Yes, this message is to you — fan of music, and to you — fellow musical artist. It is a plea and a suggestion.

For several years Facebook has been the primary way that many fans and artists communicate. The fans “like” a page. The artist posts things on his/her page and the fans see it. Tour Dates, New Music, Musings, etc. It seemed to be a pretty reliable way to communicate and it even allowed the fan to post or comment and have a connection with the source of the music they loved.

Earlier this year, Facebook decided that it was losing too much money by allowing these communications between musical acts and fans to be free. They’ve begun to “monetize” this channel. In the past, if I had 1,000 fans and posted something a larger percentage of the whole would see the message. It is now around 4-5% and is being smushed down to 1%.

Facebook will be happy to charge a musician or other business to “boost” a post so that fans can actually see it. This boosting of posts can cost hundreds of dollars a month…or more.

I should say that Facebook is a private company and they’ve built a platform that a large percentage of people use every day FOR FREE. It is well within their right to do whatever they want, but it means that you, as a fan of music and you as a musician, need to change your game plan. Facebook doesn’t cut it any more.

THEREFORE, fan and musical artist need to get serious about their relationship. They need to own it. Not rent access from Facebook. Yes folks, I’m talking about the email list. Me sending you a message via email about my shows, my tunes, my TV and film placements IS STILL THE BEST WAY FOR US ALL TO COMMUNICATE. Yes, you may need to tell your spam filter not to block me or my email service (Go Mailchimp!) but is that really too high a price to stay connected to the musicians you love?

Finally, I understand the the world loves convenience. I know that people would rather click on a link and stream music than bother to buy it or download it. (More on this later) I know that “liking” an artist on Facebook is very easy. It also means less and less. Remember MySpace? Things do change and for now joining the email list is the best way to stay in the know.

P.S. You can sign up for my email list at the bottom of this page! Thanks, G