Don’t force bands to Twitter, says EMI’s Ondrejka
As senior VP of digital strategy at major label EMI, much of Cory Ondrejka’s job involves finding new ways for bands to engage with their fans online. However, it seems there’s no question of artists being forced to get all Web 2.0 against their will.
“If you’re a band, you’re using Twitter because, y’know what, it’s really kinda fun giving your fans this blow-by-blow account of getting to the stage, or your bus breaking down in a snowstorm,” he told us at MidemNet this week.
“Sharing stories is what builds communities, and for some artists that is really enjoyable. But if Twittering is work for you, maybe you should have someone else doing it for you. And that’s okay.”
Indeed, he says the question of whether or not bands should be on Twitter reminds him of being asked about Second Life, in his previous job as CTO at Linden Lab.
“People would ask if they should use Second Life or what they should be doing, and I always said they should do Second Life if it was making some part of their life better,” he says. “Is it making your job easier, your studies easier, your social life better or your leisure time more fun? I don’t really care what the reason is, but use it because it’s making something more fun in your life, not because I told you to.”
However, Ondrejka says he’s lucky to have a number of artists at EMI who are keen to get their hands dirty with new web technologies and tools, in order to engage more directly and regularly with their fans.
“If you’re building something to help artists who blog to fans, and from the very beginning you can build it with artists who are blogging to fans, guess what? You’re going to build a better product, the fans are going to get something better, and the artists are going to have more fun. We’re very fortunate to have artists at every level who are excited about different technologies, and want to explore them.”
Our full interview with Cory Ondrejka will be published in this week’s Music Ally Report on Thursday. For a free trial subscription, click here
Tags: cory ondrejka, EMI, music ally, second life, twitter
January 21st, 2009 at 6:48 am
I agree. Blogging, myspace, facebook, twitter – whatever it is, it shouldn’t be work to you
January 21st, 2009 at 6:50 am
Sorry I hit the go button so fast! However, at some point, you’ve got to interact. It’s part of building your fan base…and that takes work! So. pick which method you’re going to use to interact with, and kick butt at it!
January 21st, 2009 at 10:07 am
It is a lot of work. But does it create sales?
If you take Twitter: What business model do they have. Will they survive. If you take MySpace: Very slow and uneffective. More musicians than fans? If you take Facebook: Does only work if you put in very personal stuff. Last.fm: Seems to beeffective to promote and find out what people like. But does it lead to sales. You have everything within Last.fm.
It looks like you have to be in but the others make “maybe” the money.
thanks for the report
Wolfgang
January 21st, 2009 at 5:49 pm
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January 22nd, 2009 at 4:49 am
If the bands are actually doing the twitter.. it sucks when an artist ‘communicates with their fans’ but it’s not them – it’s somebody in marketing pitching for them. I don’t want to hear from the marketing department. Like on iLike music “check out my new song..” right. same with any of the social media networking – if it’s not the artist, don’t bother.
January 22nd, 2009 at 3:05 pm
[...] oppose RIAA district court motion for stay in SONY BMG Music v. Tenenbaum – January 20, 2009Don’t force bands to Twitter, says EMI’s Ondrejka – January 20, 2009Interesting article by Joshua Dickman in Tulane Law Review: [...]
May 27th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
[...] Link: Don’t force bands to Twitter, says EMI’s Ondrejka [...]