Social Media Marketing Strategies: Music Artists Use Them Too!
Posted by Tony Stanford on Mon, Aug 13, 2012
Next time you are in your car, flip on your area's Top 40 radio station and have a listen to some of the popular music being (over) played today. Many of them are going to follow this format: High tempo, electronic synth progressions, a deep kick drum, and a melodic male/female on vocals. This is no coincidence. Over the past few years an explosion has taken place in the genre known as Electronic Dance Music (EDM) and all types of music artists want to get in on the action. Why has such a rapid growth occurred in recent years you ask? In part, because of social media marketing strategies.
Dance music has been around in the United States for decades; disco in the 70's, house/techno music in the 80's, and electronica in the 90's. Despite the prevalence of this music, it remained largely underground and found mostly in nightclubs. Fast forward to today and you will find that dance music is all over the airwaves, concert venues are selling out EDM shows at an astounding rate, and dance music festivals are more popular than ever (reflected in their ever-increasing prices, but let's not get into that).
Obviously, social media is not the sole catalyst for the sudden emergence of the previously-unconventional dance music culture. Advancements in technology have opened up an infinite number of doors for up-and-coming music producers, who no longer need a studio filled with racks of synthesizers, keyboards, hard drives, mixing boards, and monitors. Some modern day producers admit to using their laptop, a piece of downloadable software, and a pair of headphones to create songs. But what happens when the song is made? How do you get it out to the masses? THAT is where social media marketing comes into play in the music industry.
Here are a few of the strategies that I have seen used recently:
- Song Posts- Probably the most direct marketing strategy, this one is pretty self-explanatory. Music artists will post a song to their Facebook wall or twitter feed and allow their fans to listen to it. This may be a new song that the artist has recently released, a song that they are particularly fond of at that time, or a teaser video for their latest production. This allows their network of friends and fans to then re-share the song/video.
- Like Us and Follow Us For... The possibilities of the ways to complete this sentence are pretty endless. "...For a chance to win tickets to our next show." "...For a chance to fly with us to Spain" "...For a chance to win the T-shirt I sweated in during our last performance." I've seen some crazy stuff. The important part to realize is that music artists are giving back to their fans for the price of a mouseclick, and at the same time, they are expanding their audience.
- The Fame Game- Everyone wants to say they've been in contact with a "celebrity," regardless of how brief or insignificant the experience may have been. Twitter is an easy way for fans and music artists to interact and is a win-win for music artists trying to market themselves. Something as simple as retweeting a fan will not only make that fan's day, but will give the artist free exposure.
- Live Streaming- Large music festivals and even some smaller concerts have taken to the internet, live streaming on YouTube or other sites such as UStream for the public to see. This gives fans who were not so lucky to buy tickets the chance to view the concert online. It's not uncommon for music artists to use this technique in combination with the "Like Us and Follow us" approach. "Like us and follow us for a special code to live stream our next concert online!" Technology, for the win!
It's not just EDM artists that are using these types of social media marketing strategies; hop on to any recording artist's web page and I can almost guarantee they will have links to their Facebook, Twitter, YouTube channel, etc.
The important thing to take away here is that social media can provide you with a vast audience. And that vast audience can expand if you play your cards correctly.