I was lucky enough recently to partake in the Chicago Music Commission’s Social Media panel for musicians at the Cultural Center in Chicago. They just posted the MP3 for the panel which they’ve called, “Stand Out In A Digital World”. I highly recommend listening to the podcast if you’re somewhat new to marketing yourself as a musician online. There’s tons of links and resources we discuss throughout the panel, and I only say “fuck” once.

Social Media for Musicians – Musicians at Work Forum

Recorded Monday,  November 16,  2009

We discussed using Social Media to build fan relationships. Developing a strategy that helps you choose how to use the available services and networks. Getting the most for your effort in growing and maintaining your fan base. Setting expectations and converting those relationships into real-time results.

Moderator:
Jim Goodrich Chicago Music Commission

Panelists:
Jeffrey David Goldford The Everyday People
Miriam Brosseau Stereo Sinai
Alan Jay Sufrin Stereo Sinai
Matt Ryd Singer/Songwriter
Tim Toomey Assault, Inc. (Me you turds)

Links from the panel you may like:

• Reverb Nation – Better than MySpace and you get embeddable music widgets
• Tunecore – Digital Music Distribution
• CD Baby – Discover New Music
• Last.fm – Another place to get your music on, like Pandora

It’s not too often I get an email from Twitter telling me I have a new person with a high follower count following me. When they do, I tend to look into what they’re all about on their profile.

9/10 times it’s someone who follows twice as many people as they have following them. 10/10 times said person is a “social media power user”.

I’ve been experimenting for months with Twitter. As a proof of concept, I setup my personal account as my “garbage” account where I follow everyone who follows me back. Lo and behold, I  amassed 2,700 followers of which I follow 2,685 back. I don’t read the news feed, I don’t respond to messages, I don’t care about anything that any one of my fellow “Twitter power users” have to say.

After three months with my two twitter accounts I have discovered two major points which I think will help shut everyone up who brags about their twitter follower count.

• If you can’t mobilize your followers for feedback, links, retweets, or an opinion: they’re worthless.
• Twitter is a vehicle for word of mouth, but offline word of mouth is always better than online word of mouth.

Stop worrying so much about how many, and think more in terms of quality. My meager 700 followers on the Assault Official Twitter account give me better feedback and more interaction than my 3,000 followers on my garbage account. Twitter “friends” or “fans” are way more valuable than a mass of zombie followers.

Have a different opinion? Leave it in the comments.

Convincing Mom and Dad to let you go move to LA to be a professional musician probably won’t fly with most parents, but believe it or not it is possible to learn another skill to help you get a step closer towards your ultimate career goals; albeit a step from a different direction. You may even find another skill you enjoy along the way.

While my parents would have supported me had I told them I wanted to be a professional musician and not go to college, they surely wouldn’t be paying my rent while I play open mic nights at the Double Door inbetween shifts at my $7.15 an hour barista job.

Here’s five careers you may enjoy just as much as music that can also help you achieve your ultimate goal of being a professional musician.

5. Writer

This may be the most obvious item on this list because obviously, good song writing elicits better music–but hey you could always just have Diane Warren write your music like Aerosmith did.

4. Teacher

While there may not be a possibility to network directly in your industry like some of the other jobs on this list, as a teacher you get weekends and summers to go play shows and go on tour. It seems to have worked for Art Garfunkel, Gene Simmons, and Sting.

3. Social Media Specialist

No, I don’t mean a twitter PR zombie that you find producing assloads of worthless shit that no one cares about–that’s not a Social Media Specialist. I’m talking about a specialist who not only has a good network of friends and knows how to launch an event, but can also write press releases and get your announcements syndicated through Google news and in all the local publications in the area.

Now that everyone’s on the Twitter bandwagon, you can find literally hundreds of other musicians, and music journalists that are within reach of 140 character message or less.

2. Sound Designer

Maybe a no brainer, but a talented sound designer can not only help get your music recorded in a high quality manner, but they can also be a good resource for networking with other bands and people in the industry. Chances are good if they have the proper access, you can save yourself a few thousand dollars experimenting with studio equipment, or renting studio time to lay down your fat beats.

Trent Reznor started out working as a janitor and assistant sound engineer in his earlier career and he recorded demos during unused studio time leading to him getting signed to his first record deal. Not too bad for a college dropout. His most recent endeavor with Janes Addiction just launched this past week: Nin|ja2009 and has CD quality audio available for free!

1. Web Designer/Developer

While you may disagree with a good portion of my list, I’m almost positive this is one of the jobs you can agree with. With music going digital and major record labels pouring all of their dollars into lawyers pockets instead of towards making quality music, now is an even better time to become your own producer and distributor of content and music.

If you have the tools to build your own site, and design your own graphics, you’ve saved yourself a ton of time and money trying to find someone else to help you with the details. Any decent web developer/designer can make a custom Myspace page, create your own merch store at a place like Big Cartel, implement a blog into your site, and get your music online and distributed to the masses. More importantly, a resourceful designer/developer can also build an entire unified online presence for your band that extends to the print world as well if need be.

Honorable mentions: Morning Radio Jockey, Copyright Lawyer, Graphic Designer, actor, (It’s doing wonders for Joaquin!)

Have another job I missed? Share it in the comments!