What Impact Has Social Media on Music Marketing - Term Paper Example

Impact of social media on music marketing Introduction The term social media refers to the web based as well as mobile technologies in transforming communication into an interactive dialogue among organizations, communities as well as individuals. According Michael Haenlin, it refers to a combination of internet based applications which build on the ideological as well as technological foundations which allow the creation and exchange of user generated content (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010). It is therefore a platform for social interaction as a superset beyond social communication. According to Keitzmann, it has introduced substantial as well as pervasive changes to communication between different people enabled by omnipresent accessible as well as scalable communication techniques. As such, the emergence of social media such as face book and you tube has greatly altered the way individuals listen, share, collect, rework, market as well as interact with the music and the producers of such music. Such upcoming sites include; last.FM, Radioheardremix, Imeem as well as mix tape have put the users at the helm. (Keitzmann, Hermkens and, Ian, 2011). The above are just but a few of the numerous online and audio sites. With the emergence of such sites; what has been their impact on music marketing? This paper is aimed at discussing the impacts of the emergence of social media in music marketing. In so doing the paper outlines both the positive and negative impacts as well as further suggestions on how to improve music marketing through social media. Positive impacts of social media on music marketing The emergence of social media has boosted music marketing in numerous ways. These are explained below. Effect of social media on music discovery The emergence of social media has increased music discovery options and hence boosted music marketing. Prior to the development of social media (web), people’s options for discovering new music were very few. Such options included the radio, friends and family members who were seen on a regular basis. At best, individuals were serious audiophiles readily knew the right record stores in which to go, the right music clubs to check into for emerging artists. However, the average man never had access nor cared enough about the access to the right music. In other words, they never went out of their way to look for music (Harris, 2008). However, the emergence of social media has changed the whole scenario. Social media has allowed everyone to share, recommend, rate, discover as well as exchange music. In other words, social web can be described as a few to few environment as friends influence peers hence boosting marketing of music. In this regard, social media has helped music marketing in the following ways; Browsing – Users browse through music on the basis of the genre and artists they like Stumbling- Users stumble down paths based on behavioral targeting .in other words, people who liked X also like Y. Peer to peer – This is where people recommend for the best music to one another. Through the above means of music discovery, it is clear that social media has played a great role in music marketing Impact of social media on live performances Social media has also boosted music marketing in terms of live performances. Such sites as the upcoming.org as well as last. Fm have enabled users to see what shows their peers are watching or going to as well as which ones they may like as far as their tastes are concerned. Through the social media, one is able to figure out what everyone else is doing (Kirkpatrick, 2011). One is able to listen to music online or even watch it live even if he has never heard it before and even buy online tickets so as to attend live performances. Impact of social media on interactivity and collaboration The social media has greatly changed how people interact with music hence greatly boosting its marketing. Initially, people used to purchase albums or even made mix tapes and CDs and that was about it. However, this has changed with services like muxtape allowing users to make online mix tapes on their favorite songs and share them as well. Modern music sites are also based on playlists which users create and share with peers (Golder, 2005). Sites like Radiohead have also gone further to produce systems which allow users to purchase tracks separately, develop their own remix and upload it on radioheard and share it with peers. This brilliant idea has in no doubt enabled the site to sell tracks online on iTunes hence greatly boosting their revenue. By involving users in the music marketing process, the social media has in no doubt greatly boosted music marketing. Impact of social media on marketing and purchase of music The above positive impacts of social media on music in turn lead to increased music purchases. Online music purchases are greatly influenced by friends as well as peers more than other factors. By a very large margin (Dawson, 2009). This makes social media very pivotal especially with the surge in digital downloads. In the recent times, iTunes has emerged the number one music retailer in America with its sales accounting for 19 percent of music sales. Another site- Amazon.com accounts for 6 percent. Other smaller sites have an overall paid digital music download business accounting for 30 percent of all music sold. Negative impact of social media on music marketing As much as the social media has very many advantages as discussed above, music marketers face the following challenges as a result of using this approach to market their music. Reduced profit margins The social media does not necessarily help band and music owners to develop; rather, they perpetuate the system. Cheap and free music downloads makes the works of the musicians to be undervalued or under appreciated. Expensive equipment as well as personnel is intensively used during the music production and therefore such costs may not be covered through cheap music downloads. Profit from online video and music downloads is less than that from life performances. Temporary nature of social sites Social media platforms are temporary and may come to pass with time. This may result to them been unpopular to some fans, or example MySpace and bebo. Bands or musicians who have relied only on such sites may lose as their popularity may gradually diminish (Ferguson, 2008). Band owners and musicians are encouraged to have their own websites where their music may be downloaded instead of using other blogs. This will maintain continuity over years as compares to where a particular site may come to pass. Effect of social media on competitors Messages transmitted through social sites are easy and cheap to send. Such messages reach a large number of people within a short period of time. The impacts of a single comment from a customer or competitor may destroy the image of music owner and result to crisis which may be hard to correct. Other confidential information may also be easily leaked to competitors and other interested parties. Hacking of sites is common. Their music may also be stolen and resold by unscrupulous traders who benefits from the rights of other peoples works (Keating, 2000). Such free downloads may be resold by such traders due to their easy access and the fact that no law or contracts clearly provides guidelines regarding on line downloads and transactions. Inability to analyze demographic composition of funs Musicians find it hard to understand the demographic of their funs if they only concentrate on social media platforms. Live performances and shows help such band owners analyze the demographics of their funs which may basically be identified through attendance of their shows or purchase of their music. It is important to understand their funs so that they can satisfy their needs. Virtual relationships The funs also require to physically meeting with their entertainers in order to maintain their relationship. Virtual meetings and funs are not enough to satisfy the needs of their funs. Social media may eventually lead to loss of touch between entertainers and their funs. It is therefore important for such entertainers to strike a balance between social media and live performances. Such entertainers will not be faced out of the industry. What Next? Despite the numerous opportunities presented by the social media on music marketing, the stakeholders in the industries do not seem to have realized what to do with them. Although the digital sales are expected to continues rising, they are not expected to make up for the loss of physical music album sales. This is largely attributed to the fact that users /fans tend to purchase one or two songs as opposed to buying a whole album. In addition, there is a lot of free music available in online sites. However, this is a phenomenon which is expected to continue to grow and can never be ignored. What is not clear however is the reason why more artists and stars are not eager to harness the power of the social media. The artists should use both the word of mouth and social media to build a community around themselves (McGillivray, 1997). They should make up for the loss through creation of new and modified revenue streams which will surpass the old models. Limited edition high revenue collectors’ items such as live performances streamed into multiple areas at once where individuals can interact with one another from different locations and even interact with the artists.ad revenue from online video could be another source of income although it has not yet become a huge profit center. All these should be wrapped into user generated contests. Users should create their own videos, upload them and even send their peers to the videos to vote for them, run ads on the videos which generate revenue for the artist while at the same time building a social buzz, word of mouth and achieving a viral effect as well. Digital distribution through social media implies lower costs as far as shelf space, physical goods as well as distribution. The cost of warehousing, shipping, speed to market, all expenses are likely to decrease as digital marketing of music increases. Furthermore, digital positioning of music so as to take advantage of natural word of mouth is less expensive compared to traditional advertising and marketing, andoften more effective (Colin, 2006). Therefore, the cost savings that will arise from adopting an online social music model will greatly help in offsetting the reduction in revenue from album sales. It would be prudent for the music industry to stop trying to cling to old models which do not work and start being imaginative about the possibilities. Conclusion In conclusion, social media has had a significant influence on music marketing. Costs such as advertising, launching of DVDs and sale of music has become easier due to the social media intervention. Previously, the launch of a musician’s CDs or DVD was considered to be their greatest achievement but with social media, most musicians sell their music online way before the launch of their DVDs. Funs can easily respond to the music. Such responses and suggestions may be used to improve the performance and the music of the musicians. Marketers can use responses of their funs to analyze the demographic composition of their fans as well as their taste and preferences. However, music owners and marketers are advised not to entirely rely on social media because some blogs and platforms come to pass with time. They should be advised to create and maintain their own websites where music release information and upcoming shows may be conveyed. Constant communication with funs through such sites will make them famous as funs get excited and appreciated when the celebrity communicate to them and requests their views on music as well as personal matters. Therefore, the marketers should strike a balance between the social media and their physical shows/ contact with their fans. References Kaplan, A. and Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media. Business Horizons 53 (1):59-68. Kietzmann, J., Hermkens, k.and, Ian, P. (2011). Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media. Business Horizons 54 (3):241-251. Harris, k. (2008). Using social networking sites as student engagement tools. Diverse issues in higher education 25(18) Kirpatrick, D. (2011). Wired and shrewd, young Egyptians guide revolt. The New York Times. Golder, S. (2005). Usage patterns of collaborative tagging systems. Journal of information science 32(2): 198-208 Dawson, M. (2009). Social media marketing. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Ferguson, R. (2008). Word of mouth and viral marketing: Taking the temperature of the hottest trends in marketing. 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