It’s no secret that since the music industry has become heavily altered by the digital age, the internet has in some ways been a blessing and a curse for the business.  For example social media outlets have allowed music labels and artists to connect and reach audiences in an era in which traditional routes of radio, TV and print are having limited effect. However copyrighting issues and illegal downloads have plagued the industry.

Social media platforms are providing artists and labels with interesting opportunities to share their music and create a more personal connection with fans. Here is a look at 3 social media platforms that are helping the music industry…

YouTube

The pop charts today are littered with artists that have been discovered via YouTube, for example Justin Bieber and Conor Maynard are prodigies of the video sharing platform. Viral videos have made stars of many musicians; YouTube has the potential for such mass responses, especially when paired with unique videos. For example videos from Psy, Baauer (of Harlem Shake Fame) and Macklemore have led to chart-topping success. To a large extent YouTube is replacing Industry showcases and the role of A&R – the division of a record label  that is responsible for talent scouting.

Moreover music labels are becoming wiser as to how to use YouTube and how to uphold copyright laws on the site. A new deal with Universal Music Publishing Group means that music/videos shared solely in the UK and America will be played on the social media website in 127 countries in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The new agreement includes all types of YouTube videos that feature music, including user-generated content.

YouTube’s new partnership with Universal also protects the industries copyrighted material to a certain extent as YouTube’s new uploading policies and process includes software that automatically flags copyrighted material on the site.

MySpace

The core aim of MySpace as a platform is to provide the user with a music-centric experience. At the height of its influence popular bands such Panic! At the Disco were signed to a music label off the back of their MySpace profile.

The redesigned MySpace opened to the public earlier this year, and is now both a social network and a hub for music destination. It is still too early to judge whether or not the redesign has been successful; however MySpace as a platform is largely responsible for the change in the way the public interact with artists. MySpace unlike other social media platforms does not distinguish between whether your friendship with a profile is with a person or a band. This allowed for fans and artists to interact between each other.

Twitter

Looking into the future, Twitter is in the midst of releasing a music-specific app using technology from music discovery app We Are Hunted.  Whilst so far Twitter has largely been used as a way for artists to interact with fans, the micro-blogging platform is making its way into music. Not only will the app encompass aspects of We are Hunted,  Twitter has also reportedly struck a deal with Vevo in which Vevo’s content will be offered via the social network’s music app. This development will provide yet another way for people to discover and share music.

Image courtesy of 2Top, Rhianna Flickr under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license 

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

I watched the Trip on BBC2 last night.  I laughed, I had a little think, I may have even drooled a bit over the Hipping Hall seven course tasting menu that formed the backdrop for Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon’s inspired back and forth comedy master class. Personally, I don’t think there is anything to compare to it on British television at the moment and in terms of international competition only HBO, with its outstanding output, can eclipse it. It’s wry, engaging and knowing, but at the same time touching and never afraid to be cruel or outrageous. The writing provides quiet contemplative pauses that add to the tension and the comedy, but in no way feel forced.

The Trip, putting the rest of TV to shame

This is in stark contrast to the reality TV phenomenon, typified by the audioshite that is X Factor and the celebopreening that is I’m a Celebrity Get Me out of Here. Here pauses are forced to stir fans up into even greater pre result frenzy and to provide more time for people to ring in and ‘vote.’ Now this short blog post isn’t going to be a rabid diatribe on the rise and rise of reality TV. What would be the point; it’s been written before and wouldn’t make a blind bit of difference.

But, what relevance has this for a social media agency and its clients? Why am I qualified to even offer an opinion? I thought it behoved me to analyse the way that the public were feeding back on the differing TV institutions utilising some of the free analytics tools out there. After all my profession and I were referred to as ‘blood sucking social media gurus’ by a certain Telegraph journalist this morning, maybe I can give something back.

In terms of the sheer number of Twitter conversations, #xfactor has dwarfed #imaceleb and #thetrip no great surprise there (according to Google this month there have been 1,110,000 #xfactor tweets, 361,000 for #imaceleb and just 50,400 for #thetrip.)

My faith in humanity is somewhat restored when it comes to sentiment for the 3 shows. According to the guys at Tweetfeel the Trip’s Twitter conversations are nigh on 100% positive (startling when you consider the strong language in the episode aired last night and the normally vocal nature of the BBC’s critics.) Meanwhile the reality shows’ ‘fans’ seem to be divided into lovers and haters. Is reality TV a marmite thing? Tweetfeel pumped out results of 54% negativity in tweets for #imaceleb and an impressive 69% negativity for #xfactor. Are the trolls circling reality TV, the contestants, organisers or is it just the very nature of the format that it generates the hate?

Anyway, I can but urge you to watch the Trip, in fact sack off the rest of the working day and watch all four episodes again and again and again:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00w78p8/The_Trip_Hipping_Hall/

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

It’s Christmas, so it must be time for a Beatles piece of sales and marketing activity. Yes, it seems Sir Paul and Ringo (+ Yoko and Olivia) just don’t have enough money. Last year, it was remastered albums and Beatles Rock Band. This year, the world’s most famous foursome has finally come to iTunes.

Beatles on iTunes

Far from being the beginning of a whole new era of Beatlemania, it’s all seemed a bit of a damp squib. This is going to be bad news for EMI and Guy Stevens most of all, who are undoubtedly the real instigators behind the move to take the band’s back catalogue digital during a period of massive uncertainty for the company. There is currently only one Beatles song in the iTunes top 40 (‘Hey Jude’). There was apparently a boost for ‘Yesterday’ over the weekend following Rebecca’s performance of the track on X Factor, but it seems that most people were put off by the appallingly limp and lifeless versions of an uninspired selection of tracks on Saturday night. Only One Direction (and Simon Cowell) even bothered attempting to do something a bit different with the source material.

Charles Arthur was asking on Twitter last week why people would bother buying individual tracks when the albums are so readily available, and it seems that the digital music buying public have backed him up. A look at the iTunes album chart shows the ‘Red’ and ‘Blue’ albums in at 19 and 20, with ‘Sgt Pepper’s…’ at 32 and ‘Abbey Road’ at 38. If you’re young, and new to The Beatles, those four are as good a place as any to start. In the US, there are three Beatles allbums in the chart. Others have looked at this as more of a long term investment for Apple and iTunes – as the only place to buy digital Beatles online, over a period of years they will rack up enough sales to make it a worthwhile investment.

However, coming from the brand that has set the bar when it comes to highly memorable and talked about launches, The Beatles coming to iTunes got lost in the general noise of the day. What else could Apple (and EMI) have done to make a splash and fill the chart with Beatles tracks? More teaser activity? A version of a track that had never been released anywhere before? Branded Beatles iTunes giftcards for Christmas? (I would definitely have bought one of those). Beatles Rock Band has a store, maybe a co-promotion there would have been effective, especially as it might appeal to a younger demographic. Those are just some ideas off the top of my head; for now, both Apple and EMI will have to be content with the long game and keep dreaming of those ‘Beatles back at Number One’ headlines.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites