Songwriting For Dummies

Chapter 13

Online Marketing and Social Networking for Songwriters

In This Chapter

Navigating the Internet to your advantage

Seeking new friends and social groups

Inviting the world in to see what you’re doing

The state of the union (musically speaking) is that nothing remains the same, and the recent evolution of our music industry (which has basically been turned upside down and shaken around like a rag doll) reminds us of that fact. And like anything else in its evolutionary process, a variety of new marketing and promotional opportunities for songwriters and musicians have come into play that weren’t even in existence a short time ago. Not only are there new ways to sell music, for example, song by song on iTunes and as ringtones for your mobile devices, but Internet marketing sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and others have opened up a whole new world for songwriters and musicians.

In this chapter, we focus on various avenues of social marketing, explore the new opportunities for the songwriter who want to broaden their network of friends and associates, and suggest ways to jump on the Internet bandwagon in order to expand their marketing reach.

Playing Internet Roulette

It’s taken only a decade for most everyone to have Internet access. And those in the music business find that the Internet is a viable way to solicit songs and network with others. The World Wide Web is just that . . . world wide! Users aren’t limited by geographical boundaries, and access is practically ...