From Scratch – Adventures in Independent Music Making

Posts Tagged ‘Social Media’

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Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, Facebook fan page, You Tube, Twit Pic, Flickr, Forums and the list goes on … there are SO MANY avenues for connecting with people online. It is both a burden and a blessing and for career musicians, whether we like it or not, it is an integral part of marketing in today’s world. Note that last word: “world”. Isn’t that what makes social media so exciting? It doesn’t matter if you have a label or management team and a big marketing budget, as a musician in this era you can literally connect with people (aka potential fans) all around the world… and the only investment you have to make is the cost of a computer and an internet connection (both of which can be used for free at the library). Limitless. That’s empowering. That being said, having a marketing team certainly would make your life A LOT easier and free up your time for improving your songwriting and stage performance.

Toward the end of this 4th week of Ariel Hyatt‘s Music Success in Nine Weeks blog challenge (Wave 3), I started feeling “the angst”. The ahhhh!-I-can’t-keep-up-with-all-of-this-and-be-committed-to-my-music-too! kind of pain that  suffocates you every now and then. I think it’s healthy though, it proves to me that I am still an artist under this business hat. That is a comfort in itself. Though I try not to get caught in the viscious cycle of complain-suffer-complain and burden my friends/family with that kind of negative energy, which really just keeps the problem alive instead of fixing it, I do think it is necessary to let the frustration out when it starts to rumble in your tummy. If you’re like me, it will be on your mind until it leaves your lips.

A few strategies I have adopted to cope with “the angst” and that have helped me complete the full 9 week challenge once (going on twice):

1. I tell someone … once. Then thank them for listening and tell them I’m moving on now (it usually gives rise to a chuckle). Telling them one idea for how I might be able to fix the problem also helps, because it gets my mind moving in a productive and positive direction. Did you know that if you ask yourself a question, your mind will keep looking for the answer subconsciously until it finds it? That’s why when you can’t think of the name of  a song it will come to you spontaneously hours or days later. I learned that during my training as a Cutco sales rep (oh yes, I once sold knives. I love those knives) and have found it to be a very useful tactic in approaching problem solving and creative endeavours.
2. Telling myself it’s okay to step away. Sometimes a break is as good as a vacation, right? Sometimes 5 or 15 minutes isn’t enough though and once I’ve given myself permission to abandon the project I tend to be happier coming back to it and often come back earlier than I planned because…
3. I remind myself that this is the Dip;  it takes as long as it takes, costs what it costs, and I’m going to do it regardless of the challenges, so I might as well enjoy the ride. If I’m feeling like I’m not enjoying it, then it probably means I have neglected something else that is important to me and I need to find a way to get my needs back in balance (or harmony, as I prefer to approach it).

And that is exactly how I came to write my blog tonight. I have absolutely no desire what-so-ever to write about social media this week, but this program is an important part of the long haul I’m in for, so I am determined to make some kind of step forward in this dip. What is my problem? So much of my time has been gobbled up over the past 13 weeks, trying to learn how to set up and use all these new programs, that I have felt a bit mechanical and my creative side has been neglected. I was expecting this. This is bootcamp and what Wave 2 was all about for me. It was about dedicating myself to my marketing project so that I could build a strong business foundation that I can be confident will support my creative pursuits and, eventually, lead me to a place where the house is capable of running itself without my constant supervision. I wanted Wave 3 to be about smoothing the integration so that I could focus more on music this time around. I don’t feel like I’m there yet. Thanks for listening, I’m going to move on now :)

A solution for my problem?  I wrote a lot about setting up social media sites during my Wave 2 Week 4 blog, so during this wave I want to satisfy my artistic need to reflect and write about the experience of using social media as an artist.

It has been AWESOME! Yes, it was a lot of work to set up and once you open a new social media application it never ends… but that’s a good thing. I can’t express how vitally important platforms like Twitter and Facebook have been in developing not only my online presence, but also my connection to the people who care about me and my music. My numbers suggest I don’t have a ton of followers at the moment, which is true, but those numbers are always growing; Especially with the webcast (84 visits to my website on the day of the last show. That’s huge for me!). With physical exercise, in order to maintain or improve upon the gains you achieve with all your hard work, you have to keep exercising. You don’t always have to be pushing your limits and comfort zone, but you do have to keep using those muscles and systems for them to continue functioning optimally, keeping your body healthy and efficient. Same thing with social media. If you stop using it all together, you will be forgotten and unfollowed. What I am trying to do now is find a way to blend it into my daily routine so that my social presence is alive and healthy, but not overwhelming me and taking all of my attention (if you only exercise your right bicep, it’s not going to help the strength of your left arm).

One major thing that has helped with this is … a team. Having other people on board that are actually keen to help out with social media and marketing has been a major asset in integrating social media into my life in a more manageable way over the last few weeks. Don’t get me wrong, I tweet my own tweets and post on people’s walls myself, but I do have a couple people now that can help with setting up and optimizing profiles on new sites (Addie), desiging/managing event pages and booking gigs (Leandra), and other tasks that don’t require an authentic artist interaction. You’d be surprised how much time it takes to upload music, pictures, etc. and design profiles when you’re trying to be everywhere on the net.

The team is still pretty new though, so it doesn’t always run smoothly yet and there have  been challenges in communicating my vision to others and we have all made mistakes along the way. For example, team members forgetting to sign out of my facebook profile before commenting on something on my wall … which makes me look like I’m having a conversation with myself or attempting super cheesy promotional tactics. While this is kind of funny in some ways, it’s also really serious. I don’t want to lose my fans/friends’ trust. If they have reason to believe that someone else is posting for me, they will have no reason to believe that I’m the one responding to them and may stop following.

Something that surprised me in a pleasant way was that even though I have my facebook fan page linked everywhere, there are waaay more people finding me and adding me as a friend with my personal account than liking my fan page. Though it doesn’t look particularly good for me as a musician, I think this is far more exciting. It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling to know that people I meet at shows and online are genuinely interested in getting to know me, not just my music. I’ve never used the “suggest to friends” function before, so I’m going to try that this week when Addie comes over.

Addie is a Fanshawe graduate who is really keen on getting into music marketing, especially social media. I recruited her by contacting her program director at the college (who was very eager to help me  and recognized the value of real-life experience for their students). I sent him a list of ‘available opportunities’ and he forwarded it to all the students in their Music Industry Arts program. Addie responded with a resume, came in for a semi-formal interview, and got the job! She has been coming over once a week for what we are calling “office hours” and has been a major asset in helping me cope with the demands of social media.

Leandra is a Harris Institute graduate who seriously wants to get into booking. She has scored me some pretty big gigs and free recording sessions and I am very grateful for her firey ambition. I met her at the NXNE conference this year through a mutual friend (who I met at a CIMA talk). When the arrangement she had with the band she was representing didn’t work out, she contacted me and asked if I was looking for management help. Indeed I was, so she came out to a show and interviewed me. We discussed our visions, goals, and work ethic and have been learning a lot together ever since.

I want these ladies to feel like the professionals they are and I want my business to operate like a real business, so they both have contracts (I got a package of music industry contract templates from Indie Artists Alliance) that are open to renewal and renegotiating. They also get paid. Not much, because we’re not bringing in much yet, but by offering to pay them something instead of asking them to work as unpaid interns (which is very common in this industry) they know that I respect them, apprecaite their work, and want them to be compensated. They know that the better we all do as a team, the more I will be able to give them.

If you want to build a team around you, I’m not an expert, but here is my suggestion: don’t give up on the idea when the first person doesn’t work out (because it probably won’t) … or the third person … or the tenth. Addie wasn’t the first person to send in a resume and be invited to join the team and I’ve gone through a number of people who tried acting as my manager or  booking agent, but in the end couldn’t commit to it. It has to be the right fit for everyone or it won’t work. Don’t take it personally and don’t blame the others for not following through if it’s not the right gig for them. It sucks to deal with turn-over, but it will give you the momentum you need to eventually get the right people on board. When you can advertise that you’ve got a booking agent, for example, that gives you credibility. People will take you more seriously and that will help attract other people who are interested in this kind of work.

It’s all stepping stones until you get to the other side of the river. Much like this week was for me. I don’t have my entire social media network all together and I haven’t quite figured out the best way to integrate it into my daily life, but I’m getting closer! (TweetDeck has been a BIG help with keeping updates regular, even when I can’t be at a computer for  a while. And the Pomodoro Technique has helped me make better use of my social media time when I am at the computer -thank you for blogging about it Ethan Waldman. I typically arrange for 1 “pomodoro” to check my tweets and schedule replies at the beginning of the day. I’ll also schedule retweets of things I think other people will find interesting. During the rest of the day, I send my own personal updates from my phone and catch up with the replies the next morning. I generally dedicate 1 – 2 “pomodoros” to check and respond to stuff on facebook before I go to bed. Since some of my tweets are set up to go through as facebook updates, this gives people time to comment on the posts and start discussions before I sit down to interact and catch up.

If you’re an artist going through “the angst” I hope this blog may have provided some coping strategies for you :) Feel free to forward it on to other social media sufferers :)

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Original Blog Post Read this Blog in 27 different languages Sitting at my computer Thursday morning, I looked out my window at the vines that have grown up our fence over the summer. Before Oskar left for his European tour with Worldly Savages there was just dirt and a wooden fence (Oskar is the guy who steers this crazy communal and musical ship we live in). I knew he had planted some flower seeds, but a massive collection of green leaved vines grew instead. It looks pretty cool, but that’s not the point. I bet you’re expecting a segue into how social marketing is like a network of vines growing because of their interactions with each other and the environment. It’s true, but I didn’t think about that until I started writing this now. I brought it up because I have spent over a year practically locked indoors to my computer during my days off, missing the seasons and the growth around me, while struggling to construct the backbone of my music marketing skeleton that I know is so crucial to the advancement of my career. That’s right, career. This isn’t a hobby for me anymore. I’m not making a comfortable or stable living from my music … yet, but I gave up too much and jumped too blindly with both feet into this crazy business to not at least have the decency and self-respect to call it my career. I’m tired of careers being defined in my mind by secure employment status and income. Perhaps you can relate to this: Growing up in North American society, the impression I developed was that a job was something you do to make money and a career was a job that is viewed with more respect by yourself and others because you had to have an education or special skills in order to have a ‘career’ and that generally meant you made more money too. But get this: The copy of the New Merriam-Webster Dictionary which has also accompanied me since childhood (and is missing the front cover, so I can’t give you a year of reference) states the definition of “career” as such (I just looked it up now): “1 : a course of action or events: esp : a person’s progress in his or her chosen occupation 2 : an occupation or profession followed as a life’s work” 28 years and only now do I understand a career to be any chosen occupation that I want to pursue as my life’s work. ANY CHOSEN OCCUPATION. Nothing to do with money, or status, or education. I know, it probably sounds very obvious when it’s laid out like that. “Of course, Meghan. That’s what a career is”. My educational background suggests I’m not stupid, but I feel pretty stupid for not having had the sense to be able to lift and see under the veil I had put on and kept on without ever questioning its fabric. That being said, a more current definition of the word has included the element of ‘success’ and ‘special training’ in it. This is unsurprising given today’s increasing pressure to succeed and obtain an expensive education. But I’m choosing not to adopt this modern definition of the word. Not after that glimmering moment of empowerment and hope you just witnessed. In fact, I think I am going to adopt the original, broader, meaning of “career” instead of any of the others. Documented as originating between 1525-35, the literal meaning of the word was “road”. This is the road I want to travel on. It is the one I have enjoyed the most so far. In the end, that’s all I really need… right? Did you know career is also a verb? “to go at top speed esp. in a headlong manner” (My ripped up Merriam, circa 1990s) Sounds like fun to me :) Now … back to the business of Challenge Week 4: Social Media for Musicians. As I am writing this I am currently uploading songs to my new Music Alley account -a great resource for podcasters. It’s basically a database where podcasters can search for tunes to play during their shows and not have to worry about copyright infringement (as a member on the site you give them permission to use your music). Being an artist who has a webcast with different guests every week, I really look forward to having my work appearing in other peoples’ shows. Full circle. This is one of what seems like endless sites I had to put together this week. I knew from the start that it was going to be a handfull: Sooooo many sites to sign up for, design, add media to, and link accounts with. The work isn’t as difficult as designing and optimizing a website, but it’s still very time consuming. If you decide to do this program in 9 weeks, make sure you don’t schedule too much else during this week or it will be difficult to give each site the time and attention it needs in order to catch (and keep) your visitor’s attention. Believe me, I learned the hard way… This week, I had a lot of obligations to attend to outside of my blog challenge (this is my 5th of 6 straight nights working at the computer until at least 3am), so my sites aren’t up to the standards I have for myself, but I’m glad they are at least on their way to being complete and that is the biggest step forward. If I add another song, video, press quote, or show each day I will eventually have them all at 100%. Baby steps, right? Being a bit of a perfectionist I have to remind myself that my career isn’t over because I didn’t get every last song uploaded this week … rather my career is moving forward because I got the site started and I have at least one more song uploaded than I did yesterday, or last week, or … ever. It would be boring to simply take you through the steps of how I put each page together , because the process for each is pretty much the same, the pages just have different purposes. Ariel does a great job of breaking down these sites in her book, so if you’re interested in the nitty gritty, I suggest you buy it. For my blog this week, I’d rather talk about some of the interesting things that came up during the process formerly known as “this week”, so I will list the sites for you to visit at your leisure and then continue on with my new learnings. Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Reverbnation, Flickr, Music Alley Social Bookmarking is something new I learned about and am excited to start to using. Having done qualitative research for my grad studies, I appreciate the idea of having websites already coded for themes (aka: bookmarking with tags). It saves a lot of time and makes scanning or skimming very easy (though, as an academic I am obliged to recognize the weaknesses of this method as well: making an interpretation of a pre-coded document means I do not make an interpretation of the original document myself, thus facing the possibility of missing new themes that the first interpreter didn’t catch or see through their philosophical lens …. yayaya I know). Anyway, I signed up for delicious (a social bookmarking program for your web browser). I think it’s funny how when you press ‘replay’ (or just ‘play’ a second time) this Social Bookmarking in Plain English video starts playing in French. This also inspired me to start labeling my emails too. With over 1200 unread messages mixed amongst over 3000 emails (shameful, I know. None of them are spam) I tend to miss things I should be reading. Luckily, Gmail (where all of my different accounts redirect to) has a labeling system, so now after I read an email I go to the top of the message and label it (if I want to keep it) and take the inbox label off so it goes into a folder and is no longer mixed in with my unread messages. Some interesting things about Twitter: I have been using Twitter for about a year now and have it linked to my cell phone (Canadians send a text to 21212 once the account is set up. People in the USA use 40404).  I didn’t know, however, that I could message specific friends on twitter from my phone by simply using a ‘d’. There are a bunch of functions that you can use (all listed under Settings: Mobile). I printed them off to tape into my agenda, because I’ll never remember all of the different codes. When I first opened my account, “meghanmorrison” and “meghan_morrison” were already taken, much to my disappointment. So I chose “megsmorrison”. In the book, Ariel recommends having a personal account that redirects to your main/band page so that people searching for you can find you or your band/main page. I wanted to do this because people won’t think to search for me as megsmorrison, but the dilemma still existed: my name was already taken. Then I had an idea: the underscore AFTER the name : “meghanmorrison_” … I searched and … it was available! So I took it. Now I have a second twitter page which prompts people to follow me on my megsmorrison page where I have already created my twitter foundation. Then I got greedy: underscore before the name too! It was also free, so I set that one up as well. Once again, simply to help people find me in searches and redirect them to my main page. If you hate the idea of joining Twitter and think it’s stupid, you’re not alone; lots of people don’t like it. I didn’t jump on board right away because I didn’t want the hassle of having to keep up with another social media site, especially one I didn’t understand. I joined over a year ago without really fully understanding how it can serve my project. But a lot of people do! If you are a musician and on the fence about whether or not to join, read this Music Think Tank article:  I started adding people Ariel recommends toward the bottom of the article and within an hour 16 new people were following me, after 8 hours: 65! … up until now I would normally only get 1 or 2 per week … and most of them were not people I had added. I had made a couple of posts/replies to a few of these new connections though, so my new followers must have seen my replies to other people we were mutually following. Crazy. Other cool things I learned about: 1) on Twitter: Follow Fridays = masses of people tweeting about people they think you should follow (put a #FF in a post and any user you put in your post becomes exceptionally follow worthy on that day) and here is a good resource for making a twitter background. 2) Selective Tweet = putting a #fb at the end of your tweet so that the system knows which tweets to send to update your facebook profile. If you don’t put it in the tweet, it doesn’t go through. This is great because it’s easy to send out a ton of tweets, especially with replies, but it doesn’t make sense to your facebook friends because they’re not already part of the conversation. You have to set up the application for it to work though. 3) In the Blog Forums on Ariel’s Cyber PR site (you get access to this magical cyber space when you buy the book) a fellow musician made a post about Social Oomph.com (not to be confused with oompa loompas … wow it must be getting late for me to make that connection haha … hmmm) but after giving it a chance, I have decided I’m really in love with TWEET DECK! It’s amazing. If you’re trying to coordinate mutiple social networking sites at the same time (or separately. You can choose at any given moment), get it! It will save you a lot of time. On that note, I had been experiencing some network sync issues, as I had my pages all synced in a weird way. I knew how it was wired together, but my new manager Leandra (who I have as an admin on my facebook fan page) did not … it wasn’t her fault, but a few posts ended up being published in places they weren’t intended to. haha. The old system looked like this: After setting up additional sites and learning about Tweet Deck and Selective Tweets, it was definitely time to reconfigure the set up. Now it looks like this: My Facebook fan page is at the bottom of the posting chain now, so there is no way Leandra can update my entire online world without me knowing. haha. Things that didn’t rub me the right way: Facebook2YouTube was a  big disappointment and I have removed it. I thought it was going to sync with my youtube page, but it didn’t (or at least not in a way that was easy to discern or use). It just created a general you tube page where I could search for my ‘favourite’ videos and share them in a post. I was hoping I’d be able to upload or link my youtube videos into my facebook video tab to speed up the process and avoid having to wait for each one to load. The facebook bookmark function didn’t work either, so fans couldn’t access it anyway. It’s likely that there is somekind of glitch because the Flickr2Facebook script isn’t working right now either (I’m not the only one who found this). I also didn’t have any luck with the FacebookiLikeApp. It kept giving me a message saying the page couldn’t redirect properly and that “This problem can sometimes be caused by disabling or refusing to accept cookies”. I can’t figure out how to change the cookies settings in my browser, so this one is also going to have to wait … any suggestions? I hope they fix the bugs with the others soon. I was really looking forward to those apps. Now, how did I start this post? Oh, right: vines and ships. I’m happy to be returning the wheel of this ship back to it’s captain. It was a good experience, but I need more time and psychological space for focusing on the next 5 weeks of this Blog Challenge. Having one less responsibility that isn’t related to my music career is certainly going to help me focus and more foward, so that I can find a pace that allows me to be more successful while also being able to enjoy the seasons again. During the first 4 weeks of this program I have accomplished more than I have in the past year, so I am grateful to Ariel and her team for that. On a side note, Oskar lost his cell phone (it was stolen in Europe). My eye caught sight of my old one and so I thought I’d clear off it’s memory and give it to him. In the process I found these old text messages I had saved because they make me laugh and since I’m giddy with sleep deprivation, I thought I’d leave you this week with them: “My sister is the best sister in the world. I wouldn’t trade her in for anything. Well maybe for super powers, but not for most things” 6:09am Fri Feb 20 2010 My brother bear, Evan “Oh man. I thought I let the words out of my head, but I didn’t”. Quoted and sent from one of my very best friends, Gina. Apparently I said this in my sleep when I crashed at her place during the second leg of Dara’s Wedding Tour. Next Week/Challenge: Blogging Last Week/Challenge: Optimizing Your Website Share