Social media slammed down the barricade between fans and artists, making it a riveting time for super-fans and an alarming time for public figures savoring their personal lives.
We are living in the digital era of music - streaming services are key and Instagram is the marketing platform of choice. An artist's brand is determined by more than just their music, album covers, outfits and live performances. Now, personality and social media presence are make or break considerations for rising artists to seize the attention of potential fans.
Some listeners are drawn to music because they find solace in relatable lyrics. Social media makes is even easier to find common ground together. The more personable you seem, the more fans you garner. However, it gets dangerous when followers feel an obligation to know everything about an artists' life.
The question is - how much sharing is too much? What should artists keep private and what should they share? Everyone has a unique dynamic online and there isn't one right way to do it.
Movements vocalist Patrick Miranda deliberately remains low key on social media but agrees that it is all about balance.
"I have learned to keep my private life private and I don't discuss too much of what I'm doing on a day to day basis," said Miranda. "Just like anyone else, I am going to update my social media but at the same time, unless I'm really close to people chances are they aren't going to know a whole lot about what I'm doing."
Post Malone is a superstar thriving on the power of social media and also experiencing the pressures of the constant exposure. In a recent tweet, he shared a glimpse into the hardships of having a constant barrage of attention on social media.
On the other end of the spectrum, Kublai Khan vocalist Matt Honeycutt limits his social media usage and believes his career and his life are better off with a minimal online presence.
"I choose to distance myself from it because it is still a relatively extremely new thing and I feel like the human mind and the human body hasn't caught up to the advances in technology. I feel like most people don't know how to use it without abusing it," said Honeycutt.
As fans of music I think we need to do our part to respect boundaries. It is easy to disassociate the humanity behind the icon on your Twitter timeline but there are real people behind every account (unless it's a robot...but that's not what this blog post is about).
Artists will share what they want with us but we cannot pry at the intimate details of their personal affairs including their dating life, home life, friendships, etc.
A musician's job is to give us music to enjoy and they don't have any other obligations - anything else they share is just a bonus.
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