How Bloggers And Artists Should Work Versus What's Going Wrong
If you have been on the internet for a while you probably know that music bloggers and music artists have a love and hate relationship with each other. It is either the bloggers are tweeting a post to criticize what artists are doing wrong or the artists are sneaking in bars to throw shade at bloggers.
This counts because if it were simply about being linked to, an artist could just set up many blogspot blogs and link to themselves.
On the other hand, sometimes it's all love and praises from both parties. It would seem like a power struggle.
I have found myself on both sides. I am an artist who decided to blog to cover for the shortcomings I thought bloggers who had no experience in music making were making. The journey started well but I too would soon start making mistakes which I see in hindsight.
In this post I will give an ideal guideline however on what I was supposed to do as a blogger.
The Purpose of A Music Blog
The purpose of a music blog should be to create discoverability for old and new artists. It should also be to curate the material so as to save the consumer time.
The blog readers come to the blog because they need help in making a choice on what may be worth their time. The readers by accessing the blog therefore covertly consents to be guided by the subjective views of the blogger. Yes blogs are about subjective tastes.
You are trusting someone to go through vast material and pick out what they think is worth your data, money or time. We will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this.
PROS AND CONS
PROS
- Time and money are limited resources, so humans have built ecosystems that allow other humans to take care of other aspects of life, while others take care of other things. A Medical Doctor doesn't have to worry about travelling to farms for vegetables when the nearest Spar can curate eligible products and put them on display in a one stop shop near him.
- Blogs allow other artists to be discovered by being on the blog with related artists, because after reading one articles most blogs will suggest other articles in the side bars. So someone may primarily come to a post to read about how dope Noble Stylz is and end up also seeing a post about how trash Malcom Mufunde is.
- Blogs allow the artists that are written about to get backlinks to their song, which is a good off-page SEO (Search Engine Optimization) benefit. Streaming platforms usually look at a lot of signals when ranking content including signals of how many websites or blogs have embeded a song or linked to them and social shares.
NOT ALL BLOGS HAVE EQUAL STRENGTH
So basically if Audiomack sensing that a project has been linked to by 3-mob.com which has a domain authority of 32 and 8,345 backlinks. That song will automatically be suggested to more people than another track of the same length which has no one linking to it.
Earground has a domain Authority of 10 and 434 backlinks. It is growing, part of why a website like 3-mob.com has a bigger domain authority is because it has a greater domain age as well. So Google trusts it.
This counts because if it were simply about being linked to, an artist could just set up many blogspot blogs and link to themselves.
So yes not all blogs benefit artists the same, but just get on the blogs even if they are small because one day they too will reach a higher domain authority.
THE CONS
- Blogs are subjective so if content is not within the bloggers filter bubble people will have to hinge on their biases.
- Bloggers can have personal preference to their own circles or artists that are dear to them instead of giving everyone a chance.
- If bloggers are given too much authority they can settle feuds by giving artists they are at war with bad PR or ignoring their work.
- The Power of suggestion can work on impressionable minds and people who read blogs may form their views based on what a blogger said rather than what they would have concluded without the blogger.
- Even an unbiased blogger cannot possibly go through all material. So artists who support the blog when it writes about others eventually feel like they are not being recognized by the blog and diss bloggers and fellow artists.
WHAT SHOULD ALL PARTIES DO?
THE FANS
In this section lets acknowledge we are all fans, but I am specifically talking about pure fans, who are just there for the product.
The fans should read things in a blog with a pinch of salt and be aware that anything they read is a subjective opinion. If they decide to read a blog-post they must know that they are subjecting themselves to that persons paradigm.
This will solve a lot of problems. If the fans want to make their own decisions they should probably get on Audiomack or Youtube and search for new artists themselves. This may be time consuming but it works for those who want to make their own selection.
FAN CONTRIBUTION
A lot of fans are educated and can sometimes type well written comments although they cannot dedicate themselves to actually blog. Fans can be pro-active to pitch articles to bloggers here and there. Bloggers will usually agree because they need the content to keep traffic. To make it fair, bloggers can also be pro-active and make it known that they can consider submissions for articles.
Think of how the issues that The Herald may not report on can still be included in the newspaper via letters to the editor.
This will solve the problem of, intelligent fans who do hit-pieces on their Facebook profiles to criticize bloggers for ignoring certain artists.
So instead of getting into a group and saying, "Bloggers are sleeping on Ill Manner" for instance. You can be pro-active and write a good piece on him and then ask any blogger to upload it. Again, it can be their subjective view to decline it, after which your claim that they really want to sleep on the individual can be considered.
Fans are the real gate keepers.
If you are not going out daily to share the work of the artists you like, you are a gate keeper and you are the one sleeping on them.
WHAT CAN THE ARTISTS DO BETTER?
The artists have been improving in deploying marketing strategies but most of them still don't have websites. Websites are easy and cheap to make. Hosting is $12 the whole year and a domain is $8.
An artist should not think that their only work is to make music but they should create and improve on all their platforms as digital assets. This mitigates the need for them to rely on another persons subjectivity for distributing their marketing material.
A lot of artists have done this well. We can take a lesson from an entity like Nash Paints. Instead of investing money in advertising on other peoples platforms they created their own platform where they have control on when to advertise themselves.
The artists blog does not have to write about music. The artist can pick a focus which is in his audience best interests and get guest bloggers or develop it themselves.
They can also Vlog on Youtube. It's just a matter of keeping a disciplined schedule.
People who make any other product do not just make it and seat. They send emails, they develop brochures, websites. They have street teams at bus stops handing you flyers.
People who make any other product do not just make it and seat. They send emails, they develop brochures, websites. They have street teams at bus stops handing you flyers.
They don't make a product and complain that Herald has not picked it up.
ARTISTS AS PLATFORMS
While there may seem to be a conflict of interest at times a candle loses nothing by lighting another. Artists can from time to time share the work of fellow artists. Of course I only recommend this if they are giving a positive review.
A self-centred marketing approach can work for the individual but if we are to build a community, there must be a certain degree of selfless push.
However, if you do this, do it without expecting reciprocity. The push me because I push you mindset can create grudges.
HOW CAN THE BLOGGERS BE BETTER?
As much as blogging is a subjective thing, bloggers should not be comfortable in their filter bubbles since they are blogging for the whole. For the culture as we say.
Emotions and grudges should not leak into the greater work. Nor should they try to piggy back on an artists clout especially if they ignored the artist on the come up.
Humble beginnings must be respected. A broad perspective must be nurtured and personally I think payment should not be solicited from artists.
Rather if monetization is to come, bloggers can seek out advertisers from corporates by showing them their traffic and demographics.
This in itself will cause bloggers to serve the consumers, because the only way you can get a lot of traffic is by giving consumers what they came for and not your biases.
Likewise artists should also support small blogs and not only start inboxing for reviews after the blog starts doing well.
EVERYTHING WORKS IN A SYMBIOTIC ECOSYSTEM
Even in business as people lost jobs to the pandemic, I knew the businesses that remained open would feel a dent. See even if you remained open, you would face a potential decrease in customers because the people who had been retrenched would now have less income to spend with you.
A lot of bloggers wait for people to blow up and then they start writing about them.
A lot of artists only approach succesful blogs that's why they get ignored.
Imagine if a blogger had written about Kae Chaps in his humble beginnings? How much traffic would they start getting from an old piece if he blew up?
Imagine being on a fresh blog that is slowly gaining domain authority. How strong will be your signals to Youtube and Audiomack algorithms as it grows?
Imagine being on a fresh blog that is slowly gaining domain authority. How strong will be your signals to Youtube and Audiomack algorithms as it grows?
It's not about timing the market it's about TIME IN THE MARKET.
Let's think long term. Let's squash beefs, let's work together.
THE ANCHOR MARKETING MODEL AND HOW BLOGS AND ARTISTS CAN BE MODELLED AROUND IT
In South Africa, if you are setting up a new business and want it to scale up fast , you can either put it at a Mall or near rank.
A mall saves shoppers time because thy can park their cars once , shop for clothes, groceries and do their hair at one stop.
If bloggers, podcasters and artists unite in some ways to make partnerships that inter-promote stuff, everyone will bite their share of traffic and everyone will win.
If consistent traffic is guaranteed people who sell products are willing to bid for space. Especially if the demographics and analytics are clear.
BLOGS YOU CAN LOOK WATCH (IF YOU DON"T LIKE ONE YOU CAN TRY ANOTHER)
You are spoilt for choice when it comes to blogs which address music the above are but a few. I may continue to edit this post as time permits to add more and more. If you like the ideas conveyed in this piece share it far and wide. The biggest curator is the fans at the end of the day.
Great read. Thank you for the mention.
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