When I joined Twitter and Facebook last year, I was pleased to find that quite a few bands and musicians are there posting and tweeting. Many update their pages themselves (rather than mgmt doing it).. even some of the bigger names. At first I thought this was pretty cool – a band tweeting just before they’re about to step on stage for a gig, a musician telling us how their day went in the recording studio, posting pictures ‘as it happens’ etc. And me being able to comment on their status, tweets or pictures, seemed almost like an ‘in’ with them, as I’m sure it does for many fans. Fans are able to become ‘familiar’ with someone who is a ‘celeb’ or ‘star’, and to some degree, it puts fans on equal footing. We can even send them private messages!
However… after thinking about it for some months/years, I’ve changed my viewpoint on this whole matter. I think.
It’s quite unique to be given a ‘back stage pass’ to an event that’s a thousand miles away (in the form of twitpics), and its amazing to see the inside of a recording studio via video clips posted on their youtube, but most musicians/bands seem to be falling into the trap of TMI (too much information – something that I struggled with as well, and still do). Suddenly, the person tweeting/posting has an audience waiting for each new status update, tweet etc.. and the urge to post continuously is strong! Eventually most bands/musicians cross the line of professional vs personal updates, and as they wade into that zone, it becomes more and more personal, and less and less professional.
I thought I would welcome that cross-over. I thought I would love to know what my favorite musician had for breakfast, what they were going to do for the rest of the day, who they were going to visit, what was on their ipod etc, and I still do to some extent, but I really dont want to know that they got so drunk they puked 5 times, or that they’re off to the drugstore to purchase personal items (along with a list of said items!), or how many squares of toilet paper they need to wipe (I’m not exaggerating btw). This is just too much info!
For me, putting a rock band on a pedestal (albeit a very short small pedestal) is still something that I want to do to some degree… they’re living the life I dreamed of as a teenager 🙂 Yes, I know they put their pants on one leg at a time – just like us – and have to use toilet paper – just like us – but, it destroys some of the mystique of Rock and Roll I think. Almost comparable to knowing how they did certain things in that Lord of the Rings movie, or how the magician did that fantastic magic trick.
And it also starts ‘fans’ thinking that, because they’re being answered back by the celeb and having real (twitter) conversations with the celeb, they might actually become personal friends with them. Truly, unless you live in the same city, hang out with the same group of people, or have more than the band’s music in common, it probably ain’t gonna happen. And for that one person who might be a wee bit unstable – it might cause major issues for the band/musician too. The artist could suddenly have a stranger/stalker show up at their favorite restaurant, or local grocery store wondering why the artist is slightly freaked out by that.
Twitter, Facebook, Myspace – they’ve all allowed musicians and bands to do major self promotion and are great tools – the bands/musicians who know how to use them to their advantage, have one more major way to connect with fans – just dont tell us when you’re off to buy condoms 🙂
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