This kind of overwhelming success \u2013 particularly for an album that received mixed reviews<\/a> \u2013 doesn\u2019t just happen naturally. A massive marketing machine was constantly roaring behind the scenes, pushing the music forward both before and after release.<\/p>\n Swift\u2019s machine facilitated a surprise cross-audience announcement on a sports podcast<\/a>, over 30 variants of the album, a one-weekend-only movie event<\/a>, a Spotify pop-up,<\/a> and, of course, endless Easter eggs \u2013 and that\u2019s just a few of her tactics.<\/p>\n Music promotion wasn\u2019t always like this. In fact, it has evolved significantly over the past five decades. So, how has marketing in the music space morphed into the beast that it is today, and what does it mean for the quality of the music and those who listen to it?<\/p>\n The Life of a Showgirl didn\u2019t just break all of those records naturally. There was a major machine working behind it.Credit: Alamy Stock Photo<\/p>\n Music promo\u2019s past<\/p>\n Loading<\/p>\n The only musicians to still boast more No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 than Swift are The Beatles. This is particularly impressive given they peaked during the 1960s and \u201970s, a time when music marketing was more linear and contained.<\/p>\n Marketing lecturer at Torrens University Dr Shane Murphy says promotion was largely handled by major record labels during this period.<\/p>\n \u201cThey funded promotion and had established networks with traditional media like print, TV and, most importantly, radio. Radio airplay was the key to being discovered early on, combined with television appearances.\u201d<\/p>\n Take The Beatles\u2019 1963 Please Please Me album. Following the major success of their single, the band pushed this album to the public as quickly as possible, appearing on UK TV shows such as Thank Your Lucky Stars to perform their songs and to get audiences familiar with their \u201cmop-top\u201d look. They also toured constantly, booking consecutive national tours and treating each city as a live promotional stop.<\/p>\n Dr Bo Pang, a senior lecturer in marketing at Swinburne, says word of mouth mattered above all else during this period given the relatively limited avenues through which artists could promote their work.<\/p>\n \u201cProduct placement was also a major factor, like where your LP was displayed at the record stores. Distribution deals and retail visibility were probably some of the most impactful marketing [tools],\u201d he says.<\/p>\n This kind of marketing ecosystem proved more challenging for smaller, emerging artists, who essentially had to hope their song would get picked up by the radio and have an immediate impact on listeners, thus paving the way for a carpet bombing media campaign.<\/p>\n Streaming killed the radio star<\/p>\n The music landscape changed rapidly between the 1980s and 2000s, as MTV and music videos gained traction and \u2013 later \u2013 streaming reared its head. Music promotion was suddenly digital, with artists creating their own websites and online forums facilitating conversations between fans.<\/p>\n At this point, Murphy says streaming became the \u201cnew radio\u201d for discoverability, later joined by social media.<\/p>\n MTV-era artists including Madonna leaned into music videos alongside more traditional marketing techniques.Credit: AP<\/p>\n \u201cModern music marketing still relies on traditional media, especially for older generations, but it has integrated with online communities … Traditional publicity is now being augmented with online publicity through podcasting and blogs.\u201d<\/p>\n Loading<\/p>\n While some may consider this \u201cDIY branding\u201d, associate professor of popular music at the University of Sydney Charles Fairchild says it\u2019s actually a \u201cradically cacophonous communications environment that often rewards the well known and the big\u201d.<\/p>\n This has significantly increased the risks inherent in marketing, Fairchild says, and has made people with \u201cdeep pockets and big campaigns\u201d more powerful and more easily able to reach greater numbers of people more frequently.<\/p>\n The marketing beast in full-force<\/p>\n Now, music marketing is everywhere. The growth of social media and streaming has essentially forced artists to apply an \u201calways-on\u201d approach, as the necessity to constantly be on people\u2019s feeds proliferates.<\/p>\n Holding back doesn\u2019t work any more, Pang says, because the game has changed from scarcity to visibility.<\/p>\n \u201cToday, it\u2019s all about getting out there fast, being in front of people and staying part of the conversation. Attention is the new currency. Artists can\u2019t afford to wait \u2013 they have to keep engaging, keep feeding the audience and fight for every eyeball, or in this case, every eardrum.\u201d<\/p>\n Much of this entails a more direct-to-consumer strategy. For example, British singer RAYE teased a snippet of the bridge from her recent song Where Is My Husband!, even filming an accompanying dance that other users went on to replicate. This went viral online before the song was even released.<\/p>\n Billie Eilish has done similar, initially releasing Ocean Eyes on SoundCloud to facilitate more intimate fan communication. Elsewhere, Murphy says rapper Lil Nas X taps into meme culture and \u201ccross-platform virality\u201d using TikTok challenges and meme marketing to fuel user-generated content.<\/p>\n Others allow fans to essentially create music with them. Murphy notes Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) who encourages fans to remix and share his band\u2019s material, blurring the boundaries between artist and consumer and fostering a collaborative culture.<\/p>\n Has marketing ruined the music?<\/p>\n The demands of marketing now sometimes outweigh the demands of the music itself.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s less about losing integrity and more about a shift in power,\u201d Pang says. \u201cGenerative AI and digital tools have lowered the entry barrier \u2013 anyone can create, produce and share music now. That\u2019s democratised the industry, which is exciting. But it also means the market\u2019s flooded. So, to stand out, artists have to work twice as hard on storytelling and engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n Taylor Swift is arguably the apex predator of music marketing today.Credit: AP<\/p>\n While some may think artistry and marketing can simply meld together, Fairchild says this is \u201cpatently ridiculous\u201d. Every aspect of music creation, he says, has become inextricable from commercial demands.<\/p>\n As effective as TikTok is for marketing, it doesn\u2019t guarantee long-term financial success for artists. Crystal Abidin, a professor in media, creative arts and social inquiry at Curtin University, says K-Pop group Fifty Fifty\u2019s Cupid went viral in 2023, but the original group disbanded later that year.<\/p>\n Loading<\/p>\n \u201cThey were catapulted into the spotlight \u2026 The song went super viral, but if you thought about whether this translated into a livelihood for the musicians \u2013 the original musicians actually didn\u2019t get very much out of it, money-wise or publicity-wise,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n TikTok, which Abidin says was initially created to promote musicians, is useful for exposure, but a combination of marketing tools is vital for long-term success.<\/p>\n On a positive note, it has never been easier to be a fan. Listeners can not only access new music, but directly engage with it at any point on various platforms. This is brilliant for the consumer, but can pose a challenge to the creator, Pang says, as retention and loyalty become harder to come by amid endless choice and constant distraction.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/526dfe39e81fac0b46e8b83ba340cf02f2128f09.jpeg\")
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<\/p>\n![\"Taylor](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1755422178_972_76d309436580d2a39f453f40f7c43b4c7fb121af.jpeg\")
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