10 Tips on Facebook for musicians
1. Create, secure and link your page
Once you’ve decided on an artist name, you should always try and secure as many relevant social media handles as possible. Beware of multiple @name try to have only one @ for all of your social medias. Most of people are able to be redirected out of Facebook so consider it as a link to your other social platforms.
How to get the best page set up:
- Sign up for an account or log in to your Facebook account
- Click Menu, then Create and then click Page
- Fill out the details of your page, including; your official stage name, category (musician or band), and a short description (you could describe your genre, where you’re from, etc.)
- Click Create Page
- Add a clear profile photo and other contact information you need to share. Remember to add a link to your website so fans can visit for more information. In addition, share links to other social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and twitter.
- Customise your page’s URL – Having a customised Facebook page URL will not only give you a more professional and credible image, but also make it easier for fans to find you.
2. Consider your content mix
Many high profile Facebook pages will post content that is specifically related to them but mix in some generally entertaining content that may be more tenuously linked but likely to garner a response from the audience.
The only way to create interactions and grow your fanbase is by posting on Facebook.
Luckily, Facebook allows six types of posts like :
- Photos. You can put up photos of you that depict your musical journey. It is also okay once in a while to post some photos not related to your music so your fans can also relate with your lifestyle.
- Videos. You can post a behind-the-scenes video of your studio recording or music video.
- Links. You can post a link guiding your fans to your Youtube channel or official website. In addition, you can also post a link about any magazine or TV features you get as well as collaborations with other professionals in the industry.
- Events. You can use this feature to post your upcoming gigs so fans can book early.
- Questions. When you put up a question post, ask for your fan’s thoughts, advice and more. Asking for their feedback will make them feel a part of your musical journey, not to mention the wealth of knowledge you can also get from them.
- Simple text You can also connect with fans through text where you can post thoughts, fun quotes, opinions,, or anything that you know will benefit your musical journey.
3. Post Status Updates
The facebook Status feature allows you to share spur-of-the-moment moments with your fans.. You can update your fun moments, new songs, videos, or upcoming live shows that will help keep your page active. Always keep in mind to add options proposed by facebook to your posts, like feelings activities or add a place.
4. Make live and stories
Like all the Meta platforms, facebook push a lot videos instant reactions and live through the social media. To push a lot more your content you'll need to make greater apparitions, you can now connect a lot more with your audience by using lives and stories.
Try live streaming parts of gigs, rehearsals or big announcements. Just don’t use it too often!
5. Keep it updated regulary
Far too many bands seem to abandon their pages after their first few posts or let it go months at a time before posting. One of the best ways to ensure you keep your audience engaged is by regularly posting content. To help you with that and on all the other platforms you should build a real post "calendar".
6. Become a real insights analyst
Facebook expects to see lots of engagement on a post within the first fifteen minutes of being published so you need to find out when most of your fans are online and post at that time. To do this log into Facebook on a laptop/desktop computer, click Insights – Posts and you’ll see a graph of the times your fans are on Facebook. Post just before the graph ‘peaks’.
7. Share from others
Share posts from other people and pages – This is a great way to fill in the gaps when you’re running low on content ideas. It can also help you to get onto the radars of influencers and their audiences.
8. Use Creator Studio
Creator Studio is a one-stop social media content management tool within Facebook that helps creators and publishers manage their content, track performance, and connect meaningfully with their audiences on Facebook and Instagram.
There you'll be able to schedule all the posts you're planning to post in one place for both Instagram & Facebook. Its also there that you can see the analytics of your posts / video for the new page versions.
9. Become a Messenger / comment king
The whole point of being on Facebook in the first place is conversation and friendship, not just a one way stage for your ideas. If you can catch your fans the minute they post on your page you have the chance to build a back and forth conversation that all their friends will see, and which will give your page a big boost. This is the underground tactic that successful Facebookers use to build a loyal following to their fan page.
10. Add call to action in you posts
On facebook, people are more likely to go outside the platform, if you want to redirect a maximum of your reach on medias or links always keep in mind to add call to actions within your wording. Social media promotion is not different than website or landing page promotion. A clear, concise and simple call to action is more likely to generate results.
Why is AI bad news for major labels?
They are everywhere on social media: lately, we have noticed the emergence of many covers of famous songs by world famous artists. Their particularity? None of these artists have really covered these songs: they are all the result of an artificial intelligence able to recreate the artists' voices and transpose them to create these famous covers. Between creativity, progress, but also questions of intellectual property, would AI be the future of music or a real problem for artists? AI generated music: how does it work? Today, several platforms such as AIVA, Soundful or Boomy allow the generation of music thanks to artificial intelligence. These applications give the possibility to create brand new music, and to put them online on different streaming platforms, like Spotify. All these AI music generators use algorithms to generate music. These algorithms are based on existing music, which can then recreate a new track similar to it. Users can create music, remix or rework a track, for example. When generating music, users can then make their own adjustments until they get what they want. The tracks thus created can then be used to feed the database of the platforms' algorithm. The limit of creation is however in the very principle of the functioning of these platforms: they rely on already existing music. In order to create a cover version of a song as mentioned above, the song should be famous enough, but also the artist whose voice you want to use should be famous too, in order to get a result close to reality. And this, many have understood it: the number of covers generated by AI and published on social media in recent weeks has exploded! "Die for You" (The Weeknd) covered with Michael Jackson's voice, "Video Games" (Lana Del Rey) sung by Lady Gaga's voice, or "Just The Two Of Us" (Grover Washington, Jr.) interpreted by Kanye West's voice... The possibilities and combinations of genres, artists, and eras are infinite but still sound so realistic when you listen to them. Great news for artists If there is anything that these AI music generators can support, it is creativity. This is a real boon for artists, as they can now use artificial intelligence to create unique tracks and bring original projects to life effortlessly. One example is the French-American duo AllttA and their track featuring Jay-Z... but in an artificial way. The duo produced the track "Savages", generated with the voice of the famous American rapper thanks to an AI. Result of a unique experimentation, but extremely realistic to say the least. A real communication blow for the duo with its 200 000 views in 6 days, the track is available on YouTube but is not officially released on their album, for obvious reasons of intellectual property. The use of artificial intelligence in music could thus be very interesting for the future of the music industry and is already transforming the way artists create and produce their music. "Artificial intelligence may allow for a new business model in music, but without a legal framework this is not possible" explains 20syl, producer of the duo AllttA. So what about the possible drifts of these creations and the potential use of another artist's voice without his consent? Intellectual property and copyrights issues Major labels are however finding real problems with these solutions using the voices of their most famous artists. To protect the rights of their artists, Universal has come forward to remove from the platforms an original track called "Heart On My Sleeve" produced with artificial intelligence and featuring the voices of Drake and The Weeknd. Prior to its takedown, the track had notably reached nearly 15 million views on TikTok, over 600,000 streams on Spotify, and over 250,000 views on YouTube. The issue here is the ability for anyone to upload an AI-generated track on the platforms, and with any artist's voice without their consent. "Heart On My Sleeve" is obviously not the only track that artificially reproduces the voices of well-known artists and that is available on the platforms: many others exist, and major labels must be vigilant about their presence. "These cases demonstrate why platforms have a fundamental legal and ethical responsibility to prevent the use of their services in ways that harm artists. We are encouraged by our partners' engagement on these issues, as they recognize that they must be part of the solution" says Universal's spokesperson. A parallel can be drawn with the Deep Face technology, developed by Facebook a few years ago. This system, powered by artificial intelligence, offers facial recognition on images posted on the Internet. The software had raised real concerns in terms of privacy on social media, and Facebook had to delete the face scan data of more than one billion users. Therefore, artificial intelligence is full of potential for the future but its use is not without risks. In any case, it is certain that its introduction in the music industry will radically change the codes, and its evolution is yet to be followed. So, what do we think?
Will we be able to make money with our music on Fortnite?
Nowadays, the digital and the virtual are more and more an integral part of our lives. Experiences in the metaverse are gradually diversifying, and we have seen in the last few years music being integrated into it. Last March, Epic Games, the American giant of the development and distribution of video games, including the famous Fortnite, announced that creators of Fortnite islands would be paid according to the engagement on their content created on the game. What if it was possible for artists to take advantage of it from now on? Will video games become a new source of income for artists? The introduction of remuneration for Fortnite island creators On Fortnite, players can create maps accessible to others, called "islands". There are thousands of island creators on the game, including classic players, influencers, or even brands. Until now, the creation of these maps was not paid and was simply done by passionates. Today, this passion will finally be rewarded: Epic Games has announced its willingness to pay creators 40% of Fortnite revenue generated by engagement on their map, including purchases made on the Fortnite Item Store. To be eligible for this payout, players simply need to be 18 years or older, and have a Fortnite account for more than 90 days. The rise of virtual music experiences But Fortnite is not the only platform to offer its players this possibility: we could see for example on its competitor Roblox immersive virtual experiences created by artists for their fans. Roblox allows its players to create their own mini-games, not an island like Fortnite, but mini-games integrated into the video game. For a long time, there have been many player-creators on the platform. And for the past few years, just like on Fortnite, players from the music industry have been taking advantage of these features. We could thus find on Roblox several artists having set up immersive virtual experiences for their fans. Here are some examples of experiences offered by players in the music industry on these platforms. Travis Scott: In April 2020, during the lockdown, Travis Scott performed on Fortnite a historic concert marking the alliance between music and video games. Gathering no less than 12 million players for the occasion, the rapper offered his fans eight minutes of interpretation of his songs and unreleased ones. It was the first concert given in the metaverse. Zara Larsson: In May 2021, Zara Larsson held a virtual concert on Roblox to promote her album Poster Girl. In addition to the show, the players attending had the opportunity to buy items related to the artist on the game and to participate in several activities such as interactive quizzes. O2 Globe, Universal Music UK, Island Records UK: In June 2021, Epic Games partnered with O2 Globe, Universal Music UK and Island Records UK to recreate on Fortnite the famous London stadium: the O2 Arena. The objective was to offer an interactive virtual experience with a show by the alt pop group Easy Life. Six different spaces could be visited by the players and were inspired by some songs of the band. Twenty One Pilots: In September 2021, the band performed the Twenty One Pilots Concert Experience, an immersive virtual concert on Roblox, during which fans participating in the experience could purchase exclusive merch. David Guetta: In partnership with Warner Music Group Wonder Works Studio, David Guetta was able to perform a 45-minute DJ set on Roblox in February 2022, which included DJ battles, dance battles, and a Q&A session with his fans, all in an intergalactic universe filled with neon lights and holograms. iHeartMedia: In September 2022, iHeartMedia created its iHeartLand island on Fortnite to offer a virtual concert of the artist Charlie Puth. This first concert in the metaverse for the media was also followed by an interactive game between the artist and his fans to test their knowledge on his music. The Kid LAROI: Last January, The Kid LAROI created his Wild Dreams island on Fortnite, on which players could live an immersive musical experience retracing his journey. Visitors of the island could discover new songs. Merchandise outfits were also available in the game's item store. Finally, a virtual performance of the artist was given, with both his most famous songs and his new unreleased songs. Music and video games: a competitive market? In short, there are plenty of interactive music experiences on video games. And thanks to Epic Games' update, all the owners of Fortnite islands will now be paid, even if this was not their primary goal: good news for everyone. Maybe this concept will make artists think about creating their own immersive virtual experience, inviting their fans to it, and then generating revenues? In any case, Epic Games and music are extremely linked here, but this is not the first time. In fact, the American giant had bought in 2022 Bandcamp, an online music store highlighting independent artists. So what will be the brand's next moves into music? Will Epic Games become more than just a video game developer? To be continued...
The rap industry holds its first dedicated ceremony in Europe
On May 11, the first French award ceremony entirely dedicated to rap and popular culture was held. The event, called Les Flammes, took place in Paris and was organized by two French media: Booska-P and Yard. Will this first time have an impact on the rap market and its dedicated events? The presence of rap music in award ceremonies As the world's largest music market, the United States offers a wide range of award ceremonies for artists, such as the American Music Awards, the Grammy Awards, and the Billboard Music Awards, to name a few. Also known as the biggest rap and hip-hop market in the world, it is obvious for the country to highlight urban artists through award ceremonies. However, there are very few ceremonies entirely dedicated to rap and urban music. The BET Hip Hop Awards and the Urban Music Awards are among the few, but they are a minority compared to the considerable number of American awards ceremonies, which are mostly generalist. France has been the second biggest market for rap and hip-hop after the United States for decades, and has made this music genre the most popular in the country. In fact, for the last five years, rap and urban music are on average listened to 70% more than other musical genres. However, rap has always been absent or very poorly represented at the major French award ceremonies (NRJ Music Awards, Les Victoires de la Musique...). In Europe, the same phenomenon can be noticed. There are many popular ceremonies that highlight general music, but rap and urban music unfortunately do not have specialized ceremonies. The tracks of these music genres are sometimes only highlighted through a single award category, or are left out. However, Europe has big rap markets: we can mention for example the United Kingdom or Germany, but these two countries do not transmit their proportion through events dedicated to rap. The challenges of Les Flammes For the first edition of a niche event, Les Flammes have amply fulfilled their mission to reach both a public of passionates but also professionals of the music industry. The great majority of the French media, traditional and specialized, relayed the event. At the same time, several international media reported on the highlights of the ceremony, thus testifying to its success in terms of press coverage. The major problem for rap music at general music awards ceremonies was under-representation. This problem was solved with Les Flammes: rap in all its forms was honored, with a large panorama of artists from all the musical sub-genres. Between Caribbean music, R&B, or urban pop, the music of popular culture in its entirety was able to gain representation and inclusiveness. One of the strengths of urban artists today is their fanbase, very often involved and ready to do anything to support their favorite artist. And this, Les Flammes understood it well. For this reason, the votes were composed of 50% by the public choice, and 50% by a jury of professionals in most of the award categories. As a result, artists with a large fanbase were able to win some nominations against other artists with more media coverage! But Les Flammes did not escape the critics: an event that wanted to represent the popular culture without representing some communities, artists who would have deserved to be in the selections but who were not, an organization that could have been more focused on music and less on lifestyle... These controversies are obviously not specific to the event, since most of the ceremonies of the same type have already raised the debates. Every year, the same problems can be found at the American award ceremonies, like the BET Hip Hop Awards for example, where some artists have expressed their disagreement with the winners of some categories. The interest of the ceremonies dedicated to rap If we look at the different rankings, both global and local (for the big rap markets: USA, France...), we can see that rap artists almost monopolize the trends. For example, in France, the Spotify Top 50 can be composed of up to 80% of rappers depending on the period. But this domination of the rankings is not only caused by the infatuation of a public of rap-lovers... We could notice these last years the emergence of a particular tendency to want to make the biggest figures from the first weeks of a release. If the marketing budgets of the artists are still unclear, we can nevertheless suspect that the promotional expenses of the latter could be higher in rap than in other music genres, less represented in France in particular. A big promotional budget for Spotify would explain in part the omnipresence of rap and urban music in the rankings. Spotify, a great playground for urban artists, has also supported Les Flammes ceremony, creating an official playlist with the tracks of the nominees. But then, why create an event dedicated to rap? To celebrate one of the most listened genres in the world firstly. To fulfill a commercial interest as well: as an example, Les Flammes significantly boosted the number of streams of the artists present and nominated during the event. +242,5% on the streams of the track "Ce que tu m'as fait" by Monsieur Nov, or +117,73% on the streams of "Laptop" by Kalash and Maureen, these spectacular increases prove the impact that ceremonies of the same model can have. We see here a real opportunity of promotion for the artists. Finally, to have a media impact since, as said before, the media relays were numerous. In conclusion, for this first edition, Les Flammes seems to have succeeded in making a mark, both locally and internationally. This new kind of specialized event for one single music genre could surely give ideas to other big rap markets to create their own version. In the same concept, will there be new award ceremonies dedicated to other music genres that are underrepresented at generalist ceremonies? Have Les Flammes inspired the big generalist music industry events to include a little more rap for their next events? In any case, it's a big step for rap in France and Europe, but also and above all a great victory for the event's organizers: Booska-P and Yard. Les Flammes has enabled them to move up the media ladder thanks to the scope of the event. bringing together rap artists, professionals and listeners. An annual event definitely not to be missed for the next years? To be continued...