Introduction
Music is big business in Australia and the music industry contributes millions of dollars annually to the Australian economy. Music provides a source of livelihood for a wide variety of people ranging from the performing artists, producers, publicists, and event managers to name but a few.
The huge contribution that music makes to society is only possible as a result of good marketing skills by the players in the music industry. The ability of an artist to market their products spells the difference between a successful and unsuccessful artist and for this reason, artists are constantly trying to market themselves.
Social media which is a platform made from a number of technologies to allow for the creation, management and exchange of user generated data presents a novel way for artists to market themselves.
Hatfield (2011) declares that social media is a powerful tool if properly wielded by artists. This is because social media has in the past decade undergone enormous technological advances and the prevalence of use of social media has grown rapidly in the past decade. As such, it provides an effective and cheap means through which an artist can market himself/herself.
This paper will set out to discuss the impacts that social media has had on music marketing. Focus will be given to the ways in which social media has performed marketing in the music industry. A number of the social media tools which are widely used for marketing purposes will also be discussed.
Social Media and Music
The past two decades have witnessed some dramatic changes in music marketing. While in the past the music industry relied on album sales to make revenue, this practice has been diminished by the emergence of digitalization.
Today, the success of an artist is not directly related to the number of albums they have sold but rather to a number of combined factors including: ticket sales, Internet hits and the amount of radio time given to the artist’s works. The internet is increasingly becoming the most important factor due to a number of reasons. To begin with, the past decade has witnessed an unprecedented increase in the number of internet users.
This high adoption rate has been attributed to lower internet access costs as well as decreased prices of computers. Technological advances which have made it possible to transmit data over the internet at high speeds have further popularized the internet as the medium of choice in music distribution.
The invention of the MP3 audio format resulted in it being easier to store and transmit music in an online environment. Lehmann (2005) declares that the ability to compress music into small size while at the same time maintaining a high quality of sound was a great breakthrough. Artists are therefore able to distribute their music through the internet with relative ease.
This is unlike in the early 1990s where cassettes and records were the only feasible means of transmitting media. Bruno (2009) asserts that digitalization of music presented a new avenue through which consumers could access the music they wanted.
This access is through the purchase of music through legal avenues such as iTunes or pirating. Beer (2009) notes that through social media, an artist is able to top charts even before their music begins selling in the traditional stores.
The reach of social Media has further been increased by an explosion in Social Networking Sites (SNSs). Hutchison (2008, p.201) defines SNSs as “web sites that allow members to construct a public or semipublic profile and formally articulate their relationship to other users”.
The prevalence of SNSs has been attributed to the fact that they do not require any technical knowhow to use and they are free of charge. These social media tools have revolutionalized communication and many people now interact using them.
How Music Artist Use Social Media for Marketing Purposes
Many artists use Social media to raise their popularity. The popularity of an artist has a direct effect on their ability to sell their music. The more popular an artist is the higher the chances that his/her music will penetrate the market. For this reason, artists are trying to popularize themselves with the masses using a number of promotional strategies. Social media allows artists to promote their music in a fairly cheap manner.
This is because all that an artist has to do is upload their material to any of the available SNSs sites and wait for the public to access it. By posting material about their works and even free samples of their work, awareness of the artist’s music is increased and he/she can gain supporters therefore increasing their recognition.
Castro (2007) states that for an artist, “getting your music played on the internet provides a huge boost for an artist”. The high visibility that results from social media leads to wider audience base for the artist and this can be exploited by an artist to market their music even more effectively.
Social media assists artists to obtain and maintain social capital. Social capital is defined as the real or potential resources afforded to a person as a result of their link or relationship with other people. Social media allows an artist to obtain some benefits by being a member of a certain group. Typically, upcoming artists have lacked connections with major players in the industry therefore limiting their ability to grown.
Social media assists artists to acquire social capital since artists can use social media to link up and keep in touch with other artists (Hatfield, 2011). Social media allows artists in various parts of the country to keep in touch and share media with each other.
This has a huge bearing on the success of the individual artists since music today is characterized by much collaboration between or among artists. By using social media, an artist can get acquainted with other musicians and from this undertake project such as joint performances which increases the popularity of each individual artist.
The success of an artist partly depends on his ability to maintain and expand a fan base. Maintaining fans requires the artist to keep them engaged and excited about his/her projects. Social media makes it possible for fans to socialize with their pop stars and music idols. Many musicians have online profiles through which they give details of their performances, add friends and even post samples of their music.
Hatfield (2011) reveals that the Australian rock band, Sick Puppies, made itself popular by maintaining a strong online presence through MySpace. SNSs have also made it possible for performers to become closer to their audience which allows the audience to have a direct interaction with the musician and further elevates the performer’s popularity with the fans since they feel recognized (Beer, 2008).
Social media allows an artist to relate to his audience which has the positive effect of raising the number of ticket sales for concerts. Social media enables an artist to keep his fans engaged and interested in his works. This is by engaging in chats with the fans and also answering questions which are posed by the fans. Hatfield (2011) asserts that this encourages a flow of information and solidifies an artist’s fan base.
Social media plays a huge role in the promotion of upcoming artists who may lack the capital required to participate in the mainstream marketing and advertising. Traditional advertising is very expensive and for an artist who is not signed by a recording company, advertising costs are at best prohibitive. Social media levels the playing ground since an artist can market himself with very little initial capital.
For upcoming musicians, SNSs provide a feasible means to expand their existing social networks and this in turn helps them realize their aspirations of reaching even larger audiences.
A study by Sargent (2009) demonstrated that social networks enabled individual artists to overcome socio-economic factors and distribute their music worldwide. These artists were able to create a fan base and from this expand through gathering social capital to reach a bigger audience.
One of the difficulties inherent in marketing is reaching the desired market. Traditional marketing models are therefore styled such that they reach the biggest number of people with the hope that the target market is within this group. Social media has made it possible for artists to engage in niche marketing as opposed to the traditional model of marketing which targeted a broad market.
Beer (2008) suggests that offering free products to the right group of consumers is a more potent form of advertising than the traditional mass advertising which is both expensive and random.
The cost effectiveness of social media is unrivaled and Sargent (2009) notes that social media has rendered traditional marketing techniques such as mailing out press kits with CD’s and information obsolete. Instead of using this means, marketers now send music digitally and associate this to the artist’s profile. This saves money that could have been used on postage and CD’s.
Little known artists dream of being discovered by major record label companies and signing record deals with them. In the past, new artists had to engage in many activities and performing at local shows with the hope that they would be discovered. Social media has made it easier for artists to be discovered since they provide artists with a way to publicize themselves.
Hatfield (2011) notes that as a result of the social media site YouTube, a little known Australian Artist was discovered by the American music giant Atlantic Records and given a record deal. Many marketers also show preferences for social networking networks when making discoveries about new bands.
Marketers view the artists profile to see the number of fans that the artist has as well as the number of songs that they have posted on their profile. From this information, the success and popularity of an artist can be deduced and the marketer can make a judgment of whether to engage the artist.
Social media is instantaneous in nature and an artist is able to influence their sales and popularity by posting in sites such as twitter and Facebook.
This is because social media has a spin off effect and material posted through these tools has the potential to go viral (Hatfield, 2011). When this happens, the artist is exposed to large fan base and his reach can shift from local to international.
Specific Social Media Used by Artists
There are a number of social media sites which are very popular with artists for a number of reasons. MySpace is one SNS whose usage is great among artists due to the availability of profiles that are both user friendly and highly customizable. The artist can indicate a list of shows that they are going to be performing at as well as links to sites such as iTunes and Amazon where their fans can purchase their music.
Hutchison (2008) further reveals that an artist’s MySpace profile are very effective in attracting booking agents as well as other artists who may which to engage in joint ventures with a the artist.
Facebook has emerged as the most active and popular SNS in the world with a membership of over 200million users. This high membership has made Facebook a very attractive tool for artist’s marketing strategies. The mass communications compatibilities of Facebook combined with its sophisticated news feed functionality have made it widely used by artists (Hutchison, 2008).
Artists post information which may include even dates, pictures, and links to their music on their profile. This information is generated across the artist’s entire network therefore allowing his/her to maintain a bigger online presence. In addition to this, Facebook has a component that enables the artist to create events and send mass invitations to the same.
These invitations have information such as: the location where event is taking place, other artists who will be included, and charges. This free form of advertising enables artists who limited economic power to host events and attract sizable audience.
YouTube is another very versatile social media tool that has been used to market artist. This site enabled artists to broadcast their work to a wide audience and if the work is appreciated, the artist will have a big following.
Hatfield (2011) reveals that the Australian band “Sick Puppies” gained its prominence following the uploading of one of their videos “All the Same” to YouTube in 2006. This song received an enormous viewership and made the band more popular than it had been since its inception in 1997.
Challenges of Social Media
Despite the many advantages that social media holds for the music industry, it also presents a big threat in the form of piracy. While piracy is outlawed in Australia and is therefore a crime punishable by law, this practice is still prevalent in the country. Effective social media marketing requires dedication since it is a time and effort consuming activity.
While it can be easy for new artists who have a small fan base to undertake their own marketing through social media, established artists cannot do the same since marketing is a time consuming task.
Hatfield (2011) proposes that for this group of artists, contracting people such as publicists is the best way to exploit social media for marketing. These professionals can ensure that the artist maintains a digital presence and frequently communicates with his/her fan base.
While social media is a very promising marketing tool for the artist, there is no guarantee that he/she will become a hit because of it. This is especially so since many artists of whose musical ability is average flood the social media channel.
Hatfield (2011) takes care to point out that music marketing through social media is not a perfected art and it takes a lot of trial and errors. An artist must therefore endeavor to provide quality music and give great performances since these remain to be the best marketing tools at the artist’s disposal.
Discussion and Conclusion
The face of the music industry has changed significantly in the past two decades. These changes can mostly be attributed to the internet and digitalization technology. Social media is beneficial to all the key players in the music industry.
Through this means, an artist is exposed to other musicians whom they may undertake joint ventures with and booking agents who can help with their marketing. Record labels are able to identify new talent as well as market their artists to a wider audience. The productivity of an artist can therefore be enhanced by use of social media.
The future of music lies with the internet and social media plays a leading role in marketing by the music industry. This paper set out to analyze how music artists have used social media for marketing purposes in Australia.
To this end, this paper has reviewed the manner in which artists have used social media to market their work. From the discussions provided herein, it is clear that social media is a potent promotional tool and individual artists and record labels can benefit from exploiting it.
References
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Hutchison, T. (2008). Web Marketing for the Music Business. Elsevier.
Lehmann, V. (2005). Copyright in the Music Industry. Web.
Sargent, C. (2009). Local musicians building global audiences. Information, Communication & Society, 12(4), 469-487.