Using the web 2.0 social media tool Twitter, I got to meet a young and talented pianist Grace Nikae whose performances are electrifying audiences and whose music is being welcomed all over the world. There are a lot of musicians like that, but what impressed me most is how she is using the internet and social media to grow her following and build relationships. Here, in an exclusive interview, she tells us how she uses the web tools and how you as an independent musician can and should do the same.
1. Welcome Grace Nikae to Inner Rhythm. I came across your work and particularly how you use social media quite effectively from chrisbrogan.com and wanted to ask you a few questions so my readers, primarily independent artists, can use it quite well. Would you mind starting off sharing a brief background to yourself?
Sure – I’m a concert pianist and I’m very fortunate to do what I love in a career that takes me around the world performing piano recitals, or as a soloist with orchestras, or in chamber music performances with friends and colleagues. Your readers can find out more about my life on my website.
2. How do you define “social media” to an artist who is looking for new ways to connect with their followers?
Basically, social media helps me to engage with fans by connecting me with both people who might not get to hear me play live, and also with music audiences who want to extend the emotional excitement and connection they originally felt from being at a concert. I have also talked extensively about my thoughts on the connection between social media and music on my blog here.
3. Which social media sites do you use in particular and why?
I use different sites for a variety of reasons. I’m on MySpace simply because a lot of my younger fans and classical music students and supporters are on it, and it’s a nice way to engage with them. I use Flickr to share behind the scenes photos from my life and my time on the road. My YouTube channel allows me to share and host videos from concerts and live performances as well as from rehearsals and other behind the scenes footage. My Delicious links allow me to share some interesting stories I find around the web on my blog. And of course, Twitter has become a part of my life…
4. You and I both struck up this interview through twitter messages… probably just 4 or 5 limited to 140 characters each. Not bad. What do you think of Twitter and how do use it as a musician?
Twitter has become a great way for me to effectively share small things that are going on in my life in real time, and has also been a way to connect with fans who want to ask me questions about my life or about classical music. It has been wonderful to interact with them and answer some of their questions through Twitter.
I started out spending a lot of time on Twitter, and getting caught up in the responses from other Twitterers. Nowadays, I use it every couple of days to share news, what’s going on in my life, and interesting links. I also catch up on any replies and answer questions.
5. Can you give a few quick examples of successful experiences you’ve had with social media?
One of the most surprising discoveries that came about from my foray into social media has been meeting so many people who enjoy and like classical music, but are in many ways intimidated and frightened of it. This feeling has led many of them to not attend their local symphony orchestra concert, or to support the classical arts in their community. By connecting with them through social media, answering some of their questions, sharing aspects of my life and my creative process, I hope to bring classical music closer to them. I have also had artists in other creative fields connect with me and say that they realized something about their own work by reading something I wrote. This is really wonderful because it means that social media can also be used as a means of education, and as a means of contributing something to the arts in a way that extends far beyond me. There is a great satisfaction and fulfillment in that.
8. With social media, musicians today evidently need to create a two-way communication rather than just a one-way conversation. What are your thoughts on this and how do you feel social media has helped you achieve this, if in any way?
Social media can be overwhelming, and once the conversation starts becoming two way, it can become easy to get lost in all of it. I think it’s important to always maintain a balance – the most important thing will always be your music and artistic quality. Social media provides us with tools to reach out to different people, but you shouldn’t be spending all your time on it.
This leads me to the most important idea I would like to stress about social media – it’s not about marketing. I have seen so many people talk about it like it’s some kind of marketing strategy, and it simply is not. Social media is a set of tools that genuinely allows you to connect and share with others about your music and your art.
9. How did your managers, team, and others in your industry help in your implementation of social media?
I was very intent on trying out social media because I enjoy technology and being at my computer, and I wanted to find new ways of staying connected with my audiences who were spread out all over the world. No one in my field had yet tried out what it was that I wanted to do, to the extent that I wanted to do it. It was a bit risky because the classical music field is quite conservative and tradition oriented, and I wasn’t sure how my colleagues and those in the industry would react. After speaking with the people involved with my career, we decided that social media would allow me to be accessible, stay engaged with fans, and really share who I am - this could only be a good thing.
10. You write a blog called Stretching Intervals and I’ve followed it for a very short while. From what I see it’s very personal, about you as an individual and who you are rather than just the music. What are your thoughts on blogging for musicians and could you share some of your thinking behind it?
An interesting question - I feel that my blog is a reflection of my artistic approach and who I am as a performer. I discuss many aspects of my everyday life as a musician and some aspects of my personal life because I believe that who we are as individuals and how we choose to stretch and grow - emotionally, spiritually, mentally – is what colors and deepens our music and our work as artists. My blog has also become a space in which I can challenge myself through the writing medium, and work through some of my thoughts about music, interpretation, an artistic life, etc . It is a lot of work and I often cannot update it as often as I’d like, but I feel that there is something special about communicating through your own written words.
11. That’s all for now - thanks for the time you’ve taken to answer my questions. I’m sure many of the musicians who read this interview now and over the years will find it thoroughly enjoyable and informative.
Thanks Kavit – it was my pleasure.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Please leave your questions, comments and thoughts for both Grace and Kavit.
Popularity: 67% [?]
Thanks for this interview! The idea that social media can foster a conversation with audiences is really important. It is no longer enough to simply put up the online billboards shouting out “I am here!.” Classical musicians need to mature beyond the level of Horton Hears the Who.
Great interview. What a fascinating story about the usage of social sites. Grace made a wonderful point when she said that social media is simply a tool to reach out and communicate with listeners. Too often, we see record companies set up a MySpace page and then have some intern monitor the page and the musician never makes comments or interacts with the fans. All musicians should be following Grace’s lead in embracing social media to connect with their audience.
I’ve been a big fan of Grace’s music for awhile now. Thank you for doing
this interview with her.
In a latin jazz forum I belong to there was a recent discussion about how to educate audiences, given that some of the music we play can seem intimidatingly complex, rhythmically and harmonically (and even culturally, given the African and Cuban influences). It’s reassuring to see someone tackle the same issue in classical music, especially a young performer who counters the stereotype of the old stuffy traditionalist.
It’s always encouraging to see that the social sites are doing musicians some good.
I believe it is vital to be a part of all of that.
I don’t know what kind of expectations, if any, should be set up
but being part of the loop does seem essential.
Enjoyed reading this exchange. My heart smiles when I hear about someone established in the western classical domain (or any domain that has traditionally had more “barriers” around it) reaching out to fans in this personal way - it is wonderful that for Grace it comes naturally and from the heart. I agree wholeheartedly that communicating with anyone personally should start from the heart.
Maybe if this aspect of social media were made clearer, it might help some musicians get over the hump about going in this direction. Some perceive online social networking to be a superficial activity - for some it is a numbers game - but as Grace points out, it doesn’t have to be that way at all. It is about making it work in the best way for YOU. So individual personality types are likely to have different approaches to using this medium.
If you are a natural people person (as I am), then it is relatively easy to transfer meeting and greeting to the online world - though for me there is still nothing that beats meeting and chatting in the flesh over a cup of coffee. However, some musicians may be shy and, for them, I think it is really important to consider how best to utilize this “tool” and to understand what purposes it can serve for them.
Accordingly, I do believe there is an aspect of social media that falls under the promotion category of marketing (which basically covers any information that the artist or the artist’s management conveys to fans directly as opposed to publicity which relies on third parties like magazine and blog articles to convey information about the artist to others). When all the wheels of social media are working together, voila! We have redesigned the old fashioned fan club into something that is far more dynamic, making the fans and artists more accessible to each other. Social media cannot escape the marketing association, by virtue of some of its outcomes. The more your name is out there, the more chances you have of being found by yet another fan. For me, the bottom line is to be as honest as possible with yourself every step of the way about what you are doing and why. And to understand the trade-offs of your choices.
With that in mind, I especially appreciate Grace’s comment about how she manages her time with respect to social media. I perceive this to be another major hump for musicians who find this to be a time-consuming endeavor, taking away from their practice and writing time. But just as live performance is about the energy you and the audience exchange, I think this medium has the same potential. Maybe something someone writes to you gives you an idea and so we can think about social media also as part of our artist development - instead of just something that hinders us, something that we think of as a chore, something that takes us away from our “creative time” or “shedding’, it may help our artistic growth. The fact that Grace appears to have found a balance that works for her gives me hope as I’m still trying to work out the right balance. . .getting too much into it or just shunning it for periods.
It is like getting the consistency of the cake batter just right. Or the cake will fall. Kudos to Grace for baking a cake that appears to be something both she and her fans can enjoy with her heart and her art as the guides. Taking Grace’s cue, I will now excuse myself from this online medium to attend to other things. Thanks to Kavit for sharing this interview.
Social media is one of those things that people know can be tremendously wonderful yet few artists know how to take full advantage of it.
Thank you to you and Grace for sharing how Grace has managed to use it in such a way that truly benefits her.
There are tips in there that all artists certainly learn from.