Pros and Cons of Facebook musician/band page for composers?

[kevinmathie]

Hey all,

I know some composers have both a regular Facebook profile and a musician/band page. Often their regular page will be "John Doe" and their musician page is "John Doe - Composer." Seeing this, I've wondered if I, too, should create a special Facebook page as a composer. Is there something I'm missing out on by not having one? Is it mostly so you can separate personal from business in your posts? With the exception of lots of pictures of my daughter ( ), I tend to treat my regular Facebook account with some professionalism and decorum already, so I don't know how different my posts would be on a special composer page.

But, maybe there are other benefits I haven't thought of yet. I do know that some of the Reverbnation tools won't work on a regular account. You have to have a musician page.

What are your opinions?

Thanks!
Kevin

[Kelil]

I have a page but its not really that good. I've about eighty followers and to be honest 95% of them are just family and friends from my actual facebook account. Now there are sites out there such as jango radio that make it obvious to people you have a facebook page, but hundreds shared their e-mail addresses with me to keep them updated rather than like the facebook account. I dont find it to be that useful unless your a band/musician out touring, on the radio and people just randomly come to find it themselves. But most successful musicians I know in my town who have national airplay and tv playing gigs only have like over 700 followers so again i dont find that to be great and would consider having it but not to expect too much right away at least. and it all depends on what you do.

Stephen

[DesireInspires]

I don't have a Facebook page at all.

I have a LinkedIn page and joined a few music groups. A month later, I dropped membership with all of those groups. People just like to complain and joke around. Most people aren't really serious about a music career, especially a career in licensing music. There are too many wannabes, groupies, and trolls to make any real connections.

I wouldn't waste too much time with the social network thing. It's mostly for fun and socializing. A YouTube page with videos of performances would be 1000x better than a Facebook page. People can see what you do and can comment. If you want the truth about your talent, get a Youtube page. Plus, you can make money from your videos if you join the YouTube Content ID program.

[Silversun]

I know some composers have both a regular Facebook profile and a musician/band page. Often their regular page will be "John Doe" and their musician page is "John Doe - Composer." Seeing this, I've wondered if I, too, should create a special Facebook page as a composer. Is there something I'm missing out on by not having one?

I guess in that case it seperating personal from professional. If you have a dedicated plumbing business website, you probably wouldnt be sticking pictures of your kids up there ! Its one of those things that if you play the game and work it can be very benificial and get you exposure you wouldnt get by other means. You have to treat it like part of your business plan though and not expect to have thousands of people hanging of your every post/tweet unless you make it interesting. Like anything though you have to put the effort in it to make it work. I can tell you for fact that record companies/media companies game the system in their favour when it comes to social media and you tube so dont be put of by not having 20000 likes on your page.

I wouldn't waste too much time with the social network thing. It's mostly for fun and socializing. A YouTube page with videos of performances would be 1000x better than a Facebook page. People can see what you do and can comment. If you want the truth about your talent, get a Youtube page. Plus, you can make money from your videos if you join the YouTube Content ID program.

You tube can be great if you hit a specific niche or get a reputation as a band. It can also be fantastic for getting a lot of exposure very quickly if you do something interesting that catches on. Just check out "walk of the earth" on you tube as a perfect example. They do covers but do them so well and make such great videos that they get tens of millions of views. Check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9NF2edxy-M

Imean..wow...84 million. And they have 60 odd vids.

Code: Select all

 Plus, you can make money from your videos if you join the YouTube Content ID program

See above video count and do the math. It's reckoned you can make about 1000 bucks per million views on you tube if your a content partner and share advert revenue. Trouble is to become a partner you have to be getting shed loads of views with original videos which is not easy. Although of course as mentioned you can "game" statistics pretty easily if you have a bit of money

[mojobone]

I have a fan page, a page for my studio/label and a regular FB page; feel free to browse them all to get a feel for how they interact, then meet me back here, if you have questions.

[Casey H]

There are too many wannabes, groupies, and trolls to make any real connections.

There are goupies there on LinkedIn?? Damn! Now you tell me!! Time to re-activate that account!

Casey

[Bonney]

Hi Kevin, I have both a personal and a band page on facebook. The advantage of the band site for me is that it has a direct link to my reverbnation site, that people can click on with ease. I have to admit I post more on my personal site, and often post links to my youtube or reverbnation when I have a new song I'd like to share directly to facebook.

[mojobone]

Pretty much the only advantage from a fan or client's point of view, is that the fan page is about music only, and in that sense it's less intimate than the personal page, but you don't have to read any political or religious rants, cocktail recipes, etc.

The value of a FB fan page has probably diminished somewhat, at least by the numbers; fan engagement and page 'stickiness' have dropped since Timeline was implemented, but Reverbnation is rolling out some new apps that are supposed to help.

[Casey H]

JMHO and I recognize the limitations of my own opinion/experience here.

I think all composers/film-TV songwriters need SOME web presence- mainly at least one page to invite libraries and sups to sample tracks from. Something with bio/credits and the easiest possible way to quickly play music samples.

That being said, I believe the value in that web presence comes in to play when COMBINED with more traditional networking efforts-- going to events & conventions, emailing libraries and/or sups, etc. Everyone and his dog (apologies to Winston, Mazz) has a web page. Why would anyone visit yours just because it is there?

I'm not particularly enamored by film/TV composers building up a fan count such as on RN or similar. It still comes down to networking. Have a page and meet people!

Casey

[coachdebra]

Page vs. Profile:

First, they are completely different animals and have different rules.
Profile - limited to 5000, are NOT searchable via search engines - and you have more control over privacy.

I recommend using profiles for social interaction and collaboration with fellow musicians.

Page - is a public venue, searchable by search engines, no limits to the number of people who "like" you, access to apps to allow you to sign up fans to your email list, link to your music for sales and listening.

If you are a performing musician - you MUST have a FB page. Period. And that's NOT just my opinion.

If you are a composer AND you intend to actively market yourself and your music - I strongly recommend a strong social media presence.

I recommend:
Facebook page, Twitter, LinkedIn (if you're marketing to the music industry and film industry) and YouTube.
At a minimum.

To say - don't waste time on Social Media - well that's great if you're already well established and are making plenty of money at this business - if that isn't you - well, why would you turn your back on a completely FREE way to market yourself.

AND none of it replaces having your own website. It's the 21st century.

If you're doing this as a hobby because you love creating music - you can ignore this. If you hope to make a living, whether part time or full time - you can't afford to ignore it.