Social Media & Music
Breaking into the music industry today is a completely different beast than it might have been in the past. With the World Wide Web at our fingertips, more opportunities exist to discover something or someone new. It is becoming easier and easier for people to write, record, produce, and release their music at home without any major label involvement, meaning that the market is incredibly saturated with new music by new artists. The challenge, though, is getting the right people to hear it.
Many record labels won’t sign someone unless they already have many listeners or followers on a streaming platform like Spotify. Additionally, sometimes, if you don’t have a lot of social media followers, it is more challenging to get noticed by a label. Most major labels want someone with a following already, so they don’t have to build it from scratch. Because of this, the hustle to get listeners has had to evolve for the times.
Being an artist is no longer just writing good music or being a singer or musician. Now, artists have to play the role of influencers to build their audience and get people to listen to their music. This means that in addition to working on their craft, they also need to be making content, engaging with trends, managing a social media community, and consistently posting to hopefully wind up on the right person’s page.
When I first decided that I would record and release the songs that I’ve written, I was scared. Sharing your music, your lyrics, and your voice is a very vulnerable thing to do. At first, I made the decision that I would share my work under a pseudonym and not include my face in any of the marketing or artwork. I made this decision for a couple of reasons. First, I have seen people near and dear to me share their faces online only to be ruthlessly bullied for their appearance by strangers through a screen. Second, I have always been insecure about my appearance, and I was worried that people would not let my work speak for themselves if I included my appearance and would rather decide whether or not they would listen to or like my music based on how I look.
I have been working on my next project for a while now, and throughout this process, I thought a lot about who my ideal listeners would be and how to reach them. I concluded that my ideal listener is someone like me. Someone who loves love. Someone who is growing up and constantly learning. Someone who might be frustrated with feeling like both a grown adult and a little kid simultaneously. Someone who is trying to find the good in life. Someone who loves to sing and dance but also loves to keep their circles small.
So, how do I reach listeners like me? I thought a lot about how I discovered new music for myself. Sometimes, I discover it through recommendations from friends. Sometimes, I discover it through my Spotify Discover weekly playlist or AI DJ. A lot of the time, though, I discover new music when scrolling through social media… especially TikTok.
I made a couple of big and terrifying decisions because of this. The first decision was that I would associate my face with my work both on social media as well as in the artwork. The second was that I would create a TikTok to try to reach a broader audience. I’ve had an Instagram and a Facebook for quite some time and shared content and updates that never included my face, but in creating my TikTok, I opened the door on all social media to be more present and have my face associated with my work.
Here are all of my current social media platforms! I would really love and appreciate it if you followed them.
This new territory is both exciting and scary for me, but I hope that it helps to find people who would like my art.
Thanks for being a part of this journey, and I hope to share more updates (and hopefully more music) soon as the process of working on my next project continues.
