Online Community Managers Wanted For Interview
As the year winds down, I've been thinking quite a bit about the conversations we should be having in 2011. Of the several that I'm interested in starting, I've decided to do a case study on online music communities. These can revolve around artists or specific niches of music. I would like to conduct a few interviews with Online Community Managers and those who have jobs related to this. Why?
The web has lowered the barriers to connecting to artists directly but as this occurred; it has also lessened the distance between each of us. As the fulcrums of culture that existed in our physical realities slowly disappear, the social web has provided a place for them to remerge and evolve. In this new digital ecology, fans are creating culture for themselves and interacting with each other globally.
I've used the description of "Online Community Managers" to define those who oversee such communities, but there are likely other titles used that I'm not aware of. I'm interested in talking to people who are closely aligned with digital music culture and have a stake in providing it with a healthy and sustainable platform. Long ago, something as simple as a messageboard founded by an artist I loved changed my experience as a music fan. It wasn't anything special.
Nevertheless, its presence enabled me to participate in and produce a cultural experience that was not constricted by geography. Rather it was defined by my desire to relate to and talk to other fans. Music simply provided a vehicle that led us all to connect with each other. In your e-mail, please include information about the community that you oversee and why you think its representative of our time.
- What are fans doing there that the rest of us should know about?
- How have these communities changed what it means to be a fan?
Contact me: kyle.bylin(at)gmail.com.
Really interested in what these people have to share. Good idea.
Surfing the message boards of the world for new releases by my favourite musicians and sidemen, I’ve come to realize that in the past 2 or 3 years, ever since the viral marketing trend came into full force, talk on these boards has mainly turned towards catalogue material and away from non-mainstream releases, especially new ones.
Yet, band management keeping related artists’ fans in the know about forthcoming releases on the boards of the other artist’s groups did indeed provide me with some exciting new discoveries. Backyard Tire Fire’s collaboration with Steve Berlin of Los Lobos springs to mind immediately.
I guess the major labels do that, too, but without any relation between artists whatsoever. That’s why you cannot really outrun Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber mentions on the boards.