Lately I've been thinking about the way social media has influenced the release and advertising of music, especially when it comes to smaller independent artists. I'm sure I'm not the only one to open any social media platforms to be immediately drowned by indie bands telling you they've just written the song of the summer, (they haven't). Sometimes it feels almost overwhelming, but the question is: is this a result of social media or is it a result of the emergence of small independent artists?
Social Media
If we look at social media in terms of human history, its basically still in nappies, yet it's taken over the world. Everything comes back to social media it's managed to replace almost everything, TV, Radio, even human interaction. It's no wonder that it's fundamentally changed the way we receive information.
In saying this though we can look at it from a somewhat darker angle, in that social media has existed for such a short amount of time and it's almost entirely converted from it's original purpose to advertising. Now I don't know about you but I don't like people trying to sell me things, especially if I just want to watch funny cat videos. It was not enough to break up a feed with adverts that they're now actively being incorporated into the content itself.
If we put this into perspective with musicians, it's no wonder that personality based content for self promotion has become a part of the music industry. The beauty of social media is that it's open to everyone and so heavily used that there will always be an audience. If you had the chance to take advantage of that wouldn't you?
Independent Artists
We're all aware that along with most things, the music industry moves with the times, and musicians are required to keep up with new technology and the introduction of the internet and social media didn't change that, I mean even the Beatles are online.
This has opened a lot of doors for a lot of people who would have never thought it would be possible. I think its great that musicians no longer need to rely on labels to be able to get a foot in the door, and I think that social media has definitely played a big part in that. However this means that there are artists who don't have an experienced PR team, or management, or someone to help them with advertising who are reliant on themselves for everything. This is where things like social media come in as a tool for the resourceless, as it's not just free but it's very accessible.
I could imagine that trying to keep up with trends and algorithms is hard enough, let alone having your livelihood resting on it. I think the stage we're currently at with social media has made it even more difficult for musicians specifically as a lot of the algorithm is based on using trending audio, how exactly do you show people music without being able to let them hear it? While being fed constant advertising can be overwhelming, it must be a lot more overwhelming for it to be an integral part of your career.
I think the more you think about it, because of the technological age we live in, the two have become intrinsically interlinked, and that without social media, the music industry would once again be closed off to the vast majority and exist only for the nepo babies of society.
Let me know what you think!
Kat xx
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