Abstract

In my dissertation I will be discussing the impact social media has on a musician’s career. This topic is
worth talking about because the way in which we share and consume music has changed vastly in
the span of the last twenty years. The general way of thinking by public (specifically people in the
demographic of Generation Z and Millennials) see social media as a way of instantly making anyone
a famous and success. Though we do have examples of artists such as Doja Cat and Lil Nas X, I would
like to see if there is any truth behind that. Many social medias are open platforms free for anyone
to use, helping people build an audience who want to support and consume their content. Although
social media has made it convenient for people to build a bond with an audience, helping the artist
generate revenue from brand deals, sponsorships, promoting a concert or dropping snippets of a
song they want you to go stream, this can still serve as a disadvantage since millions of people are
uploading their work every second. Success is not a thing that is guaranteed. If an artist wants any
chance of reaching anyone, they must make posts and music that follow the trends being pushed by
the algorithm. In the dissertation I want define what it means to be successful doing music on social
media and attempt to uncover the lengths an artist would have to go to attain it.

What does it mean to be successful

When it comes to defining success I business some may define success as being rich and having
millions of followers and fans willing to eat up ever single thing you release. Others may see success
as just having enough money to support themselves and their loved ones and maybe that is enough.
It really comes down to the reason as to why you would pursue a music career in the first place. Is it
for materialist and superficial reasons? Or is it because you have a deep love for the craft. Some
people do not seek fame and do not want to be in the public eye. So, to those who fall into that way
of thinking they can be successful in the sense of getting to work on things they want to do and not
just any job that puts food on the table. This can include collaborating with big artist and working on
tracks behind the scenes. They might not be the face of the song but they going to have their name
in the credits of the song. People measure success differently; it does not always have to be money
related. Whether that means getting the opportunity to work on a big project like a movie
score/soundtrack or winning a music award or getting a song in the top ten on the charts. When it
comes down to it success is just reaching a goal or accomplishing something you've set out to
achieve; and social media can be the key int helping people check of whatever’s on their list.

How can an Artist get the most out of social media

The music industry is a competitive market. A wide variety of music from across the decades can be
stream for free or at a low cost. Accessing music has never been easier. Social media has given artists
to ability to fully control over distribution so they don’t need to be sign to a record label and they get
more control over licensing and royalties meaning more money goes to the artist themselves.
A lot of these social media platforms have their own algorithm, in some way it can be restricting
but if you can bend to the what is popular or are lucky enough to already specialised in a genre
which is widely liked, you can participate in challenges and use notable hashtags to boost the
chances of reaching a wider audience. Even when users are listening to other artists on Spotify,
Spotify recommends other artists with similar sounds.
Social media can be a more creative way to show off your portfolio as you can include videos and
sounds of you work instead of just writing you skills and talent on a cv. Companies hire people off
what they have shown on their YouTube channels or Instagram pages. It’s also a way for people to
relate and get to know you which solidifies a bond and a potential loyal fan. Social media allows
users the opportunity to possibly generate multiple streams of revenue like promoting events and
sell merchandising. We all know that success in the music industry is not guaranteed, and it does not
come quickly. Some artists might have to get part time jobs to help finance their career. However
social media provides ways to make money even if it’s not directly form sportify streams. You can
also sell stems, loops and sample packs on a personal website you link in your social media
description or bio if you’re a music producer trying to may extra money. There are programs such as
affiliate links so if a user comes across you page and wants to get into, music as well they can click
the link in your bio which sends you to where you can buy that exact piece of equipment. The artist
behind the page would then get a small fee for the referral.
Small production companies are always advertising on social media such as Instagram if they are
looking for freelance workers to help, so if this are working independently for an artist, they can still
be getting paid for their talents by doing side gigs. Social media has made it so that you don’t need
millions of fans to succeed. Having just a few hundred can be beneficial. With sites like Patreon fans
can donate monthly to an artist to get exclusive and bonus content like behind the scenes and early
access to what they are working. If an artist had a loyal fan base of 500 and each paid £5 that would
come up to £2500. Compared to the national minimum wage is £1,600 so this is more than enough
for a person with a modest lifestyle to live off, this is evidence that social media can support artists
as they strive towards their own version of success.

what are the draw backs

Social media is a powerful too since most of the world uses it. Whether if it’s to pass the time such as
to be entertained with a funny video or catch up on some news going on around the world.
However, due to vast catalogue of content, people have started to develop a short attention span.
They can only concentrate on something for so long before the next big thing comes along. This can
be tough for an artist if they want people to stick around and continue to follow them on their
journey. The internet moves quick since some much content is being upload every day. Even if a
person goes viral for a sound or sound bite, they can easily be forgotten the next day. This is how
one hit wonders are form. If the user can appreciate a short snippet of a new popular song but
doesn’t bother to dive into the back log of songs the artist made, it is not very beneficial to the artist.
The user doesn’t owe the artist any more of their time so it’s up to the artist to consistently be
making content worth of revisiting their music. This can be tiring especially if you have a full-time job
this can have negative effects on your mental health maybe even physical health if you constantly
chasing the algorithm and not looking after yourself. Especially with the addition of hate comments,
this can be demoralising and can make the artist not work as hard if they feel discouraged.

The Negatives

One of the issues artists can run into is their work being stolen, it is easy to download, record and
repost content form other social media pages such as Instagram and pass it of as you own. There are
features to report it but there’s only so much you can do. If you were part of a record label they
would have people to help take the page down but it is unfortunate if the artist is independent.
Also you have to be careful what you post because even though there are terms and conditions to
what can be said only, there are still ways or people to say offensive things. If you independent and
don’t have a record label you would have a PR team monitoring what you post. One wrong tweet
can make you audience turn on you and music streams will go down as you lose support from your
audience.
Bibliography

 Deresiewicz, W. (2020). The Death of the Artist. Henry Holt and Company.
In the book ‘The Death of the Artist’ William Deresiewicz talks about how artist is making
their work more tamer and safer. In some sense more formulaic to grab the attention of the
algorithm. The algorithm decides what is and isn’t show to the users of said app depending
on what content the mass majority is enjoying now. This is restricting as the artists is not
allowed to post just what ever they want if they are looking to go viral. Deresiewicz says in
his book that artists are being to share things that could be considered more like
entertainment and less like art.

 Gibsone, H. (2016). No such thing as bad PR: Is social media saving or damaging the music
industry? The Guardian. [online] 19 Feb. Available at:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/feb/19/social-media-damaging-music-industry-
pr-twitter-kanye-west. In this guardian article it talks about how damaging social media can
be to someone’s career when the wrong things are said online. it explores whether the art
can be separated from the artists opinions.

 Team, T. (2018). How Social Media has affected the Music Industry - Trendjackers. [online]
Trendjackers. Available at: https://trendjackers.com/how-social-media-has-affected-the-
music-industry/. A Brief overlook on how different Social medias can be utilised to help grow
the career of an artist

 Owen Gleiberman (2022). 'TikTok, Boom.' Review: A Documentary Looks at How TikTok Is
Changing the World - Variety Movie Reviews [online] Available at:
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