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Annotated Bibliography

How can Twitter be used to create a solid fan base for an independent musical artist?

Taylor Chick Professor Malcolm Campbell English 1103 3/18/13

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Annotated Bibliography Bruno, Antony. Twitter, Music, and Monetization. Billboard 123.10 (2011): 15. MasterFILE Complete. Web. 28 Feb 2013. Twitter, Music, and Monetization is an article featured in Billboard, an international magazine devoted to the know-how and current events of the music business. The article explores the relationship between musical artists and Twitter. Antony Bruno wrote the article in 2011. He was Billboards executive director of content and publishing for 7 years, during which this article was published. He is often considered a primary chronicler for musics transformation throughout the digital age. In the article, Bruno cites many statistics about the use of Twitter by musicians; including that in 2010, 11 of the top 20 most followed profiles on Twitter were musical artists. He labels Twitter as the word of mouth of the digital age of music, and word of mouth has always been a key essential to promoting an artist. The author argues that it is now vital for any musical artist to use social media as a marketing technique; otherwise they would not be able to compete with others in the industry. Bruno often cites quotes from his interview of Ross Hoffman, who is the head of Twitters Strategic Sales. The information is reliable; however the article was clearly the product of the authors opinion that Twitter is a key tool to generate music publicity. This article is valuable to me because it outlines the general relationship between Twitter and musical artists. While there is bias, there are still statistics I can draw out of the article; however I understand the difference between what is fact and what is the authors opinion. Gordon, Kylee Swenson. "Survival of the Artist." Electronic Musician 28.9 (2012): 22. MasterFILE Complete. Web. 18 Feb. 2013.

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The article Survival of the Artist was featured in Electronic Musicians September 2012 issue. Electronic Musician is a magazine that covers news and information from all aspects of music production. Kylee Swenson Gordon, a writer and editor at Electronic Musician and a recording artist herself, wrote the article. Survival of the Artist discusses the importance of a fan base in the role of becoming a successful artist. In the article Gordon interviews several people who cover different aspects of the industry including: solo artist Amanda Palmer, Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips, Spotify advisor D.A. Wallach, Glees music supervisor PJ Bloom, Linkin Parks manager Ryan DeMartis, and Pandora founder Tim Westergreen. The article brings forth many different opinions about the necessary factors to success, but they all conveyed the same basic idea that a successful artist must identify and connect with their fans. The two major ways of doing this are touring and social media. Ryan DeMartis emphasizes that an artist cannot create a strong fan base solely using the Internet, they must tour. He believes that touring produces a fan base with authentic and true fans. Tim Westergreen makes the point that when it all comes down to it, a successful artist must have talent. This source is valuable because it utilizes the experiences and opinions of people who have experience in all aspects of the music industry. The article is biased towards the idea that a solid fan base is a key to success; however the author does an adequate job of presenting different opinions on how to create that fan base and does not portray a bias to any specific method. The information in this article is very valuable because it represents many different areas in the spectrum that is the music industry. A band manager is going to have different experiences and think differently than an industry executive, or even an actual band member. My inquiry question already establishes the fact that generating a fan base

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is important, and focuses on Twitter as a means to create that fan base. This article is helpful because it presents the argument that other ways besides Twitter may be more effective and it gives real-life examples of those other options. Hracs, Brian J. "A Creative Industry in Transition: The Rise of Digitally Driven Independent Music Production." Growth And Change 43.3 (2012): 442-461. EconLit. Web. 25 Feb. 2013. This academic paper investigates the music industrys shift to a digital landscape. The author addresses several issues including illegal file sharing and the challenge of power record companies face. An adequate amount of information presented in this paper is irrelevant to my inquiry question and topic of my paper; however there are two things the author talks about which I utilized: the modern restructuring of the definition of creative talent and the structures of digitally driven independent music. Both of these subjects provide solid preliminary information that is needed so my readers can establish groundwork on my topic. In order to understand why an independent musical artist may turn to Twitter, the reader needs to first understand and become acquainted with the independent artist. This academic paper was written by Brian Hracs, a graduate student in the Department of Social and Economic Geography at Uppsala University in Sweden. The essay was published in the academic journal, Growth and Change. The author sites a multitude of reliable sources including other journals and studies conducted in academia. All information in the text is directly cited to these sources and therefore traceable and accessible. Smith, Clyde. "Instead of Building a Fake Following, Why Not Build a Fanbase?" Web log post. Hypebot. Skyline Music, 31 Dec. 2012. Web. 4 Mar. 2013.

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The article Instead of Building a Fake Following, Why Not Build a Fanbase was published on Hypebot, a blog maintained by the national recording agent company Skyline Music. Hypebot has been heralded as one of the best music industry and technology news blog, reaching an average 75,000 readers monthly. The article was written by Clyde Smith, who is currently a Senior Contributor at Hypebot and is the founder of Hip Hop Press and Crowdfunding for Musicians. He received his PhD in Cultural Studies from Ohio State University in 2000. The article focuses on building a fanbase through Twitter. Smith defines the difference between fake followers and real followers, and gives information on how to gain those real followers. The article brings forth several significant points about the technique of following thousands and thousands of people in hopes of getting your number of followers up. Within the first paragraph of the article, Smith declares his opinion that following fewer people who are invested and clear fans of your music is ultimately the best tactic to go with. This article was written for a blog so its bound to be based on opinion. Smith does not make reference to a single statistic or declared fact; instead he cites his experience with his own Twitter and marketing for various artists. I do not plan to depend on this source for my paper because the opinions expressed by Clyde Smith lacked definitive evidence; however this article brought to light a different side of the idea of creating a fanbase off of Twitter that I had not seen in my research thus far.