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Getting Discovered on Social Media

All of the new tools and aspects of the music industry only make it easier for someone to become famous.  Some of the biggest celebrities in the world got their start on the internet.  Justin Bieber, for example, was discovered after posting video of him singing on YouTube.

Shawn Mendes is another example of a huge musician who was discovered on social media.  His case is even more unusual, because he got his start on an app called Vine.  The app only allowed videos to be posted that were 6 seconds long, so he didn’t have much time to impress, but still managed to get his big break.

Everyone with internet access has the ability to put themselves out there, so at this point it’s about how hard you push yourself and if you’re lucky enough to get seen.  It takes a lot less effort than it did before the internet, which can be seen as both a positive and a negative.

The Jackson 5 played in talent shows and small venues for several years until they were finally noticed by a label, which is rare to find these days.  A recent example of a quick rise is Lil Nas X, who went from a normal twitter fan to having a #1 song in the country, which features Billy Ray Cyrus.  He released the song on his own a few months ago, and after it went viral on social media, Cyrus decided to jump on board and add a verse on the remix.

Along with having the #1 song in the country, Lil Nas X also broke the world record, previously held by Drake for the most streams of a song in a single week, with 80 million streams.Those are two very coming up stories, and although there is a very obvious difference in the level of fame between the two, it just goes to show that something like that could’ve never happened in the days of the Jackson 5.

Plenty of people view this as inspiring which has caused a sharp increase in the number of younger people trying to gain fame.  There are large amounts of people who will do anything to get attention on social media if it will mean getting enough traction to secure a record deal, which is why social media can also get a bad rep.  

Photo: https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/8468780/new-study-shows-close-relationship-social-media-music

Source: https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/old-town-road-lil-nas-x-memes-explained

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The Personal Side of Social Media

The introduction of social media has drastically changed the way that artists interact and connect with their fans.  They are not so much seen as an untouchable figure anymore, but more like a normal person who happens to be famous.

Twitter has been a great tool for artists and their fans to communicate back and forth, so much so that the fans have created their own communities surrounding their favorite artist.  People create accounts dedicated to a singer, and those fan accounts follow each other and often become friends with one another.  

It is not rare for people to have ��online friends,” and a lot of those relationships are started through a common interest, like music.  They share a love for a celebrity, and that brings them together to form a community.  The celebrities are often aware of these fans and interact with them, seeing as there are fan accounts with tens of thousands of followers.

In the past, the only ways to learn more about your favorite musicians was through interviews, and the music itself.  Now, artists who keep their personal lives private are seen as withdrawn and tend to have less of a following on social media, which can be detrimental to their careers in the current music scene.

Being so open can also have it’s consequences, however.  It can give people a sense of entitlement to know more about a celebrities life, when in reality they don’t deserve anything.  A singer named Christina Grimmie was unfortunate enough to be caught in one of these situations, and it led to her obsessed fan gunning her down at a concert.

Stalkers have always been an issue, but it seems as though the opportunity to be even more connected, in a way a friend would be, has heightened the issue.  Since it is now possible to easily find someone's flight information, and even where they are eating/sleeping based on their instagram posts, it has caused an uneasy life for many celebrities.

Source: https://theopinionistonline.com/2017/05/26/social-media-the-rise-of-celebrity-worship-syndrome/

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New Ways of Promoting Music

Photo: Erin Murphy (Browse section of iTunes)

Promotion

The internet supplied artists with tons of new ways to promote their music and gain new listeners.  I am hearing about new songs and musicians everyday without even trying, which is different from how it used to be.

The most common way of finding new music, besides asking friends or listening to the radio, was to go to a record store or browse through the CD section at a store and find something that caught your eye.

All of the major social media platforms including Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook allow users to pay to promote a post, and it is often used for musicians to promote their new music.  I am constantly having ads pop up while I’m browsing on social media, so it’s doing its job well.

Music is also promoted a lot on music streaming/buying services.  On both Apple Music and Spotify, there is a tab where users can see new music and listen to playlists full of recent releases.  It is no secret that artists and their labels sometimes pay for a spot on the front page or a placement on a popular playlist, which gives them lots of exposure.

With so many ways to promote music, it's never been easier to gain popularity, and for music lovers to find new artists to listen to.  It can be overwhelming to have so much thrown in your face all the time, but I like having so much variety to choose from.

The closest music promotion came to this 30 years ago was hanging posters and billboards, getting spots on the radio/TV, or landing a spread in a magazine.  There are limited number of these things, whereas there there is more than enough room for everyone to find their place on the internet.

Source: https://www.slideshare.net/dannymanning/history-of-music-advertising

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The Effects of Streaming

(Photo: https://www.aperionaudio.com/blogs/aperion-audio-blog/the-aperion-guide-to-streaming-music-audio-quality)

Streaming

Prior to the mid to late 2000’s, a person had to go out and buy their favorite album at a store that sold CD’s, and even before than, go to a record store.  Listening to music today couldn’t be more different, or easier.  You can listen to any song ever released in a matter of seconds.

This allows virtually anyone with internet access to listen to any music that they want to, which has never been possible before.  This has also made it easier for smaller artists to gain traction, because people can easily listen to a few songs of theirs and decide if they enjoy it, instead of having to wait for it to come on the radio or buy an album.

Spotify and Apple Music are the two most popular streaming services, and for good reason.  For a monthly price of $9.99, you have access to any song you could ever want to listen to.  You can create your own playlists, or listen to their curated playlists.

People have mixed opinions on streaming and the effect that it is having on music, and the artists who create it.  There is an ongoing debate over how artists are compensated for their music.  $0.0038 is the average amount a musician is paid per stream of their song.  That is not a lot, and certainly less than the price of buying an album.  

In fact, massive artists like Taylor Swift, Beyonce, and Adele have taken action by removing some of their music from streaming services.  This leaves their fans with no choice but to buy their music.

The rise of streaming has made it so more people can listen to music without actually paying for it.  So when the number of streams comes out for a popular artists new album, it seems like so many more people are listening to it than people did for other big artists back in the day.  This can give the warped impression that artists today have more fans than older stars, but in actuality, it is just much easier to listen to music nowadays. 

Sources: https://www.redbull.com/au-en/music-streaming-pros-and-cons

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The Internet & Music

(Photo: https://www.mediaconnectpartners.com/mcpblog/how-social-media-changed-the-music-industry/)

The Internet & Music

I chose to make my blog about how social media has affected the music industry over the past few years.  I enjoy social media and music, so seeing how the two have increasingly become intermingled has been interesting for me to watch.  

The way that social media has impacted the music industry is very vast.  It has allowed musicians to connect with their fans, promote their music in ways never before possible, and has been a vessel for ordinary people to become some of the most famous people alive.  

I started using Twitter about five years ago, and have been hooked ever since.  Twitter is one of the most interactive social media sites and is where most of the music related action happens.  There is a huge section of the platform that is dedicated to music, which I will touch on further in another post.  

These days, it seems like fans know everything about their favorite artist, and I think that can be attributed to social media.  Before it was around, it wasn’t uncommon for artists to keep their personal lives private, but now that is rare.  It very common for musicians to have a relationship with their fans that resembles a friendship.

Social media has also had a profound impact on how music is listened to, how it is released, and virtually every other aspect.  There has been a huge shift in how the music industry works, and a lot of it is owed to social media.

I find this interesting and have been active on social media and following the direction that music is going in for years, and this blog will be an extension of that.

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One of the several signs that welcome customers when they pull into the lot. There are flowers for sale next to it, as they often have merchandise all around the property. 

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Pretty flowers in front of the store, they brought a lot of brightness and color to the place. 

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This unique bird house was hanging on the front porch of the store. It is painted with cardinals and flowers and would make a great spring decoration. 

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The front porch of the store, filled with fruits, vegetables, flowers, wreaths, and other things for sale or decoration. 

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This vegetable holder was painted in bright colors with flowers and fruit on it for the new season. 

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A little table with flowers and bees painted on it, that holds flyers and business cards at the entrance to the store. 

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A wooden ironing board painted with encouraging words and flowers in spring colors.  The store isn’t huge, but it is full of fruits, vegetables, flowers, hand made items for sale.

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A spring and Easter themed wreath that was hanging near the entrance, along with other pretty wreaths.