Traditional record companies are being bypassed in favor of direct communications between artist and fans.
While traditional music promotion continues to be valuable, more and more musicians are realizing that communicating directly with potential buyers is growing increasingly important in a world where increasing numbers of consumers young, and old, are buying music directly for their iPods, rather than hoping their local record store has an item in stock.
One of the biggest drivers of this shift to direct communication between artist and public has been the social networking site MySpace (www.myspace.com).
Around two years ago, MySpace began offering free musician accounts, allowing artists to post a set of songs, combined with easy ways to accumulate members, post performance calendars, and send out information or release bulletins to those who'd joined the site.
Almost overnight, musicians and bands that had previously faced building custom Web sites requiring considerable time and expense had a way to generate an online presence in only a few hours with little or no Web site creation expertise.
MySpace also offered the means to readily recruit a set of base members by doing a search of the MySpace existing membership, and then sending an invitation to join a MySpace site dealing directly with a band or musician.
In most cases, those persons who already expressing an interest in a particular band or musician as a part of their MySpace profile are more than happy to join a MySpace page dealing with said artist.
In a nutshell, these sites provide a high-level working example of just how social networking was supposed to work – providing an opportunity for perilsons with like interests to easy find and communicate with each other.
Musicians, especially those from outside mainstream radio airplay, have found MySpace makes one of the most effective ways of reaching out to their fan base at very little cost. Some musicians are now actively posting performance samples on sites such as YouTube in the hope of drawing new listeners.
The success of MySpace musician accounts have spread so rapidly that even some of music's biggest artists, most recently Bruce Springsteen, have erected MySpace Music pages.
An example of MySpace's potential reach was seen in the creation of a home page for a 1970's latin jazz-rock group called Azteca (www.myspace.com/aztecaband).
Azteca Reunion Concert, September 15, 2007 - Photo By Tom MeekAfter not performing for more than three decades, the creation of a MySpace page for the band announcing a reunion concert was a key factor in helping to create a successful concert with hundreds of fans in attendance.
The site will also be used as a key component to help promote and market a DVD being produced from the same concert event.
Thousands of musicians now have MySpace pages announcing concert events, communicating directly with fans, and providing the opportunity to both listen to and now directly sell music to consumers.
It's likely the music business will only continue to evolve in this direct marketing model, rather than relying on traditional retail delivery. Doing so may eventually mean musicians will earn a greater percentage of the income their talent ultimately generates.
Tom Meek is a computer and media consultant working with businesses and individuals on high-tech needs. Another Day In Cyberville is published weekly in print and online via The Gainesville Voice, a weekly publication of The New York Times Regional Newspaper Group. You can reach Tom Meek at adayincyberville@gmail.com.
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