At the moment I would say Youtube is one of the best assets that a band can use to build a fan base and keep them interested in the band. Like Myspace, it is free which is a good start but I think you can begin to understand how useful and important Youtube if you consider how you listen to music. Personally I either use iTunes or Youtube and music that isn’t on my iTunes I listen to on Youtube. Now in most instances unsigned bands a) don’t have music on iTunes or b) few people have paid for their music. This means that to get people to listen to your music, you want to offer it to them for free and Youtube offers this as a possibility. In later posts I will talk about letting fans download music and the best ways to go about that.
Another great thing about Youtube is that videos allow fans to listen to your music passively whilst doing other things on the internet but there is also the possibility of making music videos and video diaries which can make fans feel more involved and be more interested in your band. I think the video side offers a great chance to make new fans by attracting people to your videos for more than just the music. Obviously thinking of a video that attracts lots of attention because of the video rather than the song, perhaps such as OK Go’s video, “Here it goes again”, is difficult but it shows how useful Youtube can be.
When you are a new band, chances are not many people are that interested in a studio diary or band update but once you have fans, they will want to know all they can about you and you can use these to make them feel part of your band’s community if you aim the videos at them. Also live videos can be used to entice people to your gigs if you show that you can put on a performance that justifies them coming to see you.
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