you didn’t know that. They have a deal setup with Myspace so that their artists are paid based on song plays because of the advertisements that are placed at the top of each page. They also work in conjunction with Amzon.com as a direct link to buy or purchase that artists music direct from their Myspace page.

I thought I should take a moment before you get the idea of contacting Myspace, Amazon, CD Baby or anyone else and asking where your money is, to tell you that’s it’s not coming. Before CD Baby was bought out by Disc Makers, they were trying to negotiate a deal with Myspace to help get a little of that same money for the artists whom they represent. By represent, I mean artists who used them for digital distribution to iTunes and other Internet download music sites. No such luck. Before the deal was in place, Disc Makers had acquired them and the deal hit the preverbal back burner where it has stayed. Such is life for an indie artist.

I think going forward it will be even harder now for indie artists to find and get exposure on Myspace. One bright spot to Myspace though, in a recent survey, 80% of people said Myspace was the first site they visited to hear new music and find new artists. Don’t delete that band page just yet!

Ok, I have rattled on enough about Myspace. In the end I think having a presence there is important. When thinking about the Internet you have to think about your overall web foot print. The larger it is, the easier it is to drive traffic to your own webpage. (We will talk about your own web page very soon!) Using Myspace as a part of that foot print is worth a little of your time. If nothing else, Myspace still gives you a cheap easy way to get your music out so everyone can hear it. Most venues even request a link to your Myspace page when you approach them about booking a gig. So it’s good to have, just don’t put all of you eggs in one basket.

Next time we will talk about Facebook and Twitter. They are both are very different from Myspace and each other. It’s going to be interesting!

We are on Facebook!

Took us long enough huh? It did and we are sorry for that. The good news is that we did it for you!

We have made so many friends and fans here on myspace, but we feel as if we are losing you. We have heard your complaints about myspace and know that many of you have now left.

That’s why we have now have a facebook page and twitter!

We are asking all of you to come join us on one or both sites. We don’t want to lose contact with you.

We love all of you! You have always been so close to the band and a major part of our success. We love talking to all of you and don’t want that to end.

We know all of you have a facebook, and a twitter too probably, so come on and join us on both!

www.facebook.com/thirdgradehaters
twitter.com/thirdgradehater

I think our facebook has my name, Andy Jones on it, but all of you know me anyway.

So what are you waiting on, before you delete your myspace come join us on facebook!

See you there!
TGH

Is the Internet dead, or just dead to some of us?

I thought I would go ahead and follow up on the very question I asked myself at the first of my last blog, is the Internet dead or just dead to some of us.

I have been getting a lot of feedback to my recent blogs about the current state of the Internet from a artists perspective. Positive feedback, I would like to add, and some really great points to go on top of what I had written. It has become apparent from your comments that many of you see the Internet through the same lens as myself.

So my question is, do we all think the Internet is dead from an artists perspective? Or are we just looking at it the wrong way?

Let's a take a look at the future of the social media world, maybe our answer lies there.

Just like the past, new technologies start to become apart of our daily lives, soon lose their buzz over time, and we move on to the next big thing. Just like cell phones, email, the Internet itself and many other recent techno-marvels that were all the rage at some point over the last 10 to 15 years. So what makes social media different and thus giving life to the Internet?

In just the past few weeks all of the major social media sites have undergone huge revisions, implemented new polices, given their sites face lifts and now shifted towards on demand content and marketing services to reach new potential users and customers. Would they being doing this if they were going out of business or are they doing this to stay in business?

Marketing departments for companies in the past never put a plan into place to develop their email department or their own website departments. These things were just adsorbed into their way of doing business. They never thought about focusing more time on how to email better or how to google search better, these tools just made their jobs easier. Now though, companies are spending lots of time and resources to build their own social media departments. There are some that believe that social media will become it's own stand alone discipline in the marketing world.

That's a lot to take in isn't it? The idea that some college kids got together and created a handful of websites that let people interact with each other, to the idea that these very sites are so influential in our lives, that kids will now be getting college degrees in social media is breath taking! It also answers our question.

Social media is evolving. It's finding it's place in our lives, how we work and how we work with it. There are going to be up's and downs. New advancements and technology. Some sites will grow to take on a larger market share then others, while a few will fall by the wayside.

Just like the music industry itself, artists are going to have to wade through all of the progress and turmoil of this social media revolution. Myspace was a successful outlet for many artists in the past, and who knows, it may be again in the future. Right now there is no 'best place to be' for artists trying to find a foothold in the music business. Using social media can be aggravating and difficult to say the least. It can also be rewarding. Don't give up though, keep blogging and tweeting, keep your profiles up to date, post those status updates and maybe, just maybe, success will find you!

So What's Next for Social Media?

So what's next for social media? I thought it was a good follow up question after declaring the Internet dead. Well, then again, I'm not sure if I declared it dead, or just dead to some. Maybe that is the question I should be asking and answering here, but I'm not. Maybe next time.

As of today, Myspace has totally relaunched itself as a place for entertainment. Okay, what part of that is social media? You can still have a personal and band page on myspace, but I don't see the thrust towards being a future leader in the social media realm. What attracts a user to come to myspace to meet, network, or otherwise? Nothing.

There are already numerous sites across the web that offer users entertainment news, updates, features and special access to celebrities. Most of these sites offer you a free membership where you can sign in to get updates direct to your email or mobile device. I don't think having the option of having a personal page on Myspace will make much of a difference or help separate it from other sites that already provide that kind of content.

So what about Facebook or Twitter? Are they really any better? They are both free of content pur say, as in they don't offer or feature entertainment news or otherwise, but what do they offer to the user.

I would say that Facebook has become the place for friends. Sorry Myspace, but it's true. If you want to connect with friends, both former and new, or with colleagues it's the place to be. But what if you are a business or a band? Is this the best place to spend your social media time. My experience says no. Facebook users seem to only be concerned with those that they directly know. If you are outside of their personal sphere they almost always will ignore your friend requests. So what's so social about that? I can already call, write, email or visit those vary people. Do I need a website to do this for me. No.

So that leaves Twitter. As far as my discussion for today goes, I only decided to talk about the three most well known social media sites. So what about Twitter, what if anything separates it from the other two? It is fast and easy to use. Micro blogging in 140 characters or less is very appealing to those of us on the go. Yet again though, the same question arises that I have with Facebook, who are you tweeting with? Are you just tweeting with friends and co-workers? There are a lot of businesses on twitter, not to say there are not on Myspace or Facebook, but they seem to be more visible on Twitter then anywhere else. Are you using twitter to keep up with what a venue or restaurant is doing that day, in a way, that that you don't use Myspace or Facebook. I do think users are doing this. I think users feel like they don't have to have a personal relationship to follow a band or business on twitter.

With all of that said, what is social media all about. I guess it depends on your own personal definition. If that means chatting with the vary friends you talk to everyday or work with on Facebook, then that's social media to you. I have always thought of social media as a way to expand my relationships and meet new people who are outside of my bubble.

To answer my own question, what is next for social media. I think right now social media is still finding it's way. I think the original premise of social media, as a way to meet new people and expand their relationships, has not really happened. I think for the most part people are not looking for new opportunities to reach out and network through these sites. I think as time goes on, that more and more users will look past the traditional means of the past and start looking for new ways to connect. Does that mean that Myspace, Facebook and Twitter will be the answer, that remains to be seen. But if they are not, rest assured that someone somewhere is working on that answer right now.

Is the Internet Dead?

Is the internet dead? This has been a question I have been asking myself for a few weeks now. If it's not dead is it just going through changes like most businesses do? I have read several articles of late that seem to think that it is dead and that the future of the internet will look much different then it does today. So what if it's dead, how does that impact us? Do we even care?

I'm looking at the internet through the eyes of someone working in the music industry, as a recording artist, a studio owner and a music publisher. What was once the supposed gateway to music business success is closing and its closing fast. In fact it may have never really been open at all.

We have all heard the stories of how a band was found on myspace and then international fame soon followed. I once bought into this, but now I'm not so sure. How true can this be? Success in business has always been built on hard work, time, effort, energy, preparation and education. There are always the stories of overnight successes but even then all of the above things were at some point involved. No one can succeed at anything if they have never put forth any effort to succeed can they?

I have come to conclusion that the artists that have found success from the internet would have found it no matter what. Take for instance Fall Out Boy. They have long been held up as the first band to find success using myspace and the internet. True indeed, they were the first band to one million plays, one million fans and so on and so forth on myspace. They used this virtual hype to gain fans; attendance at their shows grew and increased album sales. All of which caught the attention of record labels that were all too eager to sign them to a record deal.

Would all of this have happened for Fall Out Boy without the internet? I say yes. They used all the same basic principals that any successful business would employ to get their company off the ground. For them it was the new media of the internet that gave them a jump start. Looking back over the past we can see how such new mediums as print, radio and TV also launched stars and their careers. Yet again, how many of those same success stories would have come true without such media? I would argue that all of them would have.

Like Fall Out Boy or not, they were the right band with the right sound at the right time that just happened to catch on. People just liked their music. Girls thought they were cute and guys wanted to emulate their style. In all truth the very same thing can be said about the Beatles or Elvis or any other music act that has seen international fame and success over the last 60 years.

At the heart of all success is good marketing. For the Beatles, Brian Epstein took four rough young lads and put them in suits, and took advantage of their good looks. At the time TV was the new media and they were just the right darlings to capture the imagination of everyone who watched.

For Fall Out Boy it was their use of the internet. Good marketing always knows how to take advantage of unique opportunities when they present themselves. Especially new and unknown opportunities that have yet to be explored and figured out.

I have been told more times then I can count of late that myspace is dead. Ok, so what about facebook and twitter and the plethora of other sites just like them. Are they dead too? How does the next big thing in the music business find success? I believe the answer lies in the past. As some would say, what is old is new again. I think it lies in hard work, time, effort and preparation. The same things that have always made businesses successful. If you have a good business plan, work hard and continue to knock on doors eventually opportunity will lead to reward.

I know some of you are saying, yeah but what about those artists that got discovered and bypassed all of that, what's your answer for that. My answer is you can't discover someone that doesn't at first at least want to be discovered. Is Justin Bieber really an overnight success? He would busk on street corners and posted videos on YouTube. It's not like he was locked away in his room singing to the walls around him. Maybe YouTube helped draw him attention faster and easier then most, but it was only a matter of time before the recording industry discovered him.

So is the internet dead? After writing this I'm not sure I'm any closer to an answer then I was before I started. I think I am of the mind that the internet never really helped anyone on its own. It was just another tool in a large box, that when used along with other known tools, sped up the process. Did the internet and myspace make Fall Out Boy famous? No, just like TV didn't make the Beatles famous either. Both the Beatles and Fall Out Boy would have been famous in my opinion had there never been TV or the internet. It may have taken longer, but they would have still reached the same point in their careers.

Where Have You Been?

So where have we been you ask?

Enjoying the Summer of course!

Well the end of the Summer is finally here. To borrow a line from Fiennes and Ferb, I have enjoyed all 104 days of Summer.

This has been a busy Summer for sure. We have been tucked away in our secret recording cave working on a new record for you. We can't wait for all of you to hear what we have been up to. It looks like the new TGH reco0rd will be out early next year.

While working on the new TGH record all Summer, I also recorded a couple of side projects that will be released later this year.

There have been a lot of changes with the band between records, but change is good, and we are all better for it.

We are looking forward to getting back on the road this Fall/Winter. We have missed seeing all of you!

We hope you all havehad as wonderful a Summer as we have. Look for more updaes on the record, touring, etc soon!