When I grew up, when you went to a party, you sneaked out of your house, gather your friends in the neighborhood and go to whatever friend's house where the parents went away and play some great 80s music. The social aspect was calling everyone on your analog phone or leaving written notes around the neighborhood about the big party happening that night. You play some shiny new music CDs and learn about what is going on by talking to people in person. You even find out about that surprise relationship again in person, seeing the two lovebirds getting chummy in the corner at the party. When the party is over, everyone went home and got on the phone with their friends until the wee hours. This was the 1980s going into the 1990s. Ah, those days, so simple, and full of surprises.
Fast forward to 2014. Things are getting complicated. You got Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Google Hangouts, Facetime, Skype and any other social platform of the month. The whole idea of a party is let's hide out in our basement, and do group texts on our iPhones, Driods, Windows phone, iPads or any other mobile device. Your party is now online instead of at someone's house. Everyone's idea of a hangout, is Google Hangout. The music, let's fire up some Spotify or Pandora and share some tunes online... again not in person. You want to meet someone, send a picture via Instagram and do some Snapchat. How many teenagers have a special someone that they have never met in person?
But look on the bright side. You can have an international party with people all over the globe sharing music and pictures from the comfort in your home in your jamas using social media. You can play and video record a song using your iPad and post it on YouTube for your friends on the other side of the world to see. Social Media has brought a new concept of the party.
So let's have a party this Saturday night and bring your mobile devices. Let's fire up some Pandora playing some processed EDM music and text and tweet each other while in the same room about how much they like the person next to them without actually looking at them and talking to them. If only the 1980s party concept came back. Would social media still be as relevant?
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Social Media in the Music Industry - Have Things Changed or What?
The days of the rock star are dead. You know, the rock star with the long hair, earrings, spinning their guitar around their neck and having groupies following them city to city. Back then, as a fan, you could not wait for that Van Halen, Michael Jackson or Duran Duran album. You always wondered what where they going to look like and had to wait till that new album came out to get your answer watching MTV. Success was measured on how many albums were sold and how many t-shirts were sold on tour. But besides shows and celebrity appearances, how did yesterday's rock star understand if their music is making a difference? MTV was basically one-way communication.
Fast forward to 2014, and yesterday's rock star has now become today's social media celebrity musician.
Instead of album sales, it is how much hits on their You Tube video which determines the artist's popularity.
Speaking of You Tube, it is simply the most powerful social media platform there is for musicians today. Musicians can post interviews, test new music, and engage with fans. Also You Tube is the new MTV. For a while there in the late 1990s into the early 2000s, music videos hit a lull and a lot of bands didn't think of the music video as a powerful promotional tool. With You Tube, it is now essential to have a music video for that hit single or it will not be a successful single.
Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are also powerful tools for promoting music. Why? Simply fan engagement. Today's successful music stars all focus on engagement. A musician will know if a new musical direction will work by asking fans to let them know what they think before they spend money on cutting an album. An example is if a song is posted on Facebook, a musician can review the comments and even ask for their fan's opinions on that guitar solo on one of their demo songs. A musician can also easily post pictures of their fans at shows via their mobile devices and make the fan's day. Pretty powerful stuff. Finally, Twitter can be used to announce that surprise appearance or that secret song they just wrote.
I can go on with other examples, but it is obvious that social media is the new channel for music today. Now if only today's musician not be too corporate and be more "rock star", we would be in a perfect world. With most bands, you cannot tell if the singer fronting a band is a banker or a musician. That said, unfortunately, the days of the rock star is dead, and the days of the social media star are now here.
Fast forward to 2014, and yesterday's rock star has now become today's social media celebrity musician.
Instead of album sales, it is how much hits on their You Tube video which determines the artist's popularity.
Speaking of You Tube, it is simply the most powerful social media platform there is for musicians today. Musicians can post interviews, test new music, and engage with fans. Also You Tube is the new MTV. For a while there in the late 1990s into the early 2000s, music videos hit a lull and a lot of bands didn't think of the music video as a powerful promotional tool. With You Tube, it is now essential to have a music video for that hit single or it will not be a successful single.
Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are also powerful tools for promoting music. Why? Simply fan engagement. Today's successful music stars all focus on engagement. A musician will know if a new musical direction will work by asking fans to let them know what they think before they spend money on cutting an album. An example is if a song is posted on Facebook, a musician can review the comments and even ask for their fan's opinions on that guitar solo on one of their demo songs. A musician can also easily post pictures of their fans at shows via their mobile devices and make the fan's day. Pretty powerful stuff. Finally, Twitter can be used to announce that surprise appearance or that secret song they just wrote.
I can go on with other examples, but it is obvious that social media is the new channel for music today. Now if only today's musician not be too corporate and be more "rock star", we would be in a perfect world. With most bands, you cannot tell if the singer fronting a band is a banker or a musician. That said, unfortunately, the days of the rock star is dead, and the days of the social media star are now here.
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Let take me take a #SELFIE - The Social Evolution - A Historical Look
There is a popular song out now by the Chainsmokers called #SELFIE. It pretty much sums up the social culture today where you would go into any public place and everyone has their smartphone in their hand texting about what they are doing that night or generally about nothing at all. The texting and selfie craze is getting out of control and is destroying normal interaction between people in public places. However, this is not a new thing. Every decade had its own version of #SELFIE. Let's take a look.
So I was born in 1969, so I will start with the 1970s. In the 1970s, the popular culture was Sex, Drugs and Rock n Roll. People interaction meant going to a club, getting a little high with a little help from their friends, chainsmoking and listening to some long drawn out rock and roll songs from Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Yes. The sex part was evident with free love and the case of looking for someone to make out with at the end of the night. This was the decade of no technology so you had to talk to people. Some of the best stories came from the clubs. The #SELFIES consisted of turning that old Polaroid camera around and hope that you take a straight picture after one too many vodka tonics. The 1970s lets just say is a classic time.
Then we move onto the 1980s., my favorite decade. After all I was a teenager and it is a time in your life to embrace the popular culture to the fullest. This was the decade of great alternative rock and gender bending. Guys wore makeup, had long hair and girls wore those leggins. It was probably the best decade to take those selfies since there was a lot of color and individuality. After all from a music perspective, it was the decade of Duran Duran, Culture Club and my favorite heavy metal, think Motley Crue, Poison and Van Halen. People interaction, like the 1970s meant, you go to clubs. There were still no cell phones except those mega bricks in the later half of the decade, but who wanted to carry those. A #SELFIE was more like taking a picture of the people you were with instead of taking a picture of yourself, since everyone looked so interesting.
In 1991, someone happened that killed the great 1980s culture. It was called grunge rock. Thanks Nirvana. The songs got darker, people started staying inside and if you did go to a club, it meant slam dancing into people to angry music like Nine Inch Nails, Stabbing Westward and Korn. It was the decade of least people interaction, why? it was when email was the main way to communicate. You probably did not want to take a selfie since you probably had a black eye and no makeup. This was the decade where the internet became mainstream and going online was the main way people interacted. Yes there was email and beepers. Yes, beepers, remember those? It was the start of carrying about those devices in your pocket so anyone can get in touch with you anywhere you are. Social interaction was determine on how much black clothes you can wear in one week, yes,the social angst decade. Don't talk to me!
Going into the new decade meant the advent of cell phones and eventually smart phones. Everything changed? Why? Since those little devices have cameras now. By the latter half of the 2000s, all of a sudden those cameras tied to the internet to create what we know as the new social media interaction. After the downward spiral of the 1990s, the 2000s and 2010s were a welcome change in the social evolution. People got out more and interacted, but in a different way, online. At first, it was pretty cool to post pictures on social sites and yes, taking a selfie. But that was in 2010-2012. Now in 2014, it is out of control especially when even the president is taking selfies and listening to EDM Music Rock and Roll as you knew it, is dead. Thanks Avicii and Daft Punk!
So remember back in the 1970s, chain smoking was the most popular activity and now in 2014, the most popular activity is taking that #SELFIE. Wow, this little old group called the Chainsmokers knew something when they named their group tying the 1970s culture to today's culture. What will be the next group name with the latest craze? I am open to suggestions. Now to go to Starbucks so I can join everyone for a meeting of not looking at each other and but texting each other about how I need to take a #SELFIE.
So I was born in 1969, so I will start with the 1970s. In the 1970s, the popular culture was Sex, Drugs and Rock n Roll. People interaction meant going to a club, getting a little high with a little help from their friends, chainsmoking and listening to some long drawn out rock and roll songs from Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Yes. The sex part was evident with free love and the case of looking for someone to make out with at the end of the night. This was the decade of no technology so you had to talk to people. Some of the best stories came from the clubs. The #SELFIES consisted of turning that old Polaroid camera around and hope that you take a straight picture after one too many vodka tonics. The 1970s lets just say is a classic time.
Then we move onto the 1980s., my favorite decade. After all I was a teenager and it is a time in your life to embrace the popular culture to the fullest. This was the decade of great alternative rock and gender bending. Guys wore makeup, had long hair and girls wore those leggins. It was probably the best decade to take those selfies since there was a lot of color and individuality. After all from a music perspective, it was the decade of Duran Duran, Culture Club and my favorite heavy metal, think Motley Crue, Poison and Van Halen. People interaction, like the 1970s meant, you go to clubs. There were still no cell phones except those mega bricks in the later half of the decade, but who wanted to carry those. A #SELFIE was more like taking a picture of the people you were with instead of taking a picture of yourself, since everyone looked so interesting.
In 1991, someone happened that killed the great 1980s culture. It was called grunge rock. Thanks Nirvana. The songs got darker, people started staying inside and if you did go to a club, it meant slam dancing into people to angry music like Nine Inch Nails, Stabbing Westward and Korn. It was the decade of least people interaction, why? it was when email was the main way to communicate. You probably did not want to take a selfie since you probably had a black eye and no makeup. This was the decade where the internet became mainstream and going online was the main way people interacted. Yes there was email and beepers. Yes, beepers, remember those? It was the start of carrying about those devices in your pocket so anyone can get in touch with you anywhere you are. Social interaction was determine on how much black clothes you can wear in one week, yes,the social angst decade. Don't talk to me!
Going into the new decade meant the advent of cell phones and eventually smart phones. Everything changed? Why? Since those little devices have cameras now. By the latter half of the 2000s, all of a sudden those cameras tied to the internet to create what we know as the new social media interaction. After the downward spiral of the 1990s, the 2000s and 2010s were a welcome change in the social evolution. People got out more and interacted, but in a different way, online. At first, it was pretty cool to post pictures on social sites and yes, taking a selfie. But that was in 2010-2012. Now in 2014, it is out of control especially when even the president is taking selfies and listening to EDM Music Rock and Roll as you knew it, is dead. Thanks Avicii and Daft Punk!
So remember back in the 1970s, chain smoking was the most popular activity and now in 2014, the most popular activity is taking that #SELFIE. Wow, this little old group called the Chainsmokers knew something when they named their group tying the 1970s culture to today's culture. What will be the next group name with the latest craze? I am open to suggestions. Now to go to Starbucks so I can join everyone for a meeting of not looking at each other and but texting each other about how I need to take a #SELFIE.
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