What is the Effect of Social Media on Underground Hip Hop Artists?
Social Media and Hip Hop music are two of the most influential forms of expression in America today. I chose this topic because the two have become more intertwined as the popularity of social media has definitely had its influence on the modern day hip hop culture. What is the effect of Social Media on Underground Hip Hop Artists? The main effect of social media on these artists is the ability to promote their music and their projects all on their own without having to shell out huge amounts of money to outside companies. This leads a very positive influence because any artist with talent and a dream can now pursue their dream into becoming a reality more now than they could 20 years ago. While there are many positives for artists to have access to social media and be able to promote themselves and interact with their fans at a click of a button, you do have to also look at the potentially negative side of social media in the hip hop world. Many artists have grown accustomed to being able to keep a part of their lives secret and separate from their fame and careers. With the emergence of social media, privacy for celebrities and their families have been put in jeopardy. Social media has also become a way for artists to interact directly with fans, which has become every publicist's nightmare because it means that the gatekeepers can be bypassed completely. (SXSW 2012: Panel Addresses How Social Media is Affecting Hip-Hop and the Music Industry (The Hollywood Reporter) With fans have access to social media in the palm of their hands, if a fan sees an artist do something humiliating, rude, violent or stupid, it is easy for that fan to instantly blast that information out to the public in 140 characters or less. They can also easily attach video or pictures of said incident if they deem necessary. Now artists have to be more careful with their actions every minute of every day of their lives. The positive outlook of social media to hip hop artists is that there are more and more ways to get your music heard across the world without ever being played on a radio station once. While hard copy CD sales are still a factor in today’s world, with media outlets such as ITunes, Google Play, Xbox Music, Napster, Spotify, Beats Music, Amazon.com and Pandora amongst many other digital music outlets that are available, artists have worldwide range for their music to be heard at the click of a mouse. They can also garner real time feedback to their music via ratings on the media outlet where their albums are purchased, Facebook and Twitter as well for a more personal interaction with you fan base. It’s great to see local artists without big name production behind them, getting the same exposure opportunities as the bigger name celebrities out there and they get the satisfaction of knowing they did it all by themselves. Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube provide hip-hop artists with the opportunity to launch new music and products, push upcoming concert performances in local venues, or simply connect directly with their avid fans without having to get permission or clearance from their record companies or attorneys. (Social Media in the hip-hop industry, Communities Digital News)

With the consistent evolvement of technology, the sky is the limit for music artists in today’s digital led world. It’s difficult to predict exactly where technology is going to take music, mainly because the possibilities really are limitless. Artists simultaneously have the most ability to be creative that they’ve ever had while having more opportunities than ever before to both interact and capitalize on their achievements. (#NewRules: How Social Media and Technology Has Changed Hip-Hop and Other Popular Music | Green Label (Green Label) The technological impact on music over the years has been astounding. We went from 8-track players, to cassettes, to