CMW Online

Do you remember the first time you became aware if the social media outlets that are now so ubiquitous and almost essential to business these days?

Would you consider yourself an early adopter or did you eventually join the herds to see what all the fuss was about?

I joined Facebook in 2007 after it was introduced to me by a graduate at my then workplace and used it mainly as a way to stay in contact with a friend who lived in Australia and was prone to making mobile telephone calls to my mobile telephone whenever she was alcoholically refreshed.

My concerns were more about her purse than connecting with the world and broadcasting my moves to the masses.

Twitter came a couple of years later and at the time I didn't really understand the workings or the point of it.

YouTube was for watching videos of cats and babies. Instagram and Pinterest were not yet available and the smartphone and tablet had not yet hit the mass market.

Now, because the Internet is such an integral part of a musicians business it would be foolhardy to consider entering into the market without presence on at least a couple of these networks.

This is not just true about an independent like me but is being utilised to great effect by major label artists who have had success in the analogue age that we are now moving out of.

The most recent being Beyoncé who could just mention the release of her new visual album on her Facebook page and then the world knows. Thus saving millions of dollars in marketing costs in comparison to the artists of similar stature eg Lady Gaga and Katy Perry who released at a similar time and their teams used who used the traditional format to market their new music.

While I so not have the reach of any of the aforementioned artistes the fact that they are using outlets that are available to me is a big tell.

Success leaves clues and I am always watching and eager to learn. Granted there may be the presence of a social media teams assisting but the fact remains that it is seen as a pivotal part of their business. For that reason it is worth a try.

This new Digital Age has in certain ways levelled the playing field. Everybody has a chance to get out there and find, connect and entertain their audience. The traditional gatekeepers are losing their power and hopefully now the gatekeeper will be the audience who will decide whether they feel that they are been offered quality and the chance to choose.

I am learning as I move along how best to navigate and communicate through these channels. It is exciting speaking to people from all over the world who may have heard one of my songs or watched a video and want to reach out to say, 'Hi'.

All this has been possible because of my social media accounts and what I need to do now is scale up.

My vision is to work as a collaborator and for my presence online to incorporate and display all my creative endeavours. I want to expand as a person, as an artist and to rise with all who have worked with me.

There is room for everybody. We are all different and therefore our audiences will differ.

The mindset of scarcity and competition is old and only brought about fear based actions.

This is a new age has offered us all opportunity to have a voice.

Right now my I realise my project is an acorn but we all know what happens to them!

Love Yourself!

Feel free to connect with me via FACEBOOK, TWITTER, YOUTUBE, INTSTAGRAM, PINTEREST, GOOGLE+

Thankyou for reading. Please share. :)