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.

To be honest, as I’ve only been doing this music thing for about the last five years, the presence of social media outlets has been a constant from the start. That said, I know it’s made a huge impact – I made a point of not ever wanting to be one of those bands that sent out friend requests or tried to build up the numbers of our contacts on MySpace and Facebook. All of the friends we’ve got on there are because people asked. (And admittedly, I do a bit of pruning on friend requests too, as I’m not a fan of being overwhelmed by show invites and things from bands who live on the other side of the planet from me). Above all else, I don’t think that the present music scene would exist if it weren’t for the flow of information on the internet. The biggest artists of the moment were the biggest blog hype items of two years ago. Definite proof of the power behind it all.

A new artist should focus on two things, music and performance. There’s a lot of misinformation out there about what publicity needs to be done, particularly in cyberspace. Everyone is encouraged to make sure they have a proper website, a myspace, facebook, etc. and so many artists focus on these things before they have an album recorded (me included). Once your music is solid and you’re getting a few gigs in your hometown, then I would start worrying about publicity. It is important to have your own website, separate from your myspace, as myspace is very limited in what you can provide to your audience. Don’t forget about traditional media as well. Hit up your local college radio stations with demo copies of your tunes and ask your friends to call in and request it. Also send out copies to local zines and scene papers to have it reviewed. Make sure they know about upcoming gigs ahead of time (newspaper deadlines are important – you can’t let them know the day before the gig!) But like I said before, if you put too much effort in your publicity without having solid recordings and a solid performance, then you are wasting your time.