BROUGHT TO YOU COURTESY OF 05–06 Tools ActiveCampaign 07–08 Campaigns Passenger, BTS, Madonna, Ajunabeats 09–14 Behind The Campaign- Circa Waves IN ASSOCIATION WITH sandbox MAY 01 2019 MUSIC MARKETING FOR THE DIGITAL ERA ISSUE 227 Shoestrings of life MARKETING ON A BUDGET Sandbox Summit 2019 NYC After the huge success of last year’s inaugural Sandbox Summit in the US, Music Ally returns to NYC again next month with the only dedicated marketing conference for the music industry on May 23. Sandbox Summit is an essential forum for cutting edge and creative thinking in music marketing: a day full of practical tips, refreshing discussions and interviews, insightful presentations, and of course, lots of networking. Brought to you in association with Linkfre, we are delighted to also announce our supporting sponsors, The Orchard and Vevo. Some of the program we have in store for you includes: • FlighthouseSandbox TikTok channel Summitfounder Jacob Pace is on marketing to Gen Z, and Sony Music’sa music Jose marketing Abreu discussing conference how to target Superfans. • Secretly Group’s Robby Morris and Laura Sykes explain the secrets behind the Khruangbin campaignseries which organised included a Spotify by playlist that tapped into Flight APIs • ‘Dry StreamsMusic Paradox’ Ally, panel the with global Pandora’s leader Heather in Ellis, Island Records’ Cindy James, Artist Manager Naveed Hassan (MDDN)digital and The Orchard’smarketing Amanda training Suriani for • Panel on how to bring together the various data silos around an artist hosted by Linkfre’s Jeppethe Faurfelt music industry • International marketingand the panel publisher focused on India, of the China and the African markets AT THE • Podcasting anddigital music panel marketing-focused chaired by Cherie Hu, featuring Atlantic Records’ podcast guru Tom MullenSandbox and KevinReports. Wortis , founder of music podcast label HELEN MILLS EVENT Signal Co No 1 SPACE & THEATRE, NEW YORK Taking place at the Helen Mills Event Space & Theater, lunch and refreshments are included in the ticket price, not to mention networking drinks at the end of the day! As a Music Ally subscriber you have access to tickets for a reduced price. Please be MAY 23 2019 sure to secure your tickets here asap, early bird tickets have already SECURE YOUR sold out and the event has a highly limited capacity. For group discounted rates and TICKETS NOW! sponsorship opportunities please contact Anthony. #MarketMusicBetter CLICK HERE... COVERFEATURE Domino, for example, managed to more than double Franz Ferdinand’s mailing list as part of its campaign around the band’s MARKETING ON A BUDGET 2018 album Always Ascending, using ‘sign up to win’ competitions and unique merchandise packs, while UMC partnered with Disney Junior for a competition around the Sing Your Heart Out Disney album in which parents were asked to record their children singing ‘How Far I’ll Go’ for a chance to be featured in the video for the track. The global music industry may be enjoying a streaming-led renaissance but it is still far from the Mike Fordham, playlist and streaming glory days of the late 1990s. That means, in the sage-like words of Simply Red, money (largely) specialist at Primary Wave Entertainment, says that an element of gamificiation can remains too tight to mention. Rather than sulk, though, music marketers have made the best also boost your competition. “If you can of a difficult situation, coming up with innovative ideas for marketing on a shoestring budget. gamify it, with driving towards streaming, sandbox explains how to make the most out of a marketing bargain. it can be a really effective tool,” he says. “I think having a leaderboard, whether it is Competitions engagement, getting people to do organically than if you pay them to do it.” on the artist website or elsewhere, really something for you and getting them to Ross explains that to run a successful incentivises fans to make sure they are The competition is a mainstay of give you more data,” says Patrick Ross, competition you have to offer fans involved with that campaign.” marketing for very good reason: effective SVP of digital strategy at music:)ally. “It something they either really want or competitions use prizes that are relatively is leveraging what an artist has, a level something they want to be a part of. “One of Stickers cheap in monetary terms for artist and of scarcity, interaction with the artist and the classic examples is doing a competition label – a signed T-shirt, a meet & greet – getting your fans to do work. They can to get people in your music video with you. Stickers (as well as patches and badges) but of high value for fans, translating fan spread the word, post things, hashtag, That is something money can’t buy – being have been part of the music industry interest into fan activity. engage. It widens your reach. You can part of the campaign. A meet & greet, a VIP promotional arsenal for about as long as “Competitions are a great way of often get people to work better for you event, being part of something.” teenagers have been buying pop music. 1 | sandbox | ISSUE 228 | 15.05.2019 COVERFEATURE But that certainly doesn’t mean they are an exclusive Polaroid picture to anyone build skills for Alexa and offers a free plan, out of date. who signed up to her mailing list, with the alongside a $19.95 Professional Plan. On one level, as music:)ally digital grand prize winner also walking off with a True, most of the Skills that have been marketing coordinator Isabelle Ljungqvist Polaroid camera. used to date in music marketing have been explains, stickers can be used to put your for established artists that don’t really fit fans to work for you. “You can get some Bots the shoestring template – they include super cheap stickers printed, give them Paloma Faith, Little Mix and Michael Bublé out during a live show and encourage fans While stickers are a marketing perennial, – but it can surely only be a matter of time to put the stickers up around their cities,” chatbots and messenger bots have before some enterprising indie artist/ she explains. been one of the most interesting recent label/manager creates something truly eye But, in the digital age, they can also benefit developments in the promotion field, used opening with Blueprints. from a modern twist. “You can use printed by everyone from Bastille to Hardwell and speakers and voice-activated search, stickers with a Spotify QR-style code on,” Circa Waves (see Behind The Campaign working with Amazon’s all-conquering Dances Ljungqvist says. “That might be something this issue). Bots might seem out of place Alexa is a simple thing to do. And, once that drives future streams as well.” in a piece on shoestring budgets, but again, this doesn’t have to be expensive, In an increasingly visual world, Scottish singer-songwriter Nina music:)ally marketing executive Marlen thanks to Amazon’s Alexa Skills Blueprint. a good dance can help to break a Nesbitt, for example, superimposed Huellbrock argues that they don’t have to Alexa skills are essentially apps that song worldwide. Just ask PSY, Baauer Spotify Codes onto her lotus fower logo be expensive. give Alexa more capabilities and allow or Russian pop act Little Big, whose track to create bespoke stickers. “I printed up “There are some platforms where the unit to speak to more devices and ‘Skibidi’ recently broke internationally stickers and put a call to action on them,” you can start building bots for free and websites. Many of these skills are rather thanks to the viral success of the Nesbitt told Spotify (on their blog), “then then you pay depending on how many flashy. But they don’t have to be, with #SkibidiChallenge on TikTok. A dance trend sent them to fans in 20 cities around the subscribers you get,” she explains. Skill Blueprints allowing users to create may, in fact, be the ultimate in cheap, world. I’ve seen a rise in followers since “Usually the first couple of hundred are for and share their own skills with a minimum effective marketing, as enthusiastic fans the stickers went out and I also hand them free – but if you start building up a bigger of tech knowhow. essentially do the heavy lifting for you. out at all my shows for people to share.” following, you have to pay.” The Blueprints website presents Can you engineer a dance craze, Examples of these include I Am Pop, users with a series of templates – they though? Maybe not. But you can a startup that is dedicated to helping range from “Inspirations” to “Business certainly help it along a bit, according to musicians and music brands make better Q&A” – that can be customised to create music:)ally’s Ross. “There are things you use of messaging apps, with clients new skills, then published for other users can use, like the DanceOn Network, including Sony Music, Warner Music, to download. Similarly, the Voice Apps where you can pay to get people to launch AWAL and PIAS. For accounts with up to site claims to “make it easy” for anyone to it for you. And there are influencer dancers 100 subscribers, I Am Pop is free; for 5,000 who will dance to your song,” he says. subscribers, it costs $29 a month, 10,000 $49 a month and so on. “You have a direct communication channel with your fans, you can send them things that might be of interest,” Huellbrock adds. Stickers are not the only cheap Alexa Skills promotional giveaway, however. Chicago singer-songwriter Josie Dunne offered With the rise of virtual assistants, smart 2 | sandbox | ISSUE 228 | 15.05.2019 COVERFEATURE Business Insider recently claimed “If they are fans then they are that DanceOn can “create, practically Cindy James, VP of streaming & playlisting strategy going to be very receptive to what out of thin air, a worldwide dance trend” at Island Records, gives her suggestions for effective you give them,” she says.