RiverWalk News

INTRODUCTION

The digital age has brought about many changes within the music industry in both how we receive and how we consume music. It has been well documented that the music industry has had a hard time trying to keep up. In this article I will be looking at the way in which new media channels have opened up opportunities for popular music artists to convey themselves and capture an audience through some the new channels that have opened up from the creation of the Internet.

THE CONCEPT OF COMPROMISE WITHIN THE ARTIST/COMMERCE RELATIONSHIP

Artists and commercial brands can benefit from having a working relationship with each other. It has been commonly used throughout popular music’s history, but has often come with the artist being branded as ‘selling out’. The term ‘selling out’ relates to the initial ideals of the artist being compromised and the audiences of the music are seemingly very receptive to this kind of deceit. But can this be avoided? If the brand and the artist have the same ideals then what would be the problem? For instance, if an art rock band with ideals of innovation and creativity co-joined with a commercial brand such as Diesel, who has a deep underpinning of innovation and creativity, the mindset is the same and therefore no compromise of the eithers ideal’s are needed.

However, unfortunately we don’t live in a perfect world where there is one brand that would be perfect for every artist, and so compromising on some ideals and creativity may be needed. But this can go too far and resort to the artist being branded the term ‘selling out’ and so artists must think deeply about how their audience perceives them and if it will cause tension.

Being co-joined with a brand can also open up creativity and free up the artist. For instance, the bassist from Franz Ferdinand, Bob Hardy, co-joined with Diesel Radio and was able to host a show playing ‘Italian Disco’ music. He wasn’t able to show his love of this before, as he had the association with indie music and Franz Ferdinand. Conversely, it can stifle creativity where some of the artists whacky ideas being dismissed by the co-joined brand and stunting the artists self-expression.

CURRENT DEBATES SURROUNDING COMMUNICATION THEORY

fig.1

The digital age has opened up many new channels that a message can be conveyed through. This ranges from social media sites to blogs, that can all be found on the Internet. ‘The Hypodermic Needle’ model approach to advertising and communication, commonly found in the 1950’s advertising industry, seems to no longer be the basis as a model for communication, as there seems to be other factors like environment and emotions, that can affect the understanding of the message, which the model didn’t take into account. The Shannon-Weaver mathematical model (fig.1) includes these factors and can be described as the most plausible way in which messages are sent and received.

This model has also led to ‘experiential marketing’, where there is marketing across different channels and not as harsh as the 1950’s approach. It can include an event, which then appeals to the five senses, where say a clothing brand tries to associate themselves with a certain lifestyle or message being conveyed, and build up an association with the experience from the event. Often artists and brands can work together in experiential marketing and can build a brand association with the ideals and lifestyle of said artist.

The new channels of communication brought on by the digital age, have a larger scope for marketing and advertising than previous platforms. It allows real-time information and a participatory factor, which allow the consumer to feel closer and part of the product, in a musician’s case, themselves. This makes the encoder and the decoder in the Shannon-Weaver model (fig.1) operate on a similar and closer level and thus the message can be more clearly understood. The noise in this model relating to the new channels, can be other bits of information on the Internet, like competing adverts or other influential opinions, which can disrupt or distort the message initially intended. This can cause a misunderstanding and thus consumers can turn away or reject the project because of it.

The Internet has also opened up participatory culture. According to a 2005 study conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life project, more than one-half of all American teens, and 57 percent of teens that use the Internet, could be considered media creators. This no longer means that there are set groups of creators and consumers but they are now combined into almost a community. Henry Jenkins defines participatory culture as:

‘Participatory culture shifts the focus of literacy from one of individual expression to community involvement/Not every member must contribute, but all must believe they are free to contribute when ready and that what they contribute will be appropriately valued’ – Henry Jenkins 2006.

THE ROLE PLAYED BY OPINION LEADERS IN DIFFUSING MEDIA MESSAGES TO AUDIENCES

The Internet brought about the democratisation of taste and how there was no need for opinion leaders or journalists when everything is accessible. This began with people blogging and writing about different artists that would have been considered throwaway by the old era journalists. Everyone could be an opinion leader and therefore had the means to express that opinion.

Slowly people have begun to get bored of searching the Internet to try and find something worth listening to, as with the democratisation of opinion, the digital age also gave way to the democratisation of creating music. People are turning back to opinion leaders with informed opinions to direct them to good music. Gill Mills and Bill Brewster, both opinion leaders themselves, have reflected this standpoint through conversations and lectures that they have given.

Even though people are turning back to opinion leaders, it has taken a different format as is seen with the decline in readerships of print media. Opinion leaders mainly express their views through blogs, which are easily accessible to anyone with an Internet connection.  This channel allows discussions to take place and operates like a forum, and thus relating back to the participatory culture Henry Jenkins writes about. The opinion leader can help amplify and partially help the decoding process to the receiver/audience.

USE OF CURRENT THINKING TO INFORM A STRATEGY ON THE POSITION OF MY OWN WORK

As I am a popular musician myself, I must incorporate new ways of thinking and strategies to position my own work within the current state of the music industry. Below are a few points that I would put into a strategy of my own work:

1. The use of anonymity would be a statement and reaction against everything personal being displayed on the Internet.  This would entail building a project where the main attraction is the mystery and it becomes its own entity. It would still have to produce lots of material and social media to keep people interested, but taking the human edge out. Setting up a puzzle to find out the identities of the project would be a good use of experiential marketing to build more worth and satisfaction of finding out, relating to the consumer/project relationship and participatory culture. Daft Punk has used this before to great effect.
2. Experiential marketing with brands would increase the exposure of the project as commercial brands often have a larger budget to spend than if one was doing it solely on their own. The event behind the marketing project would be able to expose the artist to a larger audience when identified with a well-known brand. Although, this is a tricky tightrope to walk as I have said earlier in my article and must be thought about very deeply and carefully as so not to affect the message and ideals of the artist.
3. I would include a tribal/cult sensibility in the project, which covers the participatory aspect that gets people interested and retain consumers.  This would mean more interactivity between the project and consumer, which would keep them involved. A good example of this is the ‘Blessing Force’ in Oxford, which is a very DIY culture of a collective of people creating music. This idea could take place through Internet forums and blogs, where possible remixes could occur or suggestions for artwork from consumers.

CONCLUSION

Overall the whole way in which people are communicating has changed with the development of the digital age. Consumers now interact through social media and debatably have a more direct line with their interests. Artists have had to take this into account and use them to their advantage in capturing an audience. The participation of consumers in the projects themselves and their constant longing for new material and features means it has become harder for projects to develop but means that they can get constant feedback and even input.

The digital age is still developing and changing with every new idea and program. There is no use trying to stonewall the progression, but embrace it and think of new and inventive ways to reach and interact with consumers. It can also be said that the most inventive and creative part of being a popular musician, outside of music making, is the marketing.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jenkins, H. (2006). Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century. Chicago: The MacArthur Foundation.

Jenkins, H. (2011). Critical Information Studies For a Participatory Culture. Available:http://www.henryjenkins.org/2009/04/what_went_wrong_with_web_20_cr_1.html. Last accessed 19th March 2011.

Jenkins, H (2006). Fans, Bloggers and Gamers: Essays on Participatory Culture. New York: New York University Press.

DEEFIVE. (2010). 105 key concepts – seminar and lecture notes write up. Available:http://deefive.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/105-key-concepts-seminar-and-lecture-notes-write-up/. Last accessed 19th March 2011.

Three Billion Reports. (2007). Daft Punk: Marketing Genius or Capitalising on the Viral-Factor?. Available:http://www.threebillion.com/?p=11. Last accessed 19th March 2011.

Univeristy of Twente. (n.d.). Hypodermic needle theory. Available:http://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20clusters/Mass%20Media/Hypodermic_Needle_Theory.doc/. Last accessed 19th March 2011.

Powell, J (2008). 33 Million People in the Room: How to Create, Influence, and Run a Successful Business with Social Networking. New York: Financial Times/ Prentice Hall. 200.

I’ve recently become intrigued with DIY, Youtube sensation Alex Day.  Coverage of his ongoing artistic success has been popping up here and there for the last year and I finally sat down to review and digest the different possible factors that have led to his success in hopes of revealing a path I may be able to co opt for my own musical efforts.

Day had an online following before he started making music, which is part of the key to his success.  Most to all bands start out having very little to no fans which by having some kind of audience is where he got the initial boost.  Some musicians can substitute their friends and family for an initial fan base, but it can still be difficult to obtain the same momentum doing so.  You can advertise, but nothing replaces true fans in this regard.

Day distributed his music primarily on iTunes and YouTube (at first) and by doing so he kept his music from being on every Tom, Dick, and Harry music website out there which helped legitimize him.  If he had just dumped his music on any and every music site it would have lumped him into a crowd of other artists who (quite possibly) sound unprofessional or not polished which might have swayed potential fans about thinking the same about his music.   He also focused on where his revenue streams were coming from by only using iTunes and YouTube.  They pay higher percentages than a lot of other download and streaming sites while also maintaining higher traffic than others, too.  He chose where and how he was going to receive payment for his work, limiting the time and money spent uploading it elsewhere while ensuring he’d maximize his potential profits by not offering his music through sites that pay lower percentages.

I believe that Day’s greatest strength is his charisma.  He’s down to earth, driven, and positive about what he’s doing.  Even if you don’t necessarily like the product he is selling, the way he presents himself and communicates with his audience makes you want to support him.   This all comes down to his   persona.  Day has a type A+ personality.  I’ve run across only a handful of these types of people, but they all have the following traits:
- They are not only smart, but tend to think outside the box where others do not.
- They are competitive and aren’t afraid of challenges.
- They are extremely focused on their goals and know what they are trying to achieve inside and out.
- They know how to get people to do what they want and hold a certain kind of sway over them.
- They are winners and are able to succeed in whatever they do because of these factors.

Day has admitted to taking a long look at the rules of established way of doing things and finding a way around them without breaking them.  When he decided to make 11 covers of his first song that he entered into the Christmas Day #1 contest in Britain, he focused on what he was trying to achieve and maximized every angle to reach that goal when others did not.  This led his song coming in 4th in that competition beating Coldplay!  All without the help of traditional advertising or press and no label support.

Let’s think about this for a second.  Day isn’t the best looking or most well spoken or wealthiest or even the most skilled musician in the world (I’m not saying he’s the worst, either).  I can come up with an endless list of people who are far greater at each of those things, but by being optimistic, creative, communicative, down to earth, and focused he has been able to obtain what most musicians want, a career that supports him comfortably, the ability to keep on creating, and recognition.

Maybe other musicians can use these examples to help further their own dreams and goals.  If they cannot emulate what he is doing or how he carries himself, maybe try and find someone who does to help fit that role or guide you toward what you are striving for artistically.

This article was co-written by Jon Ostrow and Ariel Hyatt 

If you are anything like the majority of people, artists, authors, entrepreneurs and beyond who have built a Facebook fan page, then I’m sure you’ve noticed something… 

Facebook makes it ALMOST impossible to make any sort of real growth happen. 

A recent study reported by Mashable (from Napkin Labs), showed that on average only 6% of fans engage with a brand’s Facebook page: 

On average, just 6% of fans engage with a brand’s Facebook Page via likes, comments, polls and other means, according to a study from Napkin Labs, a Facebook app developer that works with brands and agencies. Of those fans that did, the average engagement was the equivalent of less than one like over the course of the eight weeks the study was conducted. 

There are several reasons for this. Most of these, truthfully, are human error which we will discuss below. But there is no doubt that Facebook is taking strides to make it more difficult for you to achieve growth & impressions on their platform. 

The problem at hand is akin to a common proverb: 

Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime… 

Except in Facebook’s case, it’s more like, once you teach the man to fish, you then put a thick layer of ice over the water, making it FAR more difficult. 

So let’s dive into the issues at hand below:

You Don’t Pay. Period.

This is the proverbial ‘ice over the water’. No matter what you do to correct your own understanding of how Facebook works, and implement a more effective strategy, you WILL have to deal with the fact that Facebook uses an algorithm that works in the favor of advertisers. The money that advertisers spend on Facebook grants them first access through the ice to all of the fish in the sea. 

A friend of Ariel’s, technologist Marcus Whitney explained the dilemma here beautifully in a recent panel they spoke on for AIMP at ASCAP in Nashville (reported by Music Row): 

“Of FB’s $1.53 billion in revenue, 95% of what they earned was in advertising and 25% of that was from mobile ads. You used to be able to reach 100% of the people that liked your page on FB, but now you can at max reach 15% of them without paying.” 

At the end of the day, Facebook is catering to their customers. Believe it or not, but Facebook’s customers are not you. They are advertisers. They are the people willing to spend money to be connected with others, and this algorithm was created to ensure that this happens. 

Facebook has created an option for those of us who are NOT full-time advertisers, that for better or worse, gives the opportunity to ‘gain access to fish in the sea’ more quickly and effectively. This is the dreaded ‘promoted post’ function that Facebook introduced several months back. 

By paying even as little as $15, you are FAR more likely to see true engagement happen on your posts, simply because Facebook is ALLOWING this to happen (because you’ve paid for it!). 

As ridiculous as this seems, this option does present you with a good opportunity to jumpstart the engagement of a new page by promoting select posts that nurture strong engagement with your audience. 

Ariel and I tested this over the Holiday season with one promoted post and here were our results: 



With just $15 spent, we received 46 likes, 237 comments and most importantly (for the purpose of this ‘algorithm’ conversation), the number of people who SAW the post was 4,517… 

A whopping 10 TIMES the number of our average post. 

But even with this great response from the one promoted post, it would have meant nothing had we not been prepared to leverage the new engagement through a strong strategy. 

This strategy is the piece that so many are missing. This is the human error mentioned above. Here are 5 things that, if you don’t do, you’ll never reach the level of success you hope to achieve through Facebook:

You Don’t Post Consistent, Compelling Content (CCC)

This means that your content is not only consistent in terms of the style and theme, but in terms of frequency as well. A well run Facebook fan page should have 1 post per day (2 if you are getting great engagement) and the content should be varied enough to keep it interesting but similar enough that it helps to develop your overall brand.

Your Don’t Use Mixed Media

Facebook is not Twitter. Text isn’t the answer to success on Facebook. Facebook has acknowledged the fact that people are more likely to engage with photos, videos and links than they are simple, standard text updates. 



Facebook gives these types of posts more weight in their algorithm.

3. Your Don’t Focus on Community

Facebook is a SOCIAL network. It is not a broadcast tool. If you spend your time on Facebook telling people about yourself over and over again like a broken records rather than asking, conversing and building real relationships, you’ll miss out on what Facebook actually has to offer. Find ways that your fans can not only interact with you, but can interact with each other, and you’ll really start to see some magic happen on your page as well.

4. You Don’t RE-Engage Your Community / AKA You Only Engage ONCE

It is one thing to ask questions to your fans on Facebook, or to share compelling content that warrants comments, questions, etc. - but it is entirely different for you to RE-engage your community by responding to each comment and question. It is this re-engagement of your community that will keep them coming back, helping them to build stronger loyalty to your brand. Oh… and all of this will help you to rank higher in the algorithm. 

It is a snowball effect, the better you perform, the more weight your posts will hold in FB’s algorithm, and the more people will see your posts and engage with them…

5. You Don’t Pay Attention to Analytics

It is shocking how many people ignore the fact that Facebook actually GIVES you detailed analytics on your fan page. They do this for a reason! (See: the snowball effect above in #4). 

Facebook’s ‘Insights’ give you a detailed look at who your fan base is, where they live, and most importantly, what content they are most willing to engage with. Your content strategy never needs to be a static thing - it should be fluid! It should shape-shift as you find out more about who your fans are and what their needs are. Using Facebook Insights is critical to a strong Facebook fan page that holds well in Facebook’s algorithm. 

Of course, using Facebook Insights are only helpful if you know what the average metrics on Facebook are, so that you can compare your efforts to the standard. 

First off, you have to understand the average number of fans on a Facebook page… this will help you establish a realistic goal to work for: 

[caption id=”attachment_9247” align=”aligncenter” width=”500”]Source: AllFacebook.com[/caption] 

Secondly, once you have a realistic fan growth goal, you need to understand what the realistic amount of engagement of your total fan base actually is! Believe it or not, theaverage engagement rate of a fan page (Engagement Rate = ‘People Talking About This Page’ / Total Number of Likes) is between .5% and .99%. A GOOD engagement rate is anything over 1%.

What HAVE You Done in Order to Best the ‘Facebook Algorithm’ and Garner Stronger Results?

Written by Tommy Darker.

Credit: Flickr ‘Zilladon’

Yeah, I know, there is a lot of debate and it is already an old hat for most musicians, who read constantly about the liberation of the independent music from the gatekeepers (‘Fuck the gatekeepers’ is more hyperbole than ‘viral’ now) and that they can go out and do it alone, without the help of major labels.

Nobody, however, has come up with a satisfactory description of what being an independent musician in the digital age entails.