SOCIAL MEDIA key to marketing

Not exactly a revelation, blogging on the basis of a simple, sharp quote from Lily Allen (who in the same article says it's the 360 deals for branding, endorsements that make money now, not the music):

Lily Allen: ‘We need to fight back against these forces’

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/may/06/we-need-to-fight-back-against-forces-lily-allen?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard

Allen responds to a question asking how she can face going on her social media daily when she gets so much abuse through it:

Well... a) Social media, what it’s for, is to partake in conversations. Just because my conversations are amplified or misconstrued, doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t be able to express myself, and that’s what we’re talking about, really, freedom of expression. b) Every marketing budget now takes social media engagement into account. So if I didn’t tweet and I didn’t do Instagram I wouldn’t be here right now – we literally wouldn’t be having this conversation.

YOUTUBE Poppycock I saw it through the grapetube

This strikes me as intriguing but wretchedly deplorable, a harbinger of cultural implosion. All the world's a (nearly) 6 inch screen Shakespeare famously quoth.

Such gibberish might fit well on Poppy's channel, home of vapid vids and now smatterings of music. Millions watch her wordlessly eat candyfloss, repeat a 2 word mantra. Can't wait for her scratching an armpit video, that ought to rake up a few million sugar glazed eyeballs.

Spittle-flecked horror, oppobrium for this virtue vacuum, is an instinctive response - but ... then there's the claim this is a meta, pomo, deconstructionist take on online culture. It's hipster to be squared.

Poppy is a very slim Caucasian blonde female. So was Buffy, but she had a great script.

No, I'll stick with Poppycock, but still suggest this is an interesting case study of a carefully constructed YouTube identity/brand being slowly spun out into pop, rather than using YouTube to boost an artist's brand and fanbase.

A decade ago it was the likes of Lily Allen brought to the fore by viral take-up of her MySpace warblings. Heartwarming story, aside from the expensive Sony campaign that actually underpinned it.

Poppy and her svengali sidekick director dude may be smart cookies, but sugary temptation offers empty calories. Calling the fans Poppy Seeds - smart touch; maybe Gaga is a more apt comparison, the pop queen of cyberspace connection is perhaps going to be looked on as the step before such Tubers established the next multi-platform media marketing miasma.

Poppy is a disturbing internet meme seen by millions. Can she become a pop sensation? https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/dec/11/poppy-youtube-meme-pop-sensation-titanic-sinclair-moriah-pereira?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

Jarring juxtapositions: twerking in Mastodon vid

This curious countertyping helped Mastodon gain publicity

There can be considerable shock or at least novelty value still in incorporating elements from a contrasting genre; in this example the prog-metal band Mastodon. In their video for The Motherload they incorporate ... twerking!

So, we get some fairly standard, though well-executed (nicely lit, and some effective focus pull), sepia-coloured footage of vaguely demonic figures ... counterpointed with a range of very modern dancers twerking, often in slo-mo and fairly uncomfortable close-up. The point (the 'reading') is debatable, and may simply come down to the shock value, or may be a critique of what the likes of Sinead O'Connor has attacked as exemplifying male industry control over female artists, with Lily Allen's attempted critique itself attacked for allegedly racist undertones.

(skip to the end to view the actual video)

Miley Cyrus v Lily Allen: binary opposites?

I'll return to this with more links/points later, but for now consider these two seemingly sharply divergent representations of gender and sexuality (Allen has faced considerable flak too) in these two much-discussed vids (part of a contemporary, 2013 triumverate of controversy with Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines [previously blogged on]):

NB: Cyrus' video for Wrecking Ball contains sexual content, while Allen's Hard Out Here contains strong language (and has been accused of racism)

and...

TBC
We could view one as reflective of post-feminist attitudes, the other more traditionally feminist, but its worth noting too such debates take place in many different forms - and with more serious consequences elsewhere. The Femen movement have achieved a high profile in a short space of time, with tactics criticised by others who would label themselves feminists too: appearing topless with slogans scrawled over their bodies. Femen have been active in many countries, but notably Ukraine and Russia - in the latter the travails of Pussy Riot, feminist Russian punks, are well documented in the BBC Storyville film.

Facebook, MySpace, YouTube - role of new media CONTAINS A LINKS LIST

I'll gather some previous posts on this topic into a links list when I've time, and add more new material over time. If you look at your Eval Qs, and the R+P marking criteria (and consider as well the role of audience feedback in both Eval/R+P) you'll soon appreciate just how pivotal it is that you evidence research into and knowledge of new media's place within the music biz, but also utilise it to generate + present R+P as well as aud feedback.

So, keep an eye out for stories about viral vids, bedroom artists whose YouTube upload or Facebook profile has circumvented the record industry and seen them breakthrough by directly linking to fans. There are a lot of stories about the terminal decline of CDs, which still dominate record companies revenues but over time are losing out to downloads. Apple's latest Macbook doesn't have a CD/DVD player as they're confident that most of us are switching to non-physical media.

You'll notice I didn't mention MySpace there - just 2-3 years ago this was seen as the most important social media tool for music acts, but while seemingly every ad for a tour, single or album features a Facebook link, the MySpace logo is increasingly rare. New media is a fast-moving ruthless platform highly prone to changes in fashion.

We should also be sceptical about some of the claims made about viral success stories - was Lily Allen's breakthrough via her MySpace efforts really free from corporate effort and finance?
Personalise your blogging, reflect on your own consumption and that of your friends: do you still buy CDs? When was the last time you bought one? How do you access music: iTunes, BitTorrent/illegal downloads, Spotify and other streaming sites, a phone-based subscription, radio ... or even CDs?!

EXAM + COURSEWORK LINKS TO 'NEW MEDIA'

From the R+P marking criteria: "There is an excellent level of care in the presentation of the research and planning.
There is excellent skill in the use of digital technology or ICT in the presentation."

The 4th Eval Q: "How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?"

Q1a of your exam has digital technology as one of the 5 concepts you may be asked to explore within a comparison of your AS and A2 work; you have to show how you advanced with your A2 work.

Some reading for you

To aid your learning on this here's just a few useful articles:
What impact is piracy having on the music industry, and are downloads replacing money lost to CD sales? Here's an excellent Aug 2011 Guardian analysis.
Just as good, and arguably your best starting point for an overview of the major issues and debates around new media's impact on the music industry, is this comprehensive overview from Jan 2011 on how the biz has struggled to adapt.
2007 Guardian article on Radiohead releasing their album In Rainbows via web-only at first, and asking for buyers to pay what they think its worth; also cites the Arctic Monkeys/Lily Allen and MySpace breakthroughs
Lady Gaga's manager: 'If it was up to me, I'd give away the next album...' - it seems ever more clear that the social aspect of music is seen as key to the future; Gaga's manager here joins Spotify and Clear Channel execs at the annual Facebook conference [see also the reproduced article after this list] in arguing that future revenues depend on enabling conversations to happen around music listening.

Facebook to transform into an entertainment hub - Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announces Spotify and Netflix tie-ins, as competition from Twitter and Google prompt move

Kate Nash - another MySpace breakthrough. (also: wiki)
MySpace wiki 
Lily Allen + her MySpace breakthrough 
Arctic Monkeys + their MySpace breakthrough - a fan posted their demos on MySpace - the group were not web-savvy themselves

Guardian Downloads microsite: weekly articles about music online, fantastic resource
2006: early analysis from Guardian on MySpace after Arctic Monkeys' breakthrough
Sky takes on iTunes with downloads service (2009) - the competition for iTunes will continue to grow, but in 2011 they still maintain a near-monopoly
iTunes wiki - worth reading
The alternatives to iTunes (Gdn art, 2010)
Google set to launch an iTunes rival?
Beyond Oblivion, part-owned by News Corp, set to challenge iTunes (Aug 2011) - smartphone streaming service
iTunes + control freakery? Many in the industry hate iTunes, specifically because Apple set prices and take so much of the revenue from every track sold. Here's an article about the FT side-stepping iTunes. We will see increasing focus on just how fair/legal Apple's astonishing grip over the music industry is over the coming year.
Still...getting people to pay for music was a near-miracle, this 2011 art argues.
Newspapers find Apple just as bad when it comes to their fees for iPad apps.
Glee downloads dominated iTunes charts in 2009
Viral video chart (weekly Gdn blog), with music/music vids often to the fore
Vevo Revolutionary - I've blogged on this: Vevo is the link-up of 3 of the world's biggest record co's, and its vision is based on a future of ad-funded music streaming. This is the sort of thing you absolutely must show awareness of!!!
The film industry faces similar issues, with revenues from downloaded film not matching that of the DVD sales this replaces
'We crave a popstar who is authentic, who thrives because of their talent, not PR. So when you stumble across someone like Lana Del Rey – her popularity apparently born online and growing per YouTube click – it's hard not to be sceptical as to whether she's actually too good to be true. Surely it can't be that after posting just one song online, this brand new artist sold out a London gig in half an hour?' - excerpt from article on Lana del Ray, YouTube sensation. Here's a lighter look at del Ray's vids
Did you know that Justin Bieber holds the record for most-viewed vid on YouTube, with 500m hits ... or that he surpassed Lady Gaga's Bad Romance to claim this crown? Read more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_impact_of_YouTube


The following is bang up to date, and should get you thinking about how you're going to get aud feedback, but also, later, on some of the features to include in your ancillary texts. (You could, as a group, set up a joint Fb account specifically for your vid)

Article link: Ben Perreau, 23.9.11 at http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2011/sep/23/facebook-changes-music-fans

What do Facebook changes mean for music fans?

Facebook's new announcements have the potential to revolutionise music listening – although it could spell bad news for iTunes

The world will Listen … Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg

At Facebook's annual geek-con, F8, the internet giant announced some its most significant changes yet. Now intent on becoming a platform for your whole lifestyle, Facebook will try to turn the web on its head and rewire it from "Search" to "Social". But what will this mean for music?

It's more than just "Like", now it's all about "Listen".

Facebook is broadening its lexicon. Eighteen months ago Facebook launched the now ubiquitous "Like" button, which quickly took hold. Now, they're taking it a step further, "Listen" buttons will start to replace the familiar "Like" button where there's something to hear, along with "Watch" and "Read" (presumably that's just the start). The new buttons will work in a similar way to the old ones, but send a message out to your friends via your profile "Ben Perreau just listened to Good Vibrations", these buttons will be one of the ways of actively logging any song, artist or radio station you've been listening to and wear it on your profile like a badge of honour (until somebody cooler notices and you remove it).

It's building a music community of 800 million people.

Facebook wants you to be using Facebook all the time. One of the most exciting features is "listen with your friends". This means Facebook is inviting you to share your listening and join in with others. So if you have friends across the globe who are still lamenting the loss of REM, you can now howl uncontrollably over "Everybody' Hurts" en masse. More importantly, you'll be able to do it all in real-time, and have a discussion in the context of what you're listening to. Get ready to sound knowledgable: "I 3>'d their first album." This is a great idea for artists who want to create special events with discussions around their new music, gather feedback and, crucially, get friends to discuss the music and share it. It's also great for broadcast radio, where there's a virtual community of people listening at once. With Facebook the hits can ripple across the world as people share them with each other.

Facebook will track your listening, automatically.

Facebook is desperate to display a record of your life over time, and that includes your music habits. Unsurprisingly, they're calling this new profile a "Timeline". Facebook will publish all your listening habits to this Timeline (it's brilliant for late-night navelgazing). You'll simply have to authorise a music service once, to monitor your listening and send it all to your Timeline automatically. But watch out, if you've been listening to the same song on repeat, you'll soon get found out by your friends when they go snooping around your profile. You'll find this similar to Last.FM, which tracks your listening and presents it back to you in a visual way.

Discovering new music is going to be great fun.

If you logged into Facebook earlier this week you'll have noticed the ability to "Subscribe" to people you're interested in. So if you want to find some new music to listen to, you'll just need to know of somebody who has great taste (my profile is facebook.com/ben.perreau). You'll also find that friends who listen to similar artists are more visible to you on Facebook, thanks to their increasingly clever algorithm.

It's not good news for download stores. It's even worse for CDs.

But we knew that. Facebook's new features are going to help to establish what you "listen to" as the currency that record companies care about, not the MP3s gathering digital dust on your hard-drive.
So accessing a broad range of music that gets logged by Facebook (and seen by all your friends) is probably going to be much easier with a service such as internet radio (because it's free), than a subscription music service such as Spotify (which costs), but it's going to be really tough for old download services such as iTunes where your listening habits are isolated from the Facebook experience. This is a masterful move for Facebook, who can persuade you to hang around for longer (showing you ads while you visit), while music services such as Spotify continue to pay royalty cheques.
It looks as if Facebook is nudging deeper into our lives with every innovation. It has the potential to give internet radio listening a boost as demand will grow for free, connected listening experiences that people can discuss. Whereas Apple may be forced to make iTunes more open, possibly by introducing a scrobbler-type app that logs the music you listen to on, say, your iPod and sends this info to your Facebook page (RIP Last.FM?). Basically, you should get ready for your music tastes to be tracked and strewn across the web like a bad breakup – Facebook wants to collect a visual biography of your life, and it won't stop until it is tracking every bit.

Most-played tracks last year? ...

Lady Gaga rules airwaves as UK's most played artist

Bad Romance tops year's airplay list, with Alejandro at two and Alicia Keys' Empire State of Mind at three 

Mark Sweney

• The Guardian, Monday 6 June 2011 http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jun/06/lady-gaga-uk-most-played

Lady Gaga's Bad Romance was the most-played single on UK radio in 2010

y the most played artist on UK radio last year. Bad Romance, the first single from her album The Fame Monster, topped the annual airplay chart compiled by music licensing company PPL.
Lady Gaga, famous for her controversial outfits and flamboyant concert performances, also had the No 3 most played record with Alejandro, another single from the same album. The runner-up spot was taken by Alicia Keys's Empire State of Mind.
The previous year's chart was topped by Lily Allen, who has since retired from the music business citing the pressures of fame. Such a thought is unlikely to trouble Lady Gaga – known as "mother monster" to her fans (who are the "little monsters") – any time soon.
PPL, which collects airplay royalties on behalf of artists and their record companies, generated a record £143.5m last year, up 11% on 2009. Its top 10 chart also includes songs played in bars and restaurants.
"These results are very encouraging especially against the backdrop of very difficult trading conditions for us as well as many of our licensees and the customers," said Fran Nevrkla, the former professional violinist who heads PPL.
The strong performance of PPL – labels and musicians received a record £124m after various costs were deducted – was a ray of light for an embattled music industry.
Global sales of CDs fell by almost $1.5bn last year as digital piracy continued to take its toll.
And last month it emerged that the decade-long rise of live music in the UK, long billed as a saviour of the industry, had run out of steam, with revenues dropping 6.7% in 2010, according to figures from rights body PRS for Music.
In contrast PPL had a solid year, with the biggest growth coming from international revenues, which grew by nearly half to £32m.
PPL is targeting royalties from the US, the world's largest music market, which although lucrative could be massive if the American system of not allowing royalty collection from analogue radio stations is eventually changed.
There was 2% growth in public performance revenue, which broke the £50m mark to account for 35% of all revenues, given the continued decline in the number of pubs and nightclubs in the UK.
The PPL managed to significantly increase its membership last year, with a 13% boost in the number of performers signed up to 47,500 and a 26% rise in record company members to 6,300.

Top 10 most played songs in 2010

1. Lady Gaga Bad Romance
2. Alicia Keys Empire State of Mind
3. Lady Gaga Alejandro
4. Plan B She Said
5. Kylie Minogue All the Lovers
6. Olly Murs Please Don't Let Me Go
7. Ke$ha Tik Tok
8. Florence and the Machine Rabbit Heart
9. Train Hey, Soul Sister
10. Kings of Leon Sex on Fire