Pillars of (Online) Fan Engagement. (All Other Ground Is Sinking Sand!)

Trust me, you can only spam your followers/fans/people in your circles for so long. Even if you're the hottest potato fresh out the oven, spamming 'hungry' fans is sure ticket to a fast expiration date.
Does it mean more work? Dedicating 'extra' time to sit by your device of choice to counter your posts on your upcoming gig with interesting snippets of your life? Maybe.
The key, (I find), is to work towards making your online social engagement 'second nature'. If surely you can spam,you can engage! (Rihanna's love of Instagram is a great example; after all, a (ratchety) picture is worth 1000 words,even more. I refer you to celebrity blogs and their constant deciphering of her posts. Keeps her relevant and mentioned and talked/bitched about...you almost always know what she's up to! Enough with improving her SEO ranking...
So,what can you do? How can you get the best out of the interwebs,your current and potential armies of fans? Behold, the pillars... (with italicized interjections from this gigging musician.)


(image via Hypebot)

1. Authenticity

First and foremost, communication with your fans must come from you, the artist, in your voice. Not your manager, label, or intern. People aren’t interested in hearing generic updates from your label or agent. They want to get to know your personality, hear about your experiences. Essentially, fans want to feel like they’re on the journey of your career along with you.
(It's cool to have your team update for you once in a while ,but c'mon, it's you we are following!)

2. Consistency

Consistency is key when it comes to engaging with your fans. You can’t post an update on Facebook one day, then disappear for several weeks to come back and find that a bunch of fans responded with questions that you never answered. People will likely stop paying attention if you don’t have a consistent presence. 
(I mean really, how would you feel to be snubbed? Constantly? That's the wrong kind of consistency to adopt.)

3. Sustainability

And finally, when it comes to fan engagement, you have to sustain it over the long term. Don’t expect immediate results. It might take months of being consistent to start seeing more quality interactions with your fans, which in turn could lead to new fans, more people at your shows, and increased sales.
(Quit with waiting to a week before your gig to start updating your profiles in CAPS (so annoying!), somehow thinking people should pay attention...you haven't even dusted off the virtual cobwebs!)

If you have an online presence, you in turn acknowledge that you know its inherent value. Else, you could also remain antiquated...which you can make work for you. Point is, an online presence indicates to fans that you are there to engage with. Remember that.

Never leave fans hanging yo! Same way you don't want them to leave you hanging at your gigging hour.
 
           (image courtesy of hypebot)

It's part of the job. The sooner you accept/adopt, the sooner you can reap the awesome benefits of the interwebs and the fans that be.( An interesting and potentially rewarding approach is to centralize your efforts to one social network, then autopost to others. However, be sure to check the autoposted sites occasionally, to avoid a situation as that of the poor cat above. I'd personally recommend Google Plus for such an endeavour; benefits/features will be the subject of another post, so keep it here.)

You might also like: Artists and Social Media: Some Tips (thank me later!)
(Insights largely borrowed from Hypebot's 3 Pillars Of Music Fan Engagement)

Profitable and Sustainable Music Careers Take A Lot of Work!

In order to become financially free in your music career, you will need to take a very different approach than the one that is taken by most musicians. You will need to approach your music career as both a “musical artist” AND as a businessman (or woman). You must run your career as a business, where your primary goal is to add as much value as possible to your fans, other bands, music company officials, and other people in the business of music.

Besides not being prepared to achieve success in the business side of music, many musicians fail to make a decent income in their careers because they make the following mistakes:

Not Taking The Time To Identify Your Market

Once you have become familiar with the value you have to give to the music industry, you will you need to find and identify the people who you will give value to. 

One of the most common mistakes made by musicians is that they spend the time to create an album, increase their musical skills, or work in another area of the music industry, but when it comes time to receive the payoff for their hard work, they have great difficulty making any money. This happens because they have not taken the time to build a database of customers who are ready and willing to pay for the value that the musician is offering. 

Not Having Solid Goals And Ways To Reach Them

To earn a good living in the music industry, you MUST develop a specific plan for how you will reach your goals. If you merely fantasize about making a lot of money, this is not enough to make this goal a reality. Rather than fantasizing, start working toward what you want to achieve by asking yourself the following questions:

1. What is your desired yearly income from your music career?
2. What are the sources of musical income that will make the amount in question 1 possible?
3. What action must you take to set up these sources of income?
4. How many ways can you ADD VALUE to your interactions with people in the music business? (Think of every possibility!)
5. How many ways can you eliminate risk for other people in the music business?

Thinking That Popularity = Making A Lot Of Money In The Music Industry

The truth is that some musicians (who are very popular) still work side jobs just to get by. By understanding this, you will be able to push ‘fame’ aside in order to focus on the most effective ways to work toward your goal of making a good living in music

Not Taking The Time To Set Up Various Music Related Sources Of Income

In order to make a good living in your music career, you must stop thinking from the mindset of obtaining a single sum of money as your main goal. Instead, you must work to build many different sources of musical income that go into your bank account on an ongoing, residual basis. 

Not Consistently Providing Additional Value To Other People In The Music Industry

If you want to make a lot of money in your music career, you will need to make it 110% clear that you are the number one choice when someone in the music industry must choose between you and your competitors. In fact, this must be TOTALLY clear before anyone has even listened to one second of your music!

 

Useful music business assessments and more insights/examples can be found on the original post.

You might also like: Developing A Hardcore Fan Base

 

Artists and Social Media: Some Tips

1. Start with the social media outlets you are comfortable with.

2.Be personal and authentic

3.Let the negative comments stay

(yup! People will come to your defence.)

4. Keep your Facebook fan page and personal profile separate.

5. You've got to hustle!

(Get rid of the misconception that merely posting stuff online will get you attention.)

6. Don't send out too many posts via social media.

(''On Twitter you can throw things out there pretty often, see what sticks and what gets retweeted. Use that to know what to post on Facebook.”)

7.Don't forget that Youtube is also a social network.

('Fans can subscribe to you, fans can interact with you through your channel.')

8. Pay attention to your analytics.

 

These are tips shared by music and digital experts at the New Music Seminar. Here's more details to each tip.)

Got any tried and tested tips that have worked for you, do share in the comment section below :)

You might also like: Push vs Pull Marketing: C'mon,Be Cool.

 

 

Developing a HardCore Fan Base

"A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author - in other words, anyone producing works of art - needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living." (The 1000 True Fans Theory)

 

(image via kk.org)

Banking Beats: Africa's Music Economy

'Aid to Africa' has been a dominant theme in the media and political arenas for many years. Yet, despite the billions of dollars in development-related aid, many argue that it has done little to reduce poverty or stimulate economic growth. In contrast, the music industry in Africa has grown exponentially over the last decade and has had a direct impact on Africa's economy. African musical acts of varying genres have worldwide recognition, concert attendance numbers are in the tens of thousands, and homegrown music festivals draw a global audience. Examine the growth of the music economy in Africa and the opportunities it presents locally and internationally.

This was the official blurb for a SXSW 2012 Interactive Panel that saw Africa's rising music economy discussed. Thanks to Matthew Dawes ,one of the panelists, I was able to find the session's podcast, available here.

 

Also interesting to note that Society HAE have proposed a panel session for 2013's conference: The Promised Land: Can Africa Save The Music Biz?

Among other things, the panel proposes to focus to look at what Africa's growing economy and youth population mean for the Music Industry, as well as the partnership opportunities that exist locally for foreign investors, artists and record labels.

 

Let's wait and see if their panel proposal is selected, but I think the conversation can start/continue.

 

What do you make of Africa's music economy, as a consumer and/or producer? Feel free to share in the comments section :)

Mixtapes vs (Street)Albums vs EPs: Definitions

Informed by my curiosity as to whether every artist should aim for an album as a 'career catalogue', I went about the interwebs and came across this interesting XXL Magazine breakdownof three interesting ways in which musicians can and have used to showcase their talent/art. (Check out the original article for the author's interesting personal opinions.) 

(image from the original XXL Magazine article)

 

 

MIXTAPES: 

Before and outside of hip-hop, mixtapes were a combination of various songs put together by listeners, often for friends to get different songs. When hip-hop caught on in the ’80s, DJs, who were then often bigger than the artists, showcased their skills and taste by cutting up music, blending songs, and featuring new music.

In the ’90s, mixtapes primarily shifted into two categories. Blend tapes, which would take a capellas and verses and put them against different instrumentals. Or standard mixtapes, which were the definitive way to introduce new music and artists, and most lacked any technical DJ skills. Stars were made like DJ Clue, who Def Jam signed and went platinum just playing new unreleased music.

The Internet killed the ’90s definition of mixtapes.(Personal note: I'd say, the internet redefined mixtapes, case-in-point: Mixcrate) Blogs became the new DJs by becoming the sources for premiering new music, and many mixtape DJs at the time were forced into early retirement. A few stood at the end of the day, and became stars in their own rights, releasing projects formed entirely of original music with one specific artist/crew (and often original production). Now, these were always called mixtapes, yet often didn’t have any mixing or outside artists, and sometimes were better than artist’s official album releases.

STREET ALBUMS:

Although they’re distributed virally and organically, they aren’t really a mix of anything other than that artist’s original music (i.e. an album).

Artists are also releasing street albums/EP’s at the same time, so they can provide physical distribution in stores (and when people search for that artist in the world’s biggest music store, iTunes), while still giving away the music to the true hip-hop heads, blogs, and growing their buzz organically.

EPs(Extended Plays):

With artists needing music released in the marketplace, but not wanting to “officially” drop an album, EPs have become the current “it” thing to do in hip-hop. Many artists release EPs as a way to officially get out and monetize original music while building their buzz, without having the pressures of putting out a true album.

 Further reading led me to find this analysis of EPs, especially with the rise of the indie musician.

1. EPs mean more focus:

When you plan to release only 6 songs(for instance), you can spend more of your recording time (and money) focusing on those 6 songs. If this involves studio time, it can mean money saved or more attention paid to getting top notch tracks. If recording yourself, it means more time and freedom to experiment in the studio. And when it comes to mixing this can mean more time devoted to bringing out the little nuances in each mix, as opposed to,say, 12 songs.

2. EPs mean more music:

 With a traditional artist releasing a traditional full length album, that album will generally last about 2 years. Bands typically release a few singles off their album, go on tour for a year or so, and then get back into the studio to write and release a new album. This typically happens in 2 to 3 year cycles for an active band.

This means that in order to stay relevant to your fan base you must find other ways to connect with them in between albums. Usually touring is enough. But imagine for a moment if your band decided to put out 6 song EPs from now on. You could write, record, mix, and release your EP quicker than a full length album.

3. EPs mean more growth:

EPs allow musicians to express our musical growth to the world more frequently.

 

At the end of the day, the bottom line is and should be producing good music. All the above are just means of showcasing it. :)

 

Writing A Musician Bio That Doesn't Suck!

A bio can be a tough nut to crack for independent artists. So how do you write a good bio?

First of all, proper spelling and punctuation are imperative. Don’t have errors in your bio!  Have other people proofread your bio, especially if this isn’t one of your strengths. (I’ve been guilty of spelling and grammatical errors plenty of times myself – just make sure you don’t let yourself off the hook too easily. Proofread. Care. It matters)

Image courtesy of Shafali Caricatures.

Why Musicians Should Own Websites.

I am a girl about the internets...(someone should look into offering valid credentials around that.)

Anyway, while this blog may have begun as a 'group therapy-let's-all-woosa-as-musicians' space, I've decided to add more objectivity to it, and one way is to curate content as I come across it.

Today, we look at this issue of owning your own space on the internet as a musician.(Stop panicking! Breathe in...out...and read on...LOL!)

It's been interesting to find that most musicians,locally and internationally haven't jumped onto this opportunity for many reasons. For instance,as a big hit, there's always content being put out about you, right? So if an interested party does a google search about who you are,plenty is bound to come up and inform adequately. And besides, if I have a facebook fan page and I tweet every now and then, what more do I need, right? 

WRONG!!

Digital Music Distribution: Are We Willing To Embrace It?

I hope this post will be more of a discussion that yields fruit and proposes a way forth.

 

We have embraced tech in our everyday lives; money transfer, bill payments...and it's made our lives a whole lot easier. There is no shortage of documentation on app developments and competitions, all aimed at tapping into the connectivity and opportunity that the mobile phone has presented. Now, the music industry hasn't been left behind on the tech front, with iTunes Music Store as a benchmark success. And with that has come digital distributors such as TuneCore and CD Baby,SoundCloud and Reverbnation (who recently ventured into the distribution business), AWAL UK and Overtone in South Africa, who distribute to various online music stores, among them iTunes. 

In the US, digital distribution seems to have been embraced and is the success claim for many an artiste, primarily via iTunes downloads.

Whilst these services are accessible to any music lover, they aren't necessarily customized for our market(ie Africa). Reverbnation,for instance, is a platform that most musicians have embraced, and use to create a basic online profile,(call it the Facebook for musicians...lol). Tunecore delivers music to the Nokia store,whose African reach is limited to South Africa.

Physical CDs acquisition tends to be another logistical nightmare altogether, and in this digital era, it may not be the most convenient option,not in a world where a song becomes a hit overnight, yet shipping isn't as easy.

That leaves torrents as the only other option for us to acquire music from our favourite 'international' artists. True?

Now, closer home. I'm yet to come across a digital content distributor operating across the continent.(Massive opportunity if done well....could do a lot to curb piracy, and some of us can get decent salaries off our craft/vocation...) I've had the pleasure of sitting in on brainstorming sessions on digital content (primarily music) distribution proposals. Here in Kenya, two startups: PewaHewa and Hewa have proposed a solution to digital distribution. Yet to fully understand how Hewa works, but PewaHewa makes use of MPESA,Airtel Money and YuCash to purchase one's favourite music, upon which a link to the song(s) is sent to your email address. 

 

Pewa Hewa
        

 

  
Hewa
   

Has Africa been left behind on the music and tech front?

As an artist, this novelty sounds very appealing. It reduces the headache of mass producing CDs, of smooching retailers to carry your music and pay you in good time, or having to chase every Akamba bus to deliver the CD to an eager fan in Mombasa or Kakamega as a last resort. DIY(Do It Yourself) Music Distribution is something many musicians are having to look into because the 'systems' in place seem to do nothing more than abuse our art.

All the tech-savvy people I know can go on and on about apps developed to meet many other needs, but when it comes to music, it's a whole other story. Having recently released an album, and (thankfully) there being a demand for it across the city,country and even continent(woohoo!), we are almost spending sleepless nights trying to figure out how to satiate the urgency with which the album is requested! The Ma3 album for instance, is available on iTunes and Amazon for those outside Africa. Yet the interesting thing is that people want the physical copy of the album. While that is all good, (definitely a good dilemma)...it's a logistical nightmare. We put the album online for everyone to listen (hoping that come the time to sell, digital would be the primary preference). But not so the case! Make no mistake, we are very grateful that the product we've put out there is that desirable! 

The question begs, are we, as musicians and music lovers, willing to embrace to embrace technology's solutions to the problem at hand? As a musician, I have a product to get out to the market. As a music consumer, I want to get access to the product as soon as possible, and to my satisfaction. Basic supply and demand chain? Not so! As it turns out, demand entails tangibility as I'm learning, at least as far as music goes. Fans want autographed copies of records, and it would seem that digital distribution doesn't offer that? 

But what if, as an artist, I put up my album artwork/inlay on my website for free download? 

As a social media evangelist/strategist in the Kenyan music industry, it takes all I've got not to pull out my dreadlocks trying to figure out this quagmire!

 

 

@NiNanjiraNanjira Sambuli

Goodness me!!! there really is no embracing digital music purchase/distribution is there? everyone wants a physical CD copy! woi!

The response(s) to this tweet are the inspiration behind this post/conversation. I'd love nothing more than to ensure that every music lover of the music in my hands gets to it in good time, whether in Mtwapa or Munich! But what I desire even more, is to get this to every fan in the most convenient way possible! This convenience? Digital music distribution.

So the question doth beg? Are we willing to embrace digital music distribution? If so, what do we need to do, as musicians and music lovers? What are the problems that this novelty presents, and what are the possible solutions? For musicians: could digital distribution be a means of curbing piracy by meeting demand in good time? For music lovers: could this be a means of propelling Africa's musical talent onto the world platform? We have propelled the innovation behind some of our most treasured applications/tech startups, why should we not do it for our art?