How many of you felt the urge to snap at a Facebook status or Instagram caption recently? I bet more than you care to admit. With Covid19, Black Lives Matter protests, 5G controversies, and people losing their damn common sense online, it is harder and harder to play nice. All this while you KNOW you have to network with musicians and managers in higher positions than yourself. So how do you make new connections while respecting your own integrity and moral compass?
5. No Likey? No Timey.
It can all be done rather easily once you readjust your pick-o-meter (your personal filters to choose other human beings to interact with). Since you’re a musician, keep music at the core of choosing who to connect with. Put simpler: if you don’t like their music, or the artists they’re managing, keep it moving. Even if that person is a billionaire with access to all record labels in the world, DO NOT waste your time on trying to get on their good side. Chances are, if you don’t like their music, they won’t like yours either. Subconsciously, his/her music taste and yours are at complete opposite ends of the spectrum. So how are you going to befriend an EDM-specialized A&R, while you compose mostly gospel music? You MUST have similar taste to those you want to start a professional relationship with.
4. Mute and mute again!
Slightly more complicated to navigate but will help you leaps and bounds in focusing on the right people. If you do like another artist’s music but you feel they lack common sense and have an acutely different perception from yours regarding A LOT of things, it’s time to mute them. Reason being, their freedom to express themselves does NOT obligate you to like them. So keep them in your friends’ list and continue supporting their music, while choosing to ignore their personal opinions. The world is not all right and wrong. A lot of it is somewhere in between. This is the in-between area.
3. Only comment on things/photos/songs you genuinely enjoy.
You might think you’re smooth and that you can fake your admiration, but trust me, people know when someone is veiling their indifference in politically-correct formulated comments. What you should be doing, is make a list of things you are absolutely convinced you will forever like/agree with. Reason being, with the internet registering your every move, like/dislike, share, tweet, status, photo, you want to make sure that what you are doing TODAY, will also reflect your core identity TOMORROW. So think really hard before showing your support/admiration for something. Does it align with your brand identity? Will you be okay with this if overnight Google sent it to ALL people who know you?
2. ”Train” them by interacting only with music-associated posts.
It has happened more than once that we wrote an article about an artist, and 2 weeks later they spam us with their girlfriend’s business. The same might apply to you if for example, you did a collab song with another singer and they ask you for likes for a Facebook bikini photo contest. What you do in this situation, you respond ONLY to music-related posts. If what they’re saying, writing, sharing is NOT music-based, you ignore it. Do it enough times and you will condition them to reach out to you only when it’s about music. Your actions, in this case non-action, speak louder than your words. And if, in some extraordinary circumstance, you encounter an individual smart enough to realize consciously you’re only responding to a certain type of posts, you tell them back as it is: ”Your music is what matters most to me and I thought that it was the same for you.” – good luck getting out of this one 😀
1. Build a social image that reflects what YOU’d like to see on others’ profiles.
People tend to seek out or be attracted to those that share similar views or are like-minded. So if you want to meet new contacts that are professional, successful, and keep their promises, it only makes sense that you too should be like that. If you rap about killing people and enjoying gang-banging, do not expect a clean-cut executive to come knocking your door to help you out. You will most likely get other thugs and criminals to support you. Simple as that. If you feel that what you WANT to attract in your network is NOT who you are, then it’s high time to reflect on your inner values and motivations that don’t align with your vision. You must be who you want to attract. A statement that is valid for all areas of your life, both online and offline.
Blue Rhymez Entertainment 