I was invited by Mack Collier to co-host #blogchat (on Twitter) last Monday night (the 8th) and was blown away by the quality of participants and discussions taking place during the chat.
Before I get into my thoughts, let’s take a step back. For those that don’t know what #blogchat is, it’s a weekly chat happening on Twitter (check out tweetchat.com for more information on how). Essentially, you pull up a Twitter search for #blogchat at the appropriate time, and start Tweeting with the people already participating. The key is to use the hashtag (#blogchat) in every tweet so that the conversations can be seen by all. If you’re wondering how to find the “appropriate time” a simple Twitter search will tell you if you search for the hashtag.
The topic of the week was how musicians could use blogging and social media to help them achieve their goals – whether they be ticket sales, music sales, or just connecting with their fans.
The full chat transcript can be found here, and Mack’s review post can be found here. Happy clicking!
About an hour and a half into the chat, Curt Smith (co-founder of Tears for Fears) jumped into the fray and spent the next 30ish minutes answering questions. Part of the value (as a fan) of following artists on Twitter is the perception of personal connection you feel with the artist, their work, and their lives. Take the following exchange as an example:
Some of the other valuable music-related nuggets Tweeted during the chat:
Blogging and using other SM tools is a great way to build a passionate community
Communications should be authentic – no PR/marketing people tweeting “as” the artist
Don’t be afraid to have a personality
Many artists don’t see themselves as brands – that mind shift is necessary
Twitter can be a great “first step” tool to drive fans to other places (like a Facebook Fan Page or a website)
Offering up special incentives/announcements via SM is a great way to make your community in SM feel special (Ed note: as well as start to get an idea of the effectiveness of these tools!)
Artists and companies need to start viewing fans as long-term assets, not just short-term pockets stuffed with cash. The key? Building a relationship with them.
If you’re going to use SM, always consider what the fans want to read/might find interesting. The focus isn’t you as a person, per se – it’s about your brand and your work. Don’t be afraid to let personality shine through, but avoid excessive inane chatter.
Location-based software could be a no-no if you get big enough to worry about “crazy people”. Safety first!
Most agree a blog should be the “home base” in your digital efforts
Don’t forget the fan to fan connections – they’re key!
Before you can ever start to think about selling anything – you need to build a community who wants to buy.
What advice would you add? Leave it in the comments!
This post was pushed to the back burner this month in the midst of the craziness that is my life. Over the course of the month it became “that thing” that all writers (or bloggers, in this case) think about. That Post That Must Be Written, to be specific.
First off, I do want to send a huge public thanks to a friend and a very talented web developer, Caroline Keim. I wouldn’t have been able to go to this event had she not invited me, as I’m really just not cool enough to be invited on my own (really, I’m not).
On to the main event…. the event!
This event was put on by Billboard Live, and the concert (Alicia Keys & Friends) was livestreamed on their site and later archived. The event was mainly “& Friends”, as I believe that Miss Keys played three songs (at most) the entire night.
Alicia opened up the evening with a moving performance of Empire State of Mind – Part II. In a venue as rich in history as The Apollo and in her very own neighborhood, this song really took on extra meaning. Plus, I have a big sentimental side, so there’s that.
Thanks to NYPOST.COM, I figured out who the other artists (“and friends”) were. Billboard – in the future a list of the “& friends” would be handy!
Raheem DeVaughn, Hope, Elle Varner, Marsha Ambrosious, Jermaine Paul and Melanie Fiona all performed a few songs each, with Alicia popping on and off the stage throughout the performances to either perform duets with the acts, or perform her own songs as transitions between the guests.
Two acts really stood out – Melanie Fiona and Elle Varner.
Elle Varner was up first, and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when she stepped on stage. It took about 30 seconds for me to figure out that while Elle may be young, and perhaps new to performing on a stage like The Apollo’s, she is mega-talented. She’s on Twitter and was tweeting about the event before and after, and I went to her YouTube page to see what she had up there when I read through her stream. Take a look at what I found below:
I wish she used YouTube more, but she does use MySpace, and keeps a bit info there.
Melody Fiona, the other standout of the night, on top of having a KILLER dress (seriously, I want to own that dress), also brought plenty of sass with a healthy serving of “Holy cow, that girl has PIPES” to the stage.
She was just nominated for a Grammy, and also performed on Jimmy Kimmel live shortly after her show at The Apollo.
At the risk of overwhelming this post with videos, I’ll leave my favorite song off of the video list – Ay Yo. Click the link to go listen to her performance on Carson Daly’s Last Call.
In true Alicia fashion, she closed out the night with All Right – still one of my favorite songs so no complaints from me!
Now for the social marketing comments…
From a social media perspective, I think this event could have been better executed. There was a MySpace contest for fans to win tickets, but I didn’t see a lot across other social media sites (including Facebook, where she debuted her new album a short month before the event). Also, Billboard’s site doesn’t provide a lot of interaction, and it’s hard to find the event, let alone watch the recording. I’ve done the digging for you here, but even knowing where to go it took me a few minutes to find it.
I also wish it was easier to find out about the “& friends” part of the show, if you couldn’t tell by my comments above. I was sitting next to Xilla from Global Grind and between him, myself and Caroline, we were hard pressed to find the correct names of the performers using our ears (and our iPhones). I spent a chunk of the next day double-checking my work, and figured out that we still had some of the names wrong!
Photos and video weren’t allowed at the event. Since Billboard was live-streaming the event I can see the logic in this, but at the same time, I’d rather show you all the video I shot and photos I took rather than have to point you to YouTube and Billboard’s websites as the sole source of information. I can play devil’s advocate both ways on this, but with things like events – I’m a firm believer in the fact that fans should be able to record the experiences for themselves through photo and video, as long as they appropriately credit the source.
Overall, I’m happy to see Billboard do something like this, but think that little thought was put into the entire picture by all of the involved groups. The event was great, and fulfilled a long-standing want of mine to see Alicia Keys perform, but I still believe that it fell flat in terms of overall impact. If companies in the music business are suffering so much, why don’t they put their full efforts into making events like this a true success? How can they appropriately gauge the effects of social media marketing if they’re only doing part of the work?
So. Go check out Alicia Keys’ new album, go check out the guest performers, and go check out the Billboard Live recording of the night. It was a fun night full of great acts, and I really hope to see more events happening like this in the future. A great start, but there is more to do!
experiences from listening to a great piece of music, listening to dubplates, listening for the meaning behind the music – the list goes on.
From the marketing side, I hear about listening to the marketplace, listening to your consumers, or listening for your brand across the web.
Listening is great, and it’s absolutely necessary. The challenge though, is to separate listening from merely hearing.
Listening is hearing with purpose.
In the examples above, “hearing” can be substituted for every instance of “listening”. The challenge, is to not get stuck in that comfort zone of “yeah, I’m listening”.
The trick is, to never be able to say “Yeah, I hear you” as a throwaway.
Do you?
Are you listening to that dubplate, or merely hearing what you think should be there?
Are you listening to the new album at that listening party, or just waiting for the tracks to finish so you can weigh in with your support and comments?
Are you really listening to what the marketplace is saying, or are you sorting out the comments by “stuff we want to hear” and “stuff we know comes through, but we’ll qualify as unimportant and ignore”?
When you hear a piece of music, are you listening to it, or letting it pass you by?
Listening is a great skill, and a skill that takes a lot of work and patience. Just like learning to pay an instrument, listening takes practice. Listening is not passive.
For you musicians wondering how to listen as marketers, here are a few ideas to get you started:
Subscribe to blogs of bands/artists similar to you via Google Reader
Set up Google Alerts for your name and the name of your band
Set up Google Alerts for acts similar to you
Search on Twitter (search.twitter.com) for your name, as well as the names of your songs or albums
Subscribe to the RSS feed of that Twitter search, and pull it into Google Reader
Search for your name, the names of acts similar to you, or other terms on socialmention.com
Subscribe to that RSS feed and pull it into Google Reader
What you end up with is a Google Reader (or any RSS reader of your choice) full of information about what’s being said. That’s step 1.
The value comes from going back through that information and absorbing it. Read the blog posts. Comment if appropriate. Go see who’s talking about you on Twitter, reply or send them a Direct Message (DM) if it makes sense.
Look for feedback, look for trends, look for opportunities to connect.
Turn the data that gets fed to you into information by listening.
I’ve been a fan of Alicia Keys since “Songs in A Minor” was released in 2001, and have continued to follow her career as my life, and the world, has evolved.
9 years later a hit new song with Jay-Z playing on radio stations and iPod’s everywhere, I’m now even more in love with her music.
Personal tastes aside, I have a lot of respect for the marketing going on around Alicia Key’s new album – “The Element of Freedom”.
She first debuted the album on Facebook, that’s right – Facebook. To my knowledge – she’s the first major artist to do so (smart move!).
To do so, her marketing team got a company called Involver on board, which I admit is new to me (hey Involver, if you’re listening I’d love to pick your brain for a future post!).
In addition to the Facebook album debut, Alicia and her team have also put together a “I think it’s going to be slightly insane in a great way” event happening tonight at the legendary Apollo Theatre. Actually, it’s happening now, and I’m there, and you can watch here. Full review coming tomorrow, of course!
Back on track…
That’s right – the entire concert is being livestreamed (thanks Billboard!), and straight from their article on the event, here are some juicy details:
The chart-topping singer/songwriter’s new album, “The Element of Freedom,” peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 in December, but Keys has enjoyed a pair of long-running No. 1’s on the singles charts. Her New York centric duet with Jay-Z, “Empire State of Mind,” — which the duo performed to much acclaim at Yankee Stadium during the World Series in October — rode the top of the Hot 100 for five weeks in November and December. Meanwhile over on the Latin Pop Songs chart, Alejandro Sanz’s track featuring Keys, “Looking For Paradise,” has been No. 1 for the last nine consecutive weeks.
If you’re more of the “I like to watch the interviews” type, I included Billboard’s interview below. It’s a good watch!
I’m looking forward to seeing more major labels jump on the “let’s innovate!” train. If you’ve seen any examples then by all means, please share them in the comments!
That’s right, someone (Jason Keath, to be exact) has invited me to participate in a panel on Social Media in the Music Industry as part of the Social Fresh Nashville conference.
I’m really excited to be participating, and even more excited to see what my fellow panelists have to say about their perspectives of how social media has impacted the music industry.
Justin McIntosh, Manager of Web Services and Marketing at Big Machine Records
In advance of flying to Nashville for the conference, I’ve been connecting with people on the Social Fresh Community and reviewing some of my favorite blogs and videos.
In case you’re curious, I’m a particular fan of (in no particular order):
Hypebot – Ridiculously quality articles about anything and everything related to music. Sometimes it’s practical, sometimes it’s more theoretical. All of it is good.
Bass Music – I like my beats extra crispy, and this blog has a great selection of new tracks and music on a regular (more than daily) basis.
The Future Buzz – I’m a recent fan of Adam Singer and keep wondering why I didn’t find out about him earlier. He’s a smart cookie and his blog shows that.
Bit Rebels – I like these guys for all the nerdy techy stuff they write about, and the fact that their blog is a great source of music-related information makes it even better.
Artists House Music – These guys help teach me about the pure music business side of things, which I find refreshing since I (by situation) tend to be more tech-oriented.
Buzzsonic – A great resource for music trend roundups, tech information and other such quality articles.
I’d love to hear what you want us to answer during the panel. Leave your questions in the comments, or join the Social Fresh Community and leave them for us directly there.
@db I know I'm bias, but #CLT is still my favorite airpot. Bojangles + rocking chairs + bean bags = airport WIN (cc: @jakrose @93octane) in reply to db10 mins ago
