Why Buying Followers is a Bad Idea

Buying Facebook or Twitter Followers

There are several companies out there that offer services where you can buy “real” followers on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr. Other services sell “real” views on YouTube videos or plays on Sound Cloud. For nearly every social media site available, there are services that claim to boost your reach, increase your followers, and give you more credibility by increased views.

How They Work

Follower services are driven by bots. In other words, they are fake accounts generated by a system that is only programmed to follow, watch a video, or listen to a song. Often times, the followers will be from other countries, only speak in a foreign language, and the names/photos will be obviously fake. While these sites claim that what they are offering is completely legitimate, nearly every social media site strictly prohibits buying followers and it can result in the suspension of an account.

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MusicThinkTank.com Weekly Recap: 10 Reasons You Shouldn't Wish For Overnight Success & More

Where

The Music Industry

Thinks Out Loud

• Brian Thompson: 10 Reasons You Shouldn’t Wish For Overnight Success
• Chris Hacker: Marketing Plan Tactics For Independent Musicians – Part 3 of 3: Content Is King
• Dave Cool: The Four P’s of Playing Live Shows: Post-Show
• Ariel Hyatt: Musician’s Arsenal: Killer Apps, Tools & Sites - ReverbNation Mobile Apps
• Derek Miller: Brainstorming Doesn’t Work

Brainstorming Doesn't Work

Keith Sawyer, a psychologist at Washington University, has summarized the science: “Decades of research have consistently shown that brainstorming groups think of far fewer ideas than the same number of people who work alone and later pool their ideas.”

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Musician's Arsenal: Killer Apps, Tools & Sites - ReverbNation Mobile Apps

Keeping in line with our recent mobile theme, I wanted to present another mobile option to you this week. Last week we talked about Mobile Roadie’s free mobile ready website option. Mobile Roadie is also quite adept at making mobile apps. And while they are a leader in app creation platforms for musician’s to consider, their price points can be prohibitive for many independent artists. But have no fear, ReverbNation has been creating free/inexpensive solutions for independent musician’s since their inception. Here again they have come up with an affordable solution for mobile app creation. And ReverbNation can get you up and running with a customized app in 6 quick steps.

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The Four P’s of Playing Live Shows: Post-Show

Dave Cool is the Director of Artist Relations for musician website and marketing platform Bandzoogle. Twitter: @Bandzoogle | @dave_cool

The “Four P’s” is a term used to describe the traditional Marketing Mix: Product, Price, Placement, and Promotion. I’m borrowing from that expression to talk about the Four P’s of Playing Live Shows: Preparation, Promotion, Performance, and Post-Show. This series of blog posts will cover the things that you can be doing as a live performer to maximize each show. In the final part of this series, we’ll go over what to do after your show is finished:

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Marketing Plan Tactics For Independent Musicians – Part 3 of 3: Content Is King

Here’s the final post in my 3 part series discussing some basic marketing plan elements for independent musicians. So far we’ve gotten Everything In Order (Website is up-and-running, Newsletter plan is in place and Touring and Merchandise steps have been taken) and we’ve also had a successful Album Launch.

What now?

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10 Reasons You Shouldn't Wish For Overnight Success

1. You won’t be mentally prepared to deal with all of the fame, fortune, and international attention. You will crash and burn. Remember what happened to Susan Boyle?

2. You won’t be well-rehearsed or experienced enough and your performance won’t be ready for overnight global attention. Remember what happened to Ashlee Simpson on Saturday Night Live?

3. Critics and fans will eat you alive for every little misstep you do, crushing your soul and spirit in the process. Whether it be a misconstrued comment to reporter, a silly tweet, a questionable photo, or even what you’re eating or wearing… you will have a target firmly painted on your forehead for all to take aim at.

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MusicThinkTank.com Weekly Recap: How Vinyl and iPods Ganged Up to Kill the CD & more

Where

The Music Industry

Thinks Out Loud

• Ariel Hyatt: Marketing Plan Tactics For Independent Musicians - Part 2 of 3: Album Launch
• Tom Dennehy: How Vinyl and iPods Ganged Up to Kill the Audio CD
• Mark Knight: Can You Recover From Free Music?
• Simon Tam: How to Get Gigs on Sonicbids

How to Get Gigs on Sonicbids

A while ago, I wrote this article about How to Get Better Results From Your Sonicbids Submissions. Since then, there have been a few changes to the site (both for promoters as well as performers). All of the advice from the first article still applies so if you haven’t read it, take a look at it first.

Here’s some practical advice for those of you who would like to use Sonicbids to get gigs and what my thoughts are on it (both as an artist as well as a promoter):

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Can You Recover From Free Music?

I’ve lost count of the number of articles I’ve read that insist bands and artists should give their music away for free.  Personally I believe, unless you have the benefit of on-going PR support or are reaching mass audiences through radio airplay, giving away your core product might just be a mistake you’ll never recover from. Here’s why…

Giving away your music might be a prudent strategy for artists like Prince that have successfully established, genuine, alternative income streams (EG tours) to sustain a living. However, for the average DIY, or unsigned musician who barely covers costs when they play live, is it really a smart strategy to remove your most obvious and immediate income stream?

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How Vinyl and iPods Ganged Up to Kill the Audio CD

NPR reported that CD sales tanked in 2010, particularly among younger buyers. The trend suggests that vinyl and iPods are sinking the audio CD into the so-called “fidelity belly,” where mediocre products go to die.

In his book Trade-Off, journalist Kevin Maney wrote that a truly successful product provides either the richest user experience (fidelity) or the greatest convenience. Less successful products fall into what he labeled the fidelity belly, “the no-man’s-land of consumer experience,” characterized by commercial apathy, insufficient fidelity, and insufficient convenience.

Apple succeeds in the consumer computer market by providing the richest pre-sales experience in its retail stores. Dell and HP succeed by providing an ultra-convenient pre-sales experience online. Who is in the belly? Everyone else.

Sinking into the fidelity belly is essentially the fast track to obsolescence. Staying out of the belly is never assured, because customer expectations for fidelity and convenience constantly evolve.

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Marketing Plan Tactics For Independent Musicians - Part 2 of 3: Album Launch

The first piece in this 3 part series discussed steps you should take before you start promoting a new album, such as having your online presence all in order. In Part 2, I will go over some basic elements for, yep you guessed it, promoting a new album.

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MusicThinkTank.com Weekly Recap: Why Music is Less Valuable Than Expertise & More

Where

The Music Industry

Thinks Out Loud

• Ariel Hyatt: Musician’s Arsenal: Killer Apps, Tools and Sites - GigFunder
• Jamie Leger: Why Music is Less Valuable Than Expertise and Information…?
• Simon Tam: How to Book a Tour: Unconventional Advice
• Chris Hacker: Marketing Plan Tactics For Independent Musicians - Part 1 of 3: New Album Preparations

Marketing Plan Tactics For Independent Musicians - Part 1 of 3: New Album Preparations

Chris Hacker here, I create Marketing Plans for artists at Cyber PR® and really enjoy working with my many clients. I’ve noticed a huge problem though. Artists call the Cyber PR® offices all the time looking for us to promote their new album, totally fine of course, but the problem lies in that many of these artists call us when their albums are coming out the next week!! It completely baffles me that an artist or band will work so hard on an album, spending hours and hours writing songs and practicing these songs and then spending large sums of money recording, mixing and mastering, to only rush the release with no plan in place! Not planning enough lead time for a press campaign isn’t the only issue, but many people we talk to try to release their album when some of the basic music promotion elements aren’t even in place, for example a website where you can sell the music!

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