This paper sets out to explore Swedish music brand building and how the brands are built and managed strategically. Normally this kind of communication and marketing demands high level strategy, but research shows that the social web rather demands flexibility. It is more important for a brand on the social web to excel in execution, rather than planning. It is equally important to create engaging content that helps content to be shared.

The study has a qualitative approach, based on deep interviews with stakeholders in the music industry: artists, communication strategists, management and record companies, both independent and major ones. The music industry is a diversified: from small independent artist without representation or money, to big artists with manager, record company and marketing professionals working for them. Of course these different conditions effect the ways of reaching out with music and reaching audiences. The aim of this study is to understand how the online communication work is created and steered in practice in this industry, and the power relations between the different agents in it.

The study shows that social media have changed the ways organisations music brands are communicating with target groups and building brands profoundly: the social channels are central in connecting to customers and fans but hard to navigate and. Therefor strategies are needed to do it in a desirable way, but the execution of the strategies and plans largely.

In order to steer the communication in the right direction, there is an experienced need of having a flexible strategy. Everything can happen when communicating with the audience, if you are a communication expert or not. Therefor openness, flexibility and a fluid strategy is absolutely necessary, to be able to follow and react to what happens. How this is done in practice is based on level of professionalization and independence regarding management and also due to personality and interest of the artist. In some case management and the strategists are curating the content in social media, both by using data, listening to and adapting to the target groups. In other case the artist is “let loose” in social media for real, sometimes according to plan and sometimes totally out of this.