Insights into breaking into the Music Industry #GINNYVEE

GINNY VEE talks about what it means to be in the music industry:

Ginny >>  You have to get into this industry for pure passion, because it is incredibly hard. There is so much phenomenal competition and every day people give you a thousand reasons to quit give up and "Go and get a real job."

When you get into the music industry you expose your soul to the world - you let people in to your inner secrets - inner fears and inner self. You put yourself up to be knocked down and as Taylor Swift rightly says "haters gonna hate." 

But what sustains you is self belief and then when you start to get positive - encouraging comments - support and fans - it makes everything so much better.

This is not a job - it's a life and unless you are prepared to live music then you might think about doing something else. Because this is 24/7 full on all the time work. It's hard hard hard work - with early morning and late nights. It's stressing over every second of every song you write and record. It's always thinking that what your doing is not good enough.

The hardest part of the music industry is getting into the industry. What I mean by that is getting someone - anyone to listen to you. Because the industry is a business and there are so many people competing to get in - but don't let that discourage you. If you believe enough in yourself then eventually someone will hear you and talk to you.

You have to realize that this is very very hard as a career. No matter what people tell you there is no magic - overnight success in the music industry. You have to hone your craft and get busy - very busy. Then you may get a break and that "busyness" may get noticed by an influential music talent spotter. If that happens then you need to start to work even harder - because that's just the start.

One of the harder parts of being an artist in the music industry is when you have to release a new song - and you will get accolade from some of the fans - and flatness from others - and you will always get people that well.. just don't like it. And they can be very vocal about it. They will criticize the music, the song, the singer, the singing, the clothes in the cover art, the video, the dancers and just about anything else. Well that as an artist is tough to take - but you need to learn to be thick skinned - because that is how you get better. 

Take the criticism and build on it - and remember you can always get better - always improve - always learn - and in the music industry that is essential if you want to survive.

One of the big misconceptions of the industry is that it is one big "party" with rock stars and rap stars and all that good stuff that you read in the tabloids and celeb sites. well the reality is that it's about working hard - preparing - early mornings - late nights - rehearsing - prepping - traveling - and every so often you get to kick back and relax - but that is the exception not the rule.

Anyone wanting to be in this industry must understand it is a professional business and a tough business - so if you don't want to work hard - then go find another profession. 

In 2016 one major aspect of the "music industry" and being a "public figure" or "Celebrity" is the fact you need to be constantly on social media. And trust me that in itself is a full time job - taking selfies - posting updates - behind the scenes on all of the social media. But that is where you really get to meet your fans and interact. But as I'm now touching 100,000 followers across the platforms it is getting harder and harder to stay close - answer and interact every day. It's a balance between social networking and producing new music for the fans.

I love being in the music industry - it's vibrant - alive and for me one of the best times in history to be in this business. Because it is ever changing - literally every day things change and it keeps it exciting.

2016 has been a big year with the release of CINDERELLA BABY which has had millions of views world wide - and it's not over yet as the last quarter of 2016 is going to see some major announcements that I hope my fans will love - support and take me to the next level.

Kisses 

GINNY

#ginnyvee 

Lessons Learned on TWITTER - get rid of SPAM - This will help you

Some lessons for YOU if you use TWITTER

Okay so today I'm going to do another TWITTER blog.
It's been a few years I've been using it and I went from a few hundred to 60K followers in 3 years - but that doesn't mean it's any use !!!


Yesterday I set about a full process to remove Fake Followers and SPAM accounts from my twitter: In total I removed over 30,000 accounts that i was following.

Lesson1:

Followback is not the way to go

When I started twitter I thought I was being nice by trying diligently to follow back every single user that followed me on twitter. As I followed back more I got many more followers - WOW (I thought)

But what I didn't realize at the time was that the majority of those accounts were not following me back because of my tweets - or music or images - They were either marketing profiles or BOTS that were following people that "follow" so they could boost their follower numbers.

A lot of those accounts were dormant - until recently when they woke up and started to spam my timeline to death. I was getting publicity - products - panties - cams - and political propaganda a go-go - but very little MUSIC - in which I was interested.

Although I felt good for having all those follower accounts - the majority do NOT READ MY TWEETS !!! - I was getting about 3000 views per tweet from 60,000 followers - hmmm something not right.

So lesson learned - I follow no one back unless they are someone I'm REALLY interested in.
If an account unfollows me because I don't follow back - then it means they had no real interest in me or my music - so better to let them go.

Lesson 2:

Look at the ratios of Followers to Follows

I've realized that most spam accounts have say ... 30K followers and they follow say 32K accounts - they use tools to follow and unfollow to ensure that ratio stays high.

But think - with 32000 accounts they are following - the chance they see my account tweet is low - the chance they engage is almost ZERO. In fact going through the accounts I saw hundred and thousands that I have never interacted with at ALL.

Here's an example from today of accounts that within 12 hours have seen I'm a recent "unfollower" and have immediately through "Unfollowme" or "Crowdfire" etc reciprocated with an Unfollow.

Look at the ratios - they are as I said above - and these accounts are useless- they have no interest in me - or my posts - or my music - they just play numbers games. 

So as part of my cleanup I'm hoping that as many of these accounts UNFOLLOW me as possible so I clear out their spam and useless follows...

So lesson learned: Don't follow any accounts that are hi K counts and high Ratios - as they will NEVER read or respond to your tweets (and they don't)

Lesson 3

Keep away from the eggs

This is not 100% always right - but 99% of the time - if there is an EGG and a BLUE BLANK header - then don't follow them back - there is a good chance of two things.

1) This is a scripted BOT spam account done just to pump the numbers of a "Buy Followers" service - and those accounts are useless- not real and do not comments - like - share etc - as they are just computer code.

2) The person (if they are real) cannot even be bothered to upload a picture - which shows they engagement with twitter (and you) would be low. Again Do you want people following you and you following them if they don't even get on twitter to upload a picture?

Just stay away from following back EGGS - unless the account interacts with you - and comments - or something else - it is a pure SPAM account

Lesson Learned: Avoid following any Egg accounts

Lesson 4

Following bad accounts damages your account

I believe that having a lot of crappy spam accounts you follow is damaging to your account. Firstly it messes up your timeline and fills the timeline with spam - and you will miss the real tweets you care about.

I think it also impacts the algorithms  in TWITTER and what it suggests - who it suggest - and what it published to your timeline gets completely screwed up.

You may feel good and popular because you got a "free follow back" but it will only damage your timeline - your algorithms and do nothing for getting interaction on your posts.

Lesson 5

Follow For Follow - "Follow or I unfollow"

Any of this in an accounts title is bad news - or in any post - is bad news. I have done this - posting this stuff in my own posts - thinking it helps to get followers. It just attracts SPAM accounts and fishing accounts. They are bad accounts - that attract MORE bad accounts and you will get into the lists of "soft" accounts that spammers and BOTS love. I saw it. My follow requests went through the roof after doing this - and I diligently followed back....

I was either unfollowed in a  week - OR just on a #FF follow for follow account that was pumping numbers. No interaction - no reading my tweets - no listening to my music - no "Conversation"

Lesson 6

Number of followers means NOTHING - Quality means everything

I arrived at 61,000 followers - WOW eh?  -- But I reckon about 30,000 are false - fake - spam accounts. And that is just not good. So that number of 60K accounts is just FLUFF - meaningless.

I've seen that the majority of interaction over time has come from circa 1000 really good accounts that interact- comment - like - repost - post great posts.

I don't care if all of the 30K false accounts unfollow me and my follower count plummets - as it means NOTHING.  They are as bad a buying false accounts (Which you should NEVER EVER DO)

Ask yourself - "Why am I on twitter?" to chase a number or read interesting content I are about - interact with people that are interested in my content?

Chase conversation - not FOLLOWER numbers - Quality not QUANTITY

Lesson 7

Interaction is everything

Getting the conversation going is what I think is important - posting my links a few times a day is my "business" so I will do it - but I get more satisfaction when I comment on news - links - posts and a conversation comes up. This is what makes Twitter interesting.

So interact - as the best new followers I've gained are people that have joined the conversation.

I will post my links - pictures - songs - but I interact a lot more now and it gets much better followers.
And ONLY if I find their conversation interesting or relevant will I follow back.
If I see spam - or suspect posts / behavior - I will unfollow immediately.

Lesson 8

GET RID OF SPAM ACCOUNTS

The last 24 hours and removing all my spam accounts has been refreshing.  My timeline is clean and full of great stuff I really care about.
My message box has stopped being hit by spam.
The spam accounts are unfollowing me by the hundreds and GOOD RIDDANCE

My Twitter account is coming back to me - not to the Bots - not to useless accounts posting tweets about offers on watches (which I care nothing about)

Best not to take spam accounts on int h first place - but if you have lost off Eggs - lots of Spamming accounts that repost offers on stores you don't care about - then unfollow straight away.

If you don't like me or my music or my videos... then UNFOLLOW ME !!!
I don't want to post tweets you hate on your timeline - it's better for you and better for me - and I won't be offended. But it will keep both our Twitter accounts clean and  fun.

FINALLY

If I UFOLLOWED YOU - then just tweet to me and I will look at your account - look at your recent tweets and decide if I want to hear what you have to say. If it's relevant - if it's offensive to me etc etc and then I will gladly add you back in if you are someone I genuinely want to follow and want you to follow me.


Hope this helped

Ginny