Social Media Report

            

           There are a lot of industries that our affected by the Internet and social media such as music, film, television, etcetera. I want to give an overview on positive and negative aspects of how the music industry is affected by the Internet and social media applications such as twitter.  My main focus is the benefits that social media in particular has on the music industry and the negative effects that the Internet have on the music industry.

            Social media has become a big part of all artists in the music industry. Most artists today use twitter, facebook, or Instagram and it seems as if it’s expected now especially if you really want a popular fan base. For instance, Rihanna is a huge pop star and on twitter she has about 10 million followers. This is the most followers I’ve seen for an artist thus far. Rihanna uses twitter to promote for her album, new singles, tour dates and etcetera. In this instance social media is beneficial because it is a way for artists in the music industry to promote themselves and keep their fans updated with their music. 

            In an article I read on readwrite that discusses how promoting your music through social media can increase artists record sales. John Paul Titlow stated, "For 38% of musicians, Facebook views had a significant effect on album sales, a stronger impact than traditional radio plays had. Vevo, YouTube and SoundCloud all ranked highly as well". This article was very intriguing because it had statistics to really show how much of an impact social media has on record sales.

             Social Media is Revolutionizing the Music Industry is another article I found stating how social media is really helping the music industry. In the article they talked about how fans go to twitter to see what their favorite artist is doing or to see if artists have any new releases. This is beneficial to artist in the music industry because its less work they have to do to promote their music. One tweet with a link is all it takes and in less than a minute the song is rotating around the internet.

             The Internet affects the music industry daily in ways we wouldn't understand unless we live in the music world. Technology is the reason music isn't considered "as good" anymore. In this article they discuss how so many people complain that music isn't the same but the more technology advanced the more music became less enjoyable. What I liked about this article in particular is that they viewed music as a hot commodity.

             Artists are beginning to find ways to compensate on the losses they take because of the effect the Internet has on the music industry. An article from Rolling Stone discusses how artists have been affected by a declining CD revenue due to the Internet. This article also states how artists have to take different routes to bring in money to compensate for this decline. For instance, artists today are going on numerous tours and extending the duration to increase their income.

             SXSW (South by Southwest) is a big music festival held every year. I found an article on Hollywood Reporter  stating that the festival had a panel about how social media impacts the music industry. I thought this was great because its informative for fans to know how the Internet is affecting the music industry. Here's a video below that shows the panel at the music festival:

             I've always been interested in the music industry and gained a passion for it when I was younger. As for the future for the music industry I hope that the industry continues to grow. I hope that the impact of social media on the industry becomes more and more positive instead of damaging it. Music is beneficial to so many people I would hate to see it ruined because of technology.