In the past YouTube had been offering special options for musicians using their site- but ONLY if you were signed with a label. If you were lucky enough to be contracted with a legit record-company, YouTube would let you behind their "Partner" curtain and musicians were presented with a bunch of great options which made using YouTube appealing. It was a win-win: YouTube got more views and became more popular with this music on their site, and the musicians got to broadcast via a highly popular website with great accommodations for their music.
But again... only if you're signed.
What about the millions of bands and musicians who are up and coming?????? Don't neglect them!
YouTube finally took care of this with their "Musicians Wanted" program, which is specifically engineered to cater to aspiring musicians looking for their boost. AND they will make some extra money for the ads that get placed on their pages. I really think it is about time that emerging artists stop getting the short end of the stick... we need to not forget that every major band and top-charting artist revolutionizing all genres of music were each at one point these unknown, talented kids.
You can learn more about it here!
And speaking of these musicians, boy are they smart! Why are more people hesitant to embrace their fans via new social media!? I wish more bands I was into were regulars on the world wide web. Too often I feel like a band's internet presence is simply their manager or some other person on the side just generically responding to messages or comments from fans... I would rather get nothing back than get the canned response that 2,000 other fans got.
I DIGRESS ---> 5 examples of musicians embracing social media!
I want to specifically touch on Ben Folds using Chat-roulette for a second, because he will be performing at Byrd Stadium ("Capitol One Field") on the University of Maryland campus this Friday! Everyone I have talked to about this has thought it was pretty funny that he brings up such a crazy and unpredictable website in front of an entire concert audience and plays for them... and I agree! Especially because Chat-roulette remains uncensored and is known for bringing up inappropriate images/people! Hopefully Ben will keep with this trend and we will get to experience this experiment live on Friday.
Musicians are now using social media like this to make their live performances more exciting for their fans- and it works! I think it is interesting the way this all works and I am anxious to see who/what the next band will do with all the changes in social media/technology available to them. Hopefully it will be something creative and fun- this will inevitably engage the fans... and hey, isn't that what it's all about?
Final Thought: Ok Go just recently declared their independence from the record label EMI. Why, you ask? Because EMI was putting too many restrictions on the bands YouTube account; making their video un-embedable. What is the point of even putting a video up on the internet, especially YouTube, if you don't want it to be shared among internet users and communities? Most likely it would be shared within Ok Go fan clubs and support groups, etc. It was such a feeble attempt at copyright control in my opinion... and apparently Ok Go's opinion too. They saw a massive decline in their fan-base numbers at the time they were with EMI, and as of this March they are technically an unsigned/independent band! Righteous!
Check out the meeting they had with their new band manager the other day....
If that doesn't make you love them, I don't know what will.
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