Music Magic

Hello! It's good to be back.

       This month, I was assigned to complete a Music Marketing Campaign along with two other group members. We had to produce a marketing and distribution plan for an up-and-coming indie rock band. This included creating a music video, using technological convergence, performances, and other practices to promote the new band. Once this was done, we would create a presentation and share our campaign to our class (our ‘potential investors’).
       Before beginning the campaign, we first had to see how other indie rock bands developed and advertised their music. Our group began to research several bands, including “Florence and the Machine” and “Hozier” to investigate their marketing and distribution trends and how we could implement them in our own project. Both of the case studies informed us that these bands were highly active on social media (such as by posting announcements for new music releases and releasing teaser trailers), so we considered it essential to create a significant social media presence for Bondi. Additionally, both Hozier and Florence and the Machine distributed their music on streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music. They have also performed at multiple festivals, shows, and concerts. For example, Florence and the Machine played at U2’s 360 Tour and Hozier performed at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards. After investigating these bands, we recognized that it was vital for us to distribute our music on popular streaming services and promote our band at events. This would increase the presence of our music both digitally and in real life.
       After listening to our assigned song, “Spirits” by the Strumbellas, we agreed that the message of our band would be rebellion and nonconformity. We named our ‘new’ band Bondi, after the beach in Australia, and we decided that our most realistic target audience would be teenagers and young adults (ages 16-25). Younger audiences are usually attracted to indie music, and we thought that our message, nonconformity, would be an effective way to appeal to these listeners. Also, this age group is very tech savvy, so social media was key for marketing the band.
       Once we established these factors, we were able to create our campaign based on the image we wanted to create of Bondi. We utilized graphic design apps such as Canva and Superimpose to create Bondi’s logo, single cover, event posters, merchandise, and stickers. In order to maintain the theme of our band, we agreed that our central color scheme would be red, black, and white. Our group decided to create Instagram and Tumblr platforms for Bondi, where we would post images of our band members, event announcements, teaser trailers, and more. We chose these sites because Instagram is one of the most popular social platforms for teenagers and young adults, and Tumblr creates a blog-style account where users can share their favorite music playlists, art, and repost others’ publications. We would also be taking advantage of streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify to distribute our new single. These different platforms would allow us to reach a wide range of audiences and market our music even further.
                        

                                                                 Single Cover                                  Logo

                                               Apple Music                                        Spotify

Tumblr

       

Instagram            

 

       One of the key aspects of our campaign was a website where fans could access every part of our campaign, including our social media accounts, ticket sales, mailing list, merchandise, exclusive footage, and more. This allowed for our listeners to have access to all of our information in one centralized location. We posted the link to our website on our Instagram and Tumblr biographies in for the website to gain exposure. Fans who signed up for Bondi’s mailing list would receive new music updates, exclusive/behind the scenes footage, merchandise discount codes, and other benefits. All of these digital features assisted in marketing Bondi’s new music to our target audience.

Website

Merchandise

       As for the music video, it was necessary to create a product that would effectively introduce our band and its message to the public. In order to do so, we decided on creating a video about a bullied girl in a boring school setting who was finally able to escape the confines of her uninteresting life and pursue her dreams. As the video progressed, we used increasing amounts of the color red in order to show the character’s gradual rebellion and escape. We hoped that this video would appeal to our target audience since many may feel trapped in a dull, routine life and may wish to resist societal expectations in order to explore their passions. This was mostly a storytelling music video but it also had artistic elements as we included color symbolism and some unique shots. Take a look at what we made:

       This project really helped me develop my collaboration skills. After working in a group I was able to learn more about how to work with others and assign each member their own role within a project. This will be very helpful for my future portfolio project as I will be creating a magazine with two other people. In order for our project to be successful, we need to have effective communication skills, which the music marketing campaign project helped me improve. I also learned more about graphic design programs and applications while making digital posters and designs. This will be useful for my magazine portfolio as these tools will allow me to create the layout and graphics (cover page, fonts, color scheme, artistic design) of the magazine. Overall, the music campaign helped me develop key communication and digital skills that will assist me in not only the final project but also in future endeavors.


Signing off for now :)
Catalina