How to Market Music to Gen-Z: Current Tips & Future Trends PAGE 2 2020 WHAT a YEAR, HUH?

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How To Market Music To Gen-Z: Current Tips & Future Trends PAGE 2 2020 WHAT A YEAR, HUH?

HERE AT FANBYTES WE'VE BEEN KEEPING AN EYE ON THINGS

AND A LOT HAS CHANGED...

2020, the year of coronavirus, the shutting of venues and the cancelling of festivals. It's been an unprecedented time for all of us but particularly trying for us working in music. As we come out of the other side of summer we wanted to share with you some of the biggest trends across social media from over the summer, some of our most recent standout campaigns, a few tips and tricks on how to market to Gen-Z and finally our two cents on some of the coming future trends that you can tap into. PAGE 3

TIPS & TRICKS FOR MARKETING MUSIC TO GEN-Z PAGE 4

TIPS & TRICKS FOR MARKETING MUSIC TO GEN-Z UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE

Gen Z refers to people born between 1995 and 2009. They’re called ‘digital natives’, having grown up with the internet around them. Gen Z’s environment shapes their preferences: 66% of them use more than one internet device at a time, 75% strongly prefer their smartphone to other devices and the average Gen Z’er spends 10 and a half hours online daily. They spend 23 hours a week online watching video content, and prefer short- form content on TikTok or YouTube. Feeling the pressure to be perfect on Instagram, Gen Z are looking for other ways to connect online, leading to younger audiences on networks like TikTok and Snapchat. For marketers, it’s important to understand that Gen-Z differ from older audiences so you’ll need to meet them where they are. PAGE 5

TIPS & TRICKS FOR MARKETING MUSIC TO GEN-Z UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE USE TRENDS TO YOUR ADVANTAGE

Understanding trends on any social media platform allows you to build your creatives around something that is already resonating with a particular audience. Doing this allows you to tap into that success with your own creatives. Although this being said directly copying isn't the key here, you need to put your own understanding of the trend into action rather than straight plagiarising.

We actioned this recently with our campaign for Mabel's 'Boyfriend'. We combined two trends, transition outfit changes with choose your character. Understanding both these trends allowed us to combine the two and build a creative that was recognisable but also looked fresh. PAGE 6

BIGGEST MUSIC TRENDS OF THE SUMMER PAGE 7

BIGGEST MUSIC TRENDS OF THE SUMMER Nicki Minaj & Megan The Stallion - WAP

We couldn't talk about trends of the summer without touching on the most controversial one of them all, WAP. Taking the internet by an absolute storm, WAP reached every corner of social media causing upset, joy, anger and everything in between.

Almost every influencer on the planet got involved with the dance whether it was a satirical version or serious. Most notably Addison Rae's video - with her mum also joining in shortly after! - now has a staggering 210M views and 19.5M likes on TikTok, showing the power of TikTok to bring unrivalled attention to the track. Other than the controversy this song caused, a very positive conversation was started around female empowerment, so as the old phrase goes 'all press is good press'. PAGE 8

BIGGEST MUSIC TRENDS OF THE SUMMER Surf Mesa - ily (i love you baby)

One of our first campaigns for the summer was Surf Mesa's 'ily'. It already had 200k UGC on the platform but no clear theme among the content. Following our analysis of the existing trends, we came up with a loose creative that revolved around doing something kind for your loved ones. This allowed some freedom for the talent to really tailor their version of the video to their fans and style of regular content. We were able to trust the influencers as to lead this creative as most were from our managed roster here in the UK.

One of the best performing examples was KT Franklin's submission with the Bytesquad which gained 1.5M views. The song now has over 2.1M pieces of user generated content on the platform and was definitely one of the biggest songs on the platform this summer. PAGE 9

BIGGEST MUSIC TRENDS OF THE SUMMER Effects: Face Zoom

This effect has featured in a quite a few music trends throughout the summer with the most notorious being Millie B's infamous diss track 'M to The B'

This trend started appearing everywhere overnight and spawning a variety of different types of content using the sound as well as causing a bit of a culture war between the UK and the US. After a few days, a theme started to appear from the content, using the face zoom effect to track your face as you looked from side to side miming the lyrics, then as the beat drops bopping your head up and down. TikTok's ability to revive old trends seems to be unrivalled to others platforms with songs changing overnight from a forgotten meme to having millions of people using it for their content. PAGE 10

BIGGEST MUSIC TRENDS OF THE SUMMER JP Saxe & Julia Michaels - If The World Was Ending

This campaign of our was one of our outstanding successes of the summer. Looking to capitalise on some existing momentum on the platform, the team behind JP Saxe ft. Julia Michaels’ were looking for a creative that matched the message of the song but still worked in the world of TikTok. Influencers played on the title lyric and showed their fans what they would do if the world was ending, whether that be dramatic, genuine / emotive, or comedic.

We achieved a very high engagement rate on this campaign, doubling the industry average. The song has since grown to over 700k+ fan videos plus thousands of cover versions being uploaded onto platforms every day. Off the back of the viral success - in part helped by our campaign - it also broke into the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Top 20 Singles Chart. PAGE 11

WHAT'S NEXT? THE TRENDS OF THE FUTURE PAGE 12

WHAT'S NEXT? THE TRENDS OF THE FUTURE Going viral with a bespoke TikTok remix

This year we have seen a variety of tracks go viral thanks to a bespoke - and often user generated - remix appearing on TikTok. From the telephone/quarantine sample in Aitch's Rain, to the lofi version of Bulletproof, to the new remix of Wrap Me In Plastic by Chromance that's dominating the platform following our influencer campaign that re- established the track as a TikTok hit.

Looking towards 2021, we believe that this is a key area to look to for success, creating unique and bespoke remixes of songs that either fit the TikTok communities preferred sonic aesthetic, or lend themselves perfectly to content. This is something we will leverage in-house with our creative team at Fanbytes, and we expect users, labels, producers, and many more to do the same. PAGE 13

WHAT'S NEXT? THE TRENDS OF THE FUTURE The continued success of catalogue tracks

If there's one thing we know about music on TikTok - it's that if a song lends itself to great content then it's probably going to go viral, regardless of the artist, genre, release date, or any other external factors.

We have seen this recently with Lipps Inc's Funky Town, our campaign for The Vengaboys' Up & Down, and the unexpected viral sensation around Simple Plan's I'm Just A Kid.

At Fanbytes, we know that there is now a huge demand in the industry for legacy artists and classic tracks to get in on the action. We expect to see more and more iconic songs taking off on TikTok - so, now is the time to dig through the record crate and start thinking about how your favourite childhood tunes can soundtrack some awesome content. PAGE 14

WHAT'S NEXT? THE TRENDS OF THE FUTURE Can anyone compete for TikTok's crown? INSTAGRAM REELS

Instagram recently launched their new feature, Reels. We're not a huge fan of the user experience on Reels and it isn't being pushed as a key area of the app (it doesn't even have it's own button on the menu bar). The inherent authenticity that we associate with short form content is also less likely to resonate with IG's audience. Whilst we don't think it's any direct competition to TikTok, it does - in a similar way to IGTV - provide a new outlet for content that is specific to Instagram campaigns. YOUTUBE SHORTS

YouTube have had Stories for a while now, and it has struggled to have the impact that I'm sure the company would have hoped for. YouTube Shorts may fall into this same bracket, as it's likely to live under the same - slightly difficult to stumble across - section of the platform. The ability for organic reach is also yet to be seen. The positive for YouTube is that it has a huge Gen-Z user base and the creators on the platform tend to have more dedicated fans than other platforms, giving them a significant influencer over consumers. PAGE 15

WHAT'S NEXT? THE TRENDS OF THE FUTURE Can anyone compete for TikTok's crown? TRILLER

The newcomer to the scene is growing, and fast, but it still only has a modest 63M active users in comparison to TikTok's staggering 800M. Lots of users fled to the platform following the uncertainty of TIkTok's future, but now that TikTok looks set to stay, Triller's growth may take a huge hit. We believe that the platform is certainly one to keep an eye on, and could provide a fantastic ROI on campaigns targeted at slightly older demographics or specific fan groups that have a large presence on the platform - particularly in the hip-hop scene. SNAPCHAT

At Fanbytes, we have one very clear message for music marketers: DO NOT SLEEP ON SNAPCHAT! The platform reaches over 90% of 13-24 year olds in the US, and these statistics resonate across the globe when we look at social media usage of Gen-Z. Studies also show that Snapchat users are 60% more likely to make impulse purchases based on what they see on the platform. Snapchat may have fallen 'out of fashion' within the marketing world, but it remains more popular than ever amongst the demographic that makes up the majority of music consumers. Whilst the rest of the music world is distracted by TikTok, now is the time to make a huge impact on Snap. PAGE 16

WHO ARE FANBYTES?

At Fanbytes, we’ve worked on hundreds of successful social media campaigns throughout the world with the likes of Universal, Sony, Warner, and numerous independent labels and artists. On the way, we have learned a thing or two about how things tick on social media and how music campaigns can connect with Gen Z consumers.

Whether it’s Snapchat and AR lenses, Tiktok influencers and in-feed ads, Instagram, Triller, or YouTube – we have it covered.

We will work with you on a bespoke strategy and creative direction to give your music the best chance of blowing up online, and provide a dedicated account manager to help every step of the way. We have an industry leading data tool that tracks the analytics of millions of global influencers, and our expertly created dashboard allows you to see everything from influeners' engagement rate and expected views to their best performing videos and previous branded content. You are then able to approve influencers and content, all from the dashboard built by our in-house team of techies. PAGE 17 THE NEXT STEPS

EXPLORE FANBYTES ACADEMY

TikTok vs. Instagram Reels And The 3 Best Gen Z Marketing Case Triller: What Are The Key Studies: Strategies You Need to Differences? Know

FREE STRATEGY LESSON

Ready to take your brand to the next level? Get a specific strategy tailored for your brand from our team of social media experts. let's talk strategy! PAGE 18 WHAT BRANDS ARE SAYING ABOUT FANBYTES

"Partnering with Fanbytes has given us expert authentic knowledge and insight as well as opening up engaged and relevant audiences we would not have had access to otherwise"

"We have done multiple campaigns with Fanbytes across various different suites of offerings... from Snapchat filters to various TikTok campaigns, challenges... the whole lot really"

Get Started Today!

We hope this guide has given you a good insight into the current climate of marketing music to Gen-Z.

We know how daunting the concept of starting something new can be, so we're offering a FREE consultation on how to get started.

If you want to learn more about making your music go viral on TikTok, then please feel free to reach out.

[email protected] To get one step ahead of TikTok for your artists, get in touch with Fanbytes to see exactly how we can help.

Drop us an email at hello@fanbytes.co.uk We would be happy to help you!