Josh Pyke Tells Us How To Get Seen and Heard in the Music Industry
Josh Pyke discusses the importance of industry events, navigating social media's impact on music careers, and the need for authentic fan engagement at Indie-Con 2024.
We’re stoked to see you’re in town for Indie-Con 2024. As a musician yourself, how important are events/conferences like this for artists and industry professionals?
I think connection is really important, and in a world where most interaction is online, it’s great to actually meet and speak with like minded people in real life. I always walk away learning something or being inspired to try something creative after events like these.
You’re taking part in the ‘Creating Content – How To Get Seen and Heard’ panel. As an artist but also the chair of PPCA, what perspective do you bring to this discussion?
As someone who’s actively worked in the industry since before social media existed to now where a lot of my time is devoted to interacting on socials, I think I have a pretty broad and balanced perspective. I’ve watched bands get bigger profiles via MySpace, all the way to artists struggling to get attention on Instagram and TikTok. Whilst that time commitment is vital for artists, i think it’s important to discuss the toll it takes too.
You first released in 2005. How artists need to self-market has drastically changed since then, particularly with the rise of social media. How have you experienced/noticed this change?
It’s literally been the biggest change in the music industry apart from streaming, and the two are quite intertwined. The industry is kind of unrecognisable to when i started and staying abreast of all those changes is really important. It’s also more important than ever to form truly authentic connections with fans, and that is sometimes in conflict with building online engagement, so it’s a pretty complicated landscape.
For yourself, as someone who just released an EP in April too, how are you making sure your work is seen/heard? Is that even a consideration for you?
That is very much a consideration to me. It’s vital to reach your fans in order to have a long and sustained career. I think the key is figuring out what you’re comfortable with sharing online, and for me it’s covers, lyric snippets, behind the scenes recording stuff, as opposed to trying to do whatever the latest TikTok craze is, because that may very well be inauthentic for a 46 year old man to be doing! My focus is reaching out directly to fans too, and I have the benefit of having built a substantial email list over the years, which i know goes straight to my supporters, and doesn’t have to compete with algorithms I can’t control.
Why should musicians – particularly independent ones – consider implementing a social/content strategy in the release of their music? How important do you consider the use of social media?
It’s absolutely essential. I wish it wasn’t, because despite all the benefits that come with socials, I truly feel social media is open of the worst things to have happened to humanity, (seriously) but as small business owners, trying to shop our wares, which is essentially what musicians are, there is obviously enormous growth potential online. Again, I think it’s just about figuring out what is authentic for you, and leaning into that. If you think that posting cat videos or skits will increase the audience for your music, then go for it, but if you think you’d prefer to be known for your music alone, then post about that and be content with reaching fewer people, but reaching the right people.
What’s one piece of advice you would give an independent artist right now in regards to releasing music and social media?
It’s got to be done. To make it more manageable, set a realistic target for how many posts a week you’ll do, and then put a day aside and make a whole bunch of content and then schedule it all on the various apps that do that for you. You can easily get a month or two’s content out of that one day of content creation. The other big thing is engagement with people that comment. If people comment, keep the conversation going, point them in the direction of your Spotify profile. Try and be authentic and have real engagement like you would if you were at the merch stand after a gig.
What else are you keen to see at Indie-Con 2024?
I think it’ll be really interesting to chat with professionals from overseas to see how they’re tackling things like declining ticket sales in their regions. Music is an essential part of life the world over, so it’s essential we look at other perspectives and learn how we can apply those here.
Check out all the speakers and get your tickets for Indie-Con here.
