Now that we are a few weeks into the madness of this Coronavirus thing I wanted to document a few thoughts I have had about the whole content creation situation in the face of the coronavirus. There are a lot of interesting layers here and I think it’s too early for anyone to claim to have authoritative answers. That being said I think I have a pretty clear idea of what’s starting to shape up as content that makes sense vs stuff that doesn’t seem to be as effective. Obviously this will shift as we become more aware of the scope of this whole thing but it’s an interesting time in human history right now, so let’s take a moment to look at some of the content strategies that are coming into play, including stuff like content vs reach, the relative inefficacy of doing live sets, content ideas that do seem to be working and of course what you can be doing to help grow your band while we go through this.
4. Reach vs Impressions
So for the uninitiated reach is generally speaking the number of people who have seen your content, whereas impressions are the number of times your content has been seen. So if 5 people see an advertisement a total of 10 times its reach would be 5 and its impressions would be 10. What we are seeing in the era of the coronavirus is that since people are creating more posts while your reach is up, your impressions are down because people have so much more content to choose between. This is what happens when you have thousands if not millions of bored people working from home. You need to keep this in mind. More people are seeing your shit than ever before, but unfortunately, because of the mass of content coming out right now you only get one shot for it to actually work.
3. The Live Streamed Performance Videos Are Already Happening
Here’s the thing – everyone who had the resources to create impactful live set videos has already done it and will continue to do it. Odds are though if your band isn’t really drawing that many people at shows in real life then your band isn’t going to draw too many people with a live stream. The whole experience is ab it weird and while some people have definitely made it their own it doesn’t work super well for the metal environment. I mean feel free to tell me I’m wrong but at the end of the day live sets done via Instagram seem to be better served when it’s a solo performer with an acoustic guitar for instance. On top of that – your band rehearsal? Probably not in line with social distancing, and this is a priority for all of us right now. If it’s working for you – keep doing it, but I think that by and large live streaming is just not there yet for metal bands.
2. So What Content Is Working?
The type of stuff I seem to see working is the personal stuff. It’s also, unsurprisingly, TikTok’s which are getting a ridiculous amount of traction right now. Beyond that, I think any content with people talking directly to the camera or just doing something simple and encouraging a sense of human connection seems to be doing great. Beyond just people performing with their acoustic guitars as I mentioned earlier, I’ve seen people get a ton of traction by making posts talking about their influences or explaining why they included certain songs in a playlist. By the way – this is the golden era of the playlist so expect to see more of that coming down in the next few days and you should try to make a point of doing the same! This is also a great time to showcase your musical chops with personal videos of you shedding or talking about nerd stuff – people are looking for this in a universe where so many are so bored!
1. So What Can You Be Doing?
Outside of creating a lot of the personal and honestly kind of low effort but effective content that I outlined in the previous post, there’s a ton of other stuff you can do. The top thing though would be to be going out there and start consuming as much content as you can. The reason for this is that you will start to see what works both with regards to types of content you connect with and think you could create and of course what has a ton of views and that you think you could do. It’s important to dig through and try to learn, educate yourself and grow. One of the biggest issues bands face is that they aren’t consuming enough so they don’t understand the zeitgeist and how to communicate with people. So you have free time now – go out and consume. See what happens!
MATT BACON
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Matt Bacon is a consultant, A&R man, and journalist specializing in the world of heavy metal. Having worked with everyone from Glam Rock icon Phil Collen of Def Leppard, to post Black Metal titans Alcest, by way of legendary thrashers Exhorder as well as labels including Prophecy Productions and Ripple Music, he has dedicated his life to helping young bands develop. Having started his own blog at the age of 14 he views his career in artist development as ‘a hobby that got out of hand’. In 2015 he formed Dropout Media in order to better support the artists he loves. We sit here now, years later with countless tours booked, records released and deals signed, and loving every minute of it.
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