Artists are constantly being told to tweet. And tweet. And tweet… just to stay connected with their fans and stay relevant. But is that the best advice, especially when it comes to selling stuff (like albums)? The answer is not for every artist, especially for those courting a less mainstream, more music-focused crowd. Even worse, it could be stealing valuable time away from songwriting, gigging, collaborating, and other pursuits that form deeper audience connections.
To test the idea, we took a look at the best-selling albums of the year so far, as counted by Nielsen Soundscan. Then, we mapped those to the Twitter rankings of the recording artists themselves, as tracked by BigChampagne.
The results were interesting. For artists like Lady Gaga and Katy Perry, this is arguably part of a broader mainstream marketing blitz, though even that equation recently broke down for top-ranked Twitterer Soulja Boy (as aptly shown by Billboard last year). For others outside of mainstream pop that are breaking through, constant Twittering frankly seems like a waste of time.
#IAmNotARapper RT If Only You Could Sell As Many Albums As You Have Followers http://bit.ly/oFA5yI
If Only You Could Sell As Many Albums As You Have Followers http://bit.ly/oFA5yI
#IAmNotARapper RT If Only You Could Sell As Many Albums As You Have Followers http://bit.ly/oFA5yI
#IAmNotARapper RT If Only You Could Sell As Many Albums As You Have Followers http://bit.ly/oFA5yI