Josh Nicoll, music label partnerships at Meta, has spoken about the tech firm’s winning entry in the Music Week Awards.
Meta Loves Music – London was triumphant in the Music Consumer Innovation category at last week’s ceremony.
Meta partnered with eight artists on the artist-to-fan event, which took place at the Vinyl Factory at Phonica Records in London’s Soho in November 2023.
The initiative was designed to drive Instagram Reels production around music releases, as well as provide education about using the platform for both fans, artists and the industry.
“Meta Loves Music is an educational series that we run with the industry,” said Nicoll. “Last year we had an idea about how we could bring artists a little bit more into the fold, and also the fanbase. It was about bringing everyone together, educating artists and fans and creating unique moments for fans and artists.
“We started going out to labels, and sometimes it can be quite hard when an idea is completely new. But the labels went with it and were on board, and the artists were amazing. We ended up working with them on creating unique experiences for them and their fanbases. Yeah, it was fun.”
Meta got top artists involved including Ayra Starr, Henry Moodie, Jungle, Cat Burns, Here At Last, Baby Queen, Griff and James Arthur. Spaces were made available for fans to create content with artists and to share it around the release of a track.
“Our focus is all about community and artist-fan connection, and helping artists build audiences,” said Nicoll. “Reels is all about increasing your followers, increasing your audience, and having a sustainable fanbase to help you then sell tickets and sell records. When you go to release a record, you've got a decent fanbase there who will connect with it.”
We don't put any pressure on artists to post every day
Josh Nicoll
The Meta Loves Music – London initiative concluded with education sessions for the industry.
Asked to offer one key piece of advice for artists using Reels, Nicoll said: “Be consistent. I feel like there's a lot of stress for artists now. Obviously their priority is making music and touring, and we don't put any pressure on artists to post every day and feel the stress of having to do Reels in a certain way. What we advise is to be consistent, be authentic and be your true self – and hopefully that will come through and do some good.”
Catch up with all the Music Week Awards winners here.
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