How the Internet Chaned Music

The internet is a huge place. There are no limits on where you can visit or what you can discover with the internet as your guide. The internet has changed music and continues to change it more every day. Before the internet and sites such as Face Book, MySpace, Live Journal and Yahoo Groups to name just a few getting your music out to those who would enjoy and appreciate it consisted of relying on a record contract or doing live gigs and getting a following that way. With the internet you can post your music online and get it out to many more people. Even if you do not have a record deal you can still get a large fan base that love and appreciate what you do. The internet has changed music so much.

The artist can interact more with their supporters though blogging, emails, journal entries and so many more ways. You build a more intimate relationship with you fans with the help of the internet than ever before. The fans feel more connected to the artist and are very supportive of everything they do. It almost builds a friendship of sorts between the artist and the fans. An artist who spends their time building the fan base and devoting some of their free time becoming personally involved on some level with the fans reaps the benefits for the rest of their career.

Many artists use the internet for this very purpose. For examples I will name a few that I follow.

Taylor Hicks is the first artist that I started keeping track of on the internet. There was a site Gray Charles that posted almost daily about Taylor. Taylor would check in now and then to leave audio blogs for his fans about things going on in his career. Fans loved every audio blog that Taylor left and talked together about the goings on in Taylor's career. Taylor still leaves blogs now and then at other sites such as his MySpace about what is going in his career and so forth. His fan base has created many fan montages of Taylor and there are many fan run websites that keep up with all things Taylor Hicks. The fans have become friends with one another and meet when concerts are going on to go together, sometimes having pre concert parties or going to dinner together and the talk is Taylor Hicks.

Bucky Covington is another such artist that I follow and his fans too are very dedicated to supporting Bucky and getting together as friends before each show. Bucky posts videos of adventures on the road and will leave blog entries on his MySpace page letting fans know where he is and what he is doing. Something as simple as going to a dentist has been posted by Bucky. Bucky Covington's fans treasure everything that he takes the time to let them know about him.

Judd Starr is an independent artist that goes out of his way to include his fans. He personally responds to comments and emails that fans take the time to send him. Judd is more than just a singer to his fans, he is a friend. You can be sure that when Judd Starr gets that big break his fans will be crying for joy right along with him. Feeling like an awesome friend of theirs has made it.

All these little things that do not take much of artist's time help them in so many ways. Building a strong fan base that love, respect and feel connected to you is more rewarding in the long run than a recording contract on it's on could ever create. If you have the devoted fan base you have no limits on how far your career can go.

Since the internet has become a music haven fans feel the need to have a sense of a personal connection to musicians it becomes almost an expectation. The musicians who are able to provide that aspect will be the ones that do best. Just think of it this way. If you had two friends and one friend was the type that never you called back when you called them or always talked about their selves never caring what was going on with you. Then you had friend number two and this friend always returned your calls and would always ask you about you day and let you cry on their shoulder if you needed. Of course friend number two would be the friend that you gravitated to. They would be the one that you cared to know what was going on with them because they cared about you. They would be the one that you would be there for in their time of need.

The same holds true with a musician. The musician who never cares to let the fans know anything and never responds to anything is not going to have as many people following them as the musician who takes the time to let you know where they will be performing and lets you know how much you being there for the show means to them.

Now of course the quality of the music means a lot, If the music is bad you will not have a following But if the music is great and the musician is the type of person who cares about and appreciates the fans support and lets them know this, that musician will have a fan base that feels a connection to do all they can to see that musician succeed.

Someone who simply creates great music but no connection will sell records of course but the devoted following of, buy everything they create and see every show you can will not be there. In other words the love and devotion will not be there because love is a two-way street.

SO how did the Internet change music? It changed it in a huge way. The artist that spends that few minutes connecting in a big way to their supporters will be blogged about everywhere for everything they do to make the fans feel special and needed.

Record stores and bars have hours of operation, and if the musician can't be there then they can't be involved. They can't get new fans unless their music is out there to be heard or experienced live. The internet however is always on. Forums, blogs, and social networking sites let fans connect with other fans and the artists at any hour of the day or night. This means that many more people can actively take part in groups that cater around music. The musician may not be playing, but their fans are still partying. The after party may not be as fun without physical contact, but it never ends. The after party goes on as long as someone is posting about it.

So for all you musicians out there, keep the after party going on for eternity by getting involved with your fans. Remember fans are what decide how far your career goes. Why not make every effort you can to make sure it goes on forever.