These days, many artists are gaining a lot of notoriety and success because of the emerging partnership of the internet. Artists and people alike can watch their favorite television shows, movies, and no longer have to dependent on reading the headlines and storylines in the newspaper or magazines. The internet has made the ability for one artist to have access to many more people than ever before. The internet has given the artist the ability and confidence to create valuable content without any real restrictions. The artist today is less concentrated on performances, footwork, stage presence and more concerned with how they look on the Instagram Live or Facebook Live post. The music industry has definitely changed and is more digital than ever before. Music distribution, promotion is online, magazines are online, email is online, videos are online, merchandise is online and where we find our news about our favorite major or independent artist is all online. The digital artist however, has lost sight on engagement. The normal success engagement that goes along with music campaigns and interacting with the public, fans, radio DJ’s, bloggers, potential fans, and just anyone not on the internet has become a lost art. In contrast, the record sales have become jumbled into two spectrums. The major artists are eating up a majority of the demo graphic’s capital, especially in concert revenue, merchandise, and digital streams.

The independent artists have to become even more creative than ever before. The common notion is that the internet or “information superhighway”, would make it easy for all artists to connect to their fan base, however this is not true. The Digital artist has gotten lazy and is totally dependent on the success of “likes” and “shares” in order to sustain any reputable career, and “hopefully” convince people to buy or stream and compete for attention against the major artists. The Digital Artist has to learn to be more self-sufficient and rely on people and engagement, rather than “likes”, “algorithms” and “shares”. The Age of the Digital Artist is not coming to a close, anytime soon, so the lifespan of the independent artist depends on how crafty and educated on the music business the artist is and can remain. Whether we want to admit it, the internet has spoiled us and isn’t slowing down at all. The success of the Digital Artist depends on the Art of survival.