Other sites to examine - YouTube and Twitter

Although almost every established artist has their own website in my opinion I don't think people look at it as often as they do other sites such as an artists Ustream, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube channel. There has been many developments in the technology industry which has been beneficial to other areas of the music industry such as marketing which has allowed artists to reach their audience in different ways.


Twitter
As I have my own Twitter account and because of the popularity of Twitter, I think it is safe to say that Twitter is  one of the best ways a fan can keep up with the life of a celebrity. Whenever I want to see when my favourite artist is releasing an album, new song or just want to be nosey and know what they are up to I go straight onto Twitter. A reason for its popularity is because it's such a quick way of communicating with the rest of the world and it is available as an app on smartphones and accessed via a PC/Laptop. With only 160 characters per tweet you can deliver a message quickly and effectively which is essential because music artists and celebrities in general are very busy. Furthermore it is a good way for artists to communicate with fans as they to can respond to them. For example some of my friends have received a reply from established artists such as 'Kimora Lee Simmons', followed by Rihanna (JEALOUS MUCH!) and has had a retweet from Nicki Minaj (ALSO VERY JEALOUS) 
- Lets see how Devlin makes use of his Twitter...

 The first thing we see here is exactly what I was talking about. Interaction with fans, updates on the artist's life and promotion of their music. Within his biography he tells us that he is currently on tour with Jessie J, who he is signed to and his current album that it out. Below on the timeline he gives fans an update on what he is doing/does on a daily basis. Furthermore below that we see a form of interaction with his fans which allows fans to feel much more closer to an artist. Twitter also provides a form of statistics for example out of my 500 followers only 1 follows Devlin. However many of my followers are American therefore he may be unknown to them or people might not like him enough to follow him. Though his 100,000+ followers tell us that he is quite popular for a UK artist.


YouTube
YouTube the new MTV? Being able to watch a video in your own comfort, in your own home and also receiving extras such as video acoustics, short documentaries and interviews. Why not? YouTube is also used as a form of distribution and exchange. Because there are millions of viewers worldwide YouTube advertise other artists through using them as backgrounds, headers and even pre-rolls.  

Features on Devlin's YouTube channel:

- Video uploads

- Extra footage and interviews

- List of his subscribers (almost the same as followers on Twitter though he has more followers than subscribers)

- Short biography

- Comments

- His own header and background which makes it 'his own' and personalises it

- Also YouTube videos provide a like or dislike button, therefore if you were to see a random video with 230,000 viewers,50,000 likes and 1000 dislikes your prone to watch it because it could be your next favourite music video and others like it