In today’s episode, Digital PR students and hosts Andrew, Griffin and Ray talk social media and musicians.

Over the last decade, musicians have come to use social media to take advantage of trends, collaborate with influencers and become influencers themselves. Our hosts reflect on some of the past successes and failures of musicians using social media from the widely successful 2016 Mannequin Challenge to Rita Ora’s 2014 failed attempt at a viral tweet on Halloween. What can we learn about PR professionals about viral trends, working with influencers, and how artists become influencers themselves? The hosts explore these questions and more.

Also in this episode, the hosts discuss how musicians have come to use social media during the pandemic. Virality and influencers are becoming increasingly important, particularly with the almost complete shutdown of live concerts and events for over a year in the United States and many other countries. From going viral on TikTok to “live concerts” on Twitch and video games, there’s been a lot of development and changes in how artists can share their music and keep themselves connected with their fans. Will these changes be permanent or are they temporary?

Further Reading:

https://ledgernote.com/blog/interesting/stupid-music-publicity-stunts/

https://web.archive.org/web/20201116100547/https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/edmprod-limited/viralcasestudies.pdf

https://www.questionpro.com/blog/consumers-trust-influencers-celebrities/