Artist Profiles and Online Personas

“I think social media has to be looked at by artists in two different ways: first, as a way they can reach their fans directly, and second – just as important – as a means that a lot of the media use to write stories.” Harriet Gibsone

Ever since social media was introduced musicians found it essential in promoting their work and with it came an online personality. From a PR perspective, as stated in Gibsone’s article No such thing as bad PR: Is social media saving or damaging the music industry?, artists have two online personas, one that comes about with their interaction with fans, while other deals with what the media can use to write stories about them. Therefore, artists have to be smart with their social media usage because they are under the scrutiny of both their fans and the media.

“Many artists became what they posted on their socials. They assumed identities, they lost their identities, and they made up imaginary identities as part of their strategy for success.” Wolfgang Gartner

Gibsone’s article goes well with Gartner’s Hashtag Blessed: Music’s Unfortunate Social Media Side Hustle, because he says that artists either become their online identity, lose their identity or create an identity. Therefore, musicians are faced with the dilemma of learning how to maintain an active role on social media, while upholding their likability and sociability. According to Gartner, these are the two most important traits to establish a successful online presence, and are traits a likable artist embodies. Gartner defines the sociability of the artist by their interaction with other artists, which can lead to future collaborations or simple relationships that benefit both parties.

“We are now in an age where the artist—their image, personality, online presence, and overall profile—is just as much of a product being sold as the music that artist makes.” Wolfgang Gartner

There are multiple examples today of artists that place an important emphasis on their image, equally as on their music. Gartner states that many musicians now have achieved their success not completely through their music capabilities, but by the amount of followers they have. So, while their music should have been the reason they made their money, in reality they sold their image.

“Some artists branded themselves and promoted themselves to the point of becoming veritable online reality stars, before they had even released any music.” Wolfgang Gartner

Here are some examples of artist I think sell their image more than their music:

Selena Gomez and Ariana Grande on the other hand depend on their past television successes. For that reason, they already had images and they simply built off of and slowly transitioned into a different image. But since they had many fans prior their singing careers that image is still important in selling them as musicians.

Selena also doesn't have the strongest voices, but she has cultivated this likable persona on and offline. But not only does she have support from her prior work in television, but exposure from dating another high-profile celebrity Justin Bieber.

“Cultivating an audience on social media does, of course, have its benefits. Artists can hotwire ideas and newly recorded material to fans who give real-time feedback, and others can gradually expose a curated version of themselves that quashes any tabloid rumours.” Harriet Gibsone