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Social Media’s Effect on the Music Industry
Kevin Burns | July 26th, 2010
Your favorite band is coming to town, and because you know what the internet is, you should definitely know about their concert. Just in case you are not aware of the extensive presence of online marketing geared towards upcoming concerts, here is a collection of websites that will keep you in the loop all summer. This blog will also be comparing the two approaches, niche and mass marketing in this industry.
Let’s start with the basics, if you have a Facebook account you also have a direct link with everything your favorite band is up to. For example I went to Phoenix’s band page, and I could easily find a list of their upcoming shows, download free MP3′s, buy tickets to their shows, connect with other fans, see videos of past concerts and much more. The great thing about finding your bands on Facebook is being constantly aware of all the updates that your band is posting. Staying up to date on secret shows and new releases is always a plus.
If Facebook is too sophomoric for you, here is a website to obtain free remixes and upcoming show announcements for all of your favorite bands. Hype Machine aggregates music websites from around the world to bring you the most current releases of all types of genres. While adding fresh tracks to your iTunes library, there is a quick list of upcoming concerts for whatever band you are searching for, and a link to buy the tickets.
Just to save some time here is a quick combo of sites that enables users to find new bands, obtain free MP3′s, and then get updates on upcoming shows. Flavor Pill and Earplug are great websites because they are quickly becoming social networks where people share information about upcoming bands and smaller concerts. Two more websites that highlight the release of music from new small bands, is EarMilk and rcrdlbl. These websites feature bios from up and coming bands and is usually the first sites to receive releases, so they are an amazing place to hear music before Kiss FM overplays it.
These websites are great vehicles for niche marketing because bands can advertise their concerts, promote their music and 
reach out to their die hard fans. These websites were once an area where enthusiastic fans could obtain new tracks and leave, but now because of the social media approach all of these websites have adopted, advertisers can speak directly to an audience that is undoubtedly excited about the content they are viewing. Websites that focus on a specific niche, whether it be up and coming dub steppers or crocheting fanatics, are amazing online destinations that are not overwhelmingly saturated with advertisers but are definitely populated by attentive fans.
Make it easier for advertisers everywhere, let me know what your favorite niche website is below!
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- Google China Gives Away Music for Free
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Posted in Blogging, Content Marketing, Editorial, Internet News, Marketing, Online Advertising, Social Media, Viral Marketing, Wpromote
Good post Kevin, I like some of the suggested upcoming social networks, I haven’t tried earmilk before but I’ve heard some great things.
I recently did an infographic on the music industry as viewed from social networks – you might be interested
http://www.themusiciansguide.co.uk/blog/14/the-music-industry-as-seen-from-the-social-web-infographic/
Honestly, if Kiss FM or any other radio station never gets a hold of new songs, they’d never be “overplayed” or old. Just a thought.
[...] One outlet that truly changed the face of the music was Myspace. When Myspace came out and was very popular, musicians were able to create pages where they could share their music, band information, concert dates and locations, and allow them to connect with fans. Fans could in turn, post their favorite band’s music on their home page for all their friends to hear every time they accessed their profile. Should one of your friends like what they hear they can go directly to that band’s page and this can build a following for that band. As Facebook took over as the main social networking site, they allowed for bands to create pages where they could share the same info that was previously shared on Myspace. One great thing that is offered by Facebook is that bands can share all their information as well as videos, MP3 downloads, and even make concert tickets available for sale. There are some social media sites that take this process a step further. To find out more about how social media has strengthened the music industry you can read the blog located at the following link http://www.wpromote.com/blog/wpromote/summer-concerts-and-free-mp3s/. [...]