This past Wednesday, I attended a music panel my friend and colleague David Chaitt was speaking at. The guest speakers included Chaitt, Manger of Social Distribution at Oddcast, blogger and freelance social media strategist, Hayley Cammarata, Digital/Strategic Marketing and Product Manager at Decca Label Group/Universal Music Group, and Eric de Fontenay, Editor-In-Chief & Publisher of MusicDish.
The majority of the two hour panel covered social media and how bands can use the Internet to promote their music. While I’ll admit I was pretty proficient in all the topics discussed, one comment that particularly stuck out to me was MySpace is dead. I posted a question on Twitter and had an overwhelming response from fellow music journalists as well as bands who still rely greatly on MySpace. Although applications within Twitter and Facebook help bands market themselves, in my opinion MySpace is still a huge contributor to getting an artists’ music heard. What do you think? I want to know in this week’s poll.
Feel free to vote on the sidebar and leave comments if you feel MySpace’s influence is dwindling and if so, why? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I’ll leave you with some quotes from the panel below.
“People are going to connect because you’re a storyteller. Be true to your creation and who you are.” — Eric de Fontenay
“If you’re presenting things of value people will reciprocate. You’re doing what you love and that’s all that matters.” — David Chaitt
“Find sites you’re comfortable with that fit in your genre and engage fans that way.” — Hayley Cammarata
“Social media is for connecting with fans, not for selling stuff. The golden rule of marketing is no one cares about you, they care about themselves. It’s all about how you engage people.” — Eric de Fontenay
“If you are an artist and you respond to someone, they’ll see that and they’ll know there’s a real person on the other side of the computer. It feels good for a fan to know that they’re noticed. ” — David Chaitt
“It’s important to know your audience. Stick with your audience and market to them.” — Hayley Cammarata