it doesn't really bother me at all, if i don't like it i will just "unlike" it. This doesn't really affect my life negatively nor does it consume much time.

putting a like-gate on your music is a great way to get me to not listen to your band

I've actually never "liked" a band to listen to a song

agreed

Is it really that big of a deal? From a band perspective, it's a good way to track what new people have listened to your music. Just "unlike" if you don't like it?

Why not just run to youtube and search for the band if you want to hear them? :)

Maybe Facebook should restrict it to only one piece of media can be "like before listen".

For example, a band releases a new song from an upcoming album - If you're interested in the band enough to want to hear the new material, I think it's ok to ask for a "Like" in return.

I've found that if I have to like someone before I can check them out, I typically just won't even bother. All the bands out there take note!

Originally Posted by CurtisFFI

Is it really that big of a deal? From a band perspective, it's a good way to track what new people have listened to your music. Just "unlike" if you don't like it?

Is it really useful to "track" someone who just listened to a single song (if even that)? Seems like a way of just padding the number of fans a band appears to have.

Originally Posted by CurtisFFI

Is it really that big of a deal? From a band perspective, it's a good way to track what new people have listened to your music. Just "unlike" if you don't like it?

Why not just run to youtube and search for the band if you want to hear them? :)

Because the moment you make something more difficult than need be for a user .. you've lost potential fans.

Originally Posted by Jason Tate

Because the moment you make something more difficult than need be for a user .. you've lost potential fans.

Sure, I agree with that.

I posted below what you have quoted and that suggested maybe facebook can limit "Like to access" for only ONE piece of media. This is beneficial for the band because they can use it to promote a new song and it doesn't restrict a potential fan from listening to anything else on the page.

It's also important to consider that outside of "early adopters", or big music fans as found on site likes AP.net, a lot of the "general audience" (which is a much higher percent than non-general audience) listeners actually care about how many Likes a band has. I'm sure we all know countless numbers of people that would skip listening to a band if they only had 1000 Likes, right?

Originally Posted by Tony

Is it really useful to "track" someone who just listened to a single song (if even that)? Seems like a way of just padding the number of fans a band appears to have.

It can be. I mean, maybe it's not that micro...but I believe Facebook has a new fan reporting system that shows you the age, location, gender, etc of the people that like your page.

Originally Posted by CurtisFFI

It can be. I mean, maybe it's not that micro...but I believe Facebook has a new fan reporting system that shows you the age, location, gender, etc of the people that like your page.

Right, but that data is not very useful if it's littered with people who liked the page to check out a song, didn't like it, and then never bothered to listen to the band again or unlike the page afterwards. Seems like you'd want to gather that kind of data from people who are actually fans.

Originally Posted by Tony

Right, but that data is not very useful if it's littered with people who liked the page to check out a song, didn't like it, and then never bothered to listen to the band again or unlike the page afterwards. Seems like you'd want to gather that kind of data from people who are actually fans.

Agreed :)

I would say, for those that get very irritated by it, simply pass on the band. It makes everyone's life easier.

co-sign

From a band's perspective, I find the 'like' to hear music thing really lame. Actually, I think the whole 'like' thing on facebook is crappy overall.

We currently have some music up for free download and we'll have a new EP up in a few weeks. I think we're going to allow free streaming of the EP and if someone really wants it, they can join our mailing list on our website and download the entire EP for free. I'd much rather have an email address than a 'like' on facebook.

Also, at shows we're going to have a tip jar.. Take a CD and if you are inclined to leave a few bucks, great.. If not? Great! By all means take our CD and spread the word..

For an unknown band I think exposure is far more important than a facebook like..

-jay

http://birdandthesoul.com
http://facebook.com/birdandthesoul