What in the hell is Twitmusic and why do I need it? To begin with, Duran Duran has found Twitmusic – and they found it before I did. That alone is enough to make me hang my head in shame. I checked it out though, and I’m going to be blunt: I don’t get it. It would seem to me that it’s basically just another way to share music, and it’s obviously tied into Twitter. You can sign into Twitmusic using your Twitter account, and then my educated guess is that while you’re browsing, Twitter automatically tweets what you’re checking out, becoming a “fan” of, and listening to so that way all of your followers can then go check out what you’re listening to as well. That being the only innovative tool that Twitmusic seems to have going for itself at the moment.
Sure, we all know that social networking is a machine and a band or artist needs to make the machine work for them. Twitmusic would appear to be yet another tool in that arsenal. My only comments are that Twitmusic doesn’t really seem to offer anything new or different that Facebook and Myspace can’t offer, and it’s also REALLY late to market, meaning that several other apps (including the aforementioned Facebook and Myspace) have already ‘been there, done that’. I’m not faulting Duran Duran for joining (Take your hand off of that “send mail” button right now.) – they’ve got to get the visibility where ever they can get it – I’m only faulting Twitmusic for not being new, innovative or really even all that useful. It’s just another thing.
At some point, social networking has to stop treading water and start turning it’s wheels to move the water out of its own way and get somewhere, otherwise there’s really no point beyond making the connection with fans – and while you and I might think that’s lovely and warranted – the band (and if not our band, definitely others out there!) most likely has bigger hopes in mind. There are hundreds of social networking sites out there now. Most are either unheard of or rarely used, but the big ones are Facebook and Twitter. Each day I read several blogs regarding how to turn those “likes” into sales, or those “followers” into “fans that purchase”. No one seems to know exactly how to close the sale. It seems to me that each day, more sites like Twitmusic go live, hoping to be the answer to seamlessly transfer the followers into dollar signs, and typically – they fail to deliver. All of this incredibly innovation, networking and technology – and yet sales are still ridiculously low across the board. Why?
That’s the million dollar question these days. Hey, I’m no different from anyone else. I don’t claim to have the answers. I just know we’re on the wrong page in the wrong book! Many, many others seem to think they’ve got they know the formula, and yet no one has said anything that has made a difference yet. Whether it’s piracy, the economy, DRM (Digital Rights Management), or the fact that everything really is available at our fingertips every hour of every day, hence there’s never a sense of urgency to buy, the truth is that Twitmusic is going to do relatively little if anything to help curb the sales hunger.
Sure, be a “fan” of @DuranDuran on Twitmusic. We did because of course we want to support the band. Listen to their music however you’d like and perhaps you’ll spread the word of their newest album online to your followers. I don’t know if you’re like @dailyduranie – but at least 95% of our followers are you. Fellow fans. Preaching to the choir maybe?
Just a little, I’ll bet.
-R
🙂