ALT VIDEOS Tendencies to tout tour tickets

I've blogged on alternative, secondary music video formats before: the one-take, single shot video; the lyric video; the album trailer; the special edition or merchandise unwrapping.

To this list, one worth pondering for an additional quickfire production that will help to drive website and social media content and engagement, add the tour date video (with website plugging included too).

The example is from 80s crossover (punk/thrash) legends Suicidal Tendencies. The video, spotted from a browse of the TeamRock site, a rich source for spotting evolving marketing strategies, includes several features:

• performance footage
• album art and website splash page, with plugs for both
• like the most basic lyric videos, the main content is a vertically scrolling list of tour dates, white font on a black background
• the audio consists of a snippet from a new album track, NOT the full track
• The unpolished look is further evidence of how artists have incorporated audience approaches (fan-made videos) into their own playbooks. Even the mighty Metallica have dropped an unwrapping video, a hugely popular format that may have had pop origins but is now seen from audiences and artists across the age and genre spectrum.

I'll add to this more insight gleaned from the TeamRock site (an e-zine side to a stable of print magazines such as Classic Rock); Iron Maiden providing another example of how acts monetise themselves in an era of low record sales:

Iron Maiden Fan Club members will be given access to an exclusive pre-sale, with information available via the official website.A Trooper VIP upgrade package will also be available, giving fans early access to the venue, exclusive goodies as well as food and Trooper beer. VIP tickets cost £140 and gig tickets will need to be bought separately. [LouderSound]

Artists variously charge for photos with fans, sometimes as part of a VIP backstage package, have licensed drinks, offer exclusives to fan club or registered website members (often charging a subscription fee).

...Maiden are a great example of a long-running act who skilfully use traditional and social media, and diverse merchandising, to successfully monetise their art and brand. Here's another example from them...the thankyou to fans, a natural example of direct address made possible by online media.

...

[recent update:]

I mention beer as a great example of merch - you can buy both Slayer and Iron Maiden beer in Luxembourg (Auchan), and Motorhead, plus some other branded wine/spirits if I recall correctly. That this is now a common strategy, especially in heavy metal, can be seen from a simple google ('heavy metal beer'). See this Pinterest for a gallery (pic, right comes from it):

DIGITISATION MONETISING Crematory merch voucher with DIGIPAK

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/crematory-calls-out-lazy-fans-for-not-buying-concert-tickets-threatens-to-split-unless-cd-sales-improve/

PLAY ALONG VID No Obituary for vid variety yet

A useful reminder of the versatility of the music video format:

Death metal godfathers Obituary won a synergistic cross-promotion through Guitar World magazine (also a website of course), creating a split-screen video to enable fans to play along with the guitar on their new release. 

They are also booked on a branded tour which will benefit from a major push through the magazine, and offer the chance to attract new fans as the publication has a multi-genre readership. Moreover, it's a neat way for a 1980s band to attract younger fans, kids and teens starting out on developing guitar skills.

So, add this to the lyric video, unwrapping video, album preview/promo video, tour announcement or localised tour shout out, single shot, live performance, fan footage, interactive, 3D, virtual reality (VR), teaser, tie-ins with console games like Guitar Hero ...

It also gets Obituary further publicity through stories on popular e-zines such as MetalSucks.

Good tune to boot, even if not up to the standard of their early classics, Slowly We Rot and Cause of Death!

http://www.metalsucks.net/2017/03/01/sentence-day-obituary-release-new-song-via-guitar-playthrough-video/

MONETISING, PROMO CAMPAIGNS, BRANDING The Pixies

a branded campaign

As good an example as any, they're highly active across multiple platforms, and even managed to persuade me to lash out on a vinyl copy of their comeback single Bagboy and EP after spotting a promo tweet. Like many who ordered this I don't currently have a record player - the package also came with download codes for high bitrate (quality) MP3s.

Old-school email is a tool they use very effectively - always integrating their other platforms when doing so. These screenshots largely speak for themselves:

• using staggered video releases to push new releases and tours alike
• they've recorded videos for every album (2) and EP track since re-forming, a growing trend (not least as YouTube plays themselves generate revenue)
• the range of videos work to both please their existing, ageing fanbase (the band date back to the late 80s and were a key influence on Nirvana) and to target a new, younger audience too (for sheer inspiration, I highly recommend viewing a batch of these and/or Depeche Mode videos)
• they offer exclusives to various online ezines; an advantage of multiple videos is that they can offer this to a variety of sites over time
• they highlight Twitter, Facebook and Instagram (plus their website), currently the big 3 of social media (surely users will tire of Twitter eventually?!)
• look carefully at the followers/likes numbers, and you'll get a good example of which platforms are most/least significant for a primarily mature adult fanbase
• the emails are not excessive, but often enough to keep prompting fans into potential purchase of recordings, merchandise or tickets, or at worst to view their video/s or visit their online platforms
• the branding is clear: the P in a circle at the bottom of the email; the banner/masthead across their online platforms pushing the latest album, and a consistent image for their user icons
• recordings are offered in multiple formats, including vinyl and boxsets
• there is also a link for streaming
• this is tied into multiple streaming platforms

Skip to 1:43 for 2nd question in this interview in which they discuss social media...(part of my extensive Pixies playlist)

a few of the emails The Pixies (... the marketing agency they've hired!) have sent me.

Details of the latest, plus screenshots from their platforms, are below the read more line

INDUSTRY How far have revenues fallen?

The article below details the financial struggles of a range of bands - acts with sizeable followings, radio airplay and critical acclaim. At their level, touring and merchandise still aren't really paying the bills, with minimal money coming in from actual record sales.

They note that even the fees for their music being used in ads has steeply declined. The flipside is the potential of digitisation to slash costs and directly engage with (and monetise) an audience.

Just how far have revenues fallen then? The actual figures are quite shocking - from a global $40bn industry to just $14bn in 15 years as digital piracy took off from 1999.

The music industry has been in steady decline since the early 2000s as illegal downloads and then the rise of streaming took gargantuan chunks out of record sales. The situation is not improving, with global revenue for music dipping below $14bn for the first time in 2014. It was $40bn in 1998. 

Understandably this hits artists not shored up by the big labels the hardest. Nothing in music pays what it once did, and the decline will likely continue.

We’re in an industry where over 90% of releases never recoup the money spent on them,” he says. “The industry underwrites failure as a necessary part of its operation and looks to the supercharged successes of a very small number of artists to cover the losses. That’s pretty dysfunctional. The number one challenge facing a new artist is a financial one: become profitable or cease to exist in the medium to long term.”

Wale believes that by thinking on a more realistic scale, and with advances in technology, it is still possible to make an income from music. “I think now, more so than ever, it’s very possible – especially for a solo artist – to make a cottage-industry scale success without any outside help whatsoever. Obviously this has been facilitated greatly by the internet and the emergence of online networks, fan-supported releases and a number of great discovery platforms. All the tools are really there for someone to go out and do it themselves.”

ARTICLE: The long, hard road to rock’n’roll success: ‘We’re essentially skint’

WEBSITE Doors bundle t-shirts and vinyl with Light My Fire re-release

IN THIS POST: Discussion of a heritage (60s/70s) band's use of merchandise and social media; analysis of their website including detailed denotation of the features, with screenshots, and a look at their social media integration and audience interaction (or lack of...).

This isn't The Doors' main website (though that is linked, and everything here IS featured and sold through their website too), but an online retailer that sells their merchandise, and markets this (I came across this via a Facebook update of the official Doors page, screenshot below the line). 

This is a further sign or evidence of the re-emergence of vinyl, plus the centrality of merchandise (especially when touring isn't an option) to monetise music.

below - analysis on assessing target audience (core/primary and secondary) + more images + detailed analysis of their website...

Bands' tour blogs: Onslaught

Ever more common to see bands communicating with fans (worldwide) with blogs; here's an eg from a classic UK thrash band, Onslaught (contains strong language):
http://truecultheavymetal.com/blog1.php/2012/03/27/onslaught-in-the-usa-parts-2-aamp-3
Also note the tie-in with a successful ezine, giving their blogging further exposure beyond their immediate fanbase

Biggest Brit in US in 2011?

Intriguing top 40 list of top-earning music artists in US last year, which highlights the importance of concert/touring/merchandise revenues over music sales, and the prominence of many older acts (Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block?!?!).
Great to see a genuine talent being the highest ranking Brit entry (ie, not Adele...), though there was of course an even higher-ranked Irish act!
Read more here. Useful data for many of you.

Teaser videos + YouTube channels: Caliban

Good example here of how the very concept of music video is evolving in the face of the challenges and opportunites thrown up by digitisation and new media.

The band Caliban (described as 'deathcore'), signed to US label Roadrunner Records (former Indie, now a subsidiary of WMG [Warner Music Group], one of the music industry monopolist leviathans], have made good use of YouTube and social media, using 'teaser videos' and TV-style vodcasts, trailed through mainstream media but also MySpace, Facebook etc, to publicise their tours as much as their album releases - which neatly sums up the shift in focus away from pushing record sales to flogging tickets (in the expectation that will also then generate merchandise and some back catalogue sales) for concerts.
Metal Hammer featured the band's 'teaser video' for their upcoming tour thus:

Caliban To Cover Rammstein And More

terrybezer / News, Uncategorized / 01/04/2011 14:58pm

Find out what German metalcore bruisers, Caliban, will be covering on their upcoming ‘Coverfield EP’ and get a teaser video inside.

Caliban will be releasing a cover EP titled ‘Coverfield’ that will feature the following tracks:

01 – “My Girlfriend’s Girlfriend” (Type O Negative cover)

...

[The vid was embedded on the page; interestingly, the band - or their management - disabled embedding, compelling viewers to watch it on YouTube and be exposed to the suggested links featuring more of their YouTube uploads. Watch the teaser vid here]

They also created a trailer for their previous tour:


Here's CALIBAN TV - Episode 11 Part 3 - Summer Festivals - much of the footage is simple enough handheld material BUT there are slick, professional production values, even down to the cliched but appropriate for the target audience use of a curvaceous, leather-clad blonde female presenter. Episodes aren't brief affairs either - episode 11, taken in combination, would exceed half an hour. This points the way to the music vid being just 1 part of a multimedia mix, including blogs, using social media for viral marketing, behind-the-scenes footage, and TV-style vodcasts or webisodes creating motivation to subscribe to a channel ... which in turn acts as advertising for that channel to generate more hits.

The 1st part, noticeably, has been blocked by WMG/EMI - the music monopolists are so vast in scale they don't even trouble themselves to support their own acts!!!

Here's the band's YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/Calibanofficial

Album as bonus with gig ticket

From http://www.remembertheeighties.com/

HUGH CORNWELL is putting together a special limited edition album of cover versions to be made available to VIP ticket holders on his forthcoming tour. The album, 'ou’re Covered!', will be limited to just 250 copies and features ten tracks, each one a song that Cornwell considers an influence. See GIGS for a list of forthcoming shows. See NEWS for the full album tracklisting.

Eg of re-[digi]packaging old albums + tour: SUEDE

90s Britpoppers Suede provide a useful eg of bands reissuing repackaged versions of their albums, with bonus DVDs; this is part of the article from pitchfork.com; the full article gives complete CD/DVD listing. Suede are touring to support this release, playing a classic album each night, which links into your digipak ads in most cases...

Suede Reissue Details Revealed

As previously reported, reunited Britpop leading lights Suede will release expanded editions of their five studio albums in May and June, via Demon Records. Each of the records has been remastered and expanded to include B-sides, demos, and previously unreleased songs, as well booklets and bonus DVDs featuring recent interviews with the band members and more. The entire band, including once-estranged original guitarist Bernard Butler, worked on the reissue project.

The expanded edition of the band's 1993 self-titled debut is due May 30, with 1994's Dog Man Star following June 6, 1996's Coming Up out June 13, 1999's Head Music arriving June 20, and 2002's A New Morning due June 22. On Record Store Day, April 16, Suede will release a limited edition single featuring demo versions of their first single, 1992's "The Drowners" b/w "To the Birds". In addition, The Best of Suede, which came out last year in the UK, will be released digitally in the U.S. on March 22.
Over the next few months, the band will also play shows in Europe, North America, and Asia, including a set at Coachella and a couple of three-night stands where they'll play a classic album in full each night. Below, we've got the tracklists for each of the reissues, as well as the band's tour dates and their video for "The Drowners".