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After having a deactivated account for years on Facebook I have returned recently with the goal of promoting my music. I have noticed that Facebook seems to have changed quite a bit now. They are very heavy on pushing for spending money to promote posts, pictures, events, etc. I'm curious if anyone out there has any opinions on this. Are you seeing a return on your investment for spending money on ads on Facebook in particular? I'm a bit cautious over this in particular, but at the same time I'm not afraid to spend money to promote what I'm doing. A friend of mine has told me that Facebook actively hides posts from artists now to get you to spend money just so people can see what you have going on, etc. Does anyone have more insight into this? Is this true?

I'm active on YouTube and Twitter as well now, but neither of those sites are pushing for me to spend money to post or promote things. I guess this is more about Facebook than anything else.


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Depends on what you're selling... If anything you're promoting can be considered "conservative or Christian" then forget about it.

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Your music (and mine) is a needle in a galactic haystack. Without performances and fans, it will be difficult to create interest in it on social media alone. Mostly what I think that you will find is people trying to make you their fan.

If you are going to invest in advertising, I suggest that you investigate Spotify. Even there, your music remains a needle in a galactic haystack...and any investment stands little chance of yielding a return or even recoup...but at least there are actual music fans there.

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On Facebook it is possible for me to advertise regionally to people who enjoy specific types of music or who are interested in checking out new material. I guess I'm wanting to hear from people who have tried this and how well it's working for them.

Last edited by DonnieWitt; 01/30/21 05:23 PM.

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I hear FB promotions can cost quite a lot. Did you check to see what they charge Donnie?

John smile

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Originally Posted by DonnieWitt
On Facebook it is possible for me to advertise regionally to people who enjoy specific types of music or who are interested in checking out new material. I guess I'm wanting to hear from people who have tried this and how well it's working for them.


I have advertised on Spotify. You can do something for $250 that will conceivably reach about 14000 people.
And Spotify listeners are there exclusively for music. And you can filter (target) your audience to be age, genre, etc specific.
I suggest a look.

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They are costly and do nothing for most people. Can you name one artist who broke through using facebook ads? If they did youd hear about it. Some have done it on youtube and soundcloud even. I dont know of any artist breaking through by being on spotify. Everybody is on there including people who stopped making music ten years ago.

myspace had a few, artic monkeys were the first band ever to be discovered on myspace, at least a band that went somewhere.

I think you need to sound and perform as well as any major artist, ive heard songs by so called amateurs that sound as good as anything on the radio. People may not understand why they arent digging a song, but the sound of it is a big reason. If you sound good, you are good. You"re better off sounding good than writing good but sounding like chit

I dont think home recordings do the trick, they are basicly demos, not radio ready. If you think spending a few hundred on software puts you on ,footing with others your nuts. The more exciting the sound the more likely somebody will listen.

Besides all that, as has been said, your one of hundreds of thousands of people making music. With home recording a new song is being recording every minute of every day.

But in order to sell music, there has to be a demand for it, theres no demand for any of us. Were trying to sell pens, were trying to sell ice cubes. if live music ever comes back, you can still do it the old fashion way, going out and getting fans one by one playing live, and of course filming it and putting it online. Its a long haul and most people quit before it happens, but i believe thats still the most valid way, the internet is just too crowded. Social media can be really useful if you have fans, cause THEY use social media to create a buzz about you. And that lets others find you.

But as far as where you put your music.... somebody will be there to get you setup to sell your music, somebody will be there to supposedly promote it, somewhere will be there to create a website and distribute your music, but most likely, nobody will be there to make people like your music

Last edited by Fdemetrio; 01/30/21 06:37 PM.
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I have looked at the existential approach in looking at different fields in the performing arts.
Looked at both mp4 and vocal and lyrics based recordings. And to get a singer and players around a cd.
But to this day despite the tech, it looks to be who starts out in a local venue that goes further.
Outside of that it is looking at other avenues.

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Venues are the worst place to try and promote yourself in the USA as of right now. Most bars/venues are closed or closing early and are not hiring talent. They can't afford to do it. They can't pay bands because not enough people are coming in. I'm sure there are outdoor places in nicer weather areas that are not having that problem, but here in the Cincinnati tri state area it's extremely difficult to get gigs as an original artist given the COVID situation.

With everyone being stuck at home or not going out as much it seems like an optimal time to promote online, do things online, etc. I'm not looking to promote on Facebook assuming I'm going to get a recording contract as a result. I simply just want to promote the new album I have released, that I haven't really been able to do live shows to promote. As soon as COVID chills out, I'll get back out there. As of now I have to figure out ways to get this music into the ears of people who might like it.


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Thats why I said IF live music ever comes back. Its next to impossible right now because even superstars in music are doing quarantine releases, and free in home concerts, legends in music are having a hard time of it. Every indie I know is doing a one night a week live stream concert, and they are lucky to get 25 people watching.

Id wait to release it, too much competition right now. Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day has been doing covers of songs from his living room with his kids playing drums and bass.

Most indies find out that they need to have a following for any quarantine sessions to work. And thats true without quarantine too

I guess you could try your own on facebook and tell your friends list about it, thats a start. And you could also post the songs here, thats the extent of most of our audience!

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People are on social media, but you need to do a lot of homework.

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Our band uses FB ads off and on. Basically, promoting online is the same as promoting has always been. You have to work at it daily. Early on, we created a band logo and wrote kind of a "mission statement" as to what we do/our influences, etc. All of that is on our page, which is looks pretty homegrown and organic. We started in 2013 but I would say our band page didn't really take off until about 2018. All this time, we have been working it, working it, working it. By "taking off" I mean we are close to 1K followers now but it has taken us 8 years to get them. We have not paid to get followers, etc.

My husband shares/posts music memes/articles/videos, etc. daily. Basically, he shares any interesting musical news and in between, we share a new band recording or a video. We share way less of our actual creative content than we do other stuff. Probably other people do this differently but we decided we didn't want to beat people over the head with our stuff and feel our approach is better in terms of retaining followers.

Since the pandemic began, there has been an explosion of people posting videos and performances on FB and it is really hard to distinguish yourself to be heard. So we created a weekly variety show on Sunday nights. We play 6 songs and have a "mail bag" segment where we read fictional "fan mail, " etc. We don't play every Sunday but try to.

Sometimes, my husband will buy an ad to promote the weekly show. We did one for the last show. On average, I believe FB ads are around $20.00 but like everything they do, they make it a bit overly complicated. I believe the final fee has much to do with how the audience reacts to your ad, their algorithms, etc. Typically, around $20 is a good average for what an ad costs. The do allow you to really narrow down your target audience by location, age, etc.

I looked at the last ad we did. We picked-up three likes for our band page and engaged 1,200 people who viewed our show and watched at least 30 or more seconds of it. We had over 200 through plays of the show, which is pretty good for a $20 ad. We feel that FB gives you a pretty decent "bang" for your buck and it is not that expensive. But FB does seem to bury content that is not promoted, so you know, it is the devil. And I think they have stacked the odds with their algorithms in favor of ad buyers re: who gets to view, like, listen to content.

I also have my own solo page and I do zero to promote it. I have about 180 followers and post on it maybe once every three or four months. In November of 2019, I released a single with an accompanying video. I did a FB ad for my video. That video has been viewed around 300 times. I am working on a punk/pop EP at the moment and will be ramping up on solo promos soon.

Link to the page, if you are interested in seeing it.

https://www.facebook.com/DonSechelski.Musician

Also, re: Spotify, we have been able to get on playlists and that seems to be the way to get your music heard over there. I don't know much about how it works but basically getting added to a variety of playlists can help you be seen/heard by listeners.


http://www.reverbnation.com/wendydumond

https://soundcloud.com/#mamby-p

http://www.reverbnation.com/donsechelski

Link for Blackfoot Daisy band


You think I'm just another jive folk singer but I'm a master in the art of criminology..Tom Russell
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Yeah, it aint like nobody thought of capitalizing on covid before. But in reality its no different than any other time, people live on the internet anyway, so you werent standing out any more, and since everybody is doing it your standing out less.

People are more likely to share stupid, funny, quirky videos and songs than serious ones. William Huang of American idol had more success than some of the actual contestants.

I read a good book called indie band survival guide. It basicly said going where everybody else is going wont get you anywhere, you have to find unique places to get your music heard. Maybe somebody has a home repair podcast and if your song got on there, it might make people wonder who it is. I did that once on a friends podcast, hes a financial advisor. It did make people email who the artist was, but his podcast wasnt very big, lucky to have 15 listeners a week, lol. But the concept worked. I also wrote a song for a board game, which the president of the company liked, it got me alot of listens, only ten people actually bought the song, but hundreds listened, and i got a write up from a sports writer who thought it represnted the game well.

The old baseball slogan "hit it where they aint" Go where theres less people. SPotify wouldnt qualify, but its a nice place to redirect people once they find you.

Just some ideas, otherwise were ants on a mountain.

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It almost seems like what I hear of facisct states.
Staring in to social gatherings and where we sleep.
I guess the ban is being lifted in some places.
The lock downs from what I hear on the news was lifted in some states. Although bars can't have widescreen TV.
It seems like a conspiracy to make the last administration look bad for the economic calamity.

I would have loved to see these bands and watch the Twins for the first time at Target Field.
Are the better days gone forever?

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Wendy D..

Thank you. Your post is informative.

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they are constantly updating too heres their website... http://makingmoneywithmusic.com/?fb...hiut0aqY8BmpDCgI1e7HRawXw82H4EcYtGnYFl2U

I hope thats INFORMATIVE

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and guess what , he was a member here. Well, he has one post...one of the authors

http://www.jpfolks.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/975586/Searchpage/1/Main/105562/Words/%2Bindie+%2Bband+%2Bsurvival+%2Bguide/Search/true/free-chicago-seminar-for-musicians-making-money-with-music.html

Last edited by Fdemetrio; 02/02/21 10:14 AM.
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Wendy, thank you for staying on topic and being informative. I followed your Facebook page as well.


Songwriter from Independence, Kentucky
http://www.youtube.com/DonnieWittMusic

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