Connected not neglected: An artist's online presence is as important as their music

A prime example of an artist who uses his online presence to connect with his audience is Eats Everything. The Bristolian is on Twitter everyday and he replies to 99.9 per cent of the people who contact him. Occasionally it's to tell them they're being a dick but most of the time it's to spark conversation with the people who are paying to go and see him play week in, week out. While some would argue it's just clever marketing, it also comes across completely sincere and is basically what these social platforms were created for. A genuine avenue of interaction with people you'd never usually get access to.

From videos of sets, to Instagram posts of a pretty building they've spotted on tour, an artist who shows off a personal or 'insider' aspect of their life, alongside amazing music of course, will go far. This isn't to say that the music isn't absolutely key: you have to be putting out top notch music for any of this to matter in the first place, but if the sounds aren't readily accessible at the click of a button, no matter where you're looking, you're narrowing down your gains substantially.

Labels that operate under a cloak of mystery will probably do well eventually if the music is of a gold standard but why not speed things up by making sure the people who really fucking like your music know that you're active online and offering multiple ways of listening.

To those artists who don't let us into their lives (and record bags), we're not asking for a photo of you in the shower. Simply, a tweet or two to say you've got a few gigs coming up in our part of the world or maybe even a Spotify playlist with all of your music that we can session over and over. Just let us know you're out there.

If you've got your wits about you, you'll be doing all of these things already.

Funster is Mixmag's Deputy Digital Editor and he tweets at least five stupid things a day, follow him here

Patch Keyes is a freelance illustrator and regular contributor to Mixmag. View his portfolio here