When it comes to the music industry, an artist creates a song, the label sells the song and then the listener buys it? In today's world, the music industry is well versed in digital downloads, music videos, file sharing and now social media. Social media is the voice of an individual and captures joy, emotions or thoughts in the form of images, tweets or status updates. It’s an accessible space for staying in touch and reaching out. Social media allows listeners to share their favorite artists, post their favorite songs, and create a real connection with the artists. The music industry has changed because social media is a necessary tool to connect with listeners. Social media is necessary to maintain a career in the music industry. Connecting through Twitter, Instagram or Facebook can reach millions of people. Social media is the new big thing in marketing and maintaining a career in the music industry. With millions, if not billions of users actively using these sites, it is a promotional tool to profit from them. “91% of mobile Internet access is for social activities and more than 1.15 billion users access Facebook” (Luu). These numbers are shocking and social media users see messages sent multiple times in different ways. “Social Media connects Billboard Music to Twitter in late May to provide real-time charts to listeners connected via Twitter” (Brusuelas). This is a perfect example of what the future will be like. Twitter and Billboard music will allow people to see new upcoming music and provide a way for musicians to interact with consumers. Social media is shaping the music industry and is necessary to get the message out and interact with listeners. With the number of listeners joining at this point...... middle of paper ...... This new way of promoting caught the attention of many and his fans were able to experience this project first. Not far from Jay Z, Beyoncé used Twitter to announce that her full album and videos were on sale without anyone knowing she was working on an album. “Beyoncé seems to have gained a preternatural understanding of the online zeitgeist over the past couple of years. Its music and corresponding images are conducive to highly tweetable, hashtaggable, rebloggable, and giffable bites” (CITE). These are artists who use social media as promotion of their own work. In Beyoncé's case, her album promotion budget might have required her to send a single tweet including the link to iTunes. Of course, her fans rushed to buy the album, which was the perfect way for her to contact her fans directly and let them know about her secret album first..