Social Media in the Music Industry - Have Things Changed or What?

The days of the rock star are dead.   You know, the rock star with the long hair, earrings, spinning their guitar around their neck and having groupies following them city to city.   Back then, as a fan, you could not wait for that Van Halen, Michael Jackson or Duran Duran album.  You always wondered what where they going to look like and had to wait till that new album came out to get your answer watching MTV.  Success was measured on how many albums were sold and how many t-shirts were sold on tour.  But besides shows and celebrity appearances, how did yesterday's rock star understand if their music is making a difference?  MTV was basically one-way communication.

Fast forward to 2014, and yesterday's rock star has now become today's social media celebrity musician.

 Instead of album sales, it is how much hits on their You Tube video which determines the artist's popularity.
Speaking of You Tube, it is simply the most powerful social media platform there is for musicians today.   Musicians can post interviews, test new music, and engage with fans.  Also You Tube is the new MTV.  For a while there in the late 1990s into the early 2000s, music videos hit a lull and a lot of bands didn't think of the music video as a powerful promotional tool.   With You Tube, it is now essential to have a music video for that hit single or it will not be a successful single.

Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are also powerful tools for promoting music.    Why? Simply fan engagement.   Today's successful music stars all focus on engagement.   A musician will know if a new musical direction will work by asking fans to let them know what they think before they spend money on cutting an album.  An example is if a song is posted on Facebook, a musician can review the comments and even ask for their fan's opinions on that guitar solo on one of their demo songs.  A musician can also easily post pictures of their fans at shows via their mobile devices and make the fan's day.   Pretty powerful stuff.   Finally, Twitter can be used to announce that surprise appearance or that secret song they just wrote.

I can go on with other examples, but it is obvious that social media is the new channel for music today.    Now if only today's musician not be too corporate and be more "rock star", we would be in a perfect world.   With most bands, you cannot tell if the singer fronting a band is a banker or a musician.  That said, unfortunately, the days of the rock star is dead, and the days of the social media star are now here.