The online revolution

Now that artists and bands are able to use the internet to promote their music it makes it a lot easier for them to be heard. It is free for them to publish their music and very quick and easy also. This allows the public to stream their songs and/ or download them. As this is a very easy process it means that if their intention is to only download one song they might aswel download the whole album because it takes no time at all, and then is easy to delete if not liked. The internet allows you to share music with your friends too, which promotes the artist's music. Artists can use websites such as youtube and vevo to put their music videos on too. This is an easy way for the audience to listen to the track and watch the video.
Social network sites are also a good revolution for artists to promote their music as it is free. Facebook is very popular with artists as it allows them to communicate with their fans - when their tours are, where they are etc. It also allows them to show links to their music videos, or merchandise etc. You can also see which bands/artists they are into and that may make you take an interest in another artist. Even artists who are not familiar with this technique are now using social network sites, and generally the internet to promote their work.

BOB DYLAN

Most of his celebrated work was produced in 1960 therefore Bob didn't have the internet to be able to promote his music and therefore had to do it in a more traditional way. He published three books of drawings and paintings which helped to promote him as a person and also his music. His most successful way of promoting his music was by doing gigs and tours for people to be able to see him live. He appeared in news papers for his talent which promoted his greatly and also played with artists who were bigger than him at the time as he relied on this. Back then artists relied greatly on record labels as thats what made them big. They needed their money and experties to promote their music, much more so than now. So Bob Dylan was signed up to Columbia Records. His talent started spreading world wide as he featured in an English drama called The Madhouse on Castle Street on BBC television and was then able to perform one of his songs. This was a huge promotion deal as it made the English very aware of him and his talents, and therefore buy his albums. He is such an idol because he is so sure in what he is about and was the first real passionate folk singer.


ARTIC MONKEYS

Artic monkeys formed their band in 2002, and therefore were able to use the internet to promote their music, and that's exactly what they did. They actually became famous using social network sites such as myspace to upload their music and videos.' Arctic Monkeys are heralded as one of the first acts to come to the public attention via the Internet (fan-based sites rather than from the band), with commentators suggesting they represented the possibility of a change in the way in which new bands are promoted and marketed.' Unlike Bob Dylan, this band did not need a record label to make them famous as they were able to do everything that a record label could do on the internet for free. Similar to Bob they did play lots of gigs to become more heard and promote their music and using their own recording equipment and computes were able to give away free CDs to their fans. Their fan base on myspace was becoming so huge that the BBC radio and the British tabloid press were becoming very interested and started contacting the band. They then used the website itunes to sell their music which became a huge hit.
After a huge success the band decided to sign with Domino label as they were attracted to the "DIY ethic" of Domino owner Laurence Bell, who ran the label from his own flat and only signed bands that he personally liked.