MAKING MUSIC ON WAVES OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Posted by
A golden rule of any kind of business is to embrace change. With time the way a business is run invariably changes. Take the travel or the Insurance industry for instance; one can clearly see the shift from agents to online booking. The Entertainment Industry too is shifting from the staple TV Channels to newer, more personal broadcasting social media channels like youtube and the more recent ones like ALT Balaji Application or Sharukh Khan having their own dedicated platforms. The same goes for music companies too. They initially had a rather uncomplicated model with the artists or bands recording songs, the record selling them and both making money in the process. Things changed with the emergence of numerous platforms for sharing and content promotion. And it is here that social media provided these companies with an excellent opportunity to reach their audience. Social Media rules are applying to entertainment sector like never before.
Another rule of business is: Know thy customer. Considering people are constantly exposed to so much of content at all times, through multiple sources, it is only logical that their tastes and preferences change constantly. And hence it is very important to keep an eye on the reactions of the customers at all times. Well but when it comes to tracking thousands of fans, this seems to be harder than it sounds. This is again where social media comes to the rescue of music companies. Companies can either have their own pages and channels or collaborate with platforms to keep them updated about local happenings in music in synch with the changing tastes of their customers and get their feedbacks. The power of one is what they say it these days. Every customer counts. Think of the Millions these companies spend in advertising and whether this spend reaches the intended audience or not and then the importance of social, social media, social connect and social behaviour comes in play.
One of the leading music companies of the world, Sony Music, makes good use of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to closely examine their customers and to increase their fan base. It has identified expanding social media properties as one of its goals which it believes would help in increasing brand awareness, promoting its products (which is basically their music content), creating a sense of music community, and connecting to media partners with the ultimate goal of selling its artists and products. Within a year of being active onFacebook, Sony Music was able to increase its followers by 105% and organically create a music community where people can interact and identify with their artists. Universal Music group, Saregama Music, Venus – be it any music giant, one thing common about all of them is the profound use of social media.
It’s not just about managing brand and getting to know your audience. Social media is a great platform to reward your fans. Contests and offers given through social media reach a wider audience. Moreover, since a two-way conversation between the brand/company and the customers is possible through social media, credibility of such reward gets proved as the winners respond with delight. This also increases the participation from the other followers. And since it call comes down to how innovative and engaging can you be with customers, Music Companies and labels have started having dedicated social media team and agents to help them with newer “more viral” ideas as they call it. From live recordings, jamming casuals, fan speak, fan advise to even outsourcing their Instagram or blog accounts for a week to popular band or artist is in vogue. Not only does it benefit the Music Companies getting some social “hits” in terms of subscribers and likes it also gets them the coveted “happening” or the “talked about” tag.
Date