The Relationship between Musicians and their Fans on Social Networking Sites: A Look into Musicians as Human Brands

Abstract

For decades, music has been regarded as an important part of individuals‘ lives. Technological advances have provided music consumers with unlimited, easy, and low-to-no cost access to all kinds of music. Increases in digital sales and digital piracy combined with the subsequent drastic slump in sales of physical format music (such as CDs) have threatened the survival of musicians and other parties in the music industry. Loyal fans, however, have been found to help musicians succeed as they are likely to conduct actions that benefit the musicians, such as attending concerts, purchasing music and merchandise products, and not pirating their music. Social Networking Sites (SNS) have been reported by the news media as a tool which may aid musicians to successfully gain and maintain their fan base loyalty. Although the presence of companies and brands on SNS has been examined extensively, empirical research into the commercial use of SNS by musicians has been limited to celebrities in general and primarily focuses on the celebrities‘ point of view. Little attention has been given specifically to musicians‘ SNS from their fans‘ perspective. Focusing on musicians as human brands, this study examines fans‘ perceptions of musicians‘ SNS, and their subsequent impact on fans‘ human brand equity associations (such as trust, satisfaction, and attachment) and ultimately brand loyalty. Three distinctive components of SNS were examined to evaluate fans‘ perceptions of musicians‘ SNS: 1) fans‘ ability to be active, 2) musicians‘ posts, and 3) other fans‘ posts. As the measures for these SNS components were newly developed, an extensive quantitative research methodology was conducted; this included a three-staged pilot and main online survey tests on 183 and 658 fans respectively, followed by structural equation modelling (SEM) data analysis. The study found that fans, on musicians‘ SNS, were looking for active interpersonal one-to-one connections with the musicians through viewing authentic and sincere musicians‘ posts and being active, but not through viewing musicians‘ other fans‘ posts. The interpersonal relationship with musicians sought out by fans on SNS was found to directly and positively influence fans‘ attachment and indirectly influence fans‘ satisfaction, trust, and ultimately loyalty. These findings suggest that the use of SNS by musicians emphasises the importance of the social (two-way), yet dyadic and personal, relationship between musicians and fans and differentiates musicians from other companies/brands and several other types of celebrities (such as politicians) on SNS. The findings of this thesis contribute novel perspectives theoretically and methodologically to the SNS, branding, and music literature by looking into the fans‘ perspective of musicians‘ commercial use of SNS, while considering musicians as human brands. This research also has implications for musicians and other practitioners within the music industry, and SNS developers as it highlights specific ways in which SNS should be used in order to gain and maintain fan base loyalty and thus, survival in the industry.