Community > Scams, Churning, and Narcissists
The scams (or over-promised, expensive, worthless marketing pitches) in the music business are abundant.
Just check your spam folder or neglected ReverbNation messages and you’ll see a bunch of them.
Yesterday, Ari Hestand posted on Digital Music News a blog about a music scam, and this one bothered me a bit more than others, because it’s actually run by a band’s relatives. Any band that willingly rips off other bands is the lowest of low. (Read Streaming Scam Exposed; and actually skim the comments.)
It’s easy to be seduced by numbers.
Churning still runs wild on the Internet. Just look at this band’s “tips” to build your Instagram following: (Hypebot: A Musician’s Concise Guide to Using Instagram)
Follow a lot of accounts to get them to follow you back; then do a mass unfollowing to make your numbers look like you are more popular than you are.
It’s guaranteed to make your following numbers increase, but probably not going to help you get more people to your shows or sell more records. Those accounts following you back so quickly probably have their own self-interests, nor are they going to be true fans.
The days of Myspace haven’t taught us anything?
We don’t need more churning. We need more of you active in your communities, more than ever (Read: How Flint Water Crisis is affecting businesses. Which is why Danny Moilanen is starting Vechile City Fest.)
We need more musical friends, not followers.
Lead with your art; and support the art of your community. The rest will follow.
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