Is social media essential for musicians/DJs/Artists?
Is there another way, or is it a necessary ‘evil’?
Are social media companies exploiting artists or can artists exploit the tools of social media
It depends to who you communicate. If your audience doesn’t care about social media, and checks your homepage regularly, there is no need for it. Otherwise there is no real choice. If you have something to say, you have to do it somewhere.
Did social media start around 2006? Are the pre social medi methods of communication and promotion not viable anymore?
Was thinking text message groups, email lists as an alternative but how do you find your audience in the first place?
In 2006 Ratatat were due to play in my town and the gig got pulled at the last minute, so my flatmate chanced his arm and suggested they come and play in our livingroom, which they accepted as a reasonable option.
We had an afternoon to find the right people to attend, and we exclusively used Myspace for the task. I remember thinking that it was a weird thing at the time. Before that i remember sticking events listings on forums (like this one) even though i myself would never really look at them, and mostly employing poster runs and flyers to get the numbers into my events.
At this juncture, unless you have a large circle of friends that are going to just come out anyway, or dedicated following like ALFOS (who have a very popular facebook group anyway) i can’t really see any other option than to use some form of social media to advertise yourself and what you are doing.
Can anyone give any examples of musicians/DJs/artists who don’t largely use social media and still thrive?
I initially thought of East End Dubs but he has 58k followers on Facebook, 46k on Instagram.
As for text groups and email lists, it’s a catch 22 because you need to have the trust from the people to give you these details, which you’d get from them having familiarity with your brand in the first place. The only people i know who do this started out by putting on large scale events with big name guests, which in turn meant people weren’t annoyed to receive an email from them advertising an upcoming event.
Basically starting out is a bit of a shiter these days.
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How was the Ratatat living room concert?
Very loud
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there are good, honest people in music who simply rely on social media to get the word out and then there are the globetrotting corporate festival wankers who spend all day in some narcissistic mutual masturbatory ritual
I immediately thought of Andrew Weatherall, who appeared to think of the whole thing as a waste of time. And who arguably had a lot of mystique because of that. (But also years to establish a reputation)
Sadly essential these days, although I would recommend trying to convert all followers to a private email list, which, a bit like forums 
, are making a comeback due to people tiring of battling algorithms and been forced to pay to reach your fans/followers.
Social Media companies biggest trick is to style themselves as Social Media companies. They are advertising companies. That should tell you everything you need to know.
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Not so much if you have a residency.