Musicians, it’s time to build your own space again

For years, musicians have been encouraged to promote their work on social media. They were told it was an indispensable tool, and to some degree, this became a reality. Musicians as social media influencers—it’s as bad and sometimes cringeworthy as it sounds.

Initially, the idea seemed promising: Social media killed the middleman (aka music journalism) between musicians and fans, allowing for a more direct and intimate connection. But in truth, social media simply replaced the middleman, pretending to be only an impartial intermediary rather than an active actor.

In fact, not only musicians but, as a society, we handed over control of the global digital infrastructure to a handful of mega-companies at the mercy of a few almighty billionaires calling the shots.

They Are Bad People

The latest example is obviously Meta: In a sweeping change (and a cowardly obedient move ahead of the Trump presidency), Meta‘s unimpeachable king, Mark Zuckerberg, rolled back fact-checking on its platforms Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.
The company also horrifyingly loosened the guidelines on what‘s allowed. For example, it‘s now totally okay to call LGBTQ+ people mentally ill on those platforms. Moreover, Zuckerberg appointed UFC president Dana White to Meta’s board, a Trump crony with a history of domestic violence. All really great stuff…

Now is definitely the time we should all, including musicians, reconsider our relationship with these platforms operating with a growth-at-all-cost mentality. It’s us perpetuating their reckless behaviour with our free content and monetisable attention. And that’s the ethical question you have to answer.

Meta’s past actions already have fuelled a genocide. In 2016, Facebook’s then-vice president, Andrew Bosworth, stated that everything is justified for growth, even if «it costs someone a life by exposing someone to bullies» and if «someone dies in a terrorist attack coordinated on our tools.» Oh, and Bosworth is still at Meta as Chief Technology Officer.

Build Your Own Space

I genuinely hope we can emancipate ourselves from these toxic platforms. And I hope musicians embrace the opportunity to build their own independent spaces.

A standalone website gains importance again, maybe a newsletter or to cultivate a direct relationship with the fans. Or even have a presence on crowdfunding platforms like Patreon or Fanklub.

As music fans, we can make this move more manageable for our favourite artists, too. We can subscribe to their alternative channels and not just like their latest Instagram post. We can buy their music, merch, and tickets to their gigs. Fellow music writer Sean Adams compiled 25 great recommendations on how to support your local music scene in 2025.

After saying farewell to Twitter in 2023 and Facebook last year, I have now also deleted my personal Instagram account. Negative White is officially still there, but I will significantly reduce the activity. I’d rather spend my time working on this newsletter, and my patience with these rotten companies is at an all-time low.