Social Media Strategy

[zarmattathustra]

I'm curious if anyone has given much thought to social media strategy, or if its a part of the mix of the business side of what your doing.

As a kind of 101 of publicity you start local and niche, and then build out in a more global / mass media direction. Blogs and podcasts are niche to a degree not found else where. So embracing emerging media seems, at least to me, as a kind of no brainer. Particularly if you're doing something "a little different."

Some people are saying that the future of the music industry will look something like the publishing industry. In the publishing industry you have a lot of market fragmentation.. so the mass media approach of the major labels has a more limited utility then is the case historically. If you can produce great music in your home, for less money then ever before, and if you can work out promotion and distribution strategies.. say via the internet, where you can again do it your self for not a lot of money... or perhaps if some labels get really good at this.. then you don't have to sell so many records to make a living. So this would have huge ramifications on culture, and the business of how we go about things.

Social Media strategy is sorta like traditional guerrilla strategy on steroids, or as they say in the military, it's a force multiplier.

It seems to me that if you're in a band... the period prior to getting a label deal.. you're building your business.. it's up to you.. so weather or not you're in an old mind set about the business or not, at least during this period it might make sense to adopt this kind of strategy?

So I guess I'm just wondering what people think of this kind of thing, are you tuned into it, or whatever?

[erock123]

what a cool question;

my band and i decided to put or record up for free; thinking about the same kinds of things...

we self released it in 2006, sold our initial pressing, and now have to either invest hundreds more or take advantage of a promotion opportunity.... We are finishing our second recording, so putting the first record up free is a promotional move for the sake of the new one...

Maybe it is a bad move; only time will tell, but i really think the potential and attractiveness of embracing new forms of media distribution will make the difference in this fight... and its those of us who wrap our heads around it first who will win in the end


you can get it at www.fromexile.com by the way; we put it up 2 days ago and have had about 100 downloads...