Marketing Music in the 21st Century

The three main objectives of this project are:

-Music video
-Website
-Digipak

Since all of these products relate to the overall music campaign, it seems fitting to start my research by delving deeply into the music industry, to study how musicians nowadays are using technology and media to heighten their success.

“The answer is developing an audience focused on YOU. In a world where attention is scarce, it is artists who have built something that intrigues, and who have the attention of an audience that will win.” Dotted Music

This quote reminds me of the heightened importance of targeting an audience, in a place where there is so much content that quality is overshadowed by quantity. Because of this, Cata and I decided that Em’s alternative rock/pop music is best fitted towards Millennials and older Generation Z’s. Due to the large gap between age ranges, 15-30 years old, our marketing strategy needs to be all encompassing.

The Canadian website, Music Managers Forum, had some incredible insight into marketing music in the 21st century. It’s especially helpful as their information is targeted towards self-managed artists. MMF stated that being successful in this industry consists of three necessary steps:

1. Connecting with your audience


2. Building and maintaining that relationship


3. Converting that relationship into revenue.


As you can see, the audience is arguably one of the most substantial parts of the campaign. It’s about how we are going to make people reach Em’s content, and relate to it so much that they’ll yearn for any interaction with her, which brings me to the next point...INTERACTIVE EVERYTHING! YouTube, Soundcloud, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Em’s content needs to be everywhere. Her website needs to link back to all of her music, and all of her music needs to connect back to her website and social media outlets. 



Right now, Em has a YouTube Channel, EmmanuelleSasson, with over 260 subscribers. She is constantly uploading covers of songs, and sometimes even does personal diary-type posts. You can see her most popular cover so far(with over 1500 views!) on the left.

Em also has a personal Instagram, @_emmanuelle_s_, and one that she started only for her music image, @emsasson. However, she uses her personal one much more than her music one, something that we suggested changed. Em's twitter is @emsasson.



Sources:
"Music Marketing in the 21st Century." Music Managers Forum. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://musicmanagersforum.ca/resources/music-marketing-for-the-21st-century/>.

"Selling Music in the 21st Century." Music Business Journal Berklee College of Music RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.thembj.org/2009/01/selling-music-in-the-21st-century/>.

"Being An Artist In The 21st Century." Dotted Music. N.p., 26 Oct. 2012. Web. <http://dottedmusic.com/2011/features/being-an-artist-in-the-21st-century/>.

Meeting and Case Study

This week, Mrs. Stoklosa divided us into groups, and we got to show some of our peers our blogs and get some feedback. Good news: everyone loved my blog! Yay! They said it was very clean and all the information was relevant. However, since we just started the projects, there was not much I could show them other than general content.

Something that they recommended, which I am about to do, is to find examples of certain artists who are similar to Em, and analyze their music videos, website, and digipaks. I feel that this would be a great way for Cata and I to expand our knowledge of the music industry while at the same time gaining ideas that we can apply to Em’s campaign. While I’m focusing on Ed Sheeran, Cat will focus on Alessia Cara.

Ed Sheeran is a British singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His music is a diverse mixture of acoustic pop, folk, and pop. Born in 1991, the red-haired popular artist released his first two albums by the age of 16. He moved from his home in Halifax to London in order to gain more exposure, and was eventually noticed by star Jamie Foxx. From there, his career skyrocketed as he signed with Elton John’s management agency, and has since won many awards for his touching music and performances

Ed Sheeran’s website is EdSheeran.com. Something that’s interesting is that the first thing that viewers see is a pop up promoting his new album, Divide. The advertisement gives you the option to buy the physical copy, the digital one, or just stream excerpts of it online. You can see the pop-up below:

On the bottom of the page, it gives you the option to continue to his website, where there are photos, news, merchandise, and even a tab with all of his social media. The main focus of the website is the huge image of Ed Sheeran. When clicked, the image becomes the music video for his latest hit, “Shape of You”.

Although the website is simple, I love the minimalistic look of it. Just like his music, his website seems raw and personable, yet it does its job of promoting Ed Sheeran and his music. This is something that I definitely want to incorporate into Em’s website, as I feel like her and Ed have a lot in common (other than the fact that they share the same initials. Coincidence? I think not…)

Cat and I also discussed the idea of having merchandise for Em, like a hoodie with the cover of her album on it. For some reason, Millennials and Gen Z’s love hoodies, unaware of the free advertisement that it does to the artist.

As for the music video, I watched another of Sheeran’s newest hits, “Castle on the Hill”. Although he doesn’t star for the majority of the video, he uses a younger look-alike to play him. I especially like this video because of its storytelling aspect. The mise-en-scene, shots, and angles are not highly managed or edited, it’s something that Cat and I would be able to do if we plan accordingly. The promotional element of it with Sheeran's presence is another thing that we definitely want to include, as we need our audience to recognize Em and connect her with the music that they are listening to. Since it is her first album, not only her music, but she as an artist needs to be marketed.

Sources:
"Ed Sheeran Official Website." Ed Sheeran Official Website. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.edsheeran.com/?frontpage=true>.
O'Brien, Jon. "Ed Sheeran | Biography & History." AllMusic. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.allmusic.com/artist/ed-sheeran-mn0002639628/biography>.

Meet the Artist!

Hey!

Cata and I did an interview with Emmanuelle Sasson after we approached her, so that she could give us some information before we started creating her music campaign.  She was delighted for the help, especially as she was taking on her career all by herself. Here is our interview with her:

What's your name? 
Emmanuelle Sasson

When were you born? 
October 17th, 2001. So I'm 15.

Where are you from?
Manhattan, NYC, and I moved to Florida when I was 5. But my family is actually from Israel. My father is Turkish and my mom is Moroccan.

When did you start singing?
I’ve known I’ve wanted to be a musician ever since I was 3. When I was 14, I started taking vocal lessons with my teacher, Rachal Solomon. She’s really supportive of my music and has helped me manage my voice better.

Who’s your favorite singer/band?
Twenty One Pilots

Do you play any instruments?
I play the guitar, bass, piano, drums, and the ukulele. And I’ve learned them all on my own except for  the guitar.

How would you describe yourself?
I’m quirky, and I’m a thinker. I like to see the good in people rather than focus on the bad, and even in the darkest times, I try to focus on the good things such as my music and the people I love. I’m also very affectionate, and usually care more about other people over myself. Oh, and I love cracking jokes.

What’s the inspiration behind your debut album?
On February 4th, 2015, I had back surgery to treat my scoliosis. At 13, I was at the hospital for a week, and I had to miss school for a month. I fell into a severe depression because of it, so I started writing songs. “Cage” was the first song that I wrote which described how I was feeling. My music has to do a lot with my personal life, and who I’ve become and who I strive to be. It’s about humanity, our tendencies, and our bad habits. That’s why my my debut album is called “A Universal Paradox”, meaning that you can choose to do something but you can’t choose its consequences.

How would you describe your music?
Alternative rock/pop

What do you want your music to be to other people?
I want my music to be a support system for others. I want it to be comforting and relatable because I know how it feels to be alone and I don’t ever want other people to feel that way.

What are some of your goals as a musician?
I want to get people to feel something when they listen to my music, but to do that, I need to expand my YouTube presence. I also submitted an audition video to America's Got Talent, so that’s another exciting thing that I’m looking forward to. I’m also super excited for the release of my first album, “A Universal Paradox”, which will hopefully be available this summer!

Tentative Schedule

Last year, I decided to do a list of my personal deadlines towards the end of the project. Due to my success with that, I learned from experience and did one for this project... only I didn't wait until crunch time to actually put it together. So without further adieu, here is the tentative deadlines by which I hope to fulfill certain aspects of the project:

03/02/2017 Finalize Schedule
03/04/17 Interview with Em Sasson

03/08/2017 Genre Research
03/10/2017 Conventions of Music Videos
03/12/2017 Conventions of Digipaks

03/13/2017 Conventions of Musician Websites
03/14/2017 Photo shoot
03/16/2017 Business Card
03/18/2017 Website

03/20/2017 Plan for Music Video
03/22/2017 Storyboard
03/24/2017 Film Video and Begin Editing

03/27/2017 Digipak
03/29/2017 Finalize All Products
03/31/2017 Script and Finalize CCR

04/03/2017 Final Comments
04/05/2017 Post Project
04/08/2017 Post CCR

That's it for today! Cheers for time management :)
-Isa

New Year, New Project!

I'm back!

It's finally that time of the year again! I'm extremely excited to start blogging my experience once more. Now I say goodbye to my film opening for Lasting Leah, and will follow up on my brand-new journey for a music campaign.

For A level, I decided on a music campaign for my portfolio project when I was exposed to a wonderfully talented student musician earlier last year. Her performance at an open mic night in school blew me away, and from that moment on, I knew I had to help her achieve her dreams. Her name is Emanuelle Sasson, and she is an original singer-songwriter who wants to release her first original album over the summer. I will post an interview with her sometime in the next week so you can learn more about her.

Taking my experience with the challenging AS level project, I've decided to partner up with Catalina Castro to tackle this new project. Catalina, better known as Cat, was actually my film opening actress last year. She and I have been friends for years, and we work very well together. For 5 years, we've created award-winning pantomimes together for drama competitions and have been in countless musicals together. I've no doubt our partnership will elevate this project to another level.

Until next time,

Isa 

Creative Critical Reflection

Hey everyone,

Here is the link to go to my Creative Critical Reflection for Lasting Leah, my final project for my AS Level Media Studies class.

http://voicethread.com/share/7743756/

-Isa

**If there's any difficulty understanding what's said in the reflection, I posted my script on one of the past blog posts. 

Sources:

Tahmin, Farjana. "Conventions of Drama." SlideShare. N.p., n.d. Web.
<http://www.slideshare.net/FarjanaTahmin/conventions-of-drama-films>. 

Speaking Characters. Digital image. Pinterest. N.p., n.d. Web. 

<https://www.pinterest.com/pin/405464772679955685/>.  

Movie Theatre. Digital image. Chud. N.p., n.d. Web. 

<http://www.chud.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Toyogeki-Movie_Toyooka002.jpg>.  

Website. Digital image. Massage Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 

<https://www.massagemag.com/massage-blog/massage-practice-builder/files/2013/06/iStock_000018723973_Medium.jpg>. 

Social Media. Digital image. Jackson State University. N.p., n.d. Web.

 <http://www.jsums.edu/socialmedia/files/2015/05/SocialMedia.jpg>. 

  

Final Project

Hey everyone!

I'm incredibly proud to introduce my AS Level Media Studies Final Project, an opening for the film Lasting Leah, a movie about a struggling artist dealing with her emotions on graduating, her mother's illness, and financial debts.

Please adjust the setting to watch the video in 1080p for best quality experience. Click on my film's title to watch it. Enjoy!

Lasting Leah

If the hyperlink doesn't work, here's another format that you can try.

-Isa