Music Sharing and the Rise of the Amateur Artist

Since social media burst onto the scene in the early 2000s, users were given the ability to produce, collaborate, and share ideas to a large scale audience. In a way, a new form of media culture had been created. Henry Jenkins dubbed this culture the *Participatory Culture -* or, a culture where there are low barriers to entry, strong support for creating and sharing one's work, and where members feel some degree of social connection to one another. With the advancements in worldwide sharing capabilities (via social media platforms) and various outlets for producing, music creation and sharing has become more and more prevalent.

## Music Sharing Platforms

With the relative ease-of-use in creating music and distributing it, many different platforms have become available for sharing artists' music. There are a number of sites in which users are able to share their creations:

* YouTube
* Soundcloud
* Reddit
* YourListen
* Bandcamp
* Reverbnation
* Datpiff
* Twitter (#Music)

## The Era of the Amateur Artist

Advancements in technology and the prevalence of technology to the average consumer has provided many with the capabilities to create, record, produce, and share their music in the comfort of their own homes with little to no cost at all. This low barrier to entry and access to many free music creating applications and sites, the average user can easily produce their own music. This has created a rise in the amateur, aspiring artists all vying to get their music heard. Soundcloud, arguably the most popular music sharing platform, has seen a drastic, exponential climb in number of users since its opening in 2007. In 2009, Soundcloud hit one million users, by 2011 it had ten million, and now in 2015, Soundcloud has close to three hundred million users (Bloomberg Business). Clearly, more and more people are attempting to get their music out there.

## How Music Spreads

With the ease of sharing one's music and the abundance of platforms, like Soundcloud, dedicated to sharing music, the up-and-comers and the amateur artists are enjoying the luxury and ease of spreading their music. The spreading of the music, however, is contingent upon participatory culture. Henry Jenkins asserts that content, such as music, becomes *spreadable* based on the participation of not only the user himself, but of the relevant community as a whole. Furthermore, Jenkins claims the media form (in this case, music) "will become popular if it allows consumers to participate in the production of meaning and is transformed into a cultural resource through which they communicate something that matters to other members of their community" (2009). That is participatory culture. This also explains why sharing music is becoming so popular and the number of users on sites like Soundcloud continues to rise - members feel as if they are a part of a community much larger than themselves and they can contribute to a fast-growing culture.

## References

"Participatory Culture." *Wikipedia*. Wikipedia, n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2015. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participatory\_culture>.

Jenkins, Henry. "If It Doesn’t Spread, It’s Dead (Part Six): Spreadable Content ." *Confessions of an Aca-Fan:The Official Weblog of Henry Jenkins*. N.p., 23 Feb. 2009. Web. 21 Oct. 2015. <http://henryjenkins.org/2009/02/if\_it\_doesnt\_spread\_its\_dead\_p\_5.html>.

Walker, Rob. "Can SoundCloud Be the Facebook of Music?." *Bloomberg Business*. Bloomberg, 10 July 2015. Web. 29 Oct. 2015. <http://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2015-07-10/can-soundcloud-be-the-facebook-of-music->.