Category: WebsitesCategory: Websites

Peter Kirn at Create Digital Media talks about SoundCloud and Bandcamp, and how they’re devolving into money machines for corporate shareholders.

“It’s a simultaneous reminder that we need to build something new, maybe this time not for the investors, but for the eu-IVs – for each other.”

Let’s stop waiting for the next publication or platform to save us. The fix isn’t waiting for tech bros to share a tenth of a penny more in streaming payouts – the power is with people reading newsletters and creating websites.

“Yeah, but Seth, these things cost money!”

Well, buy a domain name or wait by the phone for the next big platform – I turn 50 soon and I ain’t got time to wait.

The mass scale of social media was a mirage and we all fell for it. Going viral is the draw to get you in the casino, and you pay with hours of your precious life feeding the social monster for your chance at 12 likes.

Let’s start using the internet as a tool to find our freaks and build our communities. Make things and launch projects.

Make the weird shit you want to see in the world, and don’t just do it for likes or shares – reach out to the other weird shit people and start conversations.

It’s like we’re meeting at the mall food court – find your fellow weirdos and then get the hell out. Go to the record store downtown, go to a friend’s house and watch skate videos, hang out at a park – these are all the things social media platforms are afraid of.

Are we replacing Pitchfork tomorrow? No.

Will another site become the new Bandcamp?

Probably not.

But why have we become compliant little pawns in all this?

Are we so powerless to change the current situation that we sit back and hope somebody else fixes everything?

And then what? That person will sell the company to a Nabisco+Tide hedge fund subsidiary, and we’ll be back where we started.

Maybe centralized kingdoms of power and influence aren’t the answer.

Local music scenes seem to get along without local press, huh?

Gallery openings keep happening with zero coverage from local media.

I’ve seen individuals host creative Zoom sessions with 45+ people spanning several time zones.

I see artists speaking directly with their fans with reliable email lists, selling tickets and albums in the process.

Now imagine if all these pockets of culture and art and magic started organizing and working together.

Approach your social media and email newsletters like a DJ.

A DJ doesn’t open the set with self-promotion; they give the audience a carefully chosen playlist of music, drawing from various sources, sounds, and eras.

Similarly, you can blend your influences and experiences into a cohesive online presence for your audience.

Plan ahead and schedule social media posts on specific days. Set a rhythm for your posts, and tastefully repeat announcing your new songs, tour dates, and upcoming events.

We do this because, “if your social media posts are seen by less than 3% of your followers, that means over 97% of your fans didn’t see it.”

Now, when a DJ is sourcing music for a mix, they draw from their own collection, along with new material. Random discoveries from other mixes.

In a way you’re probably already doing this.

You’re sending new music to your friends, and going to shows.
Dropping links to music videos in the group chat.
Talking about upcoming shows in Discord, on social media, in person.

You’re more of a DJ then you realize.

Your “online presence” is your existence in the digital space, so keep it authentic.

Use your good taste and share that with your audience. Tell them the new album you discovered, the old album that moves you to tears, a book that inspired your creative journey.

This makes “marketing ” feel less gross because you’re just being yourself, reshaping the conversation into whatever online container you happen to inhabit.

When you share your super cool DSP playlist placement on socials, you know like maybe just 2% of your audience sees it, right?

I’m not saying don’t share it on socials.

I’m saying you should also put it on your website.

Next week you might not be on that playlist, and then no one will even know you got such a cool placement.

Here’s how you do it:

1. Start a new post
2. Embed the audio player (here’s how with Spotify & Apple Music)
3. Make sure people know they can pre-order your new album, or buy a shirt, or see you on tour.

Once you’re done, send a newsletter and link to the news post.

Drive your fans to your platform, not a 3rd party site.

When you drive your fans to that cool playlist you’re on, they see this (as of Tuesday, August 29, 2023):

This is great for Asking Alexandria, Avenged Sevenfold, Corey Taylor, Nita Strauss… but, oh wait… you’re #62 on that list? Ooops.

And hey – if you’r a photographer, a writer, a crafter, an artist, whatever – this applies to you, too!

Own your wins. Keep a record of them. These wins are leverage to get more fans to your site and hopefully buy merch, your music, or tickets to your next show

As is the case with most people that give advice, I’m good at telling people to have websites, while seriously neglecting my own.

So today, Monday, August 7, 2023 I’ve come full circle, having a fresh WordPress install (thanks Tom at I Heart Blank), and ready to get back to it.

Why have a website for your creative project? Why not just have a Bandcamp, or set up several social media accounts?

Well, you can have everything on Bandcamp, but as we saw earlier this year, there was some friction from ownership when their employees moved to unionize. Things worked out, I guess, but still.

And social media platforms are about as stable as crypto currency these days. Hell, Twitter is now X, even though their domain name is still Twitter. Instagram is a half ads, half people you don’t know, and Facebook? Dear lord.

Set up a website. Put all your press and accolades on it. Like I said in ‘DON’T MAKE SOCIAL MEDIA YOUR TROPHY CASE,’

Don’t spend all your effort on the “billboard,” then neglect your own establishment.

Playlist placements are amazing. All that hard work. The song writing. The recording. Years on the road.

All posted on platforms we don’t own, just so 10% of our social media followers can see it.

Websites close. DSPs will fail. Magazines will fold.

So make sure you got screen shots and photos of some of the big cool “earned media” on your own websites, set your domain name to auto-update, and pay for hosting every year.

Ally Crowley-Duncan plays the bagpipe.

She posted a video of herself playing some Metallica songs, and of course an internet ding dong left a comment saying “bagpipes don’t belong in Metallica.”

Then Metallica leaves a reply, saying “this guy doesn’t speak on our behalf. You’re awesome.”

That’s magic.

What I’m getting at is this; don’t leave all that magic on social media, because (ahem) these sites sure didn’t.

Each one of those sites sold ad-impressions against that story. They made money from that magic.

That ain’t wrong or bad, it’s just how the internet works.

And it’s why you should be doing the same fucking thing.

Put your magic on your website, then arrange some of your merch items around it. Or tour dates.

Get enough people to your site, and people will buy something. Fans buying things is good, because then you can pay the rent.

Fill your website and newsletter with your magic; the videos, the wit, the sass, the live photos from sold-out festivals.

Your social media feeds are the party. Loose and free, filled with witty rants, spontaneous photos, lengthy captions.

The likes pour in, and the replies.

Party in the back.

Then you subscribe to a band’s newsletter and get their “email blast,” which is just a few vinyl mock-ups of their album, some text, a button.

No lively text. No attitude. No swagger.

Business in the front.

Don’t fall victim to mullet marketing – make your email newsletter and website as riveting as your social media feeds.