Earlier today I was reading a forum about Facebook "Likes" and whether or not they actually mean anything to a band ..... part of the discussion also delved into the number of plays on YouTube and that these "plays" can be bought, similar to the "likes" on FB.
Well, I have my music page on ReverbNation and received notification of a new fan today ... so I check it out and go to the web page. For only $1.50 I can buy 20 ReverbNation fans. I also have a YouTube page, and for only $950.00 I can buy 1 million plays ... 1 million!!
Considering no one bothers about My Space, ReverbNation or YouTube in terms of looking for new talent, are bands that desperate and fall for this? It's a rhetorical question since I already know the answer.
I wouldn't say Youtube, actually. People get their 15 minutes, if they get the plays. Beiber, the queen soundalike guy, the dude who was painted like the wall (gotye?), the six dudes who play 1 guitar, the same type of 6 dudes on piano strings. Many more exist I am sure.
Quote:
Originally Posted by scubastevee
Earlier today I was reading a forum about Facebook "Likes" and whether or not they actually mean anything to a band ..... part of the discussion also delved into the number of plays on YouTube and that these "plays" can be bought, similar to the "likes" on FB.
Well, I have my music page on ReverbNation and received notification of a new fan today ... so I check it out and go to the web page. For only $1.50 I can buy 20 ReverbNation fans. I also have a YouTube page, and for only $950.00 I can buy 1 million plays ... 1 million!!
Considering no one bothers about My Space, ReverbNation or YouTube in terms of looking for new talent, are bands that desperate and fall for this? It's a rhetorical question since I already know the answer.
Yes this should not be possible.We are living in totally stupid and messed up times.People will probably be willing to do anything to somehow confirm their existence is worth anything.
Haven't you noticed 99% of online "marketing" feels more like a bad game show. Adults clamoring for people to "like" their page, we have all been reduced to a high school mentality the "popular kids do well.. Then we have Kick starter, yes begging for money.
The only people doing well in the music world are trust fund babies, people with "backers" and guys with wealthy girlfriends..
If you are truly good or unique, you will catch our attention - there is no need to buy likes, plays, fans, followers - one frequent poster on here got called out on this (the stats were posted and sure did look obvious that the likes were purchased).
Quote:
Originally Posted by brockorama
I wouldn't say Youtube, actually. People get their 15 minutes, if they get the plays. Beiber, the queen soundalike guy, the dude who was painted like the wall (gotye?), the six dudes who play 1 guitar, the same type of 6 dudes on piano strings. Many more exist I am sure.
I suspect that all of these people got their plays via actual views and not by purchasing them. However, I have seen many YouTube videos with play counts that make no sense based on the content. Same as in the days of My Space.
I've been approached by several "A&R" companies - all they do is prey on the desperate .... for a fee. Particularly when I know these companies didn't even bother to play any of my songs or mention one of the titles.
I've been approached by several "A&R" companies - all they do is prey on the desperate .... for a fee. Particularly when I know these companies didn't even bother to play any of my songs or mention one of the titles.
I have had my label out for 1 year... In that time I met a neighbor who was trying to achieve the same goal.... He went the route of buying soundcloud,twitter,facebook likes... His tracks get 20 plays with 1k followers, lol.... He has also paid foreigners to purchase his tracks from Beatport so he could chart! I am not sure if that helped as we do not speak anymore. I know some major labels in my genre (breaks) who currently do this to get top 10. I could not do this! Either you like my music or not!
I've worked with some cats in talks with majors and even their A&R is using these things as metrics.
Last I heard, you needed like 10,000 subscribers to your youtube and 50,000 followers on twitter.
It's not going to help get you heard, but I think it'd help if you were in talks to get signed.
That being said, this is a total moving target because one of my clients is actually a social media consultant and the metrics they look at isn't how many likes but how effective everything is with the existing likes.
If you have 1,000,000 youtube views and 6 comments, it's going to seem a little suspicious...
Is it a shortcut? Absolutely. Is it effective? Maybe if an A&R rep has given you some metrics to hit...
I've tried the software that gives you inflated hits. Soundclick gave me a warning and pulled the numbers from the charts...Youtube didn't even register the views. I'm not sure I'd be willing to pony up $1000 for something I've never seen work myself.
That being said, if you get 1,000,000 views on Youtube in one day, you're going to be on their front page which potentially could lead you to a new audience. The more likes you have on Facebook, the higher you show up in search results so maybe there is some value to this process.
Pump it all you want. If it sucks, nobody will come back for a second listen...
Another "A&R" Internet-based company sent me an e-mail on ReverbNation today wanting me to buy 1000 plays for $20.00 ... and that was at a 50% discount. I sent her a link to this thread.
At least time was spent to actually look at a song name and mention it in the e-mail.
Eventually the truth comes out (read: remains the same) that the only "likes" that count are the ones from the folks buying tickets to get into your show.
Eventually the truth comes out (read: remains the same) that the only "likes" that count are the ones from the folks buying tickets to get into your show.
And buying up your swag at the table in the back.
"These kids'll buy ANYTHING!!!"
I was about to post the same, but skimmed up and saw this. It's funny hearing bands (at a low level) talking about rival bands, about how many more "likes" they've got on FB. Whatever happened to talking about EPs sold or selling out gigs?
I quit a (formerly well reputed) genre-based music website recently for 2 reasons:
1) Because that place had more producers than listeners (and most of those producers were very very bland and paint-by-number: I couldn't remember anything at all about their tunes after hearing them);
2) Because, ridiculously, that website had a rating function, and a lot of people are now uploading their tracks and rating themselves immediately. So you would look and see someone had just uploaded something. The number of listens for that track: exactly one. The rating: 5 out of 5. Two or three days later, the number of listens for the same track had crept up to 2 or 3. The guy uploads again, not even bothering to wait 30 seconds before rating his own latest track 5 out of 5.
The second reason was the big turnoff. I don't mind sharing in a niche online music community. But if the people there are the sort who rate themselves and validate their own work, it's very sad and only confirms what someone else said earlier in this thread. We are living in messed up times.
There was a hip hop duo at my high school that had roughly 5,000 views after a week then jumped up to 500k the next week. Yet barely anyone at the school knows who they are hmmmmmm..
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