Social Media & Creativity

Does this new emphasis on Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace take away from the creative process? Is it possible that the artist begins to spend too much time updating Facebook instead of writing new songs? Yeah, the major artists have teams completing the social networking, but sometimes that becomes obvious. If a corporate intern is doing Twitter updates for a major artist, sooner or later, that will become know, and the artist will lose followers.

Authenticity. We all want it from the musicians we love.

But there needs to be a limit so that the artist can concentrate on writing & composing. Yet, as more and more artist take the entrepreneurial route in building their fan base, social media becomes a necessity alongside the constant touring and writing.

So, perhaps the next step in this process will be social media band managers. These teenagers & 20-somethings will be able to work for many bands for relatively little money per band and coordinate all of their social media. What needs to come directly from the band (Twitter updates) can come from the band. What can be done by a social media band manager can be outsourced.

Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora, suggests that the new record label executive will fit more of this role – to take care of the non-creative items for a band. Perhaps the record labels could do this to resurrect their declining business model. But it will more likely come from tech-savvy music lovers who understand the power of social media and viral marketing.

Stay tuned,
Erik
erikrostad.com
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