Social media has revolutionized the way that bands communicate with their fans. There are thousands of articles on the subject, and whole blogs entirely dedicated to give advice on marketing through social media. In my opinion, artists are becoming to reliant on social media for promotion. Beware! The Leopard has a facebook page, twitter, myspace, reverbnation, our stage, ning, etc, and it is important to get yourself out there as much as possible. But there is a danger of becoming complacent, of thinking that you only need social media to spread the word. Sure there are a few anecdotal success stories, but by and large musicians still generate most of their fans by writing good tunes and playing shows. We’ve generated some interest on social media networks, and made some valuable connections, but the vast majority of people on our email list got there by signing up at shows. We’ve found that as important as using social media for promotion is, it can also be a huge time suck that gets in the way of writing, rehearsing, and old fashioned promotion. In other words, social media is a tool of promotion, but it is not the be all and end all.