Report: Music Dominates Social Media

With a single tweet, Blake Shelton can alert 20.7 million fans to his upcoming single, or pass along details of his latest television appearance.

According to The Tennessean, social media is no longer a side dish in an artist's career. It is the lifeblood of the entire music industry.

And new research unveiled on Monday from the firm MusicWatch shows that the music industry — more than Hollywood, sports or politics — dominates social media.

MusicWatch conducted survey style research asking questions of people who use Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat regularly. The results of the research crystallized the reach, impact and popularity of music among social media users: Music is more popular on social media than any other categories of social media.

"The overall numbers are pretty impressive," said Russ Crupnick, managing partner at MusicWatch.

"When half of Twitter users are engaging in terms of getting updates from artists, bands or influencers, that's substantial. When you have almost 70 percent who are viewing photos, or videos or live events, we're not talking about niche. This is something that is a big, big deal to a subtantial part of their audience.

Among the study's findings:

• 44 percent of Facebook users like an artist or band
• 51 percent of Twitter users follow or get updates from an artist or influencer
• 68 percent of Snapchat users view or post  videos from a live event
• 56 percent of Instagram users follow, share posts or tag artists

Crupnick said one finding from the research that jumped out to him was the sheer number of ways that music fans interact with the artists they love.

A snapshot of the music fan on social media: