Social Media & the Music Industry

The year 2020 has rocked the music industry to another level. Musicians and music groups have experienced a halt in their activities as an artist. From sold out concert tours to fan meet & greets, all these fan-based campaigns came to a pause and had to be shut down and cancelled, with no sight to when it would be safe for the artists and their supporters to be able to publicly meet again. Using social media, musicians have been able to use this as an alternative method to engage with their audiences and still promote themselves and their music through this global health crisis. They’ve been able to put on live streaming concerts through various social media platforms, some artists would stream live from the comfort of their own home, others have been able to put together a simple live-stream concert on a stage. Through the various experiences either as a fan of the musician or a backstage aid, it has made me very passionate about how the convenience of Social media through various platforms will give the music industry a unique stage that artists can use to capture a broader audience. My goal is to be able to encourage and support artists in building their followers through social media, as well as take the next steps on staying relevant and keeping the audience captivated.

The music industry has already been using social media platforms, but because of the global health crisis, live music and venues had to shut down and look for other means of promoting. The various platforms became an important resource for musicians to keep in touch with their fans now that they are unable to see them through public performances. Both Facebook and YouTube are among the most widely used platforms amongst U.S. adults (Pew Research Center, 2019) (Figure 1).

One musician, August Young, started streaming live Facebook shows to friends and fans once their performances were cancelled, where his live streams ended up spreading like wildfire. Another musician Vice Galindo also streamed live through Facebook to his friends and fans, and would even take requests from listeners (Mayer, 2020). 

Through another perspective, were the fans. While musicians and artists were quarantined at home either writing more music or streaming live to their fans, the fans too were stuck at home. Camryn Garrett (2020) has expressed that, “so many young people like me isolated at home, social media has been a lifeline.” Garrett (2020) continued to express how being able to watch some of her favorite artists perform streaming, felt as if she was enjoying this celebration with a group, even though she was watching from her own living room.

Local music in Hawaii have also been utilizing the internet and social media platforms as well. Hawaiian Music Live is a local internet radio that has been a big supporter to the local music in Hawaii. They have been using their platforms to help get the word out about upcoming local musicians live streams and virtual concerts. Their platform has been able to spread globally making all the local artists live streams available to any supporter either through the internet or through the social media platforms.

Even promoters have gotten involved to help local artists, like the Moonlight Mele Concert Series. This series started as a simple Thursday 3pm (HST) mini concert at the Hawaii Theatre to promote a local band or artist as well as the Historical Hawaii Theater. The concerts were free live streaming to watch and any donations would go straight to the Hawaii Theater and the performers. What had started in May to spread live streaming Hawaiian Music to the island people who were forced to follow stay-at-home orders in Hawaii, generated into a weekly live streaming mini-concert series at the Hawaii Theater which featured artists either legendary in the Hawaiian music scene or new up-and-upcoming musicians, available for anyone to join in and watch live.

Chaffey, D. (2020, August 3). Global social media research summary July 2020. Smart Insights. https://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-strategy/new-global-social-media-research/

Garrett, C. (2020). The Upside of Social Media. TIME Magazine, 195(20/21), 52–53.

Mayer, S., Quarantine concerts: Local musicians turn to social media in wake of coronavirus shutdown. (2020, April 5). Bakersfield Californian (Bakersfield, CA). https://bi-gale-com.ezproxy.snhu.edu/global/article/GALE%7CA619527492?u=nhc_main&sid=ebsco

Moonlight Mele. (2020, October 3). Moonlight Mele October Concert Series Line Up 2020 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RQsna_wiyM&feature=emb_title

Pew Research Center, (2019, June 12). Social Media Fact Sheet. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/social-media/