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

MERCHANDISING Thrash metal Pantera baby stroller

I kid you not... (think about it...) Pramtera?!

When you're looking at a website store, you should spot some examples of baby and child merch. I've given several examples before, so add this legends of thrash metal merch to the list.

For legacy or established acts like this it makes perfect sense. Pantera broke through in the early 90s with the classic Cowboys From Hell - caused my hair to reach out to others many's a time!

Therefore much of their fanbase are mature adults, often with families - and they continue to attract new fans despite being a defunct act.

http://www.metalsucks.net/2017/12/07/pantera-make-baby-strollers-now/

See http://daphyls.com/product-category/pantera/

MERCHANDISING Metal figurine toys put Maiden ahEddie

UPDATE: Maiden mascot Halloween masks! 

If you look back to the 70s, American glam-rockers KISS predated all of the merch ideas I've blogged on, flogging lunch boxes, PJs, basically ANYTHING they could shove a KISS logo onto (and make-up sets!)...

The Maiden masks are also an example of the metal/horror links. And let's not forget the Maiden pinball machine...

https://www.loudersound.com/news/iron-maiden-launch-new-range-of-eddie-halloween-masks

The e-zine MetalSucks is one of many to feature the release of new Iron maiden figurines...

VINYL hits 4m in UK Sainsburys launch label Metallica Master Retromania

This is how Sainsbury's announced the launch

Sainsbury’s customers can now pick up some exclusive, freshly pressed vinyl alongside their freshly pressed fruit juices. (Sainsbury's,1st Nov. 2017)

Sadly the vinyl boom, boosted by nostalgia* from the deaths of the likes of Prince and Bowie, whose final album Blackstar was a vinyl bestseller, is led this year by the tragic return from early retirement of Ed Sheeran.

Further evidence of how mainstream this vinyl resurgence is, a major Xmas pressie source, the Gallagher brothers solo records and Sergeant Peppers are joined as major sellers by ... supermarket Sainsbury's own label.

Grab a loaf, milk and a compilation record with some Van der Graaf Generator. Tremendous. Though the only real national music store chain left, HMV, remains the dominant force in vinyl sales for now.

See Guardian: Ed Sheeran and Gallagher brothers lead vinyl revival at HMV. and Sainsbury's announcement.

Here's a very useful video suggested by Richard D:

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*THEORY TIP + A SPOTof INDUSTRY ANALYSIS: 

Simon Reynolds wrote an interesting book, Retromania, about the profound change in the cultural position of music and how its consumed brought about by digitisation. Thanks to YouTube especially, older acts never actually fade away. Pop was always considered ephemeral: pop acts would have their year or so of popularity then fade from the limelight and memory as their teen/tween fanbase got older and bored.

Now we can easily access older acts material, and record labels see back catalogue as a key driver of revenue. Spotify is full of special editions, and even re-recordings (eg Def Leppard's Hysteria), which enable a band to regain control of revenue streams rather than the record label they were signed to for the original album.

The Smiths, The Sex Pistols and Metallica are but 3 recent examples of bands re-releasing iconic albums with lots of studio outtakes, demos etc, sold in multiple packages (with vinyl options in all 3 of these examples). The Master of Puppets boxset was gifted by the Danish PM to his Indonesian equivalent, and you can also treat yourself to the very dull featuring singer James Hetfield's hands, part of the publicity and marketing campaign that kicked in months before the release date.

WEB 2.0 INDIE Technology loosens record labels hegemony

Part of an in-depth series on the music underground, this is a great article for getting your head round the central concept that digitisation has created opportunity for artists to succeed without relying on record companies for production and distribution - or even on physical sales of recorded music.

This is exemplified most in 2017 by Chance the Rapper – Forbes estimates he made $33m (£25m) this year without the need for a label or even to sell physical music. But, before him, the dubstep and grime scenes in the UK saw a new generation of artists using YouTube for distribution, broadcast and community.

'We could build something revolutionary': how tech set underground music free https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/nov/22/we-could-build-something-revolutionary-how-tech-set-underground-music-free?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

REPRESENTATION INDUSTRY Swift tailor-made case study

Taylor Swift’s reputation: will her new album silence her critics?

A case study that provides good insight into the changing music industry landscape...

In August, Taylor Swift released Look What You Made Me Do, the first single from her new album, Reputation, which finally emerges from its shroud of secrecy tomorrow. The track and its subsequent video broke three records within a week, including first-day streaming figures on Spotify and YouTube respectively. Swift’s sixth album has already thrashed pre-sale records, selling more than 400,000 copies – partially due to an industry standard reward system that gives early purchasers exclusive priority access to concert tickets.These achievements are fairly typical business for Swift, who often finds herself breaking records that were set with her previous release. She has sold more than 33m albums worldwide, thanks to her reluctance to join Spotify until this summer, keeping her sales robust while most artists have experienced a decline. 

INDUSTRY Vevo the music video giant

Vevo is an entity you need to engage with to show a good grasp of the industry, a case of the music giants combining to monetise and control the distribution of their videos through YouTube.
See Lifewire, Wiki for simple explanations, and look into your own artist for Vevo links.

They're the major music industry force behind the Tory attempt to enforce age ratings on music videos, voluntarily engaging in the BBFC scheme. See this Guardian Music tag for more on this.

SFX CONVENTIONS Green screen examples + layering

Not performing IN a bar but ON the bar top!

Here's a simple example of the power of the green screen - one from 30 years ago, long before you could achieve instant green screen keying on a Mac as you can now (there's a term for that, a very important one, linked to digitisation: CONVERGENCE).

Once you have green screen footage - especially if it incorporates full body movement (as opposed to the maximum MLS dictated by using a single sheet unless you're very careful) - you have incredible creative freedom over how you use it.

LAYERING - which isn't always through green screened footage - is one of the fundamentals of music video, a very common device but not one seen much in TV drama for example.

I'd welcome your suggestions (as blog comments) on useful examples to add to this post from your own knowledge/research.





Here's a simple example from a Thai dance-pop artist.
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INDUSTRY MONETISING And the brand played on

No alternative: how brands bought out underground music 

Timberland hosts rap gigs. Princess Nokia makes films for Maybelline. And Red Bull is the new school of rock. Have brand partnerships destroyed counterculture? Or are they all that’s keeping it alive?

Is it possible, in 2017, to sell out? Not so long ago, cosying up to big business was considered the gravest sin an underground artist could commit – but these days new and leftfield musicians seem to spend their days hoovering up cash provided by brands while fans barely bat an eyelid. It’s not simply a case of moral bankruptcy, but rather literal bankruptcy: new and independent artists have had their potential income slashed by streaming and have been forced to mine money from an alternative source. But what’s in it for the brands – why have massive companies like Budweiser, Versace and Adidas invaded the alternative music scene? And can an underground even exist when so many of its artists are in cahoots with multinationals?

AUDIENCE WEB 2.0 Is going underground still feasible?

This might turn out to be a highly irritating Grauniad exercise in uber-hipsterdom, proudly proclaiming awful bedroom acts adored by some London clique as artistic giants ... but it could also be an invaluable discourse on the still evolving disruptive force of new technology and how it impacts music marketing and artists' relationship with audiences and industry alike....

In the coming weeks, we’re going to run a series of articles examining what, if anything, it means to be an underground artist in 2017. We’ll be exploring whether it’s possible to find a meaningful audience for your music while avoiding the glare of publicity, the complex relationship between art and commerce, how technology assists and impedes artists who want to find new routes of promoting and disseminating their music, what the value of remaining underground is, and whether Britain is host to any thrilling and vibrant music scenes that exist entirely off-grid.

Where is the musical underground in 2017? 

But in 2017, the idea of what constitutes underground music is more confused. The internet has changed everything – outlets for exposure, means of distribution, the pace at which music is disseminated and consumed. In the race to keep up, mainstream media covers a far broader spectrum of music than it did 20 years ago: the speed with which an artist can go from recherché hipster sensation to the pages of a national newspaper, or at least its website, has vastly reduced. The old markers that you might reasonably use to denote whether music is “underground” or not – is it on TV? Is it on national radio? Is it featured in the mainstream media? – no longer hold true. YouTube and social media are infinitely more important in promoting music and anyone can upload to them.

GENRE INDIE BBC doc on history of Indie

As you study genre theory you'll come to realise how loose a concept it is - but one that is absolutely vital for marketing and retail purposes, even in the streaming age when shelf space is not an issue. As 'consumers' (such a loathesome term, but still widely used) we do still tend to think along genre lines, which is why these are so important whether its Netflix, Spotify or (gasp!) a physical record/music store.

BBC3 and BBC4 (often replaying BBC2 content) are worth keeping an eye on through iPlayer as they often feature some great music docs. This is a good example, a thorough grounding in the evolution of the Indie genre - a genre which has both some easily identified stereotypes and such a wide range of music that it becomes a very, very loose concept. Further complicated by the Americanism of alt-pop or alternative rock, which is essentially the same. In both cases, there are acts seen as Indie who are signed to major record labels, while many on independent labels are having their work distributed by majors so even the original linkage is debatable.

Thanks to Richard for the link - I'd mentioned this specific doc series many times and he spotted it on YT.

DIGIPAK TRACKLISTING Value is king

Unlike the cheesy old school techno classic, there are limits with the tracklisting ... the maximum running time of a CD (while it still remains a mainstream delivery platform).

You need to approach this simple detail of your work with caution - and thoroughly back up your decision with multiple examples.

Here's a simple (its far from precise on CD length, quite inaccurate on that!) pointer from Dave Taylor - as the saying goes, if Dave says its true, it probably is...

As I've blogged many times before, you should be looking to create a value proposition for what is usually a best of/greatest hits (or B-sides etc) compilation of previously released material ... by adding (and highlighting with a cover sticker) newly recorded bonus tracks. Some past students (see Atomic Kitten example) have even gone the extra mile and created their own lyrics for these new tracks to include in a digipak lyrics booklet!

...

WEBSITE ALBUM SAMPLER Suede's non-music vid video!

An example which highlights three points:

1. Websites are routinely updated to centre on the latest album release
2. Bjork, The Pixies and many more are trailblazing a growing trend of creating videos for ALL album songs, not just the singles, recognising this boosts revenue-gaining YouTube hits ... but the importance of additional videos (unwrapping, lyric, live, UGC etc) is growing faster still, and Suede's "album sampler" is a good example. It would have Vernallis jumping up and down screaming I TOLD YOU SO given its narrative-free (is that possible?!) nature
3. Its another reminder of the convergence between film and music video - bear in mind that the 1964 Beatles movie A Hard Day's Night [Wiki] is widely considered as having created the music video template (archetype) with its video-like scenes ... and MJ's Thriller! While you will generally be creating youth-targeting productions with bands' existing (older) audience now the secondary target for you, Suede are possibly reinforcing their mature adult appeal with an entire feature-length arthouse movie released with their album. Its nature might also suggest an oddly upmarket (ABC1) audience for an Indie band. Read more here.

Here it is so you can judge for yourself - you should be thinking of this as an easy, but creatively free, extra (like the single shot video, lyric video...), so long as you remember to keep it MUCH shorter (or it'll just get blocked).

The website splash/landing/home page on 10.10.17:

The "album sampler"

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GENDER QUEER China's female boy band

https://qz.com/944691/ffc-acrush-chinas-hottest-new-boy-band-is-actually-made-up-of-five-androgynous-girls/

FRANCHISE MUSICALS Bored bards' Broadway badinage

Bruce takes Broadway: Springsteen's stage show is a risky business https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/oct/02/bruce-takes-broadway-springsteens-stage-show-is-a-risky-business?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

UGC WEB 2.0 Fan album art, track listing

Faux real: Taylor Swift, Jay-Z and the ‘leaks’ that are too good to be true https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/sep/29/taylor-swift-jay-z-leaks-too-good-be-true?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

FEMINISM + TWEEN AUDIENCE Spice Girls counter-hegemonic titans?

Spice World: the feminist movie? When girl power hit the the big screen https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2017/sep/28/spice-world-the-movie-feminist-bechdel-test?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

WEB 2.0 Social first, UGC, me too memes, cashtags key to promo

Short and snappy overview here from Wired of how 'social first', trying to seed interest and stimulate sharing and UGC before paid-for campaigns kick in, has become the industry norm.

Some contrasting examples of 'organic' underground successes and notable failures by the likes of Katy Bloody Perry - hit or flip the common key is some degree of replicability, whether dance or ... spraying water on your face (KBP).

https://www.wired.com/story/memes-music-promotion/

VFX Shins layering that'll stick(er) in the mind

LAMAR + NIK is a joint name you may have seen from your research into video examples, and nofilmschool here compare them to Michel Gondry, high praise indeed.

The specific stop-motion technique they use here isn't necessarily what you might take away as an inspiration - look at the seemingly mundane mise-en-scene they add these stickers (you should be thinking greenscreen to achieve a comparable effect) to: stacks of coins, 'checkers' chips, cheese slices, all quirky and interesting when shot in tight close-ups.

No need for a narrative in a video as entertaining and visually busy as this, though the likes of Sledgehammer manage to incorporate this.

http://nofilmschool.com/2017/08/the-shins-stop-motion-music-video

STREAMING Warner soars past $1bn digital revenues

The conglomerate giant doing fine, artists less so...

Ed Sheeran’s Divide puts Warner Music’s streaming income on track to cross £1bn https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/aug/08/ed-sheerans-divide-lifts-warner-musics-streaming-income-to-1bn?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

STREAMING 2.4m YouTube views to earn months minimum wage

http://www.metalsucks.net/2017/08/07/which-streaming-music-service-currently-has-the-best-payout-rate-for-artists/

CONVERGENCE Metal Gear...Video game group's hit single

Pentakill: how a metal band that doesn’t exist made it to No 1

How has a band that doesn’t physically exist, with zero promotion from the music industry, breach the Billboard Top 40 and reach No 1 in the iTunes metal chart?Conceived by California-based gaming gurus Riot Games in 2014, Pentakill exist purely in the imaginations of their creators – and the 100 million global fans of League of Legends, the multiplayer online battle arena game that spawned the band’s members, Karthus the Deathsinger, Yorick, Sona, Olaf and lead guitarist Mordekaiser the Master of Metal.Entirely under the mainstream radar, the band’s new CGI video, Mortal Reminder, notched up more than 3m views in less than 48 hours after its release – and the new album, Grasp of the Undying, seems destined to be a huge success. 

COPYRIGHT FAIR USAGE Star Wars Silence Sued

https://www.wired.com/story/the-star-wars-video-that-baffled-youtubes-copyright-cops?mbid=social_fb

Viral car lip sync hits 120m views

This would be a good idea for an additional video alongside your main effort (live, lyric, unwrapping vids are also useful additions).

The infamous Wayne's World Bohemian Rhapsody inspired James Corden's Carpool Karaoke which in turn has inspired this couple of performers (he's a comedian, she appeared on America's Got Talent) to create a series of car-set lip sync vids.

With 120m views already, they're making money from that, but they are also add for their services as hireable entertainers.

https://youtu.be/WJpA_sQEwkM

http://kristinanddanny.net/about

DIGITAL strings up boxset racket?

(Theory link: Simon Reynolds' Retromania)

'The Beatles or Radiohead can forever flog key works to consumers prepared to pay £100 for unheard sessions on picture-disc vinyl. Icons like Morrissey can keep on reissuing even the unlamented likes of Maladjusted as part of their bigger story, safe in the knowledge fans want to buy into that idea too. But digital closes the door on nostalgia as much as it mucks with the album as a format. Will the 2026 reissue of Solange’s A Seat at the Table meet with the same ripe whiff of remembrance from a generation who recall where they were the first time they opened Spotify and it was algorithmically recommended to them? If not, Our Love to Admire may be one of the last albums in history to make it to its 45th anniversary super-deluxe box set.'

The reissue racket: how many more ‘classic’ albums will be repackaged? https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/jul/28/reissue-racket-how-many-classic-albums-repackaged?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger