The importance of Twitter in the music industry

Twitter has been an important platform for the music industry. Artists, famous or emerging, can make public (or private) accounts for their fans. They can “tweet” their daily life to create a connection with their fans. The fans can see how they live their life daily and tweet at them. Both the fans and artist can “retweet” what others have written, which strengthens the connection between the two. The artist or band has the ability to spread the word about new music, and stimulate purchases of songs, albums, or concert tickets. The artist or band can “tweet” links to their website, Facebook, or YouTube account for fans to click on. There is also an option to direct message, so fans can reach out to the artist or band and create a bond with the music artist. The artist or band can also tweet at the fans and tell them about a new release that is going to come out in the future. The artist or band also has the capability to “tweet”  a link others music, and help an emerging artist gain popularity. This can cause music to go viral on the Internet. Additionally, Twitter has the unique characteristic that it can have words trending. By placing a “#”, or hashtag, in front of words, it starts a count of how many users do this. Some trends are sponsored and paid for by a certain company for the day, while users set others. With large events, such as concerts or awards shows, occurring throughout the year, trends can begin. Justin Bieber is often trending on Twitter due to his popularity. While watching the MTV Music Awards, it began trending. Users were able to “tweet” while watching the award show, and due to the large amount of users, it began trending. Users also have the option to see what is trending in their area by filtering the results, located on the left side of the webpage.