If you were to look at the term “music industry” as compartmented
into two categories: major record label interests and the interests of the
artists, you would also see how the two and the whole, are being very rapidly
ushered into a new phase as a result of the effects of social media. The term
“social media” obviously implies Facebook and Twitter but
should not be restricted to those. Sites like Spotify and Pandora should
also be understood as examples of social media because as far as the two halves
that make up the greater industry of music are concerned, these sites are
successfully shortening the distance between the artist and the listener
creating more accessibility to world-wide audiences. These effects are supported by data trends measuring the effects of sites like Twitter, Facebook, Pandora, Soundcloud, Spotify, and even Wikipedia on album sales, track sales, and future predictions of sales so that the industry develop effective marketing strategies. The next phase the music industry will find itself in will
be one dominated by subscription-based streaming provided by what are now the
top sights in this area: Spotify and Pandora. These sites allow the listener to
create a hybrid media platform combining the concept of radio, the listener’s
personal library, and the readily accessible “recommended” option for finding
new music. Enabling artists to be paid for the streaming of their recordings is
one feature of Spotify that a particular individual by the name of Matt Farley
was able to ingeniously exploit. Farley spends most of his time writing comical
al beit ridiculous little songs which he can compose in under a minute before
uploading them to Spotify where he has amassed an astounding 14,000 songs. The
purpose behind this is that with so many songs on Spotify, each playing for two
dollars, Farley rakes in up to $23,000 a year in income just from these songs
and counting. Granted this is an extreme example it still goes to show the
profound potential of how streaming and interconnectivity between artists and
listeners has created a system where a person, in this case a virtually unknown
Farley, can make a living writing his own songs via Spotify’s service. In the realms
of Facebook and Twitter where artists can build a communal fan base and interact
with that fan base, items like hashtags and social media feeds can keep fans
updated with the most current material belonging to an artist as well as help
promote concerts and market both records and merchandise. For both artists and
execs the way forward is based on a simple formula: when someone streams a band
they will listen to that band and then share for others to experience.
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