So recently if you follow my stuff on myspace, or my main blog, or facebook, I’ve been talking about the importance of creating and distributing regular online content and now I’m going to be talking about the best way to go about deciding how and where to do that.
I’ve talked about your website as your online “home” – a place where you might build a community for fans, and of sites like myspace as “doorways” to that community. We’re talking about the best ways for you to take your content and fit it in with media communities that already exist – that is, going to where the people already are. So build a great big ornate entrance for the main streets that are Myspace, Facebook, and Youtube but just forget about all those back alley sites that no one cares about!
Gerd Leonhard recently blogged this little slideshow from hypebot/gotoweb2.0 covering 44 web 2.0 music sites. And recently with me having to slog through more geek shit on Social bookmarking now in order to evaluate it’s ability to get results for me and my clients, I had to say, even me, who goes on 6 hour online research binges – is their really time for all this? 44 new web 2.0 sites to promote your music on?
http://go2web2.blogspot.com/2007/10/44-web-20-music-services-in-one.html
I mean guys I get all my juice from such as Andrew Dubber (www.newmusicstrategies.com) and Gerd Leonhard (www.mediafuturist.com) are always like – try this new site, watch out for this new start up, try this new app, add this widget – even those hypebot tips I posted! And what? Is there anybody there? Is anybody listening? Is the crowd calling out for more? Sure if you’re radiohead then it doesn’t matter what platform you’re using, the masses are already looking for you!
Look I been through all this and basically, if you don’t even have an audience to identify, getting exposure for your stuff on the net is going to come down – once again – to the numbers game . . . on the internet means that means TRAFFIC.
These 44 sites – I don’t care. I don’t care how snazzy they look or what exciting new feature they offer. Or how many times they advance theoretically how they can “get your music out to the world” using this new fangled computer internet thing.
If nobodies using their site, if there’s no audience to promote to, then it’s just a waste of time. You’ll come back in a year, and the site will be gone. Another failed online music industry concept start up goes out with a whimper.
Should we get excited about www.we7.com, the site that offers artists a share of advertising revenue in exchange for offering free downloads?
Well why is myspace such a big deal? Bebo? Youtube? Facebook? Google? Itunes? Because it’s what everyone’s using!!! It’s the party that everyone’s at. They’re not at those other 44 sites! I look at the traffic.
Let’s look at specifically our local NZ target audience. I hope you’re not working to hard on your myspace presence or this could be a little deflating. You gotta stay up with it.
% of web traffic in NZ October 2007-10-25
1 – Google – 7.13%
2 – Trademe – 3.92%
4 – Bebo - 2.06%
8 – Facebook – 1.11%
9 – Youtube – 1.08%
20 – Myspace - .49%
See if you’re smart like me you’ll be thinking of clever ways to exploit trademe for marketing. I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve but i’m keeping those little puppies close to my chest.
(trademe is NZ's ebay for overseas readers)
Socials like myspace dwarf distribution sites like Soundclick, Download and Mp3. Still use them! Use Last.fm – the biggest aggregator, use Garageband.com or sonific to create a media platform you can distribute – for example the Ilike widget for spreading your music on facebook . . . which is NOW partnered with billboard to render chart information!
But don’t waste your time on sites without any qualifying knowledge as to what signing up and maintaining your presence or even paying them for services will really render in return.
Paying to use a website is like buying a cd. It's a 20th century thing. Forget about it. It's antiquated.
But let's use an example, I’m really excited about the new isynx.com site which is attempting to open up licensing and syncing royalties to everyday artist – tipped to be see major growth in revenue distribution for artists.
But it doesn’t matter how romantic I am about these ideas, it won’t make this site work. So no, I’m not going to spend even 20 minutes to sign up. I’m going to come back in a month and see what happens, to see if gets traction, if it can build a critical mass.
So how do you know where to invest your effort? Quick rule of thumb: If you hear a site discussed in offline media – like myspace, bebo or facebook – you better get your ass on there.
This is really about time management. You know you’ve got to build your presence painstakingly online. Every online promo handbook tells you to create every opportunity for exposure, but really! It takes energy to create energy. Your promotional effort online has to be just like a gig, a rookie band playing a warm up, you’ve got to get the crowd involved, create a vibe, foster the community and create something there that people walking past will see and want to be a part of. But not if there’s nobody walking past! Your energy might be better applied to other tasks in other areas.
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