Sandboxmusic MARKETING for the DIGITAL ERA ISSUE 121
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05 Tools Bandcamp subscription 06-07 Campaigns Virtual reality, Black Hole Recordings, DI-RECT 08-10 Behind The Campaign Royal Blood NOVEMBER 19 2014 sandboxMUSIC MARKETING FOR THE DIGITAL ERA ISSUE 121 The 10 worst ideas in digital marketing COVERFEATURE There are hundreds of excellent ideas in digital marketing, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of stinkers too. As marketers figure out new platforms, understand what artists’ fans are doing online and test out new concepts, there are bound to be some that don’t work. Or, to be honest, which never look like working right from the start even if this is obvious to everyone except the person who came up with the idea and controls the budget. This week, we explore some of those disasters-in-waiting, one by one. igital music marketing does - as regular sandbox readers will know - throw up Dsome brilliant ideas: campaigns that enthral, entertain and sell music, all in one. These – as you might imagine – are the ideas that we like to concentrate on - practical ideas that will inspire you as you go about your working day. But we wouldn’t be human if everything we did was perfect: the flipside to this fascinating sector are those niggling, stupid and/or annoying ideas that raise their heads from time to time. The 10 Worst ideas So, this week we’re suspending our usually-positive outlook in order to explore 10 of the worst ideas in digital marketing, from forced signups to “interactive turd graphics”, chosen by some of the savviest in digital marketing digital marketers, label bosses and artist 2 | sandbox | ISSUE 121 | 19.11.14 24.09.14 COVERFEATURE Tweets and generally make 5) Snapchat, short your life a pleasure. They should attention spans not, then, ever be neglected. But and dumbing down a marketing campaign that only appeals to this hardcore base is, “Let’s start from the frankly, a little pointless. And yet, viewpoint that people are according to one exasperated not stupid and they have marketer, this still happens a lot. attention spans beyond “A basic error is to undertake 10 seconds,” starts a marketing strategy that is only one marketer, briefly ever going to appeal to the hardcore optimistic before the red fans who are already sold on your mist descends. artist in the first place,” he says, “ Snapchat and sighing loudly. “Again, things to services like it are not in themselves a keep fans connected are absolutely fine - problem as they can provide exciting teasers but it’s surprising the number of times I see and are good for something exclusive you managers in the business. Many of whom you do on Facebook then you’re missing something that only existing fans would don’t want to hang around for long. But have chosen to remain anonymous, the point.” connect with, and which therefore does Snapchat could be symptomatic of a more unsurprisingly. nothing to go beyond that and connect worrying trend towards constantly playing 2) Forced signups MORE fans.” to the idea of instant gratification and 1) Bandwagon jumping disposability of content. and dead platforms “My number one bugbear is any idea that 4) Requesting artists post “Again it comes back to the patronising forces fans to sign up to a new service,” about other artists on idea that everyone has tiny attention “One thing brands need to stop doing is explains one marketer through gritted their social media spans these days and instead of creating creating profiles on every new platform teeth. “It is more hoops to get people something rich and meaningful (and more immediately, regardless of whether jumping through and it just doesn’t ever “I am constantly approached for an artist expensive), it becomes more prudent to catch they have an individual strategy for that work if the end objective is to go beyond with a decent social media following them with something cheap and flashy. platform and without regard for whether the core fan base and get the word to post about an artist with a not-so- Fast food as opposed to a nourishing meal. or not it fits their particular brand,” one spreading. If it’s something like an app big following, usually about a release We’ve started to believe the lie that enraged marketer says. aimed squarely at fans first and foremost completely unrelated to them,” says one music consumers are not intelligent, “There is a plethora of platforms out (e.g. the Alt-J album stream app) then marketer, right at the end of their tether. complex people that will ‘get it’ when there for a reason: they all, in theory, have I think that’s fine - but I never cease to “It is an archaic approach that is you do something more complicated and a USP. If that USP (and the platform in be amazed at the number of marketing obvious to fans a mile off – artists marketers become more afraid to take that general) has a specific use for you then by initiatives that are sold as ‘all you need to hate being asked to post and it risk. Music and the marketing surrounding all means use it, but one thing I hate do is install X on your phone and create an really seems a crude marketing it should be daring and risk taking and to see is an internet littered with account’.” practice with limited cut engaging, that’s how you push the dead profiles all saying the same through. Unless both artists boundaries of what’s possible.” thing, we didn’t think it through . 3) Initiatives which only are relevant to the release in “Being the first to try something appeal to the hardcore fans question - let’s all agree to 6) Pirate Bay promotions interesting on a platform and innovating end it now.” can be really great if you have a plan, but Your biggest fans are great: they buy The relationship between the Pirate if you’re joining Ello to post exactly what your music, go to your gigs, favourite your Bay and the music industry has 3 | sandbox | ISSUE 121 | 19.11.14 COVERFEATURE been fractious to say the last, including 10) “Interactive turd graphics” court battles, legal action and general mudslinging. And yet, remarkably, some musicians still want to work with the site, which launched dedicated promotional platform The Promo Bay in January 2012. Some bands - such as Swedish pop act Rednex in 2010 - have gone even further, releasing music exclusively with the Pirate Bay in the aim of generating legal sales and streams.“To my surprise this has happened many, many times with various artists,” says one correspondent of what is their pet hate. “Rednex’ Cotton Eye Joe has over 15m paid streams on Spotify, the Pirate Bay song Devils On The Loose has “There is only one bad idea as far as I 45,000.” can see when marketing music digitally - and that’s thinking that if you surround 7) The “enigmatic” something that’s rubbish, in lots of fancy label briefing digital packaging, people will think it’s wonderful. They won’t,” says Jesus Jones “My pet hate is when a label comes to us 9) “That” U2 album giveaway manager Iain Baker. “‘Ah, look kids, here’s and says ‘have you got any ideas for Band something great!’ ‘No, it’s a turd.’ ‘But - it’s X’ and that’s *all* the info they give us,” Most of the pet hates we received from a digitally remastered turd, with exclusive says Syd Lawrence, co founder of We Make exasperated marketers were fairly general interactive turd graphics, and web links to Awesome Sh… “The same thing doesn’t - repeated, infuriating requests that had thousands of other, similar turds.’ Other work for all artists, give us some form of worn on their nerves over the years. But specifics - USB sticks, flashing badges, insight, what’s the album about, who are with the recent controversy over U2’s anything ‘wacky’, whatever. You might as the fans etc etc etc.” Songs of Innocence iTunes promotion well be approaching your target audience still fresh in the memory, it was perhaps wearing a shirt which says ‘I AM OLD.’” 8) Facebook tabs not a surprise it came up. One label boss explains, “As a U2 Bonus beefs “I have to flag any campaign that involves and Apple fan myself I believe Facebook tabs,” says one marketer of fans want to pay for the quality Exclusive album streamzzzzz; “building their “massive, massive pet hate”. “Several they get but they want to make an app that is just responsive website”; people we’ve been working with recently their own decisions. mobile push links that don’t work; “people have tried to set up campaigns directing “The most funny twist on talking to an audience about digital music fans to Facebook tabs to download a timeline format for pages and much more this marketing stunt was the marketing who have no idea how to track, sign up for something, get news of importantly given that they don’t even program Apple developed and engage an audience”; and “the daft thing a big announcement first etc etc. Which exist on mobile while 80% of users in the released specifically for upset @twitter are doing where people you don’t is of course crazy given that tabs lost all US and UK use Facebook on mobile…Time users, so that they were able to follow appear in your timeline”. :) relevance when Facebook introduced the to move on from tabs, people… let it go.” delete the album.” 4 | sandbox | ISSUE 121 | 19.11.14 TOOLS BANDCAMP SUBSCRIPTIONS Six years after launching, Bandcamp has may seem like a niche, paid out $87m to independent artists, and although how much built a catalogue of 12m tracks and 1.6m depends on the size of the albums.