The Social Artist: Music Artists and Social Media

Flickr photo courtesy of Robert Couse-Baker

It is no surprise that social media has amplified the scale of the music industry. Music artists use social media outlets to make sure they stay connected with their fans. It could be via Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, ReverbNation, TwitTrax, SoundCloud, MySpace, or all social media platforms. Most of these networks are great promotional tools for music artists– serving as a full-faceted e-commerce website.

Fans can get a snapshot view of artists by glancing at their summary bio, schedule of upcoming tour dates, videos, photos and even how their song ranks on the music charts through social media. A fan can find links to download and buy music without having to leave their site. A rising trend for artists is using hash-tags on Twitter to promote the release of their upcoming albums.

ReverbNation is a good example of a social outlet that makes it easy for music artists to connect with fans that sign-up for email updates. Also, anyone can leave comments and share what they’ve discovered. However, social networks are only helpful to musicians if they use them correctly. If a person is not a fan of an artist’s music, they cannot be forced to become one. It is not wise artists to retaliate against those who do not enjoy their music.

Artists should try to communicate with the fans they already have instead of trying to gain new ones. This topic is somewhat opinionated, so everyone may not feel the same about using social media to focus on the current and devoted fans . Regardless, social media marketing takes hard work, a lot of hard work. It requires time, creativity, ongoing discipline, discretion, and professionalism. The tools that social media outlets has given fans and the music industry has created opportunities that never before existed.