PROMO PACKAGE Slayer digipak, vinyl, figurine + promo videos

I mention beer as a great example of merch below - 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):

A salutary lesson - I'd tapped out a lengthy post on a smartphone using the Android app ... only to see every word blink and disappear (possibly because the broadband connection flicked off). If using this very useful tool, its worth saving a few times to avoid the risk of this...

NB: As the article link contains a filter-unfriendly term, its below the read more line; the videos featured in the article contain uncensored strong language.  

Multi-editionalising has become the norm, certainly for rock/Indie acts

Here's a new example of a converged, web 2.0 promo package featuring a digipak, vinyl and download options, a range of videos/vodcasts, and even an expensive, limited edition figurine (which clearly anchors the core target audience as being male, and a significant chunk of this being older males, more likely to be able to afford such items!).

The Metal Eagle Edition of Repentless is also available. Made of aluminum alloy, measuring 15” X 17” X 3” and weighing in at a hefty 7.8 pounds, the Metal Eagle Edition will house a deluxe digipak of the new Repentless CD plus bonus material detailed below. The limited (only 3,000 copies worldwide) and numbered Metal Eagle Edition will be a direct-to-consumer item and available exclusively via the Nuclear Blast mailorder online stores.

You really should take note of this - regardless of how simple your brief might be, your ads should reflect not just a digipak but the wider range of options we expect to see today, and you could usefully (and very simply) spin off digipak designs into vinyl editions - after all, the digipak is in large part mimicking vinyl sleeves.

Thrash metal icons Slayer are signed to an Indie label, Nuclear Blast, who astutely exploit the potential of online tools to engage with the existing fanbase and target a new audience for their acts.

MUSIC INDUSTRY 2018 some pointers

This is a quick post inspired by encountering the site musicbusinessworldwide.com

UPDATE: Useful review of music video trends in 2918, including the return of mega-budgets for a handful of elite artists:

Drake’s mates and Taylor Swift’s cosplay: exploring the 2018 music video

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/may/19/drakes-mates-and-taylor-swifts-cosplay-exploring-the-2018-music-video?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard

I was looking for some info on the 1D GCSE exam case study but spotted a number of great articles on here. So here's a few pointers based on the site.

You can find a bullet list I previously did summing up some key music industry points (with many links to posts) here.

AS CDS DISAPPEAR TOURS ARE JUST THE TICKET: 1D EXAMPLE
A point I make many, many times: the traditional music industry model has been through disruption from digitisation (though it hasn't rebalanced the competition in favour of Indies; see Anita Elberse's fascinating analysis of how big 3 acts utterly dominate Amazon sales, making the 'long tail theory' seem absurd), so labels are looking for new revenue sources. Merchandise is a key factor - when I went to see The Wedding Present (UK Indie band) in Luxembourg last year, I got to chat to the singer after the gig, who was at the merch stall signing his own comic book range alongside the usual tee-shirts etc.

The likes of 1D aren't going to do that. They did sell VIP packages for gigs - something else I saw at a Depeche Mode gig, with multiple tiers including a basic that simply allowed you into the venue earlier to hear the soundcheck. I've blogged on Taylor Swift and Katy b Perry doing this, with fans paying a lot for a selfie opportunity. [meet-and-greets post]

The basic breakdown is clear though - most major artists (Indies too) will gain more from tours than album sales. Even combined with streaming (which is now bigger than physical sales and download sales combined) that remains the case. Getting onto TV ads, film/game OSTs are also potentially lucrative.

CD cease and desist as CDs booted but vinyl stays

http://loudwire.com/best-buy-ending-cd-sales-july/

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

VINYL AUDIENCE half left unplayed, core 25+ audience

When discussing industry changes and practices you need to be precise - give figures, provide quotes from informed industry/academic figures, details from reports/surveys, and make a clear link into audience habits ...

This article is a good example of precisely the sort of research material you should be accessing, blogging on, and reflecting ('applying') within your evaluation (and potentially exam Q1a/1b too).

SAMPLE SECTION FROM ARTICLE:

Read full article here.

INDUSTRY ISSUES SUMMARY Digital streams past physical

IN THIS POST: extensive lists of points you might cover to demonstrate your grasp of the music industry. There are lists on digital disruption; the changing audience/producer relationship; the morphing album format; changes with music video ... A LOT of points are covered.
Use this post with DISTRIBUTION overview (especially for Eval Q3) 

Some thoughts and a list of various issues/examples linked to the impact of digitisation (and convergence - the two should always be linked) on the music industry, the album format and the music video, with some points on marketing (which the video is of course part of) too. I've blogged on everything mentioned below. Don't quote me in coursework - find the source/s I've used or do your own search for other quotable media articles.

INDUSTRY It's the Vinyl Countdown

Here's why including a vinyl (limited) edition, as the Joy Division group did a few years back, alongside the digipak makes sense...

Sales of vinyl could hit 2m in 2015, and have now been given their own chart by the official top 40 company.

Expensive remastered vinyl packages continue to abound, especially from longer established acts. Adam Ant (huge in the early/mid 80s), for example, is currently taking one past album at a time and reissuing in vinyl as a set with plentiful unreleased material and plush packaging as part of the deal. How does £40 for a Dirk Wears White Sox package sound to you (£60 if signed)? [update, 2016: limited stock/offer, here's the main store link]

UGC unboxing digipak/special editions videos

This is primarily an audience, UGC activity but as with lyric videos artists themselves, as one means of seeming to put themselves on a level with their fans (uses and gratifications), have engaged in this.

Below: James Hetfield (Lars?) unboxes a deluxe re-release - useful on multiple levels:

• the importance of repackaged re-release sets
• re-mastering
• outtakes, demos, alternative versions
• live recordings
• multi-format: CD, DVD, LP
• vinyl and Record Store Day
• additional media: book and patch
• sold through the band's website
• the normally UGC of unboxing

See Blabbermouth e-zine article.

INDUSTRY VINYL Kid rock: Teen record label owner

So...imagine you got a little bored after your AS year, you needed a wee side project, something to gear you up for your A2 work in the music industry. Perhaps you thought you'd set up a record label, specialising in vinyl?!

Sound crazy? Not to this 17 year-old from Detroit...

Article link below the line

INDUSTRY HD Vinyl within 3 years

Vinyl sales are already worth more than all music streaming, with a 30% rise in 2015. Only the slow, heavily polluting manufacturing process, and a lack of factory capacity, can hold it back - and once HD Vinyl hits both problems are gone...

See: digitalmusicnews article.

VINYL Record player Amazon's top Xmas seller

A strong sign of the widening resurgence of vinyl: Amazon's top-selling audio equipment over the Xmas period was a cheap record player, with built-in speakers and software for ripping records. (SOURCE)

VINYL the Cream rises, new Pixies'n'mix

Why do I keep posting on vinyl's resurrection? Several reasons:

1. You need to be aware of music industry developments
2. These should inform your marketing materials, and the formats you list (ie, not just digipak, but a 3-part list with download)
3. Digipaks are intended to mimic vinyl and so share some of their collectable, specialappeal (compared to standard jewel case releases)

I'll add images and links once sat at a computer, but this expensive boxset popped up on my FB whilst an even more expensive Pixies boxset was pushed in an email I'd signed up to when buying their comeback EP on vinyl (with multiple download options too).

IN THIS POST: Pics/links on Cream vinyl boxset; Pixies vinyl boxset; Tesco launching vinyl sales.

INDUSTRY Vinyly the truth on streaming value?

As we aren't given a figure to compare vinyl revenues with, and the vinyl figure is the gross retail total, not the amount record companies gained (plus the ongoing industry lobbying against YouTube et al), I'm a little sceptical, but apparently...

 

See YouTube streams less lucrative than vinyl sales for UK labels, says BPI boss. 

 

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...

VINYL Pretentious Plastics v Superior Sound/Experience: the Debate

http://louderthanwar.com/vinyl-vs-streaming-debate-continues/

CrowdFunding: Universal muscles in for vinyl reissues

Universal appeal? Ah, never mind

Crowdfunding is generally seen as one of the key means by which digitisation offers a democratisation of media production, enabling producers at any level to appeal directly to fans or investors (the line is often blurred) for funding for new projects, which might be a new game, album, film, app, etc.

I've blogged on this before, with many big-name artists and film-makers turning to this model for funding, generally offering promotional packages rather than financial returns for this funding - signed copies, chance to appear as an extra, extra tracks, deluxe packaging, etc.

So much for levelling the ground for the little guy: news comes of Universal's (rather smart to be fair) wheeze to take any risk out of the recent trend of re-releasing albums on vinyl, reflecting the steep increase* in vinyl sales (and the long tail theory). So, instead of taking a punt on which album to expensively re-press on vinyl, Universal instead put it to fans: if enough of you provide advance funding, we'll do it - advance publicity and sales in one go, and premium pricing to boot. Cynical, but smart.

*Vinyl sales doubled from 2012 to 2013, with David Bowie and Daft Punk releases amongst those seeing sales of the format soar.
 
Here's Sean Michaels on the story:

Vinyl sales record goes to...

Perfect illustration of how the 'new media' age is not simply a narrative about digitised media formats: news that Daft Punk have become the biggest seller of vinyl in Amazon's history (they launched in 1995). It's become increasingly common for bands (especially rock/Indie, but also pop) to issue limited editions of vinyl alongside CD and download, something that anyone considering a promo package should consider...

Daft Punk, fresh from breaking all sorts of records with their Get Lucky single, seem to be almost single-handedly reviving the vinyl music industry. Amazon has announced that the French duo's album Random Access Memories has become their best-selling vinyl LP of all time.
In fact, the DJs' latest LP isn't just the best-selling vinyl record of summer 2013: nobody has sold more vinyl copies since Amazon launched in 1995. Daft Punk top Amazon.co.uk's all-time vinyl bestseller list, followed by Adele, for 21, Amy Winehouse, for Back to Black, and David Bowie, who has two records in the all-time top 10. 

DPAK/MAG AD formats Warp ad eg

A useful piece of evidence that vinyl and other formats are increasingly used, especially by Indie companies, to give their releases a PR boost and help get them talked about/reviewed. There have even been a few releases recently on cassette!

UK acts dominate 2012 US charts

Adele tops the US album sales for a 2nd year running, a feat last achieved by Thriller, while 4 of the top 5 albums were by UK acts. See article below for more details.

Adele joins exclusive club as 21 named bestselling album in the US … again!

Tottenham's finest becomes first recording artist since Michael Jackson to top US album sales charts in consecutive years

Sean Michaels, 4.1.13, http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/jan/04/adele-21-bestselling-album-us-again

Double top … Adele has emulated Michael Jackson after 21 became the first album since Thriller to top the sales charts two years in a row. Photograph: Matt Sayles/AP

For the second year in a row, Adele's 21 was the bestselling album in the US. The English singer has become the first artist since Michael Jackson to produce a record topping the sales charts in both the year of release and the year following.
According to Nielsen SoundScan, 21 sold 4.41m copies in 2012 – just 25% less than the year before, when XL/Columbia moved 5.82m. In fact, 21 hasn't left the weekly top 40 since it debuted, at No1, in March 2011. Adele's success puts the album in a very exclusive club: only three other LPs have scaled comparable heights across two successive years. The feat was last accomplished in 1985, when Jackson issued a little record called Thriller. The previous record holders were soundtracks: West Side Story in 1962/63, and My Fair Lady in 1957/58.
Overall, America's 2012 charts show a major British invasion. Apart from Taylor Swift's Red, which sold 3.11m, all of the top five albums were made by UK acts. One Direction's debut, Up All Night, was the No3 record, selling 1.62m, and their second album, Take Me Home, came in at No5. Mumford & Sons sold 1.46m copies of Babel, making it No4.
On the singles side, Gotye struck gold with his xylophone ditty Somebody That I Used to Know, selling 6.8m copies, almost exclusively digitally. Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe rung in at No2, followed by We Are Young, by Fun. All three songs broke the all-time digital record, previously set by Adele's Rolling in the Deep.
As in the UK, there was a dip in overall album sales, from 331m in 2001 to 316m in 2012. But vinyl sales continue to grow year after year, and are up 18% thanks to hits like Jack White's Blunderbuss and the Beatles' reissued Abbey Road. Still, those black lacquer discs form only a tiny part of the pie: less than 2% of all albums sold.
Britain's bestselling album of 2012, Emeli Sandé's Our Version of Events, has never charted in the US.

Any predictions for 2013?

final VINYL: Record Store Day 2012

full list of Record Store Day releases

By louderthanwar on Mar 21, 2012 in Blogs

Here it is the full list of releases for Record Store day.
There are some big names in there including Arctic Monkeys, Arcade Fire, Bloc party, Kasabian, The Clash and Two Door Cinema Club, Marilyn Manson, Bombay Bicycle Club, Garbage, Noah And The Whale, A$AP Rocky, Bat For Lashes, Belle & Sebastian, The Cure, as well as our own Membranes who release their first single for 22 years.
Arctic Monkeys will release their new single ‘R U Mine?’ on special purple vinyl, with a brand new B-side ‘Electricity’ accompanying the release. Kasabian meanwhile will release their covers of Lana Del Rey’s ‘Video Games’ and Gwen Stefani’s ‘Sweet Escape’ on 7” vinyl. The Clash will release a newly digitally remastered version of ‘London Calling’ on vinyl.
The full list is here follow the link