As an artist or a band member, do you, for any reason, dread having to maintain a public profile on social networks? Does posting and reposting content in hopes to get noticed feel like a chore, rather than something natural that seems to happen on a whim?

Hey, sometimes it can be drudge work – like any sort of work, including recording, editing, and producing your own music! But if you really don’t feel hot about putting yourself and your art online, it might be your attitude towards social media that’s the real problem – not the websites or the work itself. Let us explain!

By the way, Drooble is pretty different in this regard. While it does give you the tools to freely maintain your online presence, one of our specific goals is to help you find and connect with like-minded musicians. Discovering and sharing inspiration and know-how is essential on Drooble! We’d like to think this makes it different from other social media websites, where you might feel compelled to behave in ways not truly authentic to who you are in “real life.”

Does the word “media” bother you?

When they hear “social media,” most musicians think “marketing.” It must be the “media” part of the notion which, almost subconsciously, implies terms like advertising and exposure. However, the true meaning of “media” is “medium” – the means of delivering a message.

Thus, your band or project’s presence on social media is so much more than a necessity for building popularity. Rather, it’s a chance to present everything – and we mean, everything – related to your art and you as a human being, to many potential benefits. Before social networks, such opportunities were severely limited in comparison, or they didn’t even exist!

Social media gives you multiple opportunities in line with music-making’s multifaceted nature.

The means and tools given by modern social media are hugely exciting for musicians because music is such a multi-faceted art. Obviously, there’s the musical part. You make music and, unless it’s something you do strictly for yourself, you want to deliver it to fans – online or physically.

Social media lets you do that, both directly and indirectly. Stream your music, share it with people and communities interested in it, and make yourself heard! This isn’t a direct promotion, by the way – it’s more like sharing your personal craft using the tools of the age. Giving music, or portraits, poetry, or any other art to the people and provoking their reaction is part of its very essence.

On social media, you can be visual and visible.

Together with the music part goes the visual part. While music keeps the ears busy, its impact is magnified by giving the eyes something to perceive. Your social media profile’s art, your music videos, your stage decor, your merchandise – it’s all designed to complement your music’s character while broadcasting its message in a creative, attention-provoking manner.

On social media, all of this work of art is visible, and you can be as visual as you want or can afford to be. And your visuals are not only an extension of your music; they are a tremendous gift to impressionable fans, too! Just look at how many people identify with, incorporate in their own craft, or permanently tattoo their favorite artists’ logos, artworks, or iconic photos of them. It’s terrific!

You can be more than “an artist” – more importantly, you can be you.

We won’t neglect the marketing part. Not in the slightest! But before we get to that all important – and somewhat scorned – word, let’s examine something that’s unique for social media. On it, you can be you – the artist, the entrepreneur, and the human being you are, with all your different personality traits, perspectives, and emotions. Drooble is 100% the place for that, by the way. Here, you are always welcome to be the music fanatic you always wanted to be!

Sharing yourself unabashedly builds engagement with fans and fellow enthusiasts like nothing else! You no longer have to be this distant persona, carefully curated by what your manager or label deems is in the best business interest. You can be as honest and vulnerable as you want. This helps your fans identify with you on a deeper level that directly resonates with their thoughts and emotions.

As an artist, you can discover people whose craft and presence will inspire you to be a better creative and person in every way imaginable. You can reach out and bring yourself closer to the idols that inspired you to pick up an instrument and start learning. If you are lucky and they are approachable enough, you can even collaborate artistically, or find other ways to work together! It sure beats having to go through multiple stages of communication or busting your behind in order to drum up enough buzz to eventually get noticed. It’s absolutely a thing of beauty, and such a fortunate opportunity for any musical maniac out there!

Social media is a marketing tour-de-force.

Last, but not least, there’s the equal parts wonderful and ambivalent world of marketing and promotion. Social media enables you to control every single aspect of it – if you think you have what it takes to be your own manager, in addition to an artist and performer! It also presents the opportunity for unique marketing approaches, such as reaching out strictly to people who you absolutely know are interested in what you put out because they liked and followed your page.

At Drooble, we also have our own Karma Points economy. The more enthusiastically you share your music and your self, and the more you engage with other bands and musicians, the more precious Karma you get. Use it to get featured as an Artist of the week, make your best song heard by elevating it to Tune of the week, put your video in the spotlight as Video of the week, score additional radio plays, or get featured on our blog.

And do we even have to mention that social media lets you directly sell and promote everything you create as an artist or band? Opening and maintaining a dedicated web store is no longer necessary, especially when you are just gaining traction and aren’t as established as to seek opportunities for growth with major undertakings like that. Sell your stuff directly to the people who want it, right from your profile and inbox!

Conclusion.

Social media is an outright superb tool for any musician who wants to be seen and heard by someone else than their friends, family, church, the sound guy at the rented practice room, or the local pub. But if you are on Drooble, it’s not because everyone else is on it and it kind of “has” to be done… well, yet! It’s because you genuinely want to be heard from and receive feedback from people with the same enthusiasm as yours.