Post 2: The Role of the Internet in the Music Industry

The internet plays a major role in the music industry. An artist is not only able to promote their products (music, merch etc.), but also promote themselves and their star persona through creating a unique brand identity and sharing it with an online audience. Artists tend to have an official website, as well as several social media platforms.

Creating synergy across all digital platforms enables the artist to establish a solid brand identity. They do this through using a uniform colour scheme, font scheme and image. For example, an artist might use the same profile picture on all social media platforms. Audiences can then identify them more easily through recognising their brand.

Audiences have a tendency to want to share, comment, and interact with the artist and other fans, and this is made possible through the internet. They are able to like and comment on social media posts, and commonly on websites, artists have a feedback section where fans can leave comments and reviews. The internet has also brought about fan forums, where fans are able to chat about the artist. This gratifies their need for social interactions, as they are able to talk about the artist with other fans.

Fan forum

 Through digitally converging all online platforms, you are encouraging more online traffic between all digital sites (social media, website etc.) This can be done through setting up links to the website from the social media platforms and vice versa. Essentially, all online platforms aim to encourage traffic back to the artist's website. This is because the website is home to all the monetised content, and the record labels aim to make profit from selling the artists products.

I made a case study of Ed Sheeran to see the way that he has constructed his online presence.

This case study has influenced my ideas massively. I have learnt the crucial nature of creating synergy across all online platforms in order to create a strong brand identity and the need to digitally converge all online platforms to drive traffic back to my website. 

I intend to use a pink colour scheme in both my music video and website to create synergy. I will also use the same fonts. Finally, I will have the same profile picture on all of my social media pages to make them recognisable as my artist's pages.