It can be a real privilege to watch them grow, and to be among the first to support/believe in them.

All platforms have to be approached when you want to get yourself known. There’s ways and there’s ways of doing it, and the style they choose will tell you something about them in itself.

I judge them by their talent. There are groups like Steam Powered Giraffe that are great while many best-selling artists have no talent beyond being able to market themselves. I like Abney Park more than most of the mainstream artists you hear, but it seems that talent is judged more by how much a band is worth than in how good their music is. The same extends to other things; I contribute to various Kickstarter projects for various things.

I like giving the little guys a chance to prove themselves. After all, isn’t that what America is all about? Are we the land of Opportunity, or Oligarchy?

It is fun to watch them
grow & I do judge them/decide whether to support them based partly on their talent & partly on whether or not I actually like their music. They could be talented but if their stuff isn’t my style then I can’t get motivated to support them as much.

What becomes annoying isn’t their talent, their slow growth or their style though – rather what becomes annoying is their methods. All too often music groups/individual artists tend to promote themselves via social media in the same way they would everywhere else & they end up shooting themselves in the foot because social media is a different beast. I’ve blocked many a musician on Twitter because they went overboard & tho I don’t block them there are some who it’s obvious they’re just following people in high numbers to get a bunch of followers on Twitter but those followers will never translate to literal, physical, product purchasing followers unless they’re actually targetted followers. The list goes on but the point is that watching a band/individual grow is fun & makes you feel a part of something great – enjoying their music is equally fun & great but being annoyed by their puppy dog behavior (as if they’re following you everywhere & u don’t have a moment to yourself) or their narcissism (acting as if it’s all
about them & not paying attention to who they market to or communicating with their real fans) – those things are the annoying things that burn their bridges.

I have several friends who have pages on Facebook promoting their art, photography, crafts. I don’t have a problem with it. I actually enjoy looking at their work—I see it as personal and purposeful.

What annoys me to no end are the people on Facebook who bullhorn the services for corporate they work for in their status feeds. It’s just different when you’re doing it for a company vs. doing it for yourself.

Nothing wrong with doing it for yourself. (I’ve done it myself in the past to promote my own art). I judge artists mainly by their talent.

I have one living in my house and I wish her the very best.

I think it’s excellent. Not only do we live in an age where such artists have the luxury of taking advantage of such a fantastic way to have a better shot than those in previous technological eras… these days, it’s almost impossible to garner support without those tools.

It’s naive to think that social media marketing is some sort of golden goose or magic wand by which an artist will rise to fame and fortune so easily. The super-fast speed, unprecedented engagement opportunities and such a broad, sweeping reach….all without any real cost makes social media seem like an ‘easy way’ up. But such an assumption is only made by people who are fooling themselves – and/or don’t know much about web marketing.

It is still very much a challenge – possibly even moreso today than before, as our society has begun moving at dizzying speed and consumers are tremendously more fickle than ever before.

Kudos to artists who are leveraging these platforms, this is the land of opportunity – albeit a digital one. Don’t think it’ll be any easier though. You still have to be creative. You still have to be clever, genuine and forward thinking. It’s a lot of work, so don’t discount those who are successful, and follow the precepts they’ve exhibited that brought them prosperity.

My nephew has grown his musical career into a moderate success partially through using such avenues as myspace and bandcamp. He has expanded from playing locally to regionally and has even done a few appearances overseas. I’m proud as the dickens of him and what he is doing
Loki, The Open Road

@anartist Just shared the song with my son—his friends and he all collect local rappers’ music, and he likes Loki.