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THE SOUND of MUSICAL.LY LOOSE LIPS SYNC HITS with More Than 200M Users, Musical.Ly Is – Officially – Too Big to Ignore

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THE SOUND of MUSICAL.LY LOOSE LIPS SYNC HITS with More Than 200M Users, Musical.Ly Is – Officially – Too Big to Ignore 05–06 Tools Chartmetric 07–08 Campaigns Avey Tare, Sabaton, Coldplay, Jay-Z 09-11 Behind The Campaign Real Estate JUNE 21 2017 sandboxMUSIC MARKETING FOR THE DIGITAL ERA ISSUE 182 THE SOUND OF MUSICAL.LY LOOSE LIPS SYNC HITS With more than 200m users, Musical.ly is – officially – too big to ignore. It’s left Dubsmash in the shade and become the byword for a particular type of UGC. It’s attracting young audiences in a way other platforms can only dream of and it’s got music baked in from the off. This should be an open goal for the music business, but trying to elbow into something that is, inherently, community-centric is tricky. It’s not for all artists and for those that it suits, they need to really get involved if they are to see the benefits. Plus it’s already thinking about the next stages of its evolution, hugely conscious that today’s hype can be tomorrow’s MySpace. We look at who is using it, why they are using it and how they are keeping on top of this most moving of targets. n 2017, if lip sync still makes you think of the one-hit wonders responsible for I ‘Funkytown’, you might want to get out LOOSE LIPS SYNCS HITS of the music industry. We exaggerate, obviously; but there can be little doubt these days that lip syncing is a very big thing indeed, thanks to Dubsmash and – overwhelmingly today – Musical.ly. The latter service, which styles itself THE SOUND OF variously as a “global video community”, “creative platform” and “entertainment social network”, has attracted more than 200m users worldwide in just three years and has helped to make stars of the likes of Baby Ariel (19.8m MUSICAL.LY fans and counting), Jacob Sartorius (17.3m) and 1 | sandbox | ISSUE 182 | 21.06.2017 COVERFEATURE audience for these types of tracks and creates huge levels of exposure,” she says. MUSICAL.LY KEY STATS “I’ve anecdotally heard lots of teens and pre- l +200m worldwide users teens say that they have discovered music l 15m daily uploaded Musical.lys through the app. This applies to old tracks l 20% worldwide increase in downloads since July 2016 as well as current ones. It’s pretty much a l 60m Musers in 42 countries in Europe standard element to all my digital campaigns l > 9.5m users in the UK and Ireland these days.” l + 10% increase in new users from January 2017 to April 2017 UNLIKE ALMOST EVERY OTHER MAJOR SOCIAL PLATFORM, MUSIC IS THE STARTING POINT Much as with Snapchat before it, a key part of Musical.ly’s appeal to music marketers the UK’s Max & Harvey (4.08m). Its audience is its youthful audience, dominated by the is youthful – 64% of the app’s US users fall digital millennials that traditional media within the 13-24 demographic, according to allegedly struggles to reach. However, as Vice – and 75% female. opposed to Snapchat, say, where music is Unsurprisingly, Musical.ly has also an incidental presence, Musical.ly has music attracted the attentions of a host of more baked right through it: when you create a mainstream music stars over the last 12 video on Musical.ly, there is a prominent “pick months, with Katy Perry, Ariana Grande music” icon that leads to an extensive online and Wiz Khalifa among the many artists library, divided into collections like “A-list who have turned to the app for promotional Lip syncing along to the song in question is says Cassie Petrey, co-founder and co-owner Pop”, “Summer” and “Birthday”, and users purposes. Warner Music became the first probably the most common use, although of US digital marketing company Crowd Surf, can also pick music from their own music major label to agree a licensing deal with many Musers (as the platform’s users are who also co-manages Max & Harvey. “A collection, while the app’s “search” page Musical.ly in June 2016, while in February known) record comedy clips and dance great example [of its use] is the Mannequin brings up a list of top songs, both globally 2017 Apple announced an “integration” routines – or even perform their own songs. Challenge. This was something that we and locally. Musical.ly videos that feature with Musical.ly that allowed Apple Music It is an approach that fits well with – and saw across all social media platforms, but music display the artist and song title in subscribers to stream full-length songs has even helped to fuel – the meme-friendly it really grew some wings on Musical.ly. question running along the bottom left of the within the app. video marketing that has made huge hits of That entire social media promotion really video while it plays, making discovery a cinch. the likes of ‘Hotline Bling’, ‘Black Beatles’ helped Rae Sremmurd’s ‘Black Beatles’ Music marketing on Musical.ly appears to OK, I GET WHAT IT IS. and ‘Bad & Boujee’ over the last two years, take off and Musical.ly heavily featured work: in August 2016, a Musical.ly promotion WHY SHOULD I CARE? which makes it little surprise that the #MannequinChallenge content across their of Hailee Steinfeld’s ‘Starving’ drove an 11% music industry has been quick to embrace platform.” week-on-week increase in streams and a 23% For anyone who has had their head buried Musical.ly as a tool for music discovery. Maddy Smith, senior digital marketing increase in sales, according to Aaron Bogucki, deep in the sand, Musical.ly allows the user “Musical.ly is extremely manager at Capitol Records UK, says that VP of digital marketing at Steinfeld’s label to record brief videos, which can be paired important; right now, a lot of songs Musical.ly is really important for “a certain Republic (via Billboard), while a promotion for to songs and then uploaded to Musical. are breaking on Musical.ly before genre of artist – mainstream, Top 40, pop”. Selena Gomez ’s ‘Kill Em With Kindness’ ly itself and other social media platforms. radio, Apple, Spotify, or YouTube,” “It offers huge reach amongst our target that allowed Musers to virtually duet with 2 | sandbox | ISSUE 182 | 21.06.2017 COVERFEATURE dedicated Next Wave folder, with the song visiting the LA office to interact with top that inspires the most Musical.ly videos Musers to film covers and other content”. winning promotion on the app’s homepage. “We are immediately tapping into the biggest Previous Next Wave winners have included users which means as soon as we launch WILL WE SEE A BREAKOUT Anne-Marie’s ‘Alarm’, Charli XCX ’s ‘After The the campaign we have already secured huge Afterparty’ and MadeinTYO’s ‘Skateboard P’. reach for our track,” she explains. STAR FROM MUSICAL.LY? Warner Music Group director of digital The key, Smith says, to making a success Musical.ly may well have become a key tool in marketing music, accounts, Marcel Joseph Jnr, explains that of these promotions, is artist involvement. but what about A&R? The platform’s big stars have millions WMG has won four Next Wave campaigns to She stresses the importance of “making of adoring fans on the platform, but will they ever be able to date “and seen tremendous engagement on artists available and making sure that they translate that into the music industry currency of songs, playlists, tracks selected”. “In aggregate, WMG artists are using and endorsing the app”. “The albums and lucrative live gigs? have had more than 2m Musical.lys created partnerships are reliant on artist buy in to Jacob Sartorius probably offers us as close to an answer to their Next Wave selected tracks and kick them off; but after that, the level of in as we will get, in what is still relatively early days for Musical. 350m views of these Musical.lys during app promotion that Musical.ly give you is ly. After rising to fame on the platform Sartorius released his the campaign window,” he says. massive,” Smith says. “So this is really what debut download single, ‘Sweatshirt’, in May 2016, with the “In a few instances, these artists catapults the campaign to the next level. song selling an acceptable if not-quite-stellar 500,000 units. have developed more followers Their recently announced partnership with His debut EP, The Last Text, followed in January 2017, reaching on Musical.ly than any other social Apple Music also means there is a much #32 on the Billboard charts. To accompany The Last Text, media platform.” more direct route to conversion into sales Sartorius toured North America and Europe, playing moderate- Other Musical.ly programmes to highlight and streams.” to-large-sized venues such as the Manchester Academy and new music include First Listen and First As these examples suggest, Musical.ly Annexet in Stockholm. Look, which promotes “music exclusives is eager to work with the music industry, Smith says that Sartorius has attracted “a lot of attention” off from major label artists – i.e. pre-releases appointing Inga Bereza as director of the back of his Musical.ly success, which has translated into a or new music videos”. Musical.ly says the music and entertainment partnerships large social following (he has 1.28m followers on Twitter and 2.5m First series “acts as a springboard to the in September 2015 and opening a San followers on YouTube). But she doesn’t see this as evidence that Gomez generated 1.3m Musical.ly clips, song/video and drives viral anticipation Francisco office last year.
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