https://midnightrebels.com/facebooks-two-link-limit-the-end-of-free-reach-for-musicians/

In a nutshell, if youre a pro-user with a pro account, theres now a "Two-Link Limit" policy for just two external links per month on Facebook and Instagram. To post more, you have to pay for the "Meta Verified" subscription, which costs up to $499 annually. Current workaround is using "link in the comments" notification which doesnt count toward the link limit but is pretty fucking lame imo.

On a positive note, I feel its about time that musicians, labels, etc start taking more control over their own content and tbh, not anything we werent doing already doing online in the pre-social network era. Social networks have been a necessary evil but tides are shifting and this desperate attempt to control is the writing on the wall.

 

If you are a pro you don't need meta.

 

Lots of established labels still use meta to promote and market their artists, and that hasnt been a problem until recently. I dont doubt that theyll adapt without Meta, in fact, I hope eventually social networks get phased out all together and we can shift the majority of all promo using dtc marketing for independent music.

 

when i was an independent artist posting a bunch of links never helped me personally anyways on those sites, it was mostly people reusing my music in their content that helped me and sharing. though the reach of reels is crazy now and more of the focus (at least on IG) because theyre trying to compete with TikTok - in theory you actually only need one link in your bio and video content that funnels people there - one thing about effective marketing is understanding people dont want ads and sales pitches, you have to be creative in creating awareness. i dont see this putting an end to free reach. limits usually make people more creative in my experience

i do understand why this is happening though. i remember before the pandemic, Meta was having issues with a lot of their traffic and users on their platforms being taken off the platform to others (this was during the rise of OnlyFans), women were making serious bread of their IG followers thirst and bringing their users to the OF platform, where they were spending money. thats also why the algorithm switched and your reach to your own followers became less, so this seems like the next step in that to me - its definitely interesting news

 

I really pray one day an open source protocol based platform will replace that smelly shit we are forced to use everyday.

 

Do people still use Facebook?

 

People over 55 mostly, the MySpace crowd.

 

Never
have
used
FacePuke.

There's even a family group that I won't use.
If they love me they'll email.