I don't like Facebook. However...
I don't like Facebook. However...
I am a local musician. I have been performing for over 40 years now. I don't tour the country, I don't sell albums, I'm not looking to be famous. I play in cover bands that entertain bar/club patrons. I have fun, they do too. Tack on that I make enough money gigging to make it worth my time and effort as well as having some spending cash, I can say that I am mostly successful.
The purpose of this post is that I wish there was a way to disconnect from Facebook. But as this type of musician, Facebook is life-blood to fans and venues. Sad but true. I do limit what I use Facebook for, but even that is more than I want.
But the truth is (and I have ran some surveys on this) that locally, most music fans find out who is playing and where by social media, Facebook in particular. Andother sad but true fact is that a LOT of venues do their booking via Facebook Messenger. Many of these venues don't even have websites, they just assume Facebook is their website and contact portal for booking (and don't get me started on venues not even using FB properly to promote THEIR OWN establishment!). That leaves musicians, more or less, forced to use Facebook if they want any visibility on the local scene.
Social media has become this swirling vortex that sucks every single thing into it. No one is safe. Not musicians, not venues and not fans.
My theory? Most people in all three categories have become lazy. It's easy for a band to post a message to a venue looking for a gig on FB than it is for the band to call the venue, for the venue to actually have someone who books bands and maintains their calendar and actually LOOK at and LISTEN to your press kit (now EPK, electronic press kit). Fans/Music lovers don't want to search bulletin boards or all over the internet trying to see who is playing where on such and such night.
Musicians just want the gig. Venues just want people in their club buying drinks all night. Fans just want to be entertained, not put to work just looking for entertainment. Facebook apparently has filled that void.
So, now the question becomes, "How do I get out of this vortex of social media insanity?"
As someone who is embracing the small web, decentralization, and all the things that now come with modern internet, social media, coporate enshittification, this is a real conundrum. I want off the ride, but by getting off I more or less kill what has become the sole source for me as a musician, venues booking me, and local music lovers being entertained by me.
Cutting back has helped, but what I am discovering is sobering: I can't get off the ride without seriously damaging or totally killing my local visibility.
I wish I knew the answer. But right now, as much as I do not like being on Facebook, I don't really have any other choices.