by Communications Intern Mary Willson
It was once a familiar scene: layers of show posters covering dimly lit streetposts; plastered on to venue walls; handbills blowing through alleys like tumbleweed. The battle to make people aware of concert dates is something that goes back decades. And the attention wars rage on, but now a lot of the action is online.
These days, a great many show and album release announcements take place via Facebook feeds and invites. Even this isn’t new—“virtual” promotions can be traced back to the dawn of the Internet. Message boards, band websites and email newsletters helped pave the way, and remain part of today’s publicity picture. Then came MySpace, which opened the door for musicians on social networks. These new platforms have been widely embraced due to broad reach, accessibility and low-to-no cost features.
Yet in spite of its popularity, Facebook hasn’t managed to become the ultimate Swiss army knife for musicians. Part of this is because the company keeps changing its functionality. Now that Facebook is
publicly traded, it faces more pressure to monetize user activity. Unsurprisingly, some of the recent changes don’t seem to favor independent musicians or indie labels.
