Here’s something that a lot of bands struggle with that is ultimately going to lead to a lot of frustration if they don’t maintain it. This is the idea of having to maintain a social media presence even if nothing is happening for your band. This is admittedly one of the hardest things to do in the music industry and something that you are going to find yourself scrabbling with tooth and nail for. That all being said – understanding how to maintain a social media presence through a policy of high engagement is a really effective way to grow your name, get higher outreach and become someone who is going to do stuff that matters and whose bands releases are remembered, respected and appreciated rather than falling apart between releases because no one is paying attention. I know this is problematic given the nature of many bands where one guy is running all the socials and doing all the things – but learning how to deal with this is going to be essential for long-term growth.
Here’s the analogy I’ve been using for this lately. There are several types of bands in the world. The first group are the bands who play shows and then hide backstage with just a merch person out front to connect with the fans and sometimes not even that. Then you have the bands where they hang out after the show, but only at the merch stand and only talk to people who buy stuff. After that, you have the bands who go in with a sort of fun-loving military precision with the goal of meeting as many people as possible in order to better present their band in the future. These are the people who make an effort to ensure that people want to come back down the road. Then you have the people who actively participate in the scene, who engage with the audience not just by hanging out at their own shows but also actively going, as a fan, to other shows and engaging with them just as people and showing that they are part of the scene too. Which of these types of bands do you think gets the biggest draw?
However, this is an article about social media, not core human niceties. So – what does this mean for you as a guy in an independent band? Well, let’s use this analogy and bring it into the modern age. The first group of bands are the ones who just post on their social media but don’t do anything else. Then you have the bands who post on their socials and only reply to the comments on their posts. After that, you have the bands who make a point of engaging with a few key people in the scene, who casually do some commenting throughout the day but don’t have any real strategy behind it. At the highest tier are the people following relevant hashtags and dropping a ton of comments to ensure that the most people possible are aware of their band and brand. Which of these types of bands do you think ends up winning over the most fans via social media? I know that it’s hard, if it was easy then everyone would be doing it!
Of course, now you might be wondering why visibility between album cycles matters so much if you’re not really doing anything and not really working on growing your band. Well, that’s pretty straightforward. There are dozens of releases in your genre dropping every week. Even if it doesn’t feel that way, let me assure you, there are dozens of releases dropping in your genre every week. This means that people are constantly listening to new stuff. That’s the point of underground music, to keep consuming and to keep discovering what great new product is coming out. So that’s all well and good – but what this means moreover is that people will forget you. If you aren’t constantly in peoples faces, then they are going to lose track of you in the endless waves of other bands who are more active and more desperate for the fans attention. That doesn’t really put you in a great position huh? You need to continue battling against the current with the goal of greatness in mind.
So how do you maintain your content so that it actually remains relevant and in your face? Well, that’s a tricky one but there are a few good ways to keep up the momentum with that. First and foremost is the idea that you need to be putting your name in front of people as much as possible. Just the name itself will have an impact, I know it’s crazy, but that’s just how the brain works. Consequently, the best way to do this is twofold, the first being to upgrade your Instagram story as much as possible. This can be achieved in two very easy ways, the first is to simply share a lot of what you are listening too especially if it might be atypical for a band like yours. The other is to share relevant posts from your feed of cool festivals and cool news from your friends’ bands. On top of that, we have the slightly less obvious take – which is to go out and to comment a whole helluva lot. That’s how you really get people diving in and being forced to acknowledge your presence. Note you need to be commenting meaningfully, not just emojis.
It’s as simple as that. Think about the way that bands used to get successful in the pre-internet world and just replicate that for an age where we all have computers in our pockets, it’s not complicated. I think a lot of people over think these sorts of concepts, but it’s not tricky. All you need to do is get out there and engage with people, and then not stop engaging. The people who stop engaging are the ones shooting themselves in the foot. This is part of the monumental struggle of the music industry and why it’s so frustrating to be doing this day after day and year after year. It’s not about you, it’ s about the community and if you’re not willing to give you’re wasting your time.
MATT BACON
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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