15 minutes into talking to Jay Ziskrout of Dympol, I got a text message from my friend, Steve Bernett who promotes in Brooklyn, bluntly saying, “Where the fuck are you”. At that point, I made my way to the fourth floor for, “The Evolution of Social Networks and Music” to meet up with Steve.
So the big question is: what has Facebook and Myspace done to the music industry? Social networking gives you the tools to promote, fundraise, and develop your image as a band. Do you think a mediocre band like OK Go would ever get half as where they were two years without that treadmill video?
Social networking allows you to be unconventional, be yourself and directly connect with people on a large scale. I met musicians at CMJ who used the Chip In tool on MySpace to raise money for touring and recording.
I personally hate it. Nothing worse than getting a stupid Facebook email saying so and so wants to be your friend or Person X would like to invite you to a party. If your band is any good, I will hear of you and I will check out your MySpace when the time is right. Feel free to bother everyone else, but please leave me alone! If you could see my email inbox, you’d know my pain.
However, generations are growing up in the Facebook-era and they get their new music from the Internet, so educate yourself in where it can take you.
To quote Bob Lefsetz, “Fuck Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg is a pompous, socially-impaired nitwit who has managed to connect a ton of people but not make any money.”
Bob doesn’t even touch upon how annoying all those stupid widgets and applications are.