To jump right in, the days of not knowing what an artist’s next move may be, is an item of the distant past. It goes without saying that the rapid progression of technology has allowed consumers to actively engage with their favorite musician or group just by the press of a button. To be perfectly honest, there are enough virtual applications available today that anyone could locate a daily log of every band (if they wanted to). Twitter, which has been around since my early years in high school, has proven to be the ultimate platform to stay current in the constantly spinning loop of a band’s journey to greater material. Now, the bubble for artist’s personal space has become even more restricted with the additions of live streaming from media giants Facebook and Instagram. These incredibly innovative applications make it much more feasible for an artist to promote their music and other forms of publishing. The live features have been utilized heavily among musicians to give fans a rewarding experience with previews of new music and exclusive merchandise entries. However, with great strides in instant technological socialization, there are always some inevitable setbacks. With the live video application available to everyone, either through Facebook, Instagram, Periscope, etc, creates likely piracy activity. What is stopping an obnoxious fan from recording an entire live performance and streaming it through any of these densely populated mediums? Luckily, many of these social Goliaths are equipped with all the resources to disrupt any live feed that matches original content uploaded in a separate reference library.  The same goes for all the other sites, but it is still a working progress. Eventually, I believe that live feed application with become the norm for every site/application, including Twitter, blog sites, whatever it may be next.

Moving on, the evolution of virtual engagement has revolutionized the way fans can stay connected constantly with their favorite artist. Obviously. Many would think that the live performance alone would satisfy a fan’s appetite, but this technological advancement in artist engagement has created a yearning for something more intimate. Don’t get confused though, musicians need this way of communication more than the consumers need it. An entire musician’s career importantly depends on how effective they are at penetrating certain markets with the help of these social mediums. It seems that the main focus of this would be to keep avid fans in the loop about the progression of new music, but I believe it is more important to use it as a way of attracting new listeners. Just posting a live video, snippet, or picture from a recent North American tour is not going to get new listeners to jump on the wagon. Instead, artists will eventually need to develop new strategies to get their regular listeners to push their music to fresh ears. Luckily, many music websites, Pitchfork, Spin, etc., have someone on staff that is constantly refreshing feeds to find vital information.

This amount of social engagement reveals the true colors and characteristics of any band member. It effectively dismisses (not all the time) ambiguity about the artist(s) true form of expression. These snippets into the life of a musician allows the viewer to live vicariously and visibly see all the elements that are put into play during the making of an album. This point is a HUGE selling point on maintaining income for previous listeners and avid fans. As an example, two people that I follow closely on social media (all forms), are ScHoolboy Q and Wavves/Best Coast. To start, ScHoolboy is absolutely hilarious on Snapchat. Goofing on everyone, calling them ugly, showing his daughter on his story, give listeners an idea of the things in his world that ultimately help him create an album. I knew Blank Face LP was going to be the way it was just by virtually following Groovy Q on social media. Additionally, reunited couple (separate artists that have same music style) Nathan Williams (Wavves) and Bethany Cosentino (Best Coast) both live together in a new house in Burbank, CA. By documenting most of their adventures in and out of the house with their dog and cat, I can clearly see the elements that effect their lives. In the same breath, it effects their music.

As I said previously, the biggest challenge is going to be finding ways to engage new listeners to not only follow their music, but their social media accounts as well. However, the future is bright for paving new ways for marketing innovation.