Music Marketing Project Overview

Aloof Marketing Campaign

As I wrote about previously, a couple classmates and I were tasked with creating a marketing campaign for a new band (created by us as well). We were simply given a song, and told to expand our research and creative abilities to create a unique band, and a plan to show our band to the world.

Researching

We first began by researching on the genre of our chosen song, "Blind" by Korn. From, this we discovered that our band should stay within the realm of nu metal/alternative rock music genre. We wanted our band to contain major aspects of these genres, since that is what we were tasked to do, but we also wanted to add our own touch to the band to make it unique. So, we aimed for an alternative rock/metal band that relied on freedom of expression and experimenting with sound. In order to figure out how to create and market such a band, we researched other bands and artists who thrived on freedom of expression, such as Marilyn Manson, Iggy Pop, and Turnstile. We compiled all of our research in a music genre research chart, showing their distinct marketing plans and strategies, and how they all achieved some level of success. We especially focused on Turnstile's marketing campaign, because they are the more recently formed band and, therefore, have marketing techniques that are catered towards our target audience: teenagers and young adults. Turnstile focused heavily on their digital distribution and online marketing, so we wanted to incorporate those aspects in our own marketing campaign. We especially liked Turnstile's personal website. We thought the graphics were fitting to their vibe and target audience, and the idea of people been able to easily manage the website really resonated with us; we wanted to make our band easily accessible to the public. Seeing Turnstile's marketing plan, and the techniques used by the other rock artists, we realized that cultivating an interesting and appealing self-image was one of the most important techniques. Similar to Iggy Pop and Marilyn Manson, we wanted a rough image in our music and performances; however, like Turnstile, we wanted to have a calmer public and social appearance, one that is more lax compared to on-stage. So, we got to brainstorming how we could make this happen. 

Research for two bands in alternative rock genre.

Brainstorming/Planning

After the research process, we learned exactly what is successful in the nu metal/alternative rock realm, in terms of marketing. Along with the importance of self-image, we learned that having a solid distribution plan, digital and tangible, is just as important; this is what we started with. The alternative rock genre is more traditional in terms of distribution compared to more modern genres like pop. Because of this, we decided to incorporate tangible objects, like vinyls, into our distribution plan. We also planned to "release" both the single and album to various online streaming services, like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Pandora, Soundcloud, and YouTube Music. With this, we will reach our targeted audience, who will primarily listen online, and also reach those who favor vinyls; vinyls are making a comeback in the music industry because of their aesthetic appeal, and it is common for many younger people to collect them, so we figured incorporating them into our campaign was essential. In addition, we began creating a background for the band. We wanted them to come from a small, unknown town because that is usually seen with these types of bands. We decided that they would be from Blairsburg, Iowa, and have formed previously for a high school talent show, where they got a taste of fame after having their performance go viral on TikTok. We wanted one guy to be the face of the band, Ben Stone, while the others were touring members who joined along in the background. Moreover, we also started brainstorming name ideas and album ideas. We wanted a name that was both short and symbolic of what our band meant, so we decided on Aloof. Aloof means cold, distant, detached, which we thought was perfect considering we were going for a darker theme in the album. As for the album, we wanted to create an artsy album that also took meaning to our "theme". We ultimately chose "The Regression from Myself" because it was symbolic of the general idea we had for the music video: a young, harmless boy loses himself to drugs. "The Regression from Myself" is literal when you understand our intent with the music video, but it also has an artsy, poetic appeal that can allow to be understood without having to watch the music video. For the tracklist, we wanted to keep the same chaotic, artsy vibe, as with the album cover (pictured below). 

Aloof's album cover.

Besides our ideas for the album and band image, we also wanted to keep a cohesive theme with marketing our band. We ensured that our band would have a large social media presence as part of its campaign. So, we designed Instagrams and Twitters for the band, even posting fake "posts" announcing their album, and detailing information about themselves in general. We wanted to make our social media presence more subdued in comparison to our bold stage presence, so our lead singer would take to posting intimate videos of him playing the guitar, or posts of him showing his appreciation to fans. With this, we would differ from the cold, stoic attitude usually seen in rock bands, and appeal more to our fans. After solidifying our social medias, we began working on our merchandise and tour information. We designed our logo from the album cover because we felt it perfectly portrayed the distant, detached meaning behind our name. So, we placed this logo on clothing, and put our name on phone cases as well. We also created a tour flyer detailing our future tour dates and locations, which we would post on our social medias. Furthermore, we designed a marketing plan for after the release of our single. We designed to release our debut album after the single, on February 22, 2022. As for marketing the band, we thought to contact various radio stations, specifically rock stations, and have them play our single so we can reach a wider audience, rather than just teenagers. We wanted the band to do live interviews, podcasts, and talkshows to show the fans their personalities in a public setting. Lastly, we designed for them to do extensive live performances at rock festivals, and have them play unreleased material at their own mini concerts.

Flyer for Aloof's upcoming tour.

Merchandise examples.

Production

Before the actual production of our music video, we needed to come up with an idea that represented the true meaning of our song. So, we all listened to the song repeatedly and shared our ideas for certain parts of the song. We all agreed on depicting a young, pristine boy who falls suspect to drugs, so we based our ideas around that theme. Therefore, we began storyboarding the music video. The beginning of the song was very instrumental-heavy, and there are bits of loud, metallic-like noise. So, we decided to use this noise as indication for the tension rising, and the story progressing. We wanted to start with him being normal, or just starting out on the drugs. Then, we wanted the story to quickly progress. For the ending, we all agreed we wanted it to be messy, chaotic, and symbolic of him going through withdrawal. So, ultimately, we wanted our video to be strictly storytelling, not promotional. As for production, we were fortunate enough to have a member who is part of television program at our school; therefore, we were able to have a high-quality video camera, as well as box lights to use for lighting. We went to one of our group members' house, and filmed in his bedroom. We specifically chose his bedroom because it was the most empty and clean-looking; we wanted it be as realistic as possible, so it would look like the lead singer was actually living there. We closed the curtains and windows so the entire room was dark because the natural lighting from outside would not have looked great. Then, we used the two box lights and maneuvered them around the room depending on the scene, and we changed their intensity depending on the scene as well. We also started out filming with a cooler-toned lighting and deviated to more yellow-toned towards the end to symbolize his manic state. The color settings on the box lights allowed for this change. During filming, we drastically lowered the shutter speed for certain speeds to make it look chaotic and messy like we intended. We also switched from tripod to handheld to get this effect; however, we used a tripod for most of the shots to get a more professional look. We used minimal props and set design because the room was already decorated perfectly; all we brought was a pill bottle and trophies. We filmed our shots in order of their appearance on the storyboard. However, we filmed all of our inside shots first, then moved outside for the few shots that we had. 

Post-production

Since most of the techniques in the music video (linked below) were done during the production (i.e. low shutter speed, handheld camera, dark lighting), we put most of our attention on other aspects of editing. While editing the clips together, we focused heavily on timing. We wanted the clips to start off slow, then progressively get faster as his mood gets more chaotic and messy. In the beginning, there is quite a bit of instrumental, but the instrumental has certain parts every couple of seconds that sound noisier/metallic. We wanted to use these parts as indications of when to cut the clips. During filming, we filmed "filler" scenes (like him flipping pages of a book). So, when showing the progression of the story, we decided to cut back to the scene of the book pages, just to add more depth and further the effect. By doing this, we were able to make more cuts, which went in-hand with the messy, chaotic theme. We made sure every cut matched with the instrumental and music. We also incorporated a slow zoom into certain shots that were static at the beginning of the music video. This added movement, and made the shots appear less boring in a sense. Lastly, we desaturated slightly the shots in the beginning, but oversaturated the shots towards the end, when he was in his "manic" state. Doing so highlighted his mania and made the environment look less sterile than in the beginning, and this difference in environment represents how his life was negatively affected by the drugs.

Presentation

Creating a visual presentation that showed our marketing campaign was one of the main components of the project, along with the music video. So, we created a Google Slides document at the beginning, and as we completed this project, we added our items to the slides. We created 15 slides that detailed our campaign. We started with background of the band and our desired image, then went in-depth into our marketing plan itself, then ended with the presentation of the music video and final points. We were essentially tasked with pitching our band to the class, and because of that, we had to rely on the oratory aspect more. Our slides were not the most visually appealing, but we kept them simple and concise. We went with a dark grey and white theme that portrayed the dark image of the band. We also designed a graphic art on Photoshop to represent the lead singer and the band name. We heavily relied on the hand-written look for both this cover art and the album cover because we felt this best exemplified the chaotic youthfulness to the band. Moreover, for the presentation itself, we focused on our band image and using it to appeal to our audience (classmates). Although we were missing a person, which did throw us off, we were successfully able to present our campaign. Because we wrote little on the slides, we were able to expand upon our plans while presenting, and easily show to people what we were planning for Aloof. 

Cover art for presentation.

What can I take away?

As a whole, this project has been extremely beneficial in teaching me the meticulous nature that comes with creating and marketing a band. Before this project, I had not realized how vital distribution and marketing is to an artist. Now, I know that this is the most important aspect; without effective marketing and distribution techniques, your band will not be known by the public, no matter how great they are. I have learned more about the creative process, and how to narrow down my multiple ideas into one single idea. I have also learned how many aspects there are to marketing. For instance, social medias, websites, merchandise, tour flyers, YouTube channels, crossovers and collaborations, and more are all examples of marketing catered towards artists. These are all evident with today's artists, I just never realized the intricacy that goes into developing them to appeal to specific audiences, which I have now learned. Furthermore, the creative process of developing a band from simply a song and music genre will definitely help with my Cambridge portfolio project. We developed a story for Aloof, having them come from a small town in Iowa and rise to minimal fame through TikTok at a high school talent show. With the portfolio project, I will also have to come up with a unique story and expand upon it. In addition, the production process for this project is similar to what I will do for the portfolio project. I will have to storyboard my ideas for the movie opening, film, and edit, to put it simply. But, I will also have to pay attention to lighting and coloring so I can develop a certain mood that symbolizes an aspect of my story, which is what we did with this project.