Come Back To Texas (And Check Your Twitter)

I recently attended a Grammy GPS workshop event in Dallas that covered topics about legal considerations for aspiring artists, booking and touring trends, and the e-marketplace. One of the most surprising things to me about the event was that almost every single topic was dominated by discussion about incorporating social media. All of the experts had something to say about social media and finding the right services for your work.

Jaret Reddick, the frontman for Bowling For Soup was one of the experts for the Booking and Touring Trends workshop. I have been a fan of Bowling For Soup since middle school so it was a great surprise to see him on the list for the event. I know as a fan, the band uses social media constantly. You can find Bowling For Soup on Twitter as a band or individual accounts, as well as Facebook and Myspace.

In 2009 the band started using SayNow, a service that uses your cell phone to stay in touch with artists. If you sign up for SayNow as an artist you can contact fans through their voice messages and have actual conversations with one fan or many over the internet. I had the opportunity to talk  with Jaret and he told me all about the features of the service the band used and that Bowling For Soup fans really responded to the personal experience. 

As I said before, Jaret was there to explain about touring and booking trends, which and the other speakers Kris Youmans and Randy J. Miller did start out to discuss, but it quickly became apparent that being able to book and sell out shows relies on a strong and healthy fan base first. Having a relationship with your audience through social media has shown to be one of the most important thing you can do to keep your band or brand alive.

As someone who has recently been employed as a social media persona, I am always surprised at the many uses and trends that are associated with social media. However, I am always reminded that networking is important no matter who you are or what you do and that the larger your audience the more influence you will have over your own success. I believe that this applies for everything but it especially applies within the entertainment industry and within the media. Social media can no longer be considered a passing internet trend for young audiences.

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