Social Media Week is just behind us, so we caught up with the industry’s favorite entrepreneur, Sean Glass. Glass hosted the Official Closing Party for Social Media Week, with White Panda as the special performance on February 21st. Check out our brief Q&A as we get ready with Glass about advances in music technology and Social Media Week down below.
- How often do you use social media: number of tweets a day, number of likes on Instagram, etc?
I’ll generally tweet a few times a day, maybe once regarding something I’m working on like a release or an event, and then I’ll talk about Ryan Gosling or something like that here and there. Instagram — once or twice a week I’ll post, generally peruse my friends once a day on average, like a few. Facebook, I mainly use as a messaging service; I don’t read other feeds much at all. But I make sure to post events and releases on there, as besides email, it is the most important marketing tool. - How has social media changed your life?
It’s not even worth noting specific instances at this point; it’s just a part of life. It’s like asking someone how the telephone changed their life. Everyone is connected, information travels instantly and disappears in seconds or minutes if you’re really engaging. We can be working and programmed nonstop. There is no off switch, no office hours, no vacations, or days off. I’m less interested in how it’s changed those of us who grew up without it than I am interested in what the work force will be like when kids who were raised on it grow up. - What is the best way of utilizing social platforms leading up to and during an event?
It’s weird to say this, because I hate getting emails, but email is still by far the most important marketing tool. If I tweet, I can count on my hand how many people will show up. If I create a Facebook event, engagement is probably about 5%, and that means it’s an interesting event. Recently, I sent out an email to 3000 people, and 1000 showed up. - What are you currently interested in music technology? A specific app/service?
Data. I’m interested in companies that are compiling data that we did not have before, and analyzing it to create more informed decisions than we are making in our current day to day. A lot of inefficiencies will be made redundant by data, which I am excited for, as the work will become more creative and focused on building interesting creative ideas and products rather than sifting through the noise. - How do you want to see music technology grow this year?
Less noise, more creative products. We do not need more “music discovery,” we need distinguishing factors for why an audience will notice my stuff rather than someone else’s.
