Before November 5th, any dance music fan would have known that they had access to a plethora of original tracks and remixes from upcoming artists for the mere cost of liking the artist’s page on Facebook. However, in an effort to promote the garnering of genuine ‘likes’, as opposed to those generated by “artificial incentive”, Facebook has removed the “Like to Download” function (widely referred to as ‘like-gating’), evoking mixed reactions from users everywhere. Having first announced the news on August 7th, claiming that the obliteration of like-gating will help to filter the content that appears on the average user’s feed and will help relevant content to surface, Facebook has released the following statement:
You must not incentivize people to use social plugins or to like a Page. This includes offering rewards, or gating apps or app content based on whether or not a person has liked a Page…we want people to like Pages because they want to connect and hear from the business, not because of artificial incentives.”
Without a doubt, this change will have an impact on emerging artists, especially those that use the feature heavily to draw in numbers. We have outlined a few of the effects of the removal of like-gating below:
1. It may, in fact, improve the quality of content
Just as Facebook has suggested, it is very possible that this change will lead to a positive upturn in the quality of artists’ Facebook posts, and will prompt them to put out more engaging, and pertinent content in an effort to gain interested new fans.
2. It allows for more transparency
In today’s digital age, Facebook likes have undeniably become a heavily-weighted factor when promoters are deciding whether to book an artist, and when people are looking to buy tickets. Artists who appear to have a large following as the result of like-gating present a false impression, and these excessive numbers of empty “likes” instead of dedicated fans inevitably lead to a slew of problems (which Thump quite comically pointed out).
3. Artists may resort to buying Facebook likes
Now that they are unable to rake in likes with relative ease, producers may very well turn to paying Facebook to up their numbers. Shady Facebook figures have been a central topic in the dance music scene recently, and this change will likely not do anything to improve the deceitful situation.
4. Artists will have to establish themselves on other platforms
With it having become more difficult to bring in likes on Facebook, artists will certainly have to accommodate by improving their content on other social media sites. Artists will likely be more active on Twitter, and will try to maintain their SoundCloud accounts despite the numerous complaints about the service. SoundCloud, has also been the subject of much talk as of late, having recently signed a licensing deal with Warner Music to maximize its presence in the music industry, and provide better compensation for artists.
5. Artists may begin action-gating
Although artists can no longer ask for likes in order to unlock a free download, they can collect other information, most commonly, an email address, which is referred to as ‘action-gating’.
Thoughts? Do you think the dismissal of like-gating is ultimately good or bad? Share your opinion in the comment section below.
via Jon Loomer, inthemix
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