The Power of Fans

This past Tuesday, I attended an Alt-J concert in Atlanta, Georgia at a new venue (to me), the Coca-Cola Roxy. Recently, I've been on a concert binge. Last Tuesday I attended an EDM show at the Tabernacle in Atlanta, and I am currently looking into which show I can see next.

As I am a live music junky, I have found myself taking videos on my phone both on the Camera app as well as to post on my Snapchat story. Looking back at my own videos from Imagine Music Festival, RL Grime, Alt-J, Louis the Child, Moon Taxi, and many other concerts, I see more and more people taking videos on their snapchat than I ever expected. Of course, I know everyone takes videos at concerts to remember their favorite songs. However, after these events I have also gone back to look at friends Snapchats and Instagram posts to see video after video. 

As shown by YouTube, I believe the power of video today is huge for marketing in the music world. Fan social media posts could be the best way of exposure to new fans for many artists. Many times, I have seen Snapchats or other posts of videos of songs that I like but do not necessarily listen to. Through this, I am able to ask a friend what artist or show they were at, look up the song, and instantly become a fan. This has happened to me with artists such as Louis the Child and Perpetual Groove. After becoming a fan, I have purchased concert tickets for both of these shows. 

This has me thinking: have I been a tool in the marketing of my favorite artists? It's a cool thing to think about how your single post could affect hundreds or thousands of followers you have. The power of social media today is crazy. By simply being true to fans and playing good music, artists are able to gain tons of exposure to many different types of people that they may not have dreamed of reaching.