Hey, back again to discuss my Music Marketing Project, except I bring to you much more information than the last as it is now completed and presented!
This project has by far been one of my favorite projects I've ever been assigned. It barely felt like an assignment; it was something I could thrive in and thoroughly enjoy, rather than something I needed to do for a grade. We began this project a little before mid-January, and turned it in a week ago, within that time period, I learned several things about the music industry and the most efficient ways to market new artists, or even situations as a whole.
Last post, I explained what music marketing consisted of and gave you examples. To reiterate, music marketing is "the process of raising awareness for one's music. It's all the glory of promoting and selling a song, music video, merch; anything that entails the artist's creation." Below, you'll see a couple more artists under the pop genre:
Research: For research, my partners and I divided sections of a music chart we were given to fill out with relevant information on modern marketing tactics for artists. With four slots to fill, we researched The Weeknd, Taylor Swift, Lil Nas X, and Beyonce. We came to discover that each artist has their unique way of marketing themselves and their work, which is how they gained their fanbase/target audience. We also researched their record labels, of course, since they are the ones planning much of their careers. Beyonce and Lil Nas are under Columbia Records, whereas The Weeknd and Taylor Swift are under Republic Records.
My partners and I worked well together on our research. We found that:
Beyonce has so much fame that not many people can do what she does. She drops albums out of the blue with no promotion done at all. Her team does this to keep her fans on their feet! They never know what to expect.
Lil Nas X promotes himself in a very comedic way. Not only does he do the whole social media album announcements, but he plays characters. Ones that catch a lot of attention. For example, he had a fake pregnant belly and "gave birth" the day of his album release. Lil Nas X and his team follow "any publicity is good publicity."
The Weeknd promotes his album releases heavily through social media, and once they're released, he plays the album's character at every live performance. For After Hours, he played a character that portrayed the glory of plastic surgery in Hollywood.
Taylor Swift drops easter eggs. Her fanbase knows her really well as she has been in the industry for over a decade. Her life is very publicized and this allows her drop hints to the point where her fans will start trending arguments on Twitter, Instagram, and Tiktok.
Brainstorming/Planning:
As discussed in my last blog post, this process went swell. Everyone in my group has similar taste in music and we all had similar goals with this project, so it was rather easy to agree on ideas and concepts. We spent about a full week discussing ways to develop genius marketing techniques for upcoming artists and ideas for the music video. The four of us weren't available to film all together, so when most of us could, we filmed anyway. And the ones who couldn't worked on the website and presentation so productivity was high. We made a group chat to communicate ideas back and forth at all times and it was a place where we also stored information that we needed.
With the research we conducted, we used our artists marketing strategies for inspiration. We made an Instagram, Tiktok, and Twitter account to maintain a close relationship with our friends and better promote Senior Trip's songs. We also wanted to do marketing that was unique, unlike having a social media presence, we brainstormed guerilla marketing and personalized sparklers that earn you a free download of "Carry On" with your purchase. Since our band's aesthetic is starry, we figured it was clever to manufacture our own product packaging for sparklers and release the song on July 2nd as Independence Day is two days later.
Production/Post Production:
Our music video took a total of four days to film and edit. We began filming on a Tuesday after school, but with complications from work, homework, and rides, we couldn't film again until Thursday, and then finally Sunday morning for nearly 4 hours. Editing was done by one member so everything was kept in one spot/on one device. My house was available to film at any day which was relieving as our group didn't have to stress over locations. Another member of our group is in our school's TV program! I say this with excitement because she able to rent our great camera equipment so we could produce a great music video.
Once the music video was edited, we took stills from the video and posted it on our social media accounts to "hype up" our fans until the release date.
Music Video "Carry On"
Presentation:
We each split the slides on our presentation. We each had around 4 slides to complete. Of course, we would pitch in here and there and give advice to each other on ways to potentially improve marketing, display, and creativity. Ideas were flowing smoothly between the four of us. On the day we presented our marketing plan, we each presented the slides we completed, that way we would be the most confident when pitching because we knew most about that slide. If there were anything any of us felt like adding, we would speak up about it without interrupting.
Reflection:
Any publicity is great publicity as the artist is still making money from all the attention no matter the circumstance
Budgeting is very important as new artists rarely have enough money to promote themselves in ways other artists would
The more people that work together, the more communication necessary.
Use your time wisely
Be more creative and fun because that is what attracts the most people
This project already has me thinking of ideas for my Cambridge Project. On behalf of timing, I believe that starting now, even in the slightest ways, will really give me a super boost! And, I know how to research topics much better now; this will benefit my work as I'll present solid information.
Stay cool,
Isabella Gonzalez
