I quit social media a few years back and one of the things I lost was the ability to keep up to date on some of the indie artists I liked that basically only post their music to instagram and spotify.
Recently I have been emailing some of them asking if they might consider
- sending release updates to an email list or posting to an RSS enabled blog to help support the neu-luddites.
and
- Printing some CDs so fans could purchase their music without supporting spotify.
Everyone who has responded has been very nice so far. I thought I would share in case this strikes a chord with anyone else trying to exit socials or spotify.
Wonderful suggestions! More and more people are becoming interested in alternatives, so it is cool to see your post. I am a musician who has gone through a similar process myself. Here are some things that did:
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I found an RSS feed reader and plugged in band pages, online music publications centered around indie / underground artists, etc.
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I tracked down many artists on Bandcamp and signed up for mailing lists through there. I found artist updates through label or band websites, as well…most have mailing lists.
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I myself have uploaded music onto Soundcloud, Mixcloud, Funk Whale, and a host of others, but keep circling back to my tried and true. A new website for artist’s to share music is starting up soon, Subvert. We’ll see how it goes.
- I’ve especially found Bandcamp to be an awesome resource, for artists and fans alike. CD’s, vinyl, cassette tapes, mp3’s are all formats I use to share my own music. I don’t think any of these are going away anytime soon… -
It’s been really cool to see the revival of vinyl & cassette tape culture…Not surprised to see a resurgence of interest in peer to peer file sharing as a result of people wanting to avoid Spotify, etc…
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bandcamp?
I didn’t want to try to push them onto a specific platform, although I do personally love band camp! I wrote:
As technology tries to take over I find myself shying away from giving money or ad attention to companies like google, instagram, and spotify. I love your music and, if the opportunity arises, I would really love it if you could also make it available for purchase via CD or via download from a reasonably ethical company.
An email newsletter for new releases would also help us luddites follow your work better.
Totally onboard.
I have never really used any major social media. I feel pretty strongly that it is a solid waste of time and a real mind toxin to the user. And for what it’s worth, CD’s are still king to me.
I gotta say though. Youtube does have just about every song I’ve ever searched for. They are likely not the only one either.
If you’re looking to discover something new, word of mouth is generally king due to a lack of bias. Make friends with common strangers like workers at your grocery or retail stores. Ask around. Find someone who has a similar slant to your earhole and ask them for suggestions. I usually go with the ol “Are you into <band>? Whats another good band in a similar vein?” I discover a LOT of new music this way as well as share some too.
My intention is partly to directly support the artists but also partly also to help create inroads for fans to quit social media but stay connected with some of the good that has come out of those platforms.
If you didn’t really mess with instagram or tik-tok you might not be aware that there’s a somewhat large cohort of younger indie artists whose followers are primarily on those platforms and who primarily self publish songs on spotify. If people are also connected to artists via email lists and such it makes future transitions away from those platforms more plausible for the artists!
I can see the appeal for an indie band. Maximum reach minimal effort.
I don’t use Instagram so it hurts me too. But I could well understand the thinking behind it.
For sure! Most established artists already have merch, mailing lists, and lots of ways to access their music, plus they have rules set by their labels on where they can distribute.
There’s a large cohort of newer indie artists that pay to record some songs but only put them on spotify, no real way to purchase.
CDs are dumb. Who has a cd player? Just sell mp3s.
Just because you don’t like a thing does not mean other people don’t like it. Instead if “CDs are dumb,” try “CDs aren’t my thing, but MP3s are great.” No reason to be a jerk about a thing outside your interests
CDs require musicians to do art, burn or order cds, spend actual money for no guarantee, ship them if not local.
It’s ridiculous and makes distributing music a huge pain like IT USED TO BE.
