Here’s some questions to ponder while you read and answer in a comment below:
—–> Are you down with MySpace? <—–
—–> What’s your favorite Facebook musician page? <—–
—-> Have you ever talked shit to a band on Facebook/Twitter and gotten a reply? <—-
—–> Was your profile picture taken by you in front of a mirror? <—–
I still remember when I was a senior in high school and some girl asked me if I was on MySpace. I am pretty sure I was baffled by the concept, but I went along with it and created a profile (complete with a Panic! at the Disco song, annoying background, and excessive pictures of my stunning face). No, I did not take a picture of myself in the mirror and use that as my profile picture as only the hottest of women do.
—–> More photos like this here <—–
Forward six years, a time when I no longer have a MySpace profile, but spend far too many hours on Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare. Social media has become a large part of my life, so I guess it makes sense that I work as a social media marketing specialist. Fancy. Anyways, this article is a call for a coup d’état of MySpace, and the rise of a larger music presence on Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare.
We will soon live in a world void of MySpace. A world where we Google a band, and click not on their MySpace page, but on their Facebook or Twitter so we can not only hear their music and see their tour dates, but also talk to the band themselves. Where the bands do contests, and give away tickets, merch, and other fun shit. Why haven’t more bands caught onto this yet? For one, it’s not very intuitive yet. To have a nice Facebook page means having a FBML-fluent friend or some extra cash to spend.
It won’t always be like that, of course. Soon, you’ll be able to find your favorite band’s music on their Facebook page, and more-or-less find everything you can find on a MySpace page on that certain band’s Facebook page (without the ugliness of an iLike page). And with services like damntheradio and Root Music’s BandPage, it’s possible to create a stunning landing page with far more ease than on MySpace.
Though Twitter is already a huge force in the music industry, we’ll soon find more musicians releasing content on this channel, more interaction with fans, and more free shit. As for Foursquare (just click the link if you don’t know what this is), a ton of bands will start using this service to let fans know when they’re going on, where they like to eat in their favorite cities, and what their favorite venues are. Most importantly for the fans, Foursquare will most likely give bands the ability to reward their most loyal fans by giving them free tickets and merch (by tracking how many shows they attend).
The following are some of my favorite musician Facebook fan pages. Note that these artists are active on their page and care about talking to their fans.
1. YAWN
2. Roger Hodgson (Co-Founder of Supertramp)
4. The Antlers
5. The Drums
Not many musicians are on Foursquare yet, but here’s a few that I found. None of them are truly taking advantage of what Foursquare has to offer, but they soon will (click this link to see some cool things musicians can do with Foursquare).
1. BRAHMS
Here’s a short list of some really interesting musicians to follow/laugh at on Twitter.
1. Kanye West
2. Lady Gaga
3. MC Hammer
4. Colin Meloy of The Decembrists
5. Billy Corgan
7. Diddy
