BY MATT LANGHAM
One Direction are experiencing a growth in popularity thanks to social media. For the band, social media has become an important promotional tool which has helped them to develop brand awareness. The marketing from Syco records and Columbia of the One Direction brand, overseen by Simon Cowell, was a masterstroke. It was by no means a fluke, but rather, well-considered and strategized. By stirring up a large fanbase, the Directioners (the nick name given to the bands fan base) became something bigger than the band themselves.
The band have always been known tweeters, and this has allowed them to generate a connection with their broad fan base via the use of Twitter. Social media channels are an essential tool in helping bands and musicians achieve an audience in order to gain attention from record labels. An early achiever of this was the Arctic Monkeys, who released tracks on Myspace and soon gained a loyal online and offline following due to the release of their demo EP ‘Beneath The Boardwalk’ in 2004.
Mumford and Sons, The Ting Tings and Adele, all used Myspace in order to showcase their music and have all had success…well The Tings Tings had brief success anyway.
In an era of social media, file-sharing and non-traditional routes to success, the music industry has had to step up its game to make money. Social networks have now put the power of discovery in the hands of music consumers. Dave Haynes of Sound cloud told eye of media: “In the past, there were just a few gatekeepers to music, and you had a powerful network of labels, A&R men, radio and TV executives and magazines who decided what you should be listening to. Now, it’s so much easier to find out what your friends are listening to or what other people who like the same music on the other side of the world are recommending.”
Evidently, record labels are using various data monitoring programmes to measure the amount of “buzz” around a band or artists and this could come in the form of followers, shares, likes, YouTube, online ticket sales or online merchandise sales.
Millions have been spent on acquiring programmes including The Echo Nest to measure this data for marketing purposes. The data doesn’t just give an insight into popularity of a band, but it gives an indication of how budgets can be spent in different territories and it can also direct social media strategies.
Broadband provider, Plusnet, have tracked the success of One Direction pre and post the band’s split.
The infographic created by them
highlights how 42% of fans have tried to contact the fans via social media. More than 33 million people have ‘liked’ the band on Facebook, which is 10 million more than the population of Australia.
A Plusnet spokesperson told eye of media “One Direction are a perfect example of how online forums and social media are shaping the music industry and celebrity culture, a phenomenon we see extends far beyond their own popularity and into that of people who are just associated with them.”
However, it is fascinating to dig deeper into the social media of One Direction and investigate how the departure of Zayn Malik affected their Twitter account, as well as the eventual break up.
To put some context around this, Brandwatch investigated how media attention had affected indie rock band Drenge. The duo had been mentioned by MP Tom Watson in his resignation speech which helped the band gain vital exposure. Despite the unusual endorsement, their debut album was released that week and statistics found that the endorsement received a positive reception in the run-up to their Leeds and Reading Festival appearances.
A similar situation happened to ex-girlfriend of Harry Styles, Caroline Flack, who’s Twitter following grew from 27,000 to 1.2 million in a short space of time.
With clever PR artists such as James Blunt and Westlife have managed to grow their Twitter following. This doesn’t mean to say that they are as popular as they once were, but by continuing to upload content to their social media and website this has helped to continue communication with their fan base.
The case of James Blunt is interesting as he potentially enlisted a PR company to keep his name within the media. His humour and personality has seen him gain a very large following, even though he is seldom releasing material.
Social media has changed every aspect of the music industry – not just how artists interact with their fan base. With the decline of single and album sales, record label have recognised that artists need to be more intelligently marketed to their audience, even if the band or artist is no longer making records.
The material is usually owned by the record label so it is in the artists benefit to keep a good media profile – especially with the continuing growth in album anniversary tours and album re-issues
