Top 20 Tips: Social Media for Musicians

Just this past week Facebook announced it reached a huge milestone: 500 million users - up from 400 million just a year ago. 100 million users in one year, it's amazing.

I had a particularly enlightening week learning about social media and how important it is in the music industry and to artists.  Social media are blogs, social networks (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace), and sites like Flickr and YouTube - basically any website that is designed to generate online conversation through comments.

On Tuesday and Wednesday (June 20 & 21) I attended the New Music Seminar at Webster Hall in NYC. A majority of the time was spent on how musicians can utilize and harness the power of Social Media.  I would like to point out that even though all of the panelists and speakers at the seminar came from a contemporary/ rock/ pop world, ALL of musicians now need to utilize social media to build their brand.

Also this week we had a guest speaker come to my work (Opus 3 Artists) to speak to our staff about social media: Vince Ford, the Director of New Media for the New York Philharmonic. For anyone that is not aware, the NY Phil maintains a fantastic presence in the social media, utilizing Facebook and Twitter in a way very few other orchestras are (but should). Add them as a friend on Facebook or follow them on Twitter.