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GMC Forum _ CHILL OUT _ Grow A Fanbase And Remain Anonymous

Posted by: PosterBoy Jul 15 2012, 03:41 PM

Thinking about growing fanbase and gaining some sort of following, inspired by Fireball's thread.

Do you think you can do it without the 'human element', no one ever knowing who you are and what you look like (obviously this is looking at purely recording projects rather than live work). Video with animation or actors etc

Posted by: Nihilist1 Jul 15 2012, 03:47 PM

QUOTE (PosterBoy @ Jul 15 2012, 02:41 PM) *
Thinking about growing fanbase and gaining some sort of following, inspired by Fireball's thread.

Do you think you can do it without the 'human element', no one ever knowing who you are and what you look like (obviously this is looking at purely recording projects rather than live work). Video with animation or actors etc


Yup. There are plenty of Black Metal musicians that do it(myself included). Just operate under a pseudonym. There isn't necessarily a reason to have a video just because it is on YT or something similar. Just use a black square with some text or something if you can't think of anything creative.

Posted by: Opetholic Jul 15 2012, 03:50 PM

QUOTE (PosterBoy @ Jul 15 2012, 02:41 PM) *
Thinking about growing fanbase and gaining some sort of following, inspired by Fireball's thread.

Do you think you can do it without the 'human element', no one ever knowing who you are and what you look like (obviously this is looking at purely recording projects rather than live work). Video with animation or actors etc

Has been done.
Search for Devil Doll and Mr Doctor..

Posted by: Ben Higgins Jul 15 2012, 03:52 PM

QUOTE (PosterBoy @ Jul 15 2012, 03:41 PM) *
Thinking about growing fanbase and gaining some sort of following, inspired by Fireball's thread.

Do you think you can do it without the 'human element', no one ever knowing who you are and what you look like (obviously this is looking at purely recording projects rather than live work). Video with animation or actors etc


Yep ! Anything can be done !! smile.gif

Posted by: Nihilist1 Jul 15 2012, 09:01 PM

QUOTE (Opetholic @ Jul 15 2012, 02:50 PM) *
Has been done.
Search for Devil Doll and Mr Doctor..


WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT

THAT IS MY FAVOURITE BAND EVER. WHY DIDN'T I ALREADY KNOW THAT YOU LIKE THEM?

Posted by: Opetholic Jul 15 2012, 09:09 PM

QUOTE (Nihilist1 @ Jul 15 2012, 08:01 PM) *
WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT

THAT IS MY FAVOURITE BAND EVER. WHY DIDN'T I ALREADY KNOW THAT YOU LIKE THEM?

Oh hehe smile.gif Yea they are pretty amazing I think smile.gif It looks like we have a lot of music taste in common..

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jul 15 2012, 09:32 PM

It would be amazing to do something like this... I would like to experiment with this.... If I ever do it I will share the experience here.


Posted by: Nihilist1 Jul 15 2012, 11:21 PM

QUOTE (Opetholic @ Jul 15 2012, 08:09 PM) *
Oh hehe smile.gif Yea they are pretty amazing I think smile.gif It looks like we have a lot of music taste in common..


It seems like we do... GET OUT OF MY HEAD laugh.gif

Posted by: thefireball Jul 16 2012, 05:39 AM

I am disappointed right now. I have this huge fanbase but no interaction when I post a sample and ask for feedback. How come only a small percentage of people see things in their news feed? I see almost everything in mine. I scroll slowly enough to at least skim. Only a couple hundred of people out of my 2000 see my stuff. That's what my posts' statistics are saying.

Posted by: PosterBoy Jul 16 2012, 06:20 AM

The news feed is a strange thing, I think it looks at which likes and friends you interact with and gives you their feeds, obviously there is the power to block news from certain pages and friends on your feed too. I know friends who I don't see any news from for ages and have to go to their page to see what's happening and then it starts showing up again automatically in my feed.

Then there is the fact that many facebook users are fickle and click happy.

Back to the initial discussion though.

Do you think the human element helps?

People are attracted to personalities, image and perceived lifestyle as much as the music. Though if you as a person and the music you produced seemed like polar opposites it could have a negative effect (or I guess a positive).

I think of an emerging guitarist like Nolly from Red Sea Fire, with his glasses and looking and sounding very middle class. It doesn't seem very Rock n Roll.

Gorillaz worked just using cartoon characters, but obviously had huge marketing budget and with Damon Albarn's very distinctive vocals it wasn't a mystery that it was his new project.

Anyway enough thinking about marketing and I should actually finish writing some songs before worrying about how to promote them. Vague riffs and half written lyrics will get me nowhere sad.gif

Posted by: Ben Higgins Jul 16 2012, 08:27 AM

QUOTE (thefireball @ Jul 16 2012, 05:39 AM) *
I am disappointed right now. I have this huge fanbase but no interaction when I post a sample and ask for feedback. How come only a small percentage of people see things in their news feed? I see almost everything in mine. I scroll slowly enough to at least skim. Only a couple hundred of people out of my 2000 see my stuff. That's what my posts' statistics are saying.


Hi Brandon. I think FB band pages have changed where people now have to manually select an option to receive updates from your page. It's really annoying ! dry.gif

Posted by: Todd Simpson Jul 16 2012, 09:10 AM

"Likes" and "Fans" are often VERY different things and this is a great example.

Getting responses on social media is at Art and GMC does a darn good job. Take notice of their FACEBOOK strategy of how they often interject polls and question relevant to their audience to increase 'engagement". Another tactic is to offer some incentive. Eg. Free MP3, etc. for commenting/sharing etc. In short, bribery! smile.gif

Ola Englund is another great example (facebook/his blog/youtube), a veritable Master of Social Media. Notice how every post generates a huge Flurry of responses. He has found his audience and he gives them what they want. But it's taken some time.




QUOTE (thefireball @ Jul 16 2012, 12:39 AM) *
I am disappointed right now. I have this huge fanbase but no interaction when I post a sample and ask for feedback. How come only a small percentage of people see things in their news feed? I see almost everything in mine. I scroll slowly enough to at least skim. Only a couple hundred of people out of my 2000 see my stuff. That's what my posts' statistics are saying.



The Human Element. You can do it either way really. Creating a "persona" is a good way to protect your identity and allow for your music to be associated to more of a character than person. Some musicians rarely use their name or show their face, or wear makeup etc. As you mentioned, if you are wanting to avoid having a "middle class" look, creating a persona through which to interact with fans can be freeing. You can invent anything and it can bring a sense of theatre to the music. Ozzy, Kiss, SlipKnot, etc. Good examples of creating "characters" for their music.

QUOTE (PosterBoy @ Jul 16 2012, 01:20 AM) *
The news feed is a strange thing, I think it looks at which likes and friends you interact with and gives you their feeds, obviously there is the power to block news from certain pages and friends on your feed too. I know friends who I don't see any news from for ages and have to go to their page to see what's happening and then it starts showing up again automatically in my feed.

Then there is the fact that many facebook users are fickle and click happy.

Back to the initial discussion though.

Do you think the human element helps?

People are attracted to personalities, image and perceived lifestyle as much as the music. Though if you as a person and the music you produced seemed like polar opposites it could have a negative effect (or I guess a positive).

I think of an emerging guitarist like Nolly from Red Sea Fire, with his glasses and looking and sounding very middle class. It doesn't seem very Rock n Roll.

Gorillaz worked just using cartoon characters, but obviously had huge marketing budget and with Damon Albarn's very distinctive vocals it wasn't a mystery that it was his new project.

Anyway enough thinking about marketing and I should actually finish writing some songs before worrying about how to promote them. Vague riffs and half written lyrics will get me nowhere sad.gif


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