Just because you hate social media doesn't mean your career is doomed. Here's what an artists can do to navigate social media.
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Welcome back to the Music Industry podcast. This is a bit of a shorter podcast than we usually do, and it's sitting down and discussing one particular topic which has come up recently in our consultancy calls, which is what should artists do if they hate social media. And I've sat down as just me and Maddie here, who hasn't spoken yet, but I'm sure, I know, maddie very well.
Speaker 1:she will eventually speak. And it came up in a consultancy call where an artist assumed that we loved social media as people, because we're always advocating for artists to be on social media, to always be posting, but the only reason we actually do that is because that's what you need to do to grow as an artist.
Speaker 2:The easiest way to grow as an artist?
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it's got to be part of your bigger picture. Yeah, yeah, it's got to be part of the bigger picture, but in actual fact, maddie can give her own opinion as well. I don't like social media. If I could go back in time, I'd actually want it to never have been invented.
Speaker 2:See, I don't dislike it. I dislike the way it's now being used. I look at the original platforms like Facebook, instagram, even TikTok when it first started and I liked them as platforms. I don't like the way, as users, we use it and the way we consume it. I think it's dangerous, it's negative. I don't come away from social media feeling like a better person, even if you follow better quality content, and I think when we spoke to that artist and said those things, she was in shock.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and we speak to a lot of people where I think they are quite stressed about the situation of social media.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of pressure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a lot of pressure to be creating content that people like.
Speaker 1:Especially as the social media is a. Your objective is to be liked, and I think that's a really that's a horrendous amount of pressure. To be liked, you have to what do you put out there? You have to get engagement, you have to get followers in order to break as an artist. But the way that social media is designed now and I think when you're referring to when they first started, everything that was posted on there was in chronological order. So there was no algorithm, it was all just. Because that's why everyone asks us what's the best time to post. It's haunting us because it doesn't matter now what the best time to post is on social media, but it used to because everything was in chronological order. So if you posted at five o'clock, everyone who went on at five o'clock saw your post. Now the algorithms came along and now they decide what you're going to see. That changed everything, and I don't mean just from an artist's perspective, I mean from a human perspective. So what ends up happening is that the algorithm is showing people what they engage with and what everyone engages with, but it's not always for the good.
Speaker 1:So Say you like luxury items, you just. You like your watchers, you're like your cars. You like your houses. It's going to show you them, even if you don't want to see them. Your mind is going to spend More time looking at them when you're scrolling and it's learning all the time what you like. Therefore, it's going to show you it more. But the problem with that is that it's going to make you miserable as a person, because every time a post comes up, it's Reminding you of what you don't have in life. So when we're advocating for social media, we're not saying go use it. It's a good thing. We're saying that you're listening to us as a podcast For the to benefit you as an artist and get the best advice possible. Therefore, the best advice is to use social media. Social media as a concept and by its design it. You should avoid consuming it yourself as much as possible.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I also think I'm back to the chronological thing. Social media platforms were used as a way to engage with people you already knew so it was. It was about communication and it was about being able to see family members and what they were doing and seeing friends. And maybe you've left school now you want to see what people were doing after school and now, well, you've got the influencer and the influencer has meant that you've got your average person Aspiring to be like someone else.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's where we're seeing it, even in an artist perspective. You've got an artist who wants to share their music with someone, but instead is looking at you a leap from what they're doing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah when really you're using this platform to communicate and to share your music, not be Jua Lipa. And we're seeing it in every aspect of Every kind of career, whether that's fashion, whether that's cars and watches. People are trying to be like other people and, like you said, it's kind of becoming toxic and it's as an artist. It's finding a way to avoid that but still use it to your benefit. I think what we're finding more and more now talking to artists is removing the pressure and Finding a way of enjoying it. Yeah, kind of seeing it as if that's like a hobby.
Speaker 2:Yeah is the easiest way to see growth, because the audience can see that you're enjoying it and they see the real you.
Speaker 1:What I find is that there's a thing called doom scrolling and I have to actually like slap myself out of doom scrolling on social media and that's because I've never Come off Instagram and thought that was a really good Instagram session. Like I feel better after that and I think to be aware of what is good for you and what is bad for you generally in the content that you are consuming massively changes your, your frame of mind. So I Would very much vet who I am or fill throughout who I am following, based on how it is changing my mindset. So if someone is being a complete influencer and not telling me the truth about their life, then I'm more likely to unfollow them than someone who is more so on a journey and inspires me. So therefore, if there are a couple of steps ahead of me and they are Achieving things, that is to me more inspiring than it is to like see someone who is Like born into wealth, like we have a TV show like made in Chelsea, for example.
Speaker 1:I think it's probably like the Kardashians is a US example of people who already were rich but they've got even richer from Showing all of these things and the algorithm has pushed it out, being able to filter and being aware of what you are consuming is going to help you in everyday life and how you approach things, because if you're waking up and you're inspired by what you are consuming, you're going to be able to succeed and have a more creative Mindset and more inspired mindset than you are starting your day with a coffee and just being on autopilot throwing things at your brain. That is Is Essentially toxic but you don't realize is toxic.
Speaker 2:I found that because we work in marketing, I have used social media content from a marketing perspective.
Speaker 1:Which.
Speaker 2:I think is actually massively helped, because I will watch someone and think why are they creating that?
Speaker 2:and the answer is either, in an influencer's case, to sell something, to get more followers, to get more clicks, whatever it is, and having that mindset has helped massively because you know that the reason why they're doing something rather than kind of feeling jealous or bitter or whatever and that might be, and an example I can think of is we used to watch a Fitness influencer he's more like lifestyle now called max tuning, and he randomly one day started being obsessed with hot chocolates, like just being obsessed with them, and Both of us at the same time like there's gonna be something here.
Speaker 2:Yeah two weeks later he releases like some protein powder or something. There's hot chocolate flavor, I can't remember what it was and in those instances you understand content creation so much better that you you don't get trapped in that world and I think most people view things as a consumer, because you are. But if you change your mindset and think, why is someone creating that? Even people you know I always look at like friends and I'm like why would you post that? Who are you trying to impress?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you see things so differently, a little bit healthier in a way.
Speaker 1:Oh, absolutely, and it, if you are a constant creator rather than consuming, it makes life so much easier in terms of relieving that pressure. When you you're saying this is my business, this is me as an artist and it's part of my growth. I don't need to be At the same level as what I am seeing on social media now. It's just putting stuff out there, putting stuff out there, putting stuff out there, and blindly. I actually I really like the word unapologetic and I don't know why you saw a lot recently.
Speaker 2:I think it's right, it's true.
Speaker 1:And I'm very I think everybody should be unapologetic of who they are, what they post, and just put out what is you, and then life will Bring. Once you put something out there, life somehow has a way of attracting it, and once you realize that that if you come completely trying to chase things that you want in life, it's not, you're never going to get it, because what you do is life and companies are structured in a way where, if you go chasing something will find a way of taking money off you, or they will find a way of getting what they want, and it's like they've set up all these traps because they know that where the people go. So, for example, if you want lots of money and you want to Lamborghini and you want it so badly and then you go and try and achieve that too much, there are all of the scammers. The forex traders are shipping people. Suddenly they they come for you and they've got all the little trap set up and you start getting Instagram ads and Facebook ads for these people who are who've got a Lamborghini behind them and therefore you get trapped and they'll take your money.
Speaker 1:However, if you start putting the right things out there, the real things and taking an interest. Then one day you will meet somebody who has a Lamborghini a real one and therefore they will teach you the way and actually you might realize he's got a great life, but I'm not actually that much better than mine. Therefore, you're going to be able to create better social media content because it's more real. You're not looking at the views, because you're in this mindset of creating, creating, creating and suddenly what you're creating starts coming back at you and you're able to comment on things, on people's posts, more and start to get more involved in the community. You find that people in your DMs are more like you as a person and you meet people and you build your community and you lift each other up rather than being an outsider looking at all these influences.
Speaker 2:Yeah, also the whole idea of creating while they're consuming. The more you consume, the more you kind of accidentally copy. So say you really wanted to do a cover of a song that you really like they've heard on the radio. You're consuming, consuming, consuming. You're like, oh, that one got loads of views, maybe I'll do my cover like that. Suddenly you've lost all originality and the original thing you would have done may have done better, because it was unique.
Speaker 2:There are so many different versions of that same thing out there and the uniqueness, the USP that you have is the only reason you'll break, because there's only so many Ed Sheeran's Jewelipers skeptics that you can have. They are their own person and the reason they broke is because of who they are and I feel like the more you consume, the more you consume, the more you're trying to copy without even realizing because it's just ingrained into that they're good quality content when they might not even be. Just that one video did well and hit your for you page or hit your Instagram feed or whatever it is. So, yeah, I think that's an important thing, like the idea of creating over consuming, and it also becomes more natural, like the more you want to create, because you're just naturally doing it over and over and over again.
Speaker 1:We get our comments, a lot of people saying I hate social media. Well, actually I was gonna say the opposite. Because why? I was gonna say why do you hate?
Speaker 2:they hate it.
Speaker 1:Then create content you don't hate. Create, like I just said, create your world that you want and what you want to see on social media. And the reason they hate it is because they either create their world and don't get millions of views, or they try to copy what they see on social media and they try to copy the thing that they hate without actually understanding why that content creators creating that content and then they don't get the views, so they hate social media. What we're saying is Ask yourself why you hate social media and then Wipe it from your mind, wipe the fuck. All it is is just this blank platform for you to upload videos to and that is it. That is it. No algorithm, no hacking, no Specific type of content to create that's gonna get you millions of views. Just create and then what? Like I said, what you start putting out there starts coming back to you.
Speaker 2:I also don't care if someone doesn't want to create. Like, if you really really, really don't want to create, don't, fine. There are plenty of people that make so much money from just creating music. It gets used in sync, it gets placed on playlist and that's how they make money. I don't care, it's just. I Think, why we get a stick for it is because it's as if we're like holding a gun to people's head, being like you will fail Unless you create content.
Speaker 2:Yeah not what we're saying at all. It's just we want it to be easy and that's one of the easiest routes, because you're reaching people Easily, that you can just click something and it's in front of, like, millions of people.
Speaker 1:We're never gonna create content to tell people how to create good music, because that's not what we do. You'll never see us on our website that we're saying we're musicians or we create good music. We're a marketing company. Therefore, we tell you how to market your music well and Therefore social media is a huge aspect of that. However, if you don't like that, you can go and watch YouTube channels on how to create good music.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm and then if you need, if you decide you want to market it, then you watch our channel, but Unfortunately, social media is gonna be a big aspect of it. If we're talking about social media, you can skip those videos, or you could look at our videos on how to fill in your Spotify profiles or how to submit to Spotify, and that's maybe all you need from us. But Just because we are talking about it a lot in the context of our company and what we do for artists, it's social media, but we're not going and saying that it is the best thing ever, that you need to be consuming it, that the people on there are absolute gods and they they're all there for the for the good of the world. We're saying that you need to be posting in order to give yourself the best chance of breaking, because that's just how it works. So don't allow yourself to get sucked into social media and feed the algorithm and to make it show you things that making you feel bad, angering you or even kind of motivating you, because We'll talk about motivation in another episode.
Speaker 1:But I'm a believer that motivation is not a permanent state. It's something that goes up and down. So maybe that's one for another episode. Therefore, blindly, logetically create and then you will find it so much easier. You will find your rhythm. If you look at Maddie's social media, it's mainly your dog coffee life in general, and it's funny actually because you get now, since you've started doing that, more you get more engagement you found.
Speaker 2:I found my people. This sounds really strange, but beforehand I had all Burstimo followers, which is fine but, my content isn't all about music and marketing, because that's on the Burstimo page.
Speaker 2:That's where I want to talk about music marketing, my own personal page. I love going to the gym, I love my dog, I love coffee and it's like I've attracted those kind of people. They'll respond to it being like I've tried this coffee out, or there's a new gym here. You should totally try it out. I know it's quite far away, but those things are the kind of things that you want to attract, because you may not necessarily make a ton of friends, but you can meet people that understand you and that's what puts you in a better mindset than anything else in the world and means that you don't create for people that you don't really like. You're creating for people that you genuinely like and respect and want to get along with.
Speaker 1:I think that's a fantastic point to end on, because you've summed up really well the combination of go find your people and then think about my Lamborghini example in a way where they will come to you when you put things out there Might not be a Lamborghini, but might be someone else who's on their way there and, yeah, go and find your people. And what it might do is take the pressure of you as an artist. I think that, from what we said at the start of this podcast, you're worrying about you as an artist, what people think of you, what friends think of you. It takes the pressure of you and it allows you to create things every single day. That's not necessarily about you as an artist. However, when you're posting that, you're going to get followers. Might not be many, but it's your people.
Speaker 1:Then, when you start releasing music, you are already finding that your music is attracting people to your profile. Then you've already decided who you are, what you post on a regular basis, and your music is then another driving force to get you followers, as well as everything else. And it's so much easier now to post because you've been posting the right things and you've kind of like air quotes, found yourself, which allows you to not even have to ask what should I post on social media, because you've already found it before. You've even broken as an artist. Speaking of breaking as an artist, if you do want to give yourself the best chance of breaking as an artist, we do have a membership as well, where we're putting out tons of opportunities. Now Help me out with this. Netflix playlists.
Speaker 2:ANR feedback.
Speaker 1:ANR feedback was a good one.
Speaker 2:Spotify editor literally came and spoke about how to get on playlists and stuff like that Some from Spotify themselves, which is really cool.
Speaker 1:Unreal. Top music industry lawyers just published a course as well. So any kind of pitfalls that artists might fall into early on in their career, there's one of them, so go watch it, if you remember. We'll drop a link on a pinned comment if you want to sign up and we'll see you in the next episode.