Social Media's Impact On The Music Industry

The music industries of today are not like they once were decades ago. There was a time where the industry was ruled by the record label; the artist, merely an employee. But as time has moved on, and various factors and structural forces have changed and shaped the industries into new ways of thinking, where they've had to adapt to these changes in order to survive. Artists are now becoming more independent, and are able to produce and sell their own music, without the need of a record label. With the advent of social media, promotion of their own work has never been easier. Synchronised release days are not a new strategy, for the past several decades new albums in the United States, are released on a Tuesday. Before 1989, any new albums would have generally been released on a Monday, but the reason for the shift was that some retail companies may expect late deliveries, meaning that their competitors who received their deliveries earlier could commence sales on the item, and in effect, many companies would lose out. (Caulfield, 2015). In recent years, the record industry has been considering a standard global release day. As an alternative to the UK release date on a Monday,

The apps serve to provide the consumer with an experience, and to promote a sense of individuality. According to Pierre Bourdieu in his book Distinction: A Social Critique & the Judgement of Taste (1986), he describes how one's taste is determined by certain social factors, and that this taste determines who we are as individuals. The consumer, who passively consumes what is being presented to them, through the media or other means, longs to be accepted as a singular entity of self importance. Capitalism feeds off of this idea of independence, seeing it as a direct opportunity to make