Talk to anyone over the age of 22, and they’ll bring you back to the dark ages of digital music, when there were only two options for satiating your current music obsessions: a) Drive all the way to the record store and spend way too much on a band’s entire album, even though you only liked two songs, or… b) “When I was a kid, we downloaded music illegally—and we liked it that way!”
Sure, that dynamic still exists somewhat today with paid download-based stores like iTunes, but more than ever, music fans are turning to ad-or subscription-based streaming services like Pandora and Spotify, which, as of July 2013, boasted over 24 million and 200 million users respectively.
That’s big stuff for an industry that was thrown into such disarray in the beginning of the digital revolution, when the entire music world (or at least the corporate side of it) seemed poised to collapse at any given moment. However, the music industry has also been one of the first to benefit from digital disruption, forced (kicking and screaming!) to grapple with these new methods of listening, distribution, connecting and marketing. In fact, perhaps not surprisingly given the peer to peer nature of the now irrelevant Napster, the service that kicked this revolution off, most of these good changes have occurred on social media, which has provided the tools both to increase virality, tighten the community around a band and actually turn a profit (though whether that profit goes to labels or artists is another question).
That’s an irony not to be missed: the very same tools that bulldozed the industry’s traditional model are now the venue for its renaissance. How so? It’s all about shortening the distance between the artist, the listener, and all 5,000 of their friends. Let’s take a deeper look at just how social media has and continues to be the key to bringing the music industry into its next phase.
Listening is Streaming
According to Nielsen, music streaming increased a full 24% from 2012 to 2013, while downloaded sales decreased 4.6%. While downloads have been steadily decreasing on their own, this stat is still somewhat reflective of a broader shift in the listening experience from downloaded to streamed songs.
Why are music fans going this way? Streaming combines all the best of radio with all the best of a personalized library kept on a computer or mobile device. No longer do listeners need to make sure they’ve got all of their favorite songs on their laptop before heading to work for the day. Nor is there any need to sit through lengthy ad breaks or poor radio DJ choices, let alone that obnoxious “banter.” Streaming vastly improves the listening experience, making listeners much more likely to engage for longer periods of time and to share their experiences.
Streaming Makes Sharing and Discovering Automatic
With complete Facebook integration, services like Spotify automatically post what users are listening to right to their feed. This makes it easy for that listener’s friends to listen to the tracks themselves or add them to their playlists. And when users want to make their friends directly aware of a song or playlist they’ve curated, this is simple to do right in Facebook.
While Spotify may not be worth it for big bands like Radiohead, the sheer exposure available on the platform makes the service well worth it for smaller bands. After all, those 24 million streamers are as instantly available to brand new garage bands as they are to Jay-Z—all the more so when listeners click the “Discover” button.
Likewise, listeners on Pandora discover new music when they create a station, as the service uses its industry-shaping algorithms to play highly related music. And premium users can get the inside scoop on new releases, which makes them more likely to advocate for new albums on their social media feeds.
All of these features on their own can be crucial for a band’s success, but they can be all the more so when an influential (read: celebrity) user likes their work. This is something the band Spirit Animal found out firsthand when Sean Parker of Napster fame added the band’s single, “The Black Jack White,” to his popular “Hipster International” playlist. The move greatly increased the band’s social media following, and, with over 450,000 plays and growing, they also made a fair amount from Spotify itself, not to mention associated iTunes sales. That’s a whole lot of buzz for a relatively unknown band, which in turn can help both popularize them further and generate revenue.
Social Media Creates a Supportive Community for Bands
Of course broader social media sites like Twitter and Facebook aren’t just the host to services like Spotify—they’re pretty crucial for creating buzz in their own right. But where these sites are even more important are in forming a tight community around a band. On Facebook, fans can create their own groups, where they can post news and engage in discussions about the latest band news. Bands can create groups as well to give fans the inside scoop.
On Twitter, bands can create hashtags around upcoming events to keep their fans aware of everything they’ve got going on. And on both of these sites as well as on the newly relaunched, Justin Timberlake-owned MySpace, fans can engage directly with band members, who can respond in seconds rather than sitting down to write a whole letter in response to fan mail. And you know how the old saying goes: “A fan that gets a tweet back is far more likely to engage with and become an advocate for said musician’s music.” Or something like that.
And who can ignore the power of YouTube? From Justin Bieber to Carly Ray Jepson, the video platform has been crucial not just for discovering new talent, but also for creating avid followings on artist channels, which in turn increases exposure amongst the wider population. Fans who are a key part of an artist’s initial success are much more likely to stick around, as they’re invested at a deep level.
Social Media is Data
While exposure and revenue generation are key considerations, it’s important not to forget one of the prime benefits social media and streaming offers the music industry: data. Bands, band reps and labels can now head out into the world with proof of their popularity. Some bookers won’t even say “yes” to a performance unless a certain number of likes have been reached.
In fact, social media has helped create so much data, many bands need companies to compile, sort, and analyze that data. This helps them not only make use of social insights in their daily marketing and PR efforts, but also to determine where they should even tour. There’s no use, after all, in using a limited budget to visit a destination advocated by an avid fan, only to find a meager and lackluster audience.
The Takeaway
There’s no denying that social media and associated streaming services have changed the way fans discover and enjoy music, as well as how the music industry discovers, promotes and fosters both new and old musicians alike. If there’s one thing that’s clear in this new world, it’s that things are changing rapidly, and they’ll only continue to do so. But isn’t that reflective of the music industry at large? One look at this music timeline, and it’s amazing the technology waited this long to evolve alongside the legends.
What do you think about social media and music? Is it good for the industry, bad, or a mixed bag? Let me know in the comments below!