Social media has been discussed in the business world, along with the news industy, but we have never really discussed what it is doing for the music industry. Youtube, Twitter and Facebook have changed the way artists are exposing themselves to the general public.
Although the top bands in the world still market themselves through publicity due to interviews, print, and music videos, there aren’t as many large bands that have the massive following like there used to be. More, and more bands are now looking to market themselves on social media platforms for a number of reasons. The most obvious reasons are that it’s free and very easy to gain a large following in a short amount of time. With one catchy tune, or well done music video, a small regional band can transform into a national success story…almost overnight.
Social media has transformed the way music has been shared as well. Just recently The XX released their new album to one person in and announced that they were tracking who they share it with and how it goes viral. The response was unbelievable and the stream released to the single fan was shared with millions of XX fans around the world, crashing the bands website after 24 hours. It wasn’t until the next morning and the major media outlets go ahold of it. This example shows the power of the underground community and how social media can create just a big event overnight without the mainstream media even noticing.
What you said is very true — social media can quickly and cost-effectively boost a band’s popularity and sales. Bands can circulate their music in an unprecedented way to a widespread audience. But although social media has positively impacted the music industry, I would argue it has also hurt the music industry. Because people can distribute music so easily, the Internet, and specifically social media, promotes music piracy and leaking albums before their release date, ultimately hindering bands’ record sales and profits.
I think that what XX did was awesome for their fans creating a personal interaction with them. Sadly, this is not how many of the bands I know interact with their social media. Sadly in my experience it is quite apparent that their main goal to make money. When I first got into Twitter and Facebook, I went through and started “liking” and “following” all of my favorite bands, with the hopes to gain a truely close relationship with rockstars by hearing their daily thoughts or getting pictures of their everyday life; to see how rockstars are when off stage. What I quickly learned is that they are never “off” stage on social media. Instead of getting posts on what they were up to, I only received “buy our t-shirts” or “discounts on merchandise!” messages. This disappointed me greatly and tainted the industry for me. I wish more bands would actual interact like XX.
I agree with Alissa…part of the mass appeal of social media is that it is free for all. This makes it relatively difficult for artists to cash in on their digital popularity. Why buy an album if you can listen to the whole thing for free online? As my blog pointed out, another negative toll social media could possibly have on independent bands is that they must fight harder to receive attention. Especially with Youtube, the average user is so bombarded with sensory overload, bands must think of extra-clever ways to cut through the competition. My blog was about independent filmmakers on YouTbue, but I believe the it speaks for all artists promoting themselves using social media.
As a musician, I totally agree with you. I’ve seen bands get big pretty much overnight. I mean, The Devil Wears Prada were already popular, but when they parodied Big Tymers’ “Still Fly,” they struck gold. They put that tune on Myspace and, within a week, the metal scene (and popular music scene) were in an uproar about it. It was the perfect combination of funny and well done to gain online attention. And even though this band has reached great commercial success, they continue to reach out to fans via Facebook, Youtube and, more personally, on Twitter.