Research: The Use of Social Networking to Promote Artists

Social Networking sites are very useful for promoting new artists because they don't cost any money and they reach an enormous audience.

One of the most successful artists to use social media to promote herself is Lily Allen. She used profile site Myspace to upload new tracks, post blogs and keep fans up to date. Myspace was a clever way to promote oneself as record companies often found fresh new talent there, which resulted in many record deals for bands that otherwise wouldn't be known, such as Chemical Brother and Arctic Monkeys

This blog explains a bit about Lily Allen's success through social networking.
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Myspace has since become more musically orientated offering new ways to upload and share and even buy songs, create profiles and blog about up and coming events.

Another example of a recent artists who is using social networking to promote himself is Travis McDaniel. 

This is from a report on Socialmediatoday.com

"Being only 18 years old probably has something to do with Travis McDaniel’s ability to plaster himself across the Internet using social media. This jazz-influenced, very young singer-songwriter has a Twitter account, Facebook page, YouTube channel– he’s also on ReverbNation, TwitTrax and SoundCloud and oh yes, MySpace. With the use of social media, this yet-to-be signed music artist is able to enchant an audience he wouldn’t normally find, crossing traditional boundaries, making known his love for music for countless others (including VIPs in the music industry) to see and hear.

Never before has it been so ridiculously easy for music artists to be heard by thousands (no, millions)of curious listeners and potential fans. It doesn’t seem to matter whether you’re living in Boise, Idaho or New York City to get noticed. Social media has overturned all the scales of the music industry; technology making it possible to share everything and anything a human can experience.

Travis’ YouTube channel is nothing flashy, but it’s there with a bunch of videos from various performances for anyone to peruse.

I first heard Travis’ music on TwiTrax where there’s a sampling of his music (wait about 15 seconds for the audio to start). Social sharing buttons allow you can share any of his songs on Twitter or Facebook, and you can easily leave a comment for the music artist using your Twitter profile as a login."

Sites like SoundCloud, Tweet Jamz and Reverb Nation make it easy for anyone to upload and share their music for free. Self promotion is easier than ever. Artists can even follow other artists, and mutually promote each other or collaborate on work together.