The online revolution

How has the new revolution of music downloads affected how bands/artists promote their material?

More people are now downloading their music online, this means the artists must promote the idea that the audience are able to buy their music on the internet. This must be done in order to produce a wider target audience and therefore produce a larger sum of money. For some new bands that have not been signed as of yet, this is a positive thing, because it enables them to promote their music and image a lot more easily, through a number of social networking sites, including the most popular choice to promote an artist, YouTube. This way it does not cost anything, but people are still able to listen to your songs and become familiar with your style of music, producing an efficient fan base. Despite this positive, for some this new revolution is a very negative thing. This negativity mostly effects the more famous and successful artists. Through the internet anyone can easily download any type of song, of any style or any genre. Therefore more and more people are choosing to use this free method, instead of paying for the song. Unfortunately for the artists they are loosing out on money on a huge scale. To conquer this problem, somehow these artists must find a way to advertise their music in a way that encourages people to download their music from a legal site, which can become very difficult.

A band who use the internet to promote their music...

One particular band that religiously uses the internet to promote their music is One Direction. They are a fairly new band, who are certainly very young, so the internet is something that they are able to use easily and relate to well. They are often posting messages through social networking website, in particular they are always on Twitter and Facebook, where they not only let everyone know about their new album etc. But they also engage with their fans, answering their questions. I believe this is very important for them as a band, because their target audience is your teenagers, so the internet is the perfect way to grab their attention and to promote their music, because we all know teenagers love their social networking websites.One Direction also have their own website, in which they often post news about what they are doing. As well, they are selling a number of items of merchandise, which again is great promotion, because more and more people are going to become more aware of this band as more and more people where the merchandise. The website includes a number of various things, including photographs, promoting the image of the band. There are sneak peaks and snippets from their upcoming album, which will capture the attention of the audience, creating anticipation and excitement within their fans. The fact that you are able to get the website in over 20 languages suggests that they are popular all over the world and that through this website they are able to address every fan in every country. I believe the internet completely work in their favour, mostly because it runs along with the idea that they are young fresh band, something that can be associated with the internet.

One directions website...

There is a tab that states ‘news’, telling us everything we need to know about this band.

The photo is very ‘pretty’ and ‘sunny’. The direct eye contact instantly draws in the audience, along with the delectable smiles.

There is a tab that uses an exclamative sentence to grab the attention of the audience, encouraging them to buy tickets.

The logo is clearly visible therefore will make the band instantly recognisable.

An artist who uses traditional forms of promotion...

I think the band Take That use much more traditional forms of promotion, more so than any of the other fresher bands that are currently around (One Direction).They tend not to rely purely on social networking sites, for example Facebook, and do not attract their audience through the internet. Instead they focus on promoting their music through the broadcasting world. When they released their album ‘Beautiful World’, which was the first album they brought out after their comeback, it was in the form of a CD and DVD. This immediately made them more aware to the public, because they were focusing on a number of mediums. They also produced a song for the motion picture ‘Stardust’ titled "Rule the World", which reached number 2 in the UK charts and went on to be the 5th biggest selling single of 2007. Again this focuses on a number of aspects of media. But Take That are a very well known band, so do not need a huge amount of advertisement to sell a large number of records. They do also have a website which promotes an element of their music, which I believe proves that every artist does use an element of modern forms of promotion.

Having a ‘niche’?

Conduct a case study on a band/artist with a clear and distinct niche or something that set them apart from other bands.

I believe the band N-Dubz are a niche artist, because of their unique sound and style. In particular I feel the contribution of two boys and one girl is also a rare image and slightly goes against the conventions of a band. This distinctive nature is emphasized further through the music that they produce. They do not have a genre that they completely stick to, personally I feel that they combine rap, R&B and pop in all their songs. This could confuse some people, therefore would provide them with a negative feel for the artist.Some believed that they were just a cheap, tackier version of the hugely popular band ‘The Black Eyed Peas’. However they did a follow of fans. Fans who were use to the ‘scene’ that they originate from, the underground scene. But through the use of the internet they were able to promote their image and music, especially through the website, YouTube and eventually gained a heavy fan base. Most of their fans did have similar backgrounds to them, came from a similar place, this meant that they were able to understand their ‘niche’ more clearly then those who did not have those similarities. Their target audience is teenagers, because this who their songs relate to the most and who they feel they can connect with the easiest. All their songs definitely conveyed the feelings emotions that are felt by most teens. I feel they became successful because there was a gap in the market, there was no one like them around. Although they are famous now, when they began they portrayed this image of being real and down to earth, therefore relatable.

How did they use this to promote their music and get noticed by record companies?

When N-Dubz were first starting out, their fans were only able to download their music illegally, this meant that not many people were aware of them and their music. However at one point they did top the English Pirate Radio Station, and their fan base began to grow. It got larger and larger until they became mainstream, with their single ‘I swear’. It wasn’t until they released another single that they managed to appear on the UK charts, positioned at 57. However they still needed to do a lot more promotion to get noticed by a wider audience. One thing they did was too appear on the second series of Channel 4’s series ‘Dubplate Drama’. This enabled them to attract their target audience, making them much more recognisable. This promotion continued, they even won a MOBO for best newcomer. This enabled them to get signed by Polydor records and as a result there next single went straight to number 26 in the charts. They have continued to promote their music, through a number of television appearances, as well as performing at many gigs and concerts.