Feature Friday...just one day late...

I totally planned to start featuring different videos or artists on Friday and calling it "Feature Fridays"...but completely forgot until today, which is Saturday...

Anyways, here's who I was planning on featuring...

For those of you who are fans of 90's Rock and are looking for something 'new' (yes, I know it's technically 4 years old...)

Facebook's Negative Impact

Facebook turned 10 this week so I thought it would be fitting to take some time to share some thoughts on how facebook has had a negative impact on the music industry. Now before you skip down to the comment section to start telling me how I’m wrong and that facebook is a great tool that helps artists reach new audiences, let’s get one thing straight I’m not saying facebook is destroying the industry. I honestly believe that if used properly, facebook can be a very impactful tool. But there’s always two sides to every coin and today I want to talk about that other side.

Facebook made musicians lazy or in some cases lazier. Social media definitely has its role in the music industry and there have definitely been some artists who have used it well, but the number of artists not using facebook and other social media to their advantage is staggering. The biggest mistake most artists (and even some promoters) make is simply posting things on facebook and assuming that’s all they need to do. Way to many times when asked “What are you doing to promote yourselves, your show, CD, etc?” the only response I’ve gotten is “Well, we posted about it on facebook” I’ve actually talked to artists who’ve told me they’ve created events and then never looked at the event again, at the same time wondering why no one came to their show. So why is simply posting something on facebook not enough? Two reasons. First, facebook users have gotten really good at ignoring stuff on facebook. The more spam you send (and that’s pretty much what you’re doing) the easier it gets to ignore.  The second reason is facebook itself. Facebook has progressively been making it harder and harder for you to reach your fans, audience and even friends and family without paying them a fee. When you post something it only reaches about 10% of your friends. 

Facebook is working against you. From its early beginnings facebook has focused on ensuring their users are not inundated with spam and junk mail, which you often saw on other social media sites. As people, bands and business found ways to work around the walls facebook had put in place, facebook adjusted and made it difficult again. In the early years of facebook I remember hearing artists complaining about having their facebook account suspended for ‘spamming’ their ‘friends’ or ‘followers’. Facebook also saw the opportunity to make money with its ability to reach multiple audiences and started to restrict how many people would see your statuses, offering the opportunity to reach larger audiences for a fee. They have even made it easier for their users to ignore group and event invites. They haven’t made it impossible yet and in a way I respect that. Even though I doubt it was done intentionally. Due to the restrictions facebook has put in place, an artist has to work harder to reach their audience, which I believe is a good thing. Sadly, not enough artists are willing to make that effort.

Facebook ‘likes’ do not equal actual fan base. I’d like to think that everyone is aware of the fact that facebook ‘likes’ don’t actually mean anything and are not in any way a reflection of your fan base, draw or popularity. It’s a well known fact that you can not only buy facebook ‘likes’ but that the majority of the facebook ‘likes’ that are for sale are from fake facebook accounts. But the other day I read an article entitled “How To Turn Your Facebook “Likes” In To Fans”. In my opinion, the facebook ‘like’ is the biggest negative component facebook is contributing to the music industry.

Facebook is fooling the industry. I recently found out that FACTOR takes facebook ‘likes’ into consideration when review applications for their grants. At first I was surprised by this, but then I also remembered a band telling me how they’ve been offered shows opening for artist they’ve never heard of but who they were told “They have a lot of ‘likes’ on facebook” A facebook ‘like’ tells you NOTHING. As mentioned before, they can be bought. They can be faked. And even if they are people who actually clicked ‘like’, there is no way of actually knowing if they took the time to listen to the artist's music or have gone back to the artist’s page since clicking on ‘like’. A facebook ‘like’ could be anyone from a hardcore die-hard actual fan to the artist’s grandmother trying to help out their precious little grandchild. Studies have shown that major brands like Nike, Harley Davidson and Louis Vetton only ever see a 1-2% return when targeting individuals who the ‘liked’ them facebook. But to the music industry 'likes' actually mean something, right? Different aspects of the music industry seem to not only think so but are actually using facebook ‘likes’ as a measuring tool and then wondering why they're not seeing the return on their investment. "But they had so many 'likes' on facebook..."

Facebook destroyed myspace. I liked MySpace. Even with the overwhelming amount of spam and crap that would sometimes clutter you comments section or mail box, MySpace was great for bands. Allowed you to reach and interact with new audiences and because it had a section dedicated to music, it actually focused on helping connect artists with their potential audience. I liked MySpace, until facebook came around. As facebook grew in popularity, there was a huge exodus from MySpace members looking to escape the onslaught of “Hey, check out my band” messages and MySpace soon became a hub of just bands and strippers trying to get you to subscribe to their ‘live feed’ MySpace had the power to connect and engage people with music that they loved, something facebook has never really done well. In the end, facebook won and MySpace seems to be continually suffering from multiple relaunch failures. Sadly, MySpace actually played a legitimate major role in launching some artist's careers, can facebook say the same thing? 

Now as I said at the start, I'm not condemning facebook. I definitely recognize the potential positive impact in can have on an artists music career. It can be a great tool...if you learn how to use it properly and I think the first step to doing that is not relying on it to do the work for you. To be a complete hypocrite, I am now going to post a link to this blog on my facebook and hope people read it.