PART 3: The Future

While some in the music industry are embracing social media, there remain significant numbers that aren’t. Notoriously bad at adapting to change, music industry execs at the highest levels still look to nonsense like Billboard’s Maximum Exposure List as a source for creative ideas. But it’s not just the high-ups that are the problem. From the confused artist to the oblivious publicist, social media still lies in the realm of newfangled gadgetry for many. With resounding cries of “I’m in the band, some one else should be doing this,” coupled with publicists that think, “That’s not my job,” the progress being made of incorporating social media into PR is slow, and so begs the questions, are we doing enough to incorporate social media into our PR strategies when breaking new bands?

Reputation/brand management is an important part of any business. When dealing with new artists or those flying under the radar, reputation/brand may be the most essential tool we have to work with. With limited resources and funds, this is often all a small band has to rely on. All communications affect the development of brand or reputation so all communication should be purposeful, with an eye on the consequences of said communication. With the prevalence of social media we can monitor fan and market response for any artist in real time, and adjust our strategies accordingly. Since this is new technology, it doesn’t officially fall under anyone’s specific responsibility. In the music industry the boundaries are becoming more blurred everyday and this is an opportunity for publicists to become a more important part of a band’s career. It is a chance to have longer, more involved relationships, constant campaigns, and larger impact. It is the evolution of music PR to a more encompassing level, blending elements of marketing, management, and publicity into a new kind of organized, team oriented, personal approach. There are several examples as to how social media is already being leveraged in new ways.

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PART 2: Artists

For the last two years, Myspace has been in a serious decline. The once mighty powerhouse of social networking is losing U.S. based traffic (according to Mashable it’s dropped 20% since June) and its revenue is drying up. In its heyday Myspace was an easy tool to understand for artists: get friends and get plays. It produced results while giving a pretty good indication of the scope of their fan base. As new sites popped up with better designs, easier navigation, and more unique options Myspace began to lag, and today it sits not forgotten, but certainly crippled.

“When Myspace first came out it helped The Sleeping a ton, but it seems to have lost its engine and not many people attend the site anymore,” says Doug Robinson, singer for New York based rock band (and Victory Records veterans) The Sleeping. “There are so many social media sites now that I honestly have no idea which are the most important or will be the most important in the future.”

“There’s just too many bands,” says Ryan Lallier, guitarist for Big Surrender. Lallier’s former band, Waking Ashland, did time on Tooth and Nail and Immortal before disbanding in 2007, and he notes how things have changed since then. “I think social media has a negative effect,” he says. “I know how annoyed I get with bands bugging me to listen to their music and I can’t help but think people are annoyed by us and consider us the same as the other millions of bands on the internet. I never got into it.”

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The music industry is a tumultuous place. Its troubles are no secret and as jobs are axed, spending decreases, and executives fight the advancement of the digital age, everyone hopes that solutions will be found to bail out a sinking ship. But record companies aren’t the only part of the industry that need to adapt to changes in technology. Social media has provided new and unique opportunities for instant communication, rapid dissemination of information, and creative approaches to business. To get a clearer picture of this changing landscape and how it’s affecting the broader music industry, I interviewed a number of artists and publicists about social media and how they use it.  I’m gathering my findings into a three-part essay that I will post in installments on this blog. Part one will deal with publicists, part two with artists, and part three with my conclusions and ideas about how to move forward.

PART 1: Publicists

Billboard Magazine recently posted their Maximum Exposure List, a list of new and effective ways to reach large audiences and expose new music. The magazine enlisted a panel of 20 experts in marketing and publicity to assist in compiling this list. The results were typical of the industry with ideas like: have a song covered on American Idol, get a cover story in Rolling Stone, perform live on Oprah. It reminded me of when I played music and I’d get unhelpful advice from family and friends outside of the industry. “You guys should go on tour with U2,” they’d suggest. “That would definitely help your career.” They’d explain as if I didn’t know.

The problem with the article is that these outlets aren’t new at all. Additionally they are available only to artists already at the top, not artists who are on their way there. In fact the closest the list came to embracing new media was suggesting that publicists secure a video link on PerezHilton.com or have a video on You Tube’s Most Viewed Videos page. Given that there was a panel of publicists and marketers involved in this list made its content even more shocking. Is the industry really this out of touch? Furthermore, are publicists not adapting to new technologies?

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