Musicians a-Twittering

Musicians have long since discovered that this internet thing is really an excellent means of distributing music. They can generate a (potentially worldwide) fanbase, and then continue to use the variety of web tools to keep those fans interested. From the biggest bands on the biggest labels to the most obscure singer-songwriter recording love songs in his garage, countless artists are out there on the web waiting to be heard—and seen, and read, and messaged. They send out email newsletters, run MySpace pages, update their Facebook profiles. If they have enough money, perhaps they run their own website—but they had better stay on top of the social networking sites too. Maybe they have a blog, maybe on it they run a forum for fans to connect with one another (and perhaps the artists log on once in a while too). And, if copyright issues are in order, they or their label may post music videos on YouTube.

These days, of course, we also have Twitter. A simple Google search brings up many lists of the big names—find a few here, here, and here. Twitter has only been around a few years, first launched in 2006 (according to Wikipedia), and use has only really started to explode in the past year or two. Twitterers can easily follow most of their favorite singers (and actors, politicians, you name it) right alongside their friends and acquaintances, fostering a strong sense of intimacy.

Singer-songwriter Vienna Teng has had a Twitter for some time, offering up insightful 140-character tidbits on touring, creativity, politics, and everything in between for fans’ consumption. Just last month she used Twitter in a new way: to conduct a real-time Q&A with fans, harnessing the website’s @ function (which will get your message to another user even if you don’t have him/her listed as a friend). The Q&A has been collected and posted in her Scrapbook. A few excerpts:

reirei86: Do you publish majority of the songs you write or do you keep a lot private?
viennateng: Any song that gets finished usually sees the light of day. Sometimes I keep private ones that aren't really written for strangers to listen to (too many inside references in lyrics to be accessible, or attempts @ new style that aren't good)

…

JohnnyNaked: Can you see the sun setting from where you're sitting? (Enjoying the informative & pleasant tweet cacophony!)
viennateng: On 2nd floor of a cafe, can see sunset reflecting off palm trees across the street. Many geeks w/laptops all around...

How do your favorite singers talk to you these days?

*Photo courtesy viennateng.com.