When we entered the 21st century, the new revolutions of music downloads and file sharing came with it. Different artists handle their material differently. Mostly unsigned artists use myspace or grooveshark etc to promote the their music, most of them promote their material for free as a way to viral market their music. An example is Jose Vanders. She used myspace to promote her single 'faces going places'. She was sending out EPS for as much as £2, sometimes free! She used myspace to promote the upcoming gigs she had, sometimes they were even on the corners of london. Till this day she still is not signed but she still continues her viral marketing through social networks such as Facebook, Myspace and Twitter etc..Rihanna like other worldwide artist approach promoting their material differently. Most Artists like rihanna would normally have a PR(public relations) executive. Rihanna who is signed to Def Jam does not use the internet, instead, she has merchandise to promote and can afford to do a high produced music video to also help promote her new material and an upcoming album. Unlike Jose Vanders, Rihanna doesn't promote her material independantly. But, stars like rihanna have just started using the internet such as having their own VEVO channel where fans can access official videos and interviews of the artist/band.
The online revolution has changed many things for the music industry, such as easy promotion but this can also cause piracy which enables labels to loose out on money as well as the artist, but it is also the best way to promote as billions of people have access to the internet everyday. Internet users today can access the internet so easily throughout the day using a computer or a laptop as these all tend to be the most desired way of accessing the internet and most importantly, music. However, recent developments and convergence of technology has made even more easier ways, such as the iPod touch, iPhone and other smart phones such asblackberry and HTC and so one. By developing the iPhone and iPod Touch, it gave the public a chance to reach the internet within just a few seconds of interacting with their phone! Although can give you fast internet access, users also take advantage and download illegally on laptops and computers and since 2011, even iPhoned and iPod Touchs' through a simple FREE app! Yes, The onlive revolution helps record labels and its artists by using VEVO and YouTube, they have also got to suffer the consequences of piracy.Some would say that it is the industrys fault that the public result to piracy as of prices for singles and EPs as much as £5.99 for 3 or 4 songs! Generally, people thought and still think prices like this are ridiculous to pay for such little product, so they get their music from file sharing websites such as Animi.net, Spotify, and most popular of all, mp3 converter sites. These require a Youtube link which you copy and paste into the converter and it will convert the video to an MP3 format for free within just a minute. IFPI (The International Federation of the Phonographical Industry) reported that in 2008 over 40 billion songs were illegally downloaded. Because of this, the industry suffer a huge amount by the loss of money and their profit for the label and artist. This resulted in shutting down sites such as Napster. The industry took a plumite and thought of new ways to come up with ways to make sure the public had access to music but could also buy at the same time, Artists like Rihanna could make a profit due to iTunes putting the price for track up from 79p to 99p. iTunes would also benefit. The universal music group came up with Web 2.0 which is a new interactive internet. It has changed how the audience now access music, such as Youtube and VEVO.
Many people are think that the music industry is just about catching up with the concept of interactive audiences and that labels need to become more aware of the needs of the contempory audiences to access music instantly. The online revolution is a huge apart of the music industry and will continue to grow with it, piracy will always be there but has cut down a lot since 2008.
