Marketing Tool

How the Internet helps both successful and unknown artists promote their music

Almost every industry has benefited from the Internet, and the music industry is no different. Just as large department stores have online stores, major recording artists have websites to help their careers as well.

But just how much do musicians utilize the Internet? To give you an idea…

The Pew Internet & American Life Project surveyed musicians to learn about how the Internet has affected their careers.  The report indicates,"87% of the musician respondents say they promote, advertise, or display their music online, and 83% provide free samples or previews of their music on the internet" (6).

"Audioslave, Weezer, Depeche Mode and other artists have previewed entire albums on the site [MySpace] ahead of their official release" (1).

In 2005 Wired Magazine called MySpace "the hottest marketing strategy since the advent of MTV" and reported that "nearly 400,000 of the site's roughly 30 million user pages belong to bands. The rest belong mostly to teens and twentysomethings who attend the groups' shows, download their songs, read their blogs, send them fan mail, and enthusiastically spread the word" (4).

"Eminem and Prince have been able to fill almost half of the seats at large arenas with their fan clubs" (5).

Musicians are online just about as much as their faithful fans. Before music became prevalent online, record labels did not have a clue as to who was buying their CDs (5). The Internet has allowed musicians to have websites for promoting their music, as well as tours and merchandise, which has created a direct relationship between the producers and the consumers. Never before were musicians able to reach their target audience so directly. There is always an audience just waiting to embrace the artist's next creation. (For more information about the relationship between musicians and their fans, see The Band/Fan Connection on this site)

However, this drastic change "challenges the record business's historic role and threatens to overturn it," (3). Musicians might no longer need major labels to distribute their work, because they can give it directly to their fans. In fact, MySpace has even created a record label, MySpace Records.       

The Internet has become a routine element of musician's careers, as fans now expect their favorite bands and artists to have a MySpace page (8). Many people even use the Internet as their only source for experiencing music, buying only MP3s and not hard-copy CDs, so it is not surprising that musicians are embracing the Internet as well. 

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Visit the Websites of some well known musicians:
Alicia Keys
Bob Dylan
The Decemberists

Now visit their MySpace profiles:
Alicia Keys
Bob Dylan
The Decemberists

Visit some of the MySpace pages of those artists MySpace Records has signed:
Mickey Avalon
Sherwood
Hollywood Undead
Kate Voegle