Across all social media platforms, four of the top five most followed individuals are music artists. “When I was younger, you would have to write a letter to the [music] artist that you liked, and then you would have to wait weeks to get a fake letter back,” said Middle School English Teacher Amy Brill. The advent of social media has created an entirely new process of communicating with music artists.

     Social media has changed the dynamic between artist and audience, opening the doors to new advertising and marketing strategies. This shift has particularly benefited the music industry, which would not be exploding like it is without the entertainment, communication, and career opportunities that social media provides.

     The rise of social media has influenced famous musicians to promote their music, tours, and events to a wide audience instantaneously, a starkly different approach than the artists of Upper School Arts and Humanities teacher Charla Gaglio’s youth. “It was word of mouth,” said Gaglio. “I went to record stores, and they would have some posters or something like that, but, it wasn’t the way it is now–as readily available in that kind of way.”

     Before social media, there was no quick way to genuinely communicate with an artist. Now, musicians are able to interact and connect with fans by responding to their comments on a post or privately messaging them on Instagram. “There’s so many things that you can do now to interact with artists,” said senior Annabelle Ferguson, “I follow artists, like their posts and interact with their stories.” 

     Today, fans also have easy access into the lives of their favorite musicians and can keep up with new announcements. Ferguson said, “Before social media, you would see posters around, and the only way you could talk to [the musicians] was in person, but now, you can just DM an artist.” 

     The creativity and inspiration that social media provides has allowed people to broaden their music taste as well. “I think there’s an interesting democratization of music,” said Gaglio. “In the sense that there’s so many more things that you can find online, so many different types of music.”

     Social media has also given people the ability to discover new artists, connecting to both an artist’s music and to the artist themselves. “When you can see [the artist’s] personality on social media, and it’s not just their music, it makes it a whole lot more interesting,” Ferguson said.

     Because of social media, the music industry continues to expand rapidly, giving people around the world the chance to connect with artists and explore new niches within the music industry. Gaglio said, “People kind of go down their own rabbit holes. Whatever your interests happen to be, you can find the music that interests you.”