Greetings Ryan's Gig Guiders
Four years ago I remember doing things like searching for Russian bands on MySpace. If I tried doing this now on Facebook I would not have any accurate results. So imagine you were Russian and on Facebook looking for English bands, you'd have nyet luck comrade, especially seeing as people in England don't seem to be able to locate new English bands. So how are you going to change the world with your music if the world can't find it ah?
MYSPACE MUSIC - DEATH TO THE UNSIGNED
In 2009 when MySpace started to become overshadowed by the masses joining Facebook a few things were lost. For one thing the MySpace bands search. Now although I myself, like many others, couldn't give a stuff about who was doing well in the MySpace charts at the time, the website did have a system where you could pick a country, find new independent bands, had a choice of genres to search in and the page look was determined by the band themselves designing it. I tried typing in the word 'Alternative' in the 'MySpace Music' search recently. The top 3 artists given were JOHNNY CASH, ELVIS PRESELY and THE CURE. Next I typed 'Metal' and the top result was LADY GAGA. Now although I find that incredible it makes sense really seeing as all the Alternative and Metal bands that helped make MySpace popular all announced themselves leaving it and fled to Facebook thus allowing the mainstream artists to dominate the site. Many Independent bands like yours allowed this to happen....not MySpace. When MySpace was at its prime all bands no matter how big or small had the chance to show off their music to the world. That luxury is now gone.
FACEBOOK MUSIC - UNDER CONSTRUCTION
What did these bands from MySpace and new bands do now? They sign up to Facebook to connect with people, fans and music lovers. Is it working? Let's examine the same test I did on MySpace. I typed the word 'Alternative' in a Facebook search then again with the 'Music' button search. The results I got was anything with the word Alternative in the title of a business, song or product. The most relevant thing I found typing 'Metal' had the word in a title such as the GARY NUMAN song of the same name. So if you are looking for a new band then unless you know the name of this never heard of before band then you won't find it in a Facebook search and that goes for all styles of music. Bands are now blessed on Facebook to have their very own page with a lovely cold white background and....well not much really. However there is the awesome LIKE button (said sarcastically). Nowadays’ bands are so obsessed with getting people to "like them" that they don't seem to be doing much else other than beg people to like their Facebook page. Quite pathetic really and babyish as a concept, If I wanted someone to like my band then I think the last thing I would do is show them my Facebook band page and ask them to Like me, you'll get better results carving your band name into your forehead providing there is a small penis hanging off it. I can't wait for Facebook to one day announce it has decided to archive all the Likes accumulated by bands just so that I can hear all these sad like-button-inviting musicians say the golden words "No one likes me anymore". Or even for one brainless bum hole during their band's hour of mourning to preach to its scattered fans "Music isn't just about getting people Liking my Facebook page....it's about making music as well". Face it Facebook, it's been four years and band pages are about as exciting to look at as a copy of the Yellow Pages, however even the Yellow Pages is using an interesting colour for its users.
WHERE DO WE GO NOW?
ReverbNation.com works well, you can search for a country or genre and discover new bands. The site is only about music so it's more useful to promoters. People today are engrossed by social networking websites and bad TV shows so you can't purely rely on Reverb Nation for fans as regular folks don't view it as a social network. That means they won't see it unless you attach it to a big porn spam virus with "Click here for more" on a photo of a pierced cock. Who knows though? ReverbNation.com may adopt a standard blank white page for all bands and a LIKE button. To get real music exposure your band needs to work hard, write good songs, Gig hard, make news or become newsworthy, plus investing a lot of your own money, then you can display your achievements on all the websites your band is glued to. Imagine there are no Facebook pages, what would your band do? Write the best songs you can? Record those tunes? Organise your own gigs if no one offers them to you and play Live? Spend time making posters that look eye-catching? Try making a good music video (not just someone slumped at the back of your gig holding a mobile phone). Build your own band website even? Maybe the real reason your bands Facebook page is blank is because there is little content? So why not make something happen yourself? Hats off to you if you get top of a like-me chart but don't forget to record music and play live...No likey, No writey?
By Nick J.Townsend for Ryan's Gig Guide Magazine
