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Home , Anjunabeats, Bibi Zhou, Dennis Lloyd, Everything But The Girl, Jane Zhang, Mason Ramsey

06-07 Tools For Artists 08-09 Campaigns Foals, K Flay, Michael Stipe, Bring Me The Horizon 10–15 Behind The Campaign- BrainStorm

OCTOBER 16 2019 sandboxMUSIC MARKETING FOR THE DIGITAL ERA ISSUE 238

REMIXED MESSAGES HIT SATURATION POINT COVERFEATURE September 2019, he tweeted that the first of 25 remixes of the song would be dropping that night. Quite how true this turns out to be remains to be seen. (At the time of writing only one official of the song has been released.) But the fact that people seem inclined to believe him tells us something about the industry we now work in. Remixes have, from their inception, served as a tool to drive sales by crossing over to other markets, often very successfully. But it is in the digital era, with the freedom it affords from physical distribution, that the remix (and, indeed, collaboration) has come into its own as a way of sustaining interest in songs and REMIXED MESSAGES breaking new markets. “Remixes are more important than ever, especially in the streaming era,” says :)ally head of digital strategy, Patrick Ross. “They have always traditionally been used to draw that attention back to something that has been released. Because how long can you keep talking about the same single?” In keeping our attention, the release of ‘’ was a masterclass. The REMIXES HIT SATURATION POINT song was originally released in December If in doubt, bang out a remix. That was the rule of thumb in the 1990s during The Great Multi-Formatting 2018. Four months later, with ‘Old Town Road’ riding a wave of interest in its country/ Wars – mainly as a way of padding out the tracks on CD single 2. But remixes have had to take on a trap fusion, X teamed up with very different role in an age of streaming and TikTok. We look at the way has used multiple on a remix that sent the song to the top of remixes to keep the ball in the air and how they can not only prolong the life of a track but also the US charts, tapping into Cyrus’s country bring it into new genres, new playlists, new platforms and even new markets. fanbase.

n 2002, P Diddy and The Bad Boy had on the remix and, in particular, the art of ‘Old Town Road’ had no fewer than four Family released an album that made an the remix as sales tool. official remixes, their staggered releases Iaudacious claim – We Invented the Remix. Lil Nas X is the latest – and arguably helping to keep the song at the top of the US They didn’t, of course – US most extreme – in the long line of hip-hop charts for a record-breaking 19 consecutive Tom Moulton had the art pretty much locked producers to use remixes and cleverly placed weeks. down in the late 1970s – but it is hard to guest features to push his music into new ‘Panini’, his latest single, may go argue with the influence that US hip-hop has commercial territories. His massive hit single ever further into the extremes: on 12th

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The second official remix, by electronic the 1990s saw Everything But The Girl and Coldplay had a history of commissioning Go Back’] continued to climb, we saw the music producer Diplo, was released on 29th Tori Amos score unlikely hits thanks dance remixes in the 2000s, with Avicii remix hit in markets where ‘Nevermind’ had April 2019; a third followed on 12th July, with to remixes from and Armand van remixing their 2011 track ‘Every Teardrop performed best, which further added to the Cyrus featuring alongside rapper Young Helden, while more recently Cedric Gervais’ Is A Waterfall’. The band would go on to momentum of the original. Six months after Thug and Mason Ramsey, who gained fame dance remix of Lana Del Rey’s ‘Summertime collaborate with the late Swedish producer release, the original cracked Spotify’s Top 50 when a video of him yodelling ’ Sadness’ sent the song up the global charts. on 2014’s ‘A Sky Full Of Stars’, a track that in France; we started charting in Italy as well. ‘’ at a Walmart store went topped the Billboard Hot Beyond the original version charting, we also viral. The fourth, ‘Old Town Road (Seoul Town chart, in an example of a carefully thought started to see the remix charting in Spotify’s Road Remix)’, arrived on 24th July, featuring out, fundamentally simpatico, crossover Top 200 as well.” The original version of RM from boy band BTS. between band and remixer. ‘Never Go Back’ has now passed 150m The songs benefited from US chart rules Dance remixes are probably the most streams globally, with the Robin Schulz that allow remixes to count towards the popular remix in this regard. But – as Lil Nas remix racking up an additional 25m plays. original song’s total, so long as they don’t X’s remix collaboration with Billy Ray Cyrus Vinikoor adds that the remix of ‘Never differ too wildly. “In general, if it’s similar in proved – remixes can push artists into all Go Back’ allowed the label to return to lyrics, music and production, they’re rolled kinds of different genres. YouTube channels such as The Vibe Guide into one,” Billboard’s Gary Trust told NPR. Arista Records’ VP of marketing Brian and MrRevillz who had backed ‘Nevermind’, To prove it is not all about Lil Nas X, Vinikoor explains how a Robin Schulz remix securing further support from many of them. though, here we outline the five key remix did precisely this with Dennis Lloyd’s 2019 strategies that can help your song enjoy song, ‘Never Go Back’. 2) The remix that introduces prolonged success. “Dennis Lloyd had a song ‘Nevermind’ your song to new which was a big streaming hit, but leaned geographical markets 1) The remix that pushes Choosing the right remixer can be a a little more in the dance space, whereas your song into new genres tricky balance. A bad remix can ‘Never Go Back’ leaned alternative. Our goal in As new markets open up in the globalised come across as a cynical land releasing the remix for ‘Never Go Back’ was to , artists are increasingly This may well be the classic remix, whereby grab and cheap cash in; a good reach fans of ‘Nevermind’ and find a potential looking outside their traditional labels and artists enlist fashionable remix can open up new markets, audience we had yet to reach with the original geographical fanbases for listens – be it producers in the genre of their choosing to inject credibility and even lead to version of ‘Never Go Back’,” he says. Western artists looking to break China, push for a crossover. Two classic cases in a lasting working relationship. “While the original version [of ‘Never K-pop artists trying for that US hit or Latin

2 | sandbox | ISSUE 238 | 16.10.2019 COVERFEATURE A WORD OF WARNING Remixes are wonderful things. But no one – be they fan, one shot at their flagship playlists – perhaps two in DSP or radio programmer – will have infinite patience for exceptional circumstances – and maybe a couple of one track, however artful/funny/clever the remix. chances at their generic and mood playlists. So you Music Ally’s Patrick Ross warns about remix burn need to make your chances work. out. “You have to take the track to a different place. Remixes should be properly spaced out in marketing Sometimes that is to say this track fits in this world and plans so as to not lose momentum or overload your we can put it into a club world or a chill-out world that it fans. And labels and artists should know when to quit. doesn’t fit into otherwise,” he explains. US country Jake Owen and rapper Lil Wayne “There certainly is the danger of going too far. I find it both recorded verses for planned remixes of ‘Old Town annoying where there are a billion different remixes of Road’ that were never officially released – and you can something. Come on: how many times are they going understand why. The remix of ‘Old Town Road’ with Billy to remake the same damn song? But a good set of Ray Cyrus has 424m views on YouTube; the version with American singers wanting to make it big a new vocal in Mandarin alongside Chinese tastefully curated remixes is a very useful tool.” and Mason Ramsey has 29m; and ‘Old in Europe. singer Jeanie. The same thing applies to DSPs. A remix may provide Seoul Road’ has 13m. This all suggests a serious case of the perfect opportunity to approach them again with diminishing returns that makes the 25 remixes of ‘Panini’ In this, the remix is playing an Outdustry’s Alex Taggart tells music:)ally increasingly important role. Sometimes that the secret sauce to the song’s success your track. But, realistically, you’re only going to get seem very unlikely to see the light of day. the role of the remix is to merely allow the was “research, respect and approaching the artist to introduce strategically placed guest Chinese artist on a level playing field”. features, rather than to dramatically shake “The song is what matters in warm, neo-classical soundscapes for can also help to push your songs onto a up the song. Reggaeton has a history of China, so the song has to be laser- comfort, reflection and calm”. The album DSP’s hugely influential mood/situation using the same instrumental, with very targeted to approach the Chinese also features meditative commentary playlists. minor edits as an excuse to allow big-name market,” he says. “I think the key was in English from yogi Elena Brower. Fairly obviously, an acoustic take on artists to jump onto songs. Sech’s recent that Charli herself was driving it; our job was label manager Gareth Jones your song could help it onto Spotify’s track, ‘Que Más Pues’ featuring Justin to bring in the local resources and knowhow says that they decided to translate this Acoustic Hits, Acoustic Hits, Acoustic Quiles, was originally released in late 2018, to make her vision happen.” (See box pn into different languages “not to make Covers and Acoustic Throwbacks playlists with a sonically similar remix following in page 5 for more.) money but to hopefully provide an easier to name but a few. Or you could take a April 2019 that featured Quiles alongside ‘Boys’ hasn’t made XCX into a household gateway to entry for French-/Mandarin-/ more intriguing sidestep. “I thought it was , Nicky Jam, Farruko, Dalex and name in China… yet. But Taggart says it has Spanish-speaking audiences”. interesting that Sam Smith did a Lenny Tavárez. “really set her up in an interesting position”. At other times, the remix in question is “When agents are negotiating, they can 3) The remix that takes your very carefully targeted towards a specific say, ‘Chinese people want her there because song onto new playlists market, as with the Chinese version of she has done special stuff for China before,’” Charli XCX’s ‘Boys’. The song came about he says. A remix that takes your song into new after the singer’s management met Above & Beyond took a similarly musical genres will also make it of interest with music industry services company polyglot approach for their recent yoga to new generic playlists. (At the time of Outdustry, who then set up a meeting with album, Flow State. The band released writing, for example, Coldplay, CHVRCHES, Beijing DJ and producer Howie Lee. The the album on their Anjunabeats label in OneRepublic and Years & Years all feature two got along, leading Lee to remix ‘Boys’ July 2019, offering “a 49-minute, 17-track on Spotify’s Dance Hits playlist thanks to in his Beijing club style, with XCX recording journey of ambient compositions and remixes and collaborations.) But remixes

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“To really make stuff go on TikTok requires a lot of understanding. We tell labels all the time: you can’t just take a song and throw it on TikTok and hope it goes well,” Pace explained at the Sandbox Summit. Flighthouse account coordinator Adi Azran tells music:)ally that for a song to be “TikTokable” there are a few separate element to look out for. “One: sometimes it’s just a straight-up great catchy song that works. Some songs have over hundreds of thousands of videos and there is no ‘trend’ followed by everyone. It’s just a great song that people like using in their videos,” Azran says. “Two: strong lyric cues or punch lines – meditation trend and getting onto these great lyric cues provide inspiration for users playlists.” to develop their own stories. The lyrics can Universal Music describes the mix as be the ‘soundtrack’ of the video, or the lyric “lilting chimes and choral tones [that] are can be used as the character’s line in the punctuated by soothing harp melodies with video. The songs that do the best are ones meditative rain sound effects blended into that can have a lot of different scenarios the background”, while the accompanying created involving the line.” “Slow-TV style video” has passed 513k And finally, “Three: great sound cues. YouTube views at the time of writing. These are certain sounds within the song Above & Beyond’s Flow State, meanwhile, that can also dictate how a story is told. with ‘Ride It’ , a version of a 2008 Jay Sean has had a marked impact on playlists. At It can be certain claps, beats, emotions, track that he remixed, upping the tempo the time of writing, songs from the album gun shots, a funny laugh – anything that and pitching down the vocals, and released feature on ’s Pure Yoga , Pure someone can build a video around.” as a 20-second version on the social app. Focus and Sleep Sounds playlist – hardly Even the biggest pop hits might not work TikTok users have created more than 4m habitual territory for a trance act. on TikTok and this is where the TikTok remix videos using the track, Ministry Of Sound has comes in. Flighthouse worked with Ariana released the full version and TikTok launched 4) The TikTok remix Grande’s label to mix together and speed up the #rideitchallenge, generating more than two of her big hits with TikTok in mind. 95m views. As TikTok has grown in importance for “With Ariana, our upload did a million re- “Remixes can make a huge impact for the music industry, the question of what posts. It was basically a ‘Side To Side’ and a song on TikTok,” Azran says. “If the remix ‘Sleep Mix’ of their latest single, ‘How music is “TikTokable” – to use a term ‘’ mashup [that was] sped up. It was adds those elements mentioned above, it Do You Sleep’,” says music:)ally marketing coined by Flighthouse CEO, VP of business super-successful,” Pace said at the Sandbox allows for a different angle for content. At the executive Marlen Hüllbrock. “Of course it development and A&R Jacob Pace at the Summit. “It’s stuff like that we tend to do end of the day, users just want music that works because of the song’s title, but it’s Sandbox Summit in May 2019 – has become with the labels.” can be fun to make videos with. The remixes perhaps also a way to capitalise on the increasingly important. More recently, DJ Regard has scored a hit that will break are the ones that not only

4 | sandbox | ISSUE 238 | 16.10.2019 COVERFEATURE have those elements in them but are actually catchy enough to drive users off platform.” OUTDUSTRY’S ALEX TAGGART ON CHARLI XCX AND CHINA 5) The remix as a novelty What was the secret to making the Charli XCX get people to care. The inevitable poor performance The music industry, for all its digital remix work? leaves both sides, as well as their fans, feeling a bit sophistication, is still as open to the appeal I think the key was that Charli herself was driving confused about whether or not it was worthwhile. of novelty as it ever was, perhaps even it; our job was to bring in the local resources and more so in the age of virality. And the knowhow to make her vision happen. How much more of this kind of remix work are remix – with its speed and (occasional) we going to see as China becomes more and disposability – fits with this perfectly Do you think other artists could follow her more important for the global music industry? That’s not to say that every track that example? Or did it work because of who she is? I hope to see more genuine, authentic collaborations has gone viral is a remix. But remixes do It was perhaps a bit of a special case since Charli is – and I’m sure we will. At the same time, that offer a quick way to tap into a passing already known for the authenticity she brings to her enthusiasm and curiosity has to be tempered with viral trend without the need to create a international collaborations. Also, she has very solid caution; there are far more ways to get it wrong new track or unnecessarily sully your back underground music credentials, so the collaboration than right. Chinese fans are very smart and they can catalogue. There’s a Charlie Bit Me musical played well with Howie Lee’s fans too, since he’s sniff out a forced collaboration from a mile away. remix with 47m YouTube views; there’s a been the biggest name in the Chinese underground In this regard I think the music industry has a lot David After Dentist remix on YouTube and for quite some time. to learn from the fashion industry. On the one hand, iTunes; and even a trance remix of Leave No one found it jarring, which is the biggest risk you have a very well-curated Chinese guest list at Britney Alone. None of these are by known with these things. Given that it’s still such a new area of ’s Fenty party; but at the same time, some of artists, admittedly. But as Lil Nas X’s In theory, though, similar opportunities are open experimentation, it’s difficult to say what the formula the world’s biggest fashion houses have made faux appropriation of viral yodelling sensation to anyone who is willing to put in the time to should be. Not every Western artist is going to be pas in China that have ranged from cringe-worthy to Mason Ramsey and the Storm Area 51 understand the scene in whatever place they’re suited to singing in Chinese, for example. [being accused of being] racist. It’s risky territory and movement (in a video for ‘Old Town Road’) trying to set up a collaboration. But I would say that the more effort put in, the needs to be approached with respect. proved, bigger artists are hardly immune Remixes are a great start. The next stage is full-on greater the understanding that is demonstrated, We’ve also seen some amazing examples coming to the delights of novelty. collaborations. the more nuanced the results will be. If I was in from Korea – ‘Boy With Luv’ by BTS and Halsey or Remixes can also be a novelty in the shoes of a Western artist who was trying to ‘Kiss And Make Up’ by Blackpink and Dua Lipa, themselves. The Chemical Brothers Who has done this kind of thing well apart get popular in another country, I would start for example. Those were the result recently created the world’s “fastest from her? listening to that country’s music obsessively of some deep, meaningful creative remix” for their track ‘We’ve Got To Try’ The only one I can think of that came out really and get to know as much as I could about the collaborations, built from the ground as a result of a collaboration between well is Honne’s collaboration with top Chinese pop culture; then only reaching out when I could up. Universal Music’s creative division Globe artist and RM of BTS. Going in the other authentically say there’s someone whose and Formula 1. The result was 200k direction, we often put Chinese artists together with music I liked. YouTube views and column inches from Western producers and as part of the Assuming the feeling is mutual, the everyone from DJ Mag to Stereogum. :) A&R work we do, with great results. conversation goes well and we write some good music together, there’s still the huge question of ‘Boys’ was remixed for the Chinese audience and marketing: Who is this for? Is this the right time? also had Chinese lyrics and a local singer. Do you We’ve seen quite a few ill-advised collaborations have to take all three steps for success in China? dribble out onto streaming services, often without Or is a local collaboration enough in itself? much of a story behind them or a plan for how to TOOLS SPOTIFY FOR ARTISTS

It was not long after Apple Music For across the globe at any one time. Artists emerged out of beta that Spotify When you haven’t just released a new announced a major overhaul of its own song, you can also see who is currently Spotify for Artists tool. This is perhaps its listening overall. Raymond states, “We’ve most significant update yet, offering cleaner seen that artists really love this. It helps stats and a host of new features. While it them celebrate their new release with their may not have Shazam data woven into it band members and team and to get a pulse like Apple does, Spotify offers other useful from what’s happening around a release.” integrations. We spoke to the Spotify team She adds, “When it comes to specific and asked them how these new features things they can do with that, it helps them can be best used for artist marketing. compare a new release with a previous one; then they can also just take a simple The refreshed look for both the iOS and the screenshot and share this on socials to Android versions of the app is designed activate their audience or even create a to help artists and their teams dive more listening party on socials.” easily into their most important data while From a digital marketing perspective, on the move. music:)ally really likes the idea of a listening Sarah Raymond, product director, Creator party to drive a song or album’s momentum, Marketplace, at Spotify says, “We talk to a all of which is facilitated by this feature variety of different artist team members, and something that fuels the ambition all at different career stages, and we work of passionate fan groups to support their with them to create what would be the best favourite artist. version of Spotify for Artists.” What Spotify would not say is whether The centrepiece of the redesigned app or not this real-time stat is something that is the new ‘home’ tab which now features artists should monitor for algorithmic growth milestones and expanded real-time stats purposes. However, there was another very for new releases. Milestones can include useful feature that Raymond revealed: when playlist additions, a batch of new followers or the Spotify for Artists app is open, it will consumption milestones on a par with Apple vibrate each time a song is streamed during Music For Artists. the first week of release, further driving Upon opening the app, you will the excitement around this fresh audience immediately see topline stats, including the insight. (Or possibly causing your phone to number of listeners, streams and followers bounce off the desk.) accumulated by your artists in the past Another new feature that is helping seven days. Moreover, you’ll see the artist’s Here’s one of the most significant listening stats during the first week of artists in a very practical manner comes from top songs and top playlists at a glance, updates: new releases now get some release. This will enable you to see how the reminders the app sends out to keep including the total number of streams. special analytics in the form of real-time many listeners are playing your track the artist profile fresh. For instance, this can

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Having these kind of resources available on mobile surely helps in keeping artists educated about how to continue growing their career, ensuring that Spotify stays an indispensable platform for them. It would be even nicer, however, if these were natively integrated within the app instead of opening inside a browser. Finally, Spotify has added some capabilities and insights that were previously only available on the web version. Firstly, you get more audience insights such as where your fans are located as well as similar artists they’re into from within the app. Moreover, the concern the Artist Pick, profile picture or artist’s profile can also now be managed updating their image gallery. on the go. You can update the artist’s When scrolling down the home tab, profile picture, biography, playlists and Spotify has also now added access to the Artist’s Pick from within the app. On additional resources like articles and top of that, Spotify has made it easier for videos providing all sorts of advice to everyone who manages a roster of artists artists. These range from topics like how to switch between different profiles using to establish a visual identity and best the app. practices on audience engagement to its Spotify has recently acquired very own Best Advice series featuring networking platform SoundBetter, which renowned artists giving personal advice. helps artists and labels connect with other Raymond explains, “With the changes creatives such as songwriters, sound to the app, our goal was to really be a daily engineers or producers. SoundBetter now partner to all creators – and we wanted to sits under the Spotify for Artists banner make sure that it’s more than just a place and music:)ally is curious to see how the for data. We have heard from artists that DSP will integrate the service into its they want to have more transparency platform in the future, possibly making it into what actions they can take to grow easier than ever to assemble a team for a their audience. Releasing music can be new project on the fly. an anxious time, so we wanted to make We can see Spotify for Artists heading sure to provide them with materials about in a direction where it becomes a hub that how they can use these tools that Spotify supports the whole artistic value chain has to offer, things like The Game Plan, – from helping creatives easily connect to help further their usage of Spotify as a to create the music that it distributes to platform.” aiding them with marketing strategies and This is something that clearly providing the data and analytics that feed differentiates Spotify from its competitors. back into the development of the artist. :)

7 | sandbox | ISSUE 238 | 16.10.2019 CAMPAIGNS The latest projects from the digital marketing arena FOALS’ GOLD: BAND PUSH NEW ALBUM WITH “DISAPPEARING” CONTENT CAUSING MICRO WAVES: K FLAY CREATES “MICROCAST” FOR SMART SPEAKERS British rock band Foals release their second album this week (18th October). Acts including Little Mix, Michael Bublé Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost – and Paloma Faith have all created Alexa Part 2 follows the release of the (you Skills and just about every pop star in the guessed it) Everything Not Saved Will world has either been on a podcast or had Be Lost – Part 1 back in March. a podcast made about them. So what if you could combine the appeal of podcasting To push the second album, the band with the technological possibilities of smart have set up a dedicated microsite speakers? musical interludes, as well as special that plays on the “lost” motif and guests”. The rawness of being recorded in encourages fans to keep checking back That is what US singer and rapper K Flay is one take on her phone is obviously designed on the site as new content will appear testing out with what she and Interscope as part of the appeal, offering a peek behind regularly – but will only be available for a Records are calling a “microcast” that is the curtain of an act on the road. limited time. “Discover and SAVE before designed specifically for smart speakers. So “As an artist, I’ve always looked towards it’s LOST,” says the site. what, exactly, is a microcast? It is classed as the future, musically, visually, and now Scrolling around an interactive version a podcast that runs for under 10 minutes, technologically,” said K Flay in a statement. of the album cover, items like candles making it part of a nascent movement that “Given my love of the traditional podcast, and headstones can be clicked on, which stands in sharp contrast to the “boxset- I felt it was the logical and creative next then trigger a download option where isation” of podcasts where they were being step to share another side of myself with users have to enter their email address to “Album campaigns stretched over multiple hours and seasons my fans via the microcast. The quality and unlock an item. They are then sent a link to are getting shorter,” and became a Sisyphean challenge to get artistry of the shows, coupled with the that piece of content. (When we first tested it, said Sebastian Simone through. ease of the smart speaker access, gives me we got a high-res photo of the band.) (head of digital, Warner what am i doing here (their lack of another medium with which to speak to my New pieces of content were being added Bros. Records). “There are two bodies of work capitalisation and presented as both a listeners.” every day leading up to the album release, close to each other to build on the volume of “geographical and philosophical question”) Each episode is made available for a with the onus on fans to return to the tracks that are there.” is there to promote K Flay’s new album, week on smart speakers and then will be microsite to find the latest interactive part of Jennifer Ivory (GM, Warner Bros. Records) Solutions. It will be recorded on the hoof archived on K Flay’s YouTube channel. What the sleeve design to click on. added, “For bands with guitars working in by her and promises “conversations, jokes, is perhaps most interesting is that, for now It is an interesting way to bridge between rock and alternative, it has got to a point that, at least, they are not available on Spotify, the end of the campaign cycle for Part 1 and by the time the album comes out, it is almost especially given that podcasts are now lead into the focus on Part 2. When we spoke the end of the campaign. That is just the playlistable on the DSPs. These microcasts to the team at the band’s label earlier this nature of this music. We are trying to buck would fit in neatly with a series of tracks year for Behind The Campaign, they talked the trend and just continue to put music out, from an act in a playlist, so we can only about how marketing and release schedules but in bodies of work as well – because Foals presume it will be a matter of time before are changing around new consumption are a band that does put out bodies of work. music and microcasts are meshed together dynamics. This is our compromise.” in one place.

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DAILY STIPE-ND: REM STAR LAUNCHES SOLO CAREER WITH ACTIVIST TIP SHIRTIFY: BRING ME THE HORIZON OFFER “SPOTIFY-POWERED T-SHIRTS”

Most acts above a certain size have a merchandise option within their Spotify profile where they can sell up to three different items to fans via the DSP. These tend to be T-shirts or limited- edition coloured vinyl Michael Stipe, former lead above the $0.77 by setting versions of their latest singer of REM, has released their own retail price. albums and that’s about his first solo single since When paying, there it. It’s all very… flat. the band was dissolved is a simple data-capture in 2011. In the interim, he mechanic to get email Which makes the move by has overseen reissues addresses and then it links /RCA Records from the band as well as through to PayPal. There UK act Bring Me The Horizon undertaking photography is also an option to pay to try to inject a bit of life projects and hosting nothing, but if you do that into the idea of “Spotify + exhibitions of his work. you just get the track itself and none of the merchandise” all the more extras. welcome. They are using For the release of ‘Your Capricious Soul’ he has “Extinction Rebellion gave me the incentive their fans’ Spotify listening taken something of a leaf out of Radiohead’s to push the release and not wait,” said Stipe data to shape the T-shirt book (a band he has acted as a mentor to since in a statement. “Our relationship to the design that they can then the 1990s). It is not available, for now, on any of environment has been a lifelong concern, and buy. It is all part of the the major DSPs. Instead, it can be downloaded I now feel hopeful – optimistic, even. I believe promotion for their amo having a T-shirt that is outside the norm, (yes, downloaded!) direct from his website. we can bring the kind of change needed album from January. By going to this is a smart campaign that understands There is a suggested minimum price of to improve our beautiful planet earth, our a dedicated site, fans log in with their the world around the band and the kinds of $0.77 (£0.65) for which you get the song (in standing and our place on it.” Spotify details and then pick their six things that will get fans fired up. a master-quality audio file), the video, a lyric One criticism is that, because there are favourite tracks from amo. The site will then The problem with the standard Spotify document by Stipe, a print-ready poster, a lots of things to access, you have to download analyse their actual listening history of those merchandise window is that the items stencil and an animated flip-book portrait them individually rather than as a single zip tracks – matching it against the “loudness are rarely any different to what fans can as a GIF. Stipe says all money raised will file. It’s hardly the worst thing in marketing and energy” of the tracks in question based buy on the act’s D2C store. Therefore, be donated to Extinction Rebellion. (Indeed, and besides he has clearly done a noble thing – on Echo Nest data – and then generate a actually using Spotify play data to generate our receipt from PayPal said payment was using the media focus around his first piece of bespoke T-shirt design for them. something unique for each fan is one of the made to “Extinction Rebellion Organzing [sic] solo music to raise awareness and money for a Given the importance of merchandise better examples of linking streaming and Committee”.) Fans can also pay over and cause he strongly believes in. to metal and the subcultural currency in merchandise that we have seen in a while.

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China is a market that, as it opens up further, international musicians and labels are incredibly excited about. But establishing an act in a country where none of the default platforms of the West exist is a complex task. Kanjian Music is a music service company that does distribution, promotion, sync, publishing and live shows in China and has been operational there since 2012. Western acts and labels it works with include Courtney Barnett, Boy Pablo, Wild Nothing, Danny Byrd and Hospital Records. JANE POLUBOTKO, global marketing manager at Kanjian, explains how international acts need to prepare themselves for the Chinese market and talks through what her company has been doing to get Latvian rock band BrainStorm a foothold in the market – such as starting their social and streaming profiles from scratch, getting onto fast-moving playlists that change daily and developing deft collaborations with Chinese acts.

Kanjian and marketing artists in China Around two years ago, we started to develop marketing and promotion here in China because it is something not many companies are doing at the moment. We see a high demand from Chinese artists and Western artists for this kind of service. We worked with Jackson Wang, who is a pretty big K-pop, and now hip- hop, star in Asia and in America. We also worked with Jane . These are the biggest Chinese star celebrities that we work with.

Establishing non-Chinese acts in China from scratch The reality for some artists like Ed Sheeran or is that they have a pretty big following here. But if we’re talking about less famous artists, I would say that for them entering into China they would have to start everything from scratch – building a new profile as an artist here. You have to realise that you are building your new brand from scratch and

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you shouldn’t put too high expectations on which belongs to Alibaba. album, Lover, that was one of the features that. Don’t expect that in one month you Once the music is out there, it is that she used on QQ and NetEase. There will have millions of followers. That’s very, possible to also do promotion on those was a ranking of the fans who were buying very unlikely to happen. streaming platforms, which includes those albums. So the more you buy, the To build your presence in China, you banners and playlists. The interesting higher you rank. [Reportedly some leading obviously have to use all the Chinese thing about those streaming platforms fans can buy thousands of copies of an digital products. The Chinese streaming and the features that Chinese services album promoted this way.] services are completely different [to the have – but which Spotify or iTunes do not This kind of behaviour doesn’t actually ones in the West]. – is that each user has their own account depend on the genre here in China; I would on them. The user can interact with other say that it depends really on the scale of Understanding the specifics of users and each user has a wall where they the artist. People in China don’t really care streaming in China can add posts. about genres. They associate themselves For streaming, you have to make sure your NetEase is the most famous for [social with the idol or the artist but not the music is available in China because that’s media features]. I would say that regular genre. There’s not that much social culture your main product. The major streaming Chinese users prefer NetEase specifically happening around the genre. platforms in China are QQ Music , which for this feature. It is the most sociable belongs to , NetEase Music , music streaming platform out of [the Bringing BrainStorm into China which belongs to NetEase, and Xiami , main] three. BrainStorm are not a typical band [for NetEase and QQ both allow artists to China]. They are originally from Latvia and establish profiles on their platforms. The they have 30 years of history of playing artist profile is connected to the music, so together. They sing in Latvian, English once the user is listening to music, they and Russian. They are one of the most can jump to the artist profile and follow famous pop-rock bands in Latvia. They’re the artist. also doing very well in Russia and play live The artists can post the same kind there a lot. of content that they post on Instagram They participated in the Eurovision – text, photos, short videos and music. Song Contest in 2000 [with ‘My Star’] and For the artist, this is the easiest and the came third. cheapest way for them to build their public They wanted to expand their market recognition as it takes very few clicks to and they decided to go east. So China is subscribe to get updates from the artist. one of the countries that they would like It is definitely primarily a digital to focus themselves on. We came up with audience in China. When we an eight-month strategy that we believed talk about the physical market, would be a good start to jump into the it’s [mainly] only in terms of Chinese market. merchandise. I would say that Between January and March this year, only very loyal fans who buy we were just setting up social media merchandise would buy profiles for them and creating their physical products. presence. These three months were not [In China, fans will often buy multiple part of the main eight-month campaign. copies of albums digitally as gifts for That eight-month campaign started from friends.] With the latest Taylor Swift 1st June. Before we started with a cool

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campaign, we established their social We were focusing on their music [to PR and reaching a wider audience media profiles. build their profile] because, ultimately, Besides creating social media accounts the product of the musician is music. So and delivering the album to the DSP, we Building their social channels this is where we started this eight-month also a little PR campaign on this album The most basic and the most important campaign. for the music websites. [social channel] in China is Weibo. It was The band has 30 years of history and We pushed it on some of the music originally described as the equivalent of they have 10+ albums. Working with our stores’ playlists; and we collaborated with Twitter in China, but I disagree with that editors here, we selected 13 songs from all some of the mobile apps which act like a comparison. I would say that it is Twitter, of their albums that we thought would be streaming platform, although they don’t Instagram and Facebook all together in the best for China. The band then released usually pay royalties to the artist – but one place. a China-special album that was just called they are a good form of promotion. Photo content is very popular over here, BrainStorm. It was very simple – like a In China, there are actually a lot of video so it’s kind of like Instagram; then there “best of” for China. apps similar to Doyin [China’s iteration of are a lot of articles that are published We didn’t want to make it TikTok]. We submitted their release to this inside the platform, so that is similar to look like a foreign band doing platform so when the user is editing video Facebook; and the structure itself looks something specifically for China and selecting a song for the background like Twitter. So it’s really these three and trying to enter China that in the video, they were pushed to select things together. way. We wanted it to look natural some of the BrainStorm songs. Why Weibo is good for musicians and keep it authentic to the band. We worked with three of these mobile is because it’s very easy to search. It They created a special cover for apps. Then we worked with another basically works the same as Twitter or that album – a shot of them on a typical mobile app that publishes long stories Facebook. You just type in the name and Latvian street with nice architecture. We – usually some kind of romantic stories. then you can see all the articles, profiles or For each story, there is a central music hashtags related to the artist. piece. So in this case it was BrainStorm. Once you create a Weibo profile, you The reason why we did this was because can pair it with a NetEase profile. On to nine photos, video content up to 30 we wanted to target different audiences. NetEase, you first need to create a user minutes and text up to 140 symbols. Although there are no streaming royalties account, we talk to the platform and These are the basics that everyone from those platforms, once the users like the platform helps the foreign artists should have in China. the song they would go to NetEase to establish an artist account. As far as I see what else is available from the act. It know, it is impossible for foreign artists to Getting the band’s music boosts the streams. do this themselves on the platform. It is on the Chinese DSPs only trusted sources or contacts who can The challenge for BrainStorm was that Playlisting in China do that. [before we started working with them] Because we’re a distributor, we have The good thing about these two their music wasn’t really available on the the rights each month to pitch a specific platforms is that once you post on main platforms. They had some of their amount of tracks to the platforms. This is NetEase you can automatically post on music uploaded, but it was a bit messy one of the most effective ways to get your Weibo as they are connected. On NetEase, with all the platforms. What we started to were pushing it more on the Latvia angle playlist placings by the platform. you have the logo of Weibo [in the corner] do was to post content about the artists. and on the sound that they have. There We present the tracks and then the so the user can jump directly to Weibo The idea here was to fill in some were more English-language songs in the editors decide which playlist they go on. from NetEase. content and we were not pushing for compilation than Latvian ones. For BrainStorm, we were targeting new Both platforms allow you to post up followers too much. music release playlists.

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Collaborations to introduce the band to the Chinese market Consistency is very important here in China. So the next big thing that we planned was a series of collaborations with Chinese artists. We are planning to do three collaborations in total. Hip-hop is really big in China and we worked with Chinese hip-hop artist BigYear who would rap on the song [‘Na Zare’] and then have BrainStorm singing the chorus. He is 19 years old, very tall and very skinny which is unique for China – so he’s quite a character. He has a great following right now in China and he was featured recently with two different releases on NetEase’s banner. Prior to the BrainStorm release, the band came to the Music Festival and that was the first time they had played with BigYear. They already knew that they were going to record the composition together. For BrainStorm that was obviously very beneficial because BigYear would bring depends on how the music performs. On some following and recognition to this live the major platforms, and if you’re not a show. They did three shows at the festival. Taylor Swift, it would be between one and By that time, the Chinese lyrics were three days. Three days is seen as a very already written but not recorded. Both good result. acts just wanted to see how it would work These playlists are updated every day. For the first release, in terms of and what the response from the audience But the way they are updated is that followers we didn’t hit any big numbers. would be. they don’t refresh the whole playlist. It’s But we had comments and things going We were targeting a different audience not like every day it’s absolutely a new on under the songs – which is already a from the BrainStorm audience. In Russia, playlist. Some of the tracks stay and some good start. We didn’t want to just release for example, their audience is 35+. So in of the tracks disappear. These playlists for one track and then forget about it. China, we were looking for artists with a new tracks have different sections. They For playlists in China, I would say it is solid following and BigYear has 100,000+ have recommendations for new music, better not to add new tracks at the weekend followers on NetEase. I would say it is a for Chinese music, for American music, for because weekends are when people will go to work, so they’re on their phones. I very lively and loyal audience. You see a lot European music and so on. spend more time with their family. During would say there is more attention during the of engagement and a lot of commenting How long you stay on a playlist really weekdays, students go to school and people weekdays on digital platforms. on his profile. Given that he is 19 years old,

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Planning an EP of new material and playing live The end of the marketing plan is that the band will come to China. But before that, we would like them to release an EP with completely new songs. I don’t think artist have to translate a whole album into Chinese and only do Chinese content. But it definitely helps to have at least one song in Chinese, a collaboration or a cover with a Chinese artist.

Opening up the market for non-Chinese acts most of his fans are teenagers. Chinese music is obviously more popular The idea here is to do collaborations here in China than foreign music. But across three different genres. The first there are young students and young was hip-hop, the next one is going to be working people who have studied abroad an cover and the third in English-speaking countries. They have one will either be pop or indie-rock. Right seen this culture and this behaviour of now we are talking to some Chinese DJs to going to gigs and spending money on do a remix of one of BrainStorm’s songs. music. I feel like they are bringing this The collaborations will be released as culture back to China. That means that separate singles and the original versions they are more adjusted and they like are all on the 13-track compilation. English music. Their English is really good The collaboration with BigYear helped because they [regularly] speak English, BrainStorm to gain 1,000 organic followers they listen to English music, they go to on NetEase in one week. Most of them gigs and they spend extra money on came from the fact that BigYear was QQ Music started paying on streams for apps. Another way to promote video is music. I think it’s happening more and featured in this collaboration and he video recently. Except for QQ, no other to collaborate with video influencers, more. So there’s definitely a growing posted on his social media about it. That platforms are paying money for videos. asking them to review the video or repost audience that has money and that is very helped a lot. It also helped to enter onto Videos in China are treated the video on one of their social media accepting of English music. :) some of the playlists – like on NetEase. as just additional marketing networks. These are the most common For example, with the first album, we and promotion material to gain ways to promote videos in China. WANT TO FEATURE IN didn’t manage to place them on major recognition for a song. Regarding In general, influencers or KOLs [key BEHIND THE CAMPAIGN? streaming platform playlists. getting promotion videos on the platforms, opinion leaders] in China are a huge Marketing people: do you have a campaign you are working this would involve talking directly to the thing. They have more power and more on that you would like to see featured in Behind The Campaign Video in China and the platform – the same as on any streaming buzz going on around them than just in a future edition of sandbox? If so, send a brief synopsis of power of influencers platform. traditional media. These influencers are it to Eamonn Forde for consideration and your work (and your The first thing that artists should know We can pitch to the editors there very consistent in what they’re posting words) could appear here. about releasing video in China is that so they can feature the video on the and they specifically focus on one genre or Email: [email protected] videos are not really monetised here. Only banners or on the front pages of the video one topic.

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