Facebook ... for a band?

RustyAxe · #1 08-30-2009, 07:54 PM

I'm trying to see WHY I would want to bother with Facebook for my band. We have a good web site (announcements, blogs, bios, set lists, audio clips, links to MySpace), maintain a good e-mailing list, we'll use MySpace/Music and probably YouTube, we have excellent promo material including a quality demo CD, and excellent high quality business cards with all our contact info. Pretty much, this is all my responsibility (I'm the computer nerd), and that's fine by me (I did it for a living for many, many years).

I don't see any real reason it would be necessary to also mantain a Facebook account. It just seems to be the wrong model for band publicity.

Any comments? Thanks.

knumbskull · #2 08-30-2009, 08:35 PM

because it's a popular network that people check daily?

it's just another vehicle for publicising your band. ignore it, ignore free publicity.

that's good that you have a decent website - but, people look at facebook every morning, evening, night - if you update stuff, it pops up right away whether they're thinking about your band or not. there's no conscious decision to check out your band, it's right there.

thedude77md · #3 08-30-2009, 08:37 PM

It's THE most popular social networking site right now. MySpace is dying quickly so if ya don't want the extra work, ditch it and go to FB.

Having a slick looking website is nice but as Knumbskull pointed out, people aren't really thinking "Hey I gotta go check this band's website."

Kenny Allyn · #4 08-30-2009, 08:59 PM

You NEED all of them ...

It is the way people communicate these days note on our website we have links to all of the current forms of mass communication check the icons

http://www.darrenj.com/fr_home.cfm

... There is no such thig as too many ways to get the word ou!

Nick Kay · #5 08-30-2009, 09:08 PM

I know two people that still use MySpace regularly - and both of them are musicians. It's just not the "in" thing anymore. Facebook and Twitter are where it's at nowadays.

Commreman · #6 08-30-2009, 09:14 PM

Facebook is terrific for bands. We maintain our website, a myspace page (dead bandwith if there ever was), and prior to releasing our latest CD, a Facebook page. Each member of the band also has a personal Facebook page as well. We promoted our CD release show on Facebook (as a band and personally), and packed the venue as a result. It's a terrific tool, and you are foolish not to use it. This is coming from a 49 year old dinosaur!

Gubna · #7 08-30-2009, 09:19 PM

marketing. you have to have as many sites as possible. twitter, facebook, myspace, etc.

if you put yourself out there in as many places...

0--+LoveBass · #8 08-30-2009, 09:22 PM

I use mine nonstop. Its how we organize our gigs. Open to anyone. Myspace is dead. Facbook has everything. Check out ours!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Xylito...6191598?ref=ts

Snakeman1066 · #9 08-30-2009, 09:27 PM

we use Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Eventful, Soundclick, Bandzoogle, Indie on the Move, etc.

in short anything and everything that will let us promote we use it......even local community bulletin boards etc....

also we use a really neat sneaky promo tool.....and i'll let you guys in on it.....you go out early in the morning and buy a paper from the paper machines while they are still full.....then you stuff a flyer into every paper in the machine.....works great and your just out the cost of a paper you were probably going to buy anyway....

check this program out!

http://www.friend-blaster-pro.com

MNAirHead · #10 08-31-2009, 12:56 AM

If you're a band booking agent... what's more valueable..

1-a cool web site

or

2-A facebook page with a 4,000 friend count

Pretty easy choice.. I'd book a bad facebook with high count over a geeked out URL

QORC · #11 08-31-2009, 05:46 AM

Frankly, facebook is on the rise, myspace is on the decline, as are standard band web pages.

That being said, our band has all three. What harm in covering all potential bases?

RustyAxe · #12 08-31-2009, 07:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Commreman

It's a terrific tool, and you are foolish not to use it. This is coming from a 49 year old dinosaur!

Thanks. I bet you make a lot of "friends" ...

Nino Valenti · #13 08-31-2009, 08:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RustyAxe

Thanks. I bet you make a lot of "friends" ...

Pretty sensitive, huh? LOL

Steve Clark · #14 08-31-2009, 08:57 AM

You can advertise on facebook as well now for a relatively small $ amount. You can target that ad to your own town and define demographics to keep your costs down. So you could advertise a gig. You can link the ad to a website or Facebook event and also get good stats. I advertise my day gig online and millions of impressions are gained in a small town of 300,000. used to use MySpace but never look at it now and aside from business day gig I rarely use email and communicate with friends and relatives via FB. Apparently my last MySpace log in was March 2009.

coreyfyfe · #15 08-31-2009, 08:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by QORC

What harm in covering all potential bases?

This. Our band has had a facebook page since they opened it up to non-college students but before they stated doing musicians pages. The downside of that is our page is set up like a regular person (the two words of the name being the first and last name) and we can't do the "fan page" stuff that they have up now.

Either way, it's been great because we can create event invites for big gigs and email them out to our friend lists. You can do that on myspace as well, or with an email list, but the facebook ones IMO are the best laid out and easiest to use/maintain/respond to.

rappa29 · #16 08-31-2009, 09:05 AM

Facebook, IMHO, is absolutely worth the minimal effort it takes to set up a Fan page for your band.

For real, there are so many uses for the interwebs now to promote your band! I'm not an old timer (38), but I wish Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, etc. existed 10 years ago when I was gigging full time!

Beats flyering the parking lot of your local major venue during a major concert and playing chase with RentACop and his golf cart!

Commreman · #17 08-31-2009, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RustyAxe

Thanks. I bet you make a lot of "friends" ...

I do make a lot of friends, and I stand by my statement.

RustyAxe · #18 08-31-2009, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nino Valenti

Pretty sensitive, huh? LOL

Nah, but when a someone calls a stranger "foolish" it ain't likely he'll make a lot of "friends". You're right though, this IS the internet ... where civility is dead.

strummer21 · #19 08-31-2009, 01:34 PM

We have a myspace page and it's good functional layout for bands, however, we have hardly any "friends" because no one else (individuals) seems to be on there. Even the friends that we have that aren't themselves in bands haven't logged on in months. Facebook is a much better way to promote your band. Each of our band members has an individual Facebook page and between us we have hundreds of friends that we can promote our gigs to. Myspace is dead, we use it as a destination page only to send people to listen to our demos, videos and pics.

crijan · #20 08-31-2009, 01:46 PM

Facebook is awesome for bands. Myspace was a push mechanism, you had to push your myspace page on unsuspecting and sometimes uninterested people in order to advertise it.

On Facebook, there is no way to directly push your page, so instead people find it through their network of friends. Even the advertising of band pages on Facebook masquerades as a friend recommended "highlight". In general, people prefer when they discover new stuff on their own or are recommended to it by their friends rather than having the product directly advertise to them. This is why Facebook is a more useful tool currently for bands in my opinion than Myspace.

I've even started to remove myspace addresses from flyers and instead put facebook addresses.