Social Media

How Do Classic Acts Use Social Media?

This post is by Alison McCarthy (@aliiimac). She's an intern at Hypebot.

Led-zeppelin As a child of baby boomer parents, I grew up on classic rock bands such as The Rolling Stones, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Eagles, and Fleetwood Mac. Over the years, I've grown to love music from this "classic" era as my own, as many members of my generation have.

Some of these artists have completely retired, though most continue to tour and release new albums in some form or another. Either way, these artists continue to generate a massive amount of income for the music industry. While so much time is spent discussing how Justin Bieber, Kanye West, or Odd Future utilize social media to gain and maintain buzz, we should also take a look at the issue of what our "classic" artists are doing to market themselves online.

First, it's worth questioning – since the majority of fans of these acts attract are of an older generation who may not be as integrated into digital culture as perhaps, Millennials are, is there a need for the elaborate online presence that younger fans desire?

When comparing the Eagles' online presence with Katy Perry's, obviously, one can find major differences. While Perry's official website and Facebook page are jam-packed and constantly updated with interactive features including her Twitter feed, tour diary, fan photos, contests, and iPhone app downloads, comparatively, the Eagles official website seems to be at a standstill. Though they'll be embarking on a European tour this June, their last News update was over a month ago. There are links to their Myspace page and official mailing list, but it seems that they don't post updates to either Facebook or Twitter.

Though some of these "classic" acts such as Led Zeppelin, Stevie Nicks, and Pink Floyd do maintain active online lives, none of these hold up in comparison to what our most successful artists of the present day are doing to interact with fans. For a newly emerging mainstream artist, an inactive online presence would be almost unthinkable today – but already established bands such as these may not need to worry about this. They're household names, and many of their fans have been with them for the past three to four decades.

However, as our offline lives are becoming more and more integrated with our online lives for both Millennials and Baby Boomers, could updated efforts such as these – a highly active Facebook page, Twitter feed, tour-related iPhone app, etc. – be valuable to classic acts? Or would they be a waste of time and effort? It's a curious issue to deliberate over, and I'm not sure about the answer myself.

admin on 03/24/2011 in Social Media | Permalink | Comments (11)
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11 Comments

  1. I don’t believe the superstars of yesteryear really need to worry about it. Sitting at the ripe old age of 48, when I catch a glimpse of the names, The Eagles, The Stones, Fleetwood Mac, ect., in the same sentence as “Tour” or “New Album,” I’m reeled in! I grew up with these guys, so I don’t need daily updates to peek or keep my interest.
    There are bands of the period (great, but not considered superstars) who may benefit from this. My favorite band, Blue Öyster Cult, doesn’t have an updated website, much less social networks that are worth a damn. This doesn’t bother me, as I place them in the category above. However, there are periodic surges when generations younger than mine develop an interest in the older bands (as my son has with BÖC).
    Perhaps some of these mid and lower level groups of days gone by could benefit from interacting with the younger, potential fans, idk.

  2. First lets start with the misleading title of this article: “How Classical and Younger Acts Use Social Media”
    Classical?
    Then read it and ponder why it got posted in the first place especially when it ends with this gem: “It’s a curious issue to deliberate over, and I’m not sure about the answer myself.”
    Please Hypebot – don’t waste my bandwidth with someone’s college paper to prove they have an internship. If you’re going to let them write an article, teach them the value of statistics, historical data, correct use of an insightful headline, getting quotes from industry leaders, quantifiable examples that demonstrate online traffic and analytics.
    Pass.

  3. pretty sure this person could have done more research than this. The Grateful Dead have a great presence on facebook and are very still very forward thinking in their social media. Their facebook is very interactive with their fans. The Doors are another band that also has a great social media presence. Hell, Dolly Parton is close to 1 million twitter followers and will be only the second act in country music to do so!
    And I’m not some older person that grew up with this music making these statements… I’m 26. I am a fan of the Dead and The Doors and personally created the twitter strategy for Dolly Parton that got her to where she is today (no longer there though).
    And “yes,” it is valuable to classic acts.

  4. Hi Jon, thank you for your concerns. I named the post, and your right, perhaps I should've posed the question, "How Do Classic Acts Use Social Media?" in the title instead. It's never easy to come up with good titles and I had a hard time figuring out what to call this one. Second, the very point of this post is to start a conversation and pose an interesting question, which it does. This is a blog, as well as, a publication. Therefore, there's a mix of news, essays, and blog posts. Blog posts, by nature, are designed to open up the conversation and leave room for readers to have their say. Feel free to join the conversation. -kb

  5. A “Classic ” Example would be the long established English Band STACKRIDGE who never really gained a foothold in the USA but have maintained a healthy ( and now expanding) following in the UK. Although their core following tends to be baby boomers ,who are not that interested in new technology or social networking the band has kept pace with it all, with a bright user friendly Web Site,a regular Podcast & a strong presence on Face Book & Twitter. As a result it was only through Twitter & following up via You Tube that they made contact with The Craig Ferguson show on CBS TV & ended up flying to Hollywood to make their American Television Debut on March 14th 2011.

  6. I echo what Mike H said above….
    …and I manage The Doors.
    Check out Janis Joplin, Peter Tosh, Rick James and then check out Michael Jackson (for whom we consult and help run social media messaging).
    Jeff Jampol
    JAM, Inc.
    Doors Music Co

  7. I think many top tier classic acts don’t care as much about social marketing. They feel they have alrady “made it.” They are thinking, how much more money will it put into my pocket? They are probably not going to spend their own time or money to do it, so they would have to hire someone or let someone who secured their online rights handle it.
    The lower and mid tier acts could benefit. They make their living on the road and need to do anything they can to connect with their fans. They need to look at every opportunity to make another buck.

  8. I agree with some of the comments, criticizing this article. I was hoping to have read some statistics and research regarding both classic and adult contemporary acts that are very much so still alive. Elton John, Barry Manilow, Bette Midler, Celine Dion to name a few all have a web presence… and it’s absolutely important.
    All bands need to connect with their audience no matter how big or how small they are. From a management standpoint, you need to have quantifiable evidence of how large your fan base is to know how much marketing power and reach you have in house. Not every announcement that is worthy of posting on Facebook or twitter, is important enough to go to a mainstream media outlet to reach the general public.
    The question really is… where is this audience online and are the active? How do we engage an older audience? How do we target them specifically and draw them into our networks? These are the questions worth asking…

  10. “All bands need to connect with their audience”
    Funny ;….. I thought that’s what the MUSIC was supposed to do !!! perhaps if the musicians concentrated on the music …..
    All the twit-ering is kinda silly ….. I don’t believe that the enjoyment of the music I loved through the years was lessened by the fact that I was left in the dark as to what the lead singer had for breakfast that morning …

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