Promotion

Artists during recent years have been able to promote themselves and their tracks better, bigger, and more frequently than before. The use of the Internet has had a huge effect on what they can do. Websites like YouTube and Facebook allow artists to connect directly with their audience. YouTube in particular allows everyone to see the video that the artist could record and post without a particular audience whereas Facebook allows the artist to choose who can see the post. This also applies to another website, similar to Facebook, called MySpace. However, MySpace users have the option to have a band page, which is more likely to be seen by more people as its searchable by genre, name and popularity.

Promotion of the artist can vary in different ways. Websites have a quicker way of promoting an artist, which can be useful if it’s the right type of news being spread. Text can be more useful towards as a form of promotion because it is more hypocritical. If the artist has the countries newspapers or magazines on side, they are more likely to be able to persuade members of the public to like the artist. The stars using text forms of media could be more likely to succeed as the text media could be seen as a more reliable source – after-all websites like Facebook and YouTube which both offer ‘channels’ or band pages could be made by any fan or ‘Tom’, ‘Dick’ or ‘Harry’.

A gig review in newspapers or magazines is now seen as an out-of-date way of getting noticed. With popularity increasing in social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, anything users post is instant to friends. Newspaper and magazine reviews/star related news/articles are decreasing in popularity with the ‘internet generation’. This ‘internet generation’ can find out things in seconds via Twitter/Facebook without having to wait. Videos, opinions, star related news can be spread in seconds. Websites are less likely to choose what antics are used to promote the artist. The ‘internet generation’ expect everything that the artist’s products/possessions/party antics will be posted online with opinions whether it is a use to the artist or not.

The music video can be known as the star vehicle. The music video is the second thing, after the music track itself, that fans will look at and judge. If the video is creative, abnormal, experimental or a brand new idea, the video will be spoken about between different forms of media, placed on websites and clips may be used on adverts, generally progressing an artist’s career. By being used as the star vehicle, the video can present some personal aspects of the artist a lot easier than a music track or publicizing it. Music videos give the artist a range to project something that they may have a strong opinion on or an experience that they are singing about. Because the audience feels like they need to know everything, the music videos also give a cover to the artist, so they don’t feel too exposed when trying to promote themselves.