How has YouTube, Vimeo and Social Media effected the music industry

Know days in the music industry YouTube has changed the way music content is produced, promoted, shared, and consumed. The means in which music is delivered and consumed is constantly being updated, Two factors that have played heavily into recent changes within the music industry are the increasing presence of the Internet in commerce, and the arrival of social media, from Facebook to Twitter and YouTube. These two seemingly unstoppable forces have once again rewritten all of the rules – just as vinyls, CDs, cassette tapes, and music television stations did before them. What changes exactly, what the Internet and social media bring? As well the ways in which music is bought shared and consumed.

Digital Downloads Replace CDsBefore listening to music online there was the compact disc standing as the reigning king in the music world. Sold by millions, lauded for its convenience and portability, and heralded as the final say in music technology, the CD looked, for a time, to be the pinnacle. And then the MP3 player was popularized with the introduction of the iPod in the early 2000s, and the music industry changed overnight. Suddenly, people were buying less CD’s and were increasingly buying digital albums instead, or even individual songs, which was a revelation at the time. And just like that, the CD all but went extinct. Music was highly bound to hard copies and specific playback media. People hardly imagined that soon music consumption would become fully digital and chiefly online. With the first music videos uploaded to YouTube, it has become way easier to find and listen to favorite artists for free. You may say, that there existed Napster and similar half-legal sources to get online music for free. Yes, they existed and even shook the stability of the music industry, but due to the partnerships with music labels, YouTube has become the first official source of free legal music.

Official music videos have become another YouTube privilege for users. It meant that that consumer no longer have to rely on MTV or purchase a CD. Today

YouTube is strongly associated with music videos. "Music" is the most popular category on YouTube. A good half of top videos on YouTube are music ones. And it's clear why: with such an immense music collection, fast search and almost no limitation and charges, Users listen to favorite artists and learn their discographies, watch music videos, discover new music, view hot music charts, and much more.

Goodbye MTV, Hello Online Music VideosThough the Internet may not be solely responsible for the death of music television (the stations themselves probably deserve some if not most of the blame), there can be no doubt that the Internet in general, and YouTube in particular, has made the very concept all but moot. Television simply can’t hope to compete with the Internet, either in terms of making media available on demand or in terms of making media available to as large an audience as possible. In its prime, MTV could reach a tremendously large audience – one that was engaged and the right demographic to boot. But this audience was nothing in comparison to the audience that YouTube can reach for example Consider this: Kanye West has 1.5 million subscribers on YouTube, and 1 BILLION total views. Justin Bieber However has 10 million subscribers and an estimate 7 billion total views highlighting the power of the internet as Justin Bieber has just as many hits on his YouTube channel as there are people on Earth.

Social Media Worldwide Word of MouthSocial media marketing programs usually center on efforts to create content that attracts attention and encourages readers to share it across their social networks. The resulting electronic word of mouth refers to any statement consumer’s share via the Internet (e.g., web sites, social networks, instant messages, news feeds) about an event, product, brand or company. When the underlying message spreads from user to user and presumably resonates because it appears to come from a trusted, third party source, as opposed to the brand or company itself, this form of marketing results in earned media rather than paid media. Justin Bieber stands as the perfect example of what can happen through social media. Through word of mouth alone, he went from a kid on YouTube to a worldwide sensation in a few short years. And that is because with platforms like Twitter and Facebook, word of mouth is no longer limited to you and your friends. Trending topics go worldwide not just in days or hours, but minutes. There can be no denying that social media has revolutionized the music industry. From how artists interact with their fans to the ways in which artists promote new music and gain new followers, social media has an active role to play.

New horizons for self-promotionYouTube has changed the way music is produced. Musicians are now able to record a track, upload it to YouTube and promote it accordingly. The video may be user-made or low budget. Nobody actually cares about the expensive cars and special effects. In March 2010, YouTube launched the "Musicians Wanted" program. Independent artists could started partnership directly with YouTube and get revenue from the advertising on their videos and also Singers and bands

can receive first-hand feedback about their new videos and even arrange hangouts with fans.

The YouTube video hosting service had created a social networking website on which practically any individual or organization with Internet access can upload videos that can be seen almost immediately by wide audiences. As the world's largest video platform, YouTube has had impact in the music industry.It used to be the goal of any singer or a band to get their music video played on MTV. Today artists want to see their music video go viral on YouTube and Vimeo. This is equally true about already popular and yet unknown singers. To say more, the majority of viral videos with millions of views are music videos by unknown artists. Such as "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepson, "Friday" by Rebecca Black, "The Fox" by Ylvis, and "Gangnam Style" by PSY. The latter is still the most watched video on YouTube of all time; it has more than two billion views.

Furthermore, YouTube has created an atmosphere in which every talented person can be rewarded for his or her creation. Artists no longer need to join the existing music labels or launch their own in order to get noticed. YouTube provides equal opportunities for success. We all know the so-called "YouTube Phenomenon", when artists were discovered and their careers went up due to exposure in YouTube. Pomplamoose, Alexa Goddard, Greyson Chance, Charice Pompengo, Timeflies and even Justin Bieber