BRANDING DIGIPAK Anthrax album trailer, vinyl, digipak

BRANDING + MARKETING ACROSS MULTIPLE PLATFORMS

What you can learn from this example

- you should have a clear, consistent brand image and concept to promote
- that consistency would extend across multiple platforms and even merchandise
- most artists will change website banners, YouTube icon/banner (etc) to highlight their latest release or tour
- artists increasingly create video content that can be shared (ideally go viral) ... even short promo clips for an album with self-filmed interview-style footage
- artists also increasingly embrace and create content that was seen as typical of UGC/fan-made videos, notably the lyric video
- you can present research into any coursework topic by creating content that takes on a recognised media format: magazine feature, radio or TV interview/chat show appearance, e-zine interview (more informal, including setting), podcast ...
- the Anthrax Twitter's most recent update was on Record Store Day - formats like these are ideal to convey your grasp of industry topics like the role of vinyl; the issues around streaming and revenues; influences ... even technology ...
- ... it could the album producer, songwriter, video director, video editor or cinematographer (especially to discuss technology used: hardware or software) sleeve art designer, record label executive, band management, fans, ... there are many options. Great website content, research evidence, Evaluation content...

The self-produced Anthrax new album promo is like an interview or TV feature

Pics to be added - a bang up to date example of the multi-formatting that forms part of the marketing for many album releases now.

Unlike many other examples, this isn't a reissue - indeed, the thrash godfathers have put up a video of interviews to trail the album release, with the YouTube description featuring US and UK links for different formats.

Look out for magazine ads for this - drop me a link if you see one.

As usual, convergence is evident here: someone posted a link in a FB group pointing to a metal news site that had their own video which in turn linked to the band/record label's trail video...all accessed, viewed, clicked, read and blogged on through my phone - albeit pictures, saved from phone, formatting and tagging will have to wait til I'm sat at a PC/Macbook!

THE ANTHRAX ALBUM PROMO

ANTHRAX DRUMMER INTERVIEWED FOR AN E-ZINE'S PODCAST SERIES, AND E-ZINE ARTICLE ON THIS!

Rammstein: Sonne (industrial metal eg)

ACT: Rammstein

TRACK: Sonne

YEAR: 2001

DIRECTOR: Jörn Heitmann

GENRE: Industrial Metal

MAIN AUDIENCE: Male, 15-24/34

Rob posted on this in August and I thought I'd add a few comments; interesting choice! I know the track well but had never seen the video.
Here's the vid first of all:


A few initial points:

• perf. through lip-synching, but without a translation its hard to say whether its narr or concept!
• fairly fast-paced editing, with some long takes though
• colour and lighting a key consideration
• vid can only be understand if we grasp both the precise genre and target audience
• skilful cross-cutting is key to the preferred reading

GENRE/AUDIENCE: Loosely, its heavy metal, but more specifically its 'industrial' (or industrial metal) - other comparable bands would include Rage Against the Machine and Nine Inch Nails. The typical audience for this would be male youth: 15-24, but comfortably extending to 15-34 (25-34 = 'mature youth'). Industrial metal goes beyond the traditional guitar/bass/drum/vocal line-up to incorporate recorded, synth-processed sound, and is also seen as 'dark' - a world away from the 'hair metal' of Bon Jovi, Motley Crue and other giants of mainstream metal.
The crashing sledgehammers, and the sparks that fly up, are a neat signifier of the genre within the video.

GENDER: The youth male audience ensures that the Snow White depicted is heavily sexualised to fit the male gaze: the tight top, thick, bright red lipstick and the long take which lingers on her suspenders. They've taken an archetypal signifier or icon of (Disney) innocence and purity and flipped it to fit with their darker vision.

CENSORSHIP + PIRACY posts

I've blogged on both topics a few times; I'll gather together links to posts here.

Banned Band? CENSORSHIP OF MUSIC VIDS; includes vids for banned egs used in quiz

CENSORSHIP: Rihanna's top 5 controversies; [to which we can now add her new album celebrating her domestic abuse? plus her shambolic - omnishambles?! - album launch PR]

Rhianna says censors helped her sell single;

Piracy/SOPA - on the Stop Online Piracy Act that brought together a range of campaigners to successfully lobby against this (+ some info on Pirate Bay)

Pro-Palestinian vid controversy - neutral, balanced BBC? Not according to 2011's Bad News About Israel from the GUMG, nor the article in this post

Chris Cunningham short filmic vid/censored; detail on this controversy

Rammstein: frequently controversial, see these posts - one, two, three.

Piracy: Google caves to pressure?;

Digitisation from Napster to Spotify;

 

PRODUCTION: Rammstein vid behind the scenes

Its in German (Eng subtitles) and 30mins long, but here's a behind-the-scenes feature on  iconic industrial band Rammstein's typically outrageous vid for Mein Land:
(as it autoplays you'll need to click 'see more' to watch it...)

POSTMODERNISM Rammstein smash genre conventions

Bizarre, but clever, bit of countertyping from godfathers of industrial Rammstein: a new vid for Mein Land in which they appear as happy-go-lucky surfer dudes, in the style of the Beatles, Monkees or Beach Boys, 3 60s bands whose film and TV work contained proto-vids.

This then is yet another option for this brief, and for working within this format: completely playing against type and expectations in a postmodern fashion. Towards the end the footage switches dramatically to more familiar territory; as it features some limited nudity in the final minute I won't embed it, but you can see and read about this Jomas Akerlund vid here: http://loudwire.com/rammstein-nsfw-campy-beach-video-mein-land/

CD/MAG AD: Editionalising

Just as we saw with DVDs last year (initial vanilla releases followed by special/collector's/ultimate editions; unrated version; director's cut), albums - especially best ofs - are increasingly sold in mutltiple versions. There's an example below, starting with a digipak and working up to a CD+DVDs set.

This is something you can be thinking of as you begin to think about the digipak + mag ad. The JoyDiv team from last year won plaudits from the exam board for adding a limited edition vinyl edition; you could consider this, or a 'bonus live DVD', without taking too much more time.
Other than researching examples of both digipaks and mag ads, the key to these is thinking of imagery early that you could then be photographing while out on your filming shoots (or even practice run-throughs), though you might also opt for a more abstract look. Just remember, your Eval has a Q about the links between your 3 texts.

Source for following article: http://loudwire.com/rammstein-made-in-germany-retrospective/

Rammstein ‘Made in Germany 1995 – 2011′ Retrospective Drops December 6

by: Amy Sciarretto 29.10.11

Rammstein are Germany’s most famous purveyors of subversive, industrial aggro and they are about to make fans incredibly happy, thanks to a career retrospective, dubbed ‘Made in Germany 1995-2011.’ The release is set to drop on Dec. 6 via Vagrant Records.

The retrospective will be made available in three different configurations, so you can choose according to your level of fandom for this enigmatic band, known for playing with fire and engaging in simulated homoerotic activity on stage.

The standard edition will feature the ‘Best Of’ album as a CD digipak, while the special edition will add the ‘Best Of’ remix album to the standard edition. If that doesn’t satisfy your hankering for noisy Teutonic rock, then you’ll want to seek out the super deluxe edition, which include the ‘Best Of’ album and the ‘Best Of’ remixes, along with three DVDs.

The DVDs will be comprised of the band’s full video catalog and all previously available “Making Of” videos, along with eight previously unreleased “Making Of” videos. The super deluxe edition will be encased in -what else?- a steel box and will come with a 240-page booklet. It’s an exclusive piece, as only 1200 copies will be made available in the US. Hello, collector’s item!

As if all of this wasn’t enough, all the songs and videos have been specifically remastered for this particular release.

The retrospective isn’t all that’s going on in the Rammstein camp right now. Rammstein’s new single ‘Mein Land’ is set to drop on Nov. 11. It will be available as a four-track set via iTunes, and will include an unreleased track, ‘Vergiss Uns Nicht,’ as well as remixes from BossHoss and Mogwai. It will also be accompanied by the Jonas Akerlund-directed video for the single. The video premieres on the band’s website on Nov. 11. So mark your calendars, stat!