Before the rise of social media, the success of a band
almost entirely depended on their ability to get signed to a record label. They
generally couldn’t afford to hire publicist or booking agents, have records/CDs
or merchandise made, get played on the radio, pay for studio time and so forth.
While all of these things can still be nice to have, just about everything a
band may have once expected from a record label has either become obsolete, or
its necessity has become severely diminished. Social media has become a
reasonable substitute for having a publicist or promoter. Home recording
technology has made the ‘demo’ process very cheap or entirely free. Website
like Bandcamp are an acceptable substitute for physical album and record
stores. Music streaming sites like Pandora and Spotify have virtually replaced
radio, and for everything else that costs money…there’s crowdfunding.
However, you don’t want to get too excited. Much like the other outlets, you need to use
crowdfunding properly to get the most out of it. This includes choosing the
right platform, making the right ‘sales’ pitch, and managing expectations.
No comments:
Post a Comment