The Biebs
Biebs being a sneaky bugger posted instructions on his insta (now deleted) how to game Spotify, Itunes and YouTube to promote his song.
The instructions were fan-generated and break the user agreement.
This method will not work, because people at these corporations configured the algorithm to avoid such amateur tricks.
Most interesting here is a hype generation. The Biebs marketing team used the proven formula of "I gonna show you a secret", "Look here, a hidden (thing) that (organisation) don't want you to know". Used fans to participate in the collection of the trick ideas which increases the engagement. Released the material to Instagram and then deleted it, as if being under pressure.
And all of a sudden (not really) he's in the news. Even I'm writing about it, cos I follow music marketing news.
If you google Justin Bieber now, you'll see that there are scandalous news popping out in all kinds of directions featuring Biebs. All are carefully coordinated to target a certain demographic and to come out just before the release of his single, documentary and a tour later this year.
A standard marketing pre-release operation, but the execution is pretty cool.
Respect to the marketing department.
The rest is shite.
#marketing #promotion
Biebs being a sneaky bugger posted instructions on his insta (now deleted) how to game Spotify, Itunes and YouTube to promote his song.
The instructions were fan-generated and break the user agreement.
This method will not work, because people at these corporations configured the algorithm to avoid such amateur tricks.
Most interesting here is a hype generation. The Biebs marketing team used the proven formula of "I gonna show you a secret", "Look here, a hidden (thing) that (organisation) don't want you to know". Used fans to participate in the collection of the trick ideas which increases the engagement. Released the material to Instagram and then deleted it, as if being under pressure.
And all of a sudden (not really) he's in the news. Even I'm writing about it, cos I follow music marketing news.
If you google Justin Bieber now, you'll see that there are scandalous news popping out in all kinds of directions featuring Biebs. All are carefully coordinated to target a certain demographic and to come out just before the release of his single, documentary and a tour later this year.
A standard marketing pre-release operation, but the execution is pretty cool.
Respect to the marketing department.
The rest is shite.
#marketing #promotion
Content
- beginning of metaphors -
Social media is a river.
What you’re reading now is content. It’s your paper ship.
Your audience is sitting on both sides of the river chatting and eating burgers.
The more often you send your paper ship down the stream the more people will notice it.
If it’s a plain white ship with a sign “here’s what I had for breakfast” or “selfie, felt cute”, not many people will care about it. There are way too many of such plain paper ships.
But if you made a ship out of colourful paper and added some lazerz, people will notice and will want to know who sent it and when the next one is flowing again.
- end of metaphors -
You need to produce content so that people remember your band/brand, wants to hear your music when it comes out and buys your stuff to support you.
If you think what could a band publish all the time, especially without a budget check these guys and you’ll get it:
Zakk Wylde
https://www.instagram.com/zakkwyldebls/
viagra boys
https://www.instagram.com/vboysstockholm/
amyl and the sniffers
https://www.instagram.com/amylandthesniffers/
#instagram #socialmedia
- beginning of metaphors -
Social media is a river.
What you’re reading now is content. It’s your paper ship.
Your audience is sitting on both sides of the river chatting and eating burgers.
The more often you send your paper ship down the stream the more people will notice it.
If it’s a plain white ship with a sign “here’s what I had for breakfast” or “selfie, felt cute”, not many people will care about it. There are way too many of such plain paper ships.
But if you made a ship out of colourful paper and added some lazerz, people will notice and will want to know who sent it and when the next one is flowing again.
- end of metaphors -
You need to produce content so that people remember your band/brand, wants to hear your music when it comes out and buys your stuff to support you.
If you think what could a band publish all the time, especially without a budget check these guys and you’ll get it:
Zakk Wylde
https://www.instagram.com/zakkwyldebls/
viagra boys
https://www.instagram.com/vboysstockholm/
amyl and the sniffers
https://www.instagram.com/amylandthesniffers/
#instagram #socialmedia
Cassettes
I wrote that 90s are back. I started to dig.
19 January 2020 Forbes writes that audio cassettes are hot shit now.
9 November 2019 The Guardian covered the resurgence of cassette tapes.
Benefits: uniqueness, portability, tactile sensation, good audio quality, can be produced in smaller production runs than vinyl with a good price.
With a funky colourful cassette, nice cover print, transparent box and with a delivery one production unit costs 2 € + approx 2 € audio = 4 €. You can sell them for 25€-30€ as limited editions. Or you can just buy blank tapes, record and customise them at home.
Hipsters being early adopters dig tapes, so it's possible that with 90s aesthetics the tape love will become mainstream.
#merch #90s #branding #promotion
I wrote that 90s are back. I started to dig.
19 January 2020 Forbes writes that audio cassettes are hot shit now.
9 November 2019 The Guardian covered the resurgence of cassette tapes.
Benefits: uniqueness, portability, tactile sensation, good audio quality, can be produced in smaller production runs than vinyl with a good price.
With a funky colourful cassette, nice cover print, transparent box and with a delivery one production unit costs 2 € + approx 2 € audio = 4 €. You can sell them for 25€-30€ as limited editions. Or you can just buy blank tapes, record and customise them at home.
Hipsters being early adopters dig tapes, so it's possible that with 90s aesthetics the tape love will become mainstream.
#merch #90s #branding #promotion
Interceptor Beyond pinned «This blog: music industry, film business, opinions, ideas, shout outs and local stuff. ____ https://www.interceptorbeyond.com/»
FYI, nobody (including me) can see who likes/dislikes the post on Telegram, so it's all cool, mate.
#Telegram
#Telegram
Punks not dead
I see punks, I see successful branding.
The look of the punk subculture was created by Vivienne Westwood, a fashion designer, and Malcolm McLaren, an owner of a boutique shop “Sex” and the producer of the Sex Pistols.
The right people who know their shit in the right moment and today punk is a subculture.
And punk will always be associated with the Sex Pistols.
Mega successful branding for the Sex Pistols.
#style #branding
I see punks, I see successful branding.
The look of the punk subculture was created by Vivienne Westwood, a fashion designer, and Malcolm McLaren, an owner of a boutique shop “Sex” and the producer of the Sex Pistols.
The right people who know their shit in the right moment and today punk is a subculture.
And punk will always be associated with the Sex Pistols.
Mega successful branding for the Sex Pistols.
#style #branding
FB ads.
I’m not sure what this band is trying to achieve, but I don’t think it’s a wise FB ad spending.
I’m not going to Salt Lake City. I've checked “Why do I see this ad”.
Weird.
I’ve contacted the band, let’s see.
If you don’t know how FB ads work, better hire a pro, otherwise, it’s a waste of money.
#facebook
I’m not sure what this band is trying to achieve, but I don’t think it’s a wise FB ad spending.
I’m not going to Salt Lake City. I've checked “Why do I see this ad”.
Weird.
I’ve contacted the band, let’s see.
If you don’t know how FB ads work, better hire a pro, otherwise, it’s a waste of money.
Amazon and the streaming war
I’ve checked a couple of dozen of indie bands on Chartmetric and I see that most of them didn’t upload their stuff to Amazon music.
Amazon Music is expanding like a mofo. According to them, they passed 55 million subscribers. Most probably a lie, but still Amazon is a serious streaming competitor to Spotify and Apple. There’s also YouTube, but I’ll talk about it later.
Spotify is slowly focusing more on podcasts because they can put ads inside and avoid paying royalties to record labels and musicians. Later Spotify will introduce ads for musicians in way FB did and will probably increase the price of a subscription for all users when it captures all planned territories.
Upload your music to all platforms while there’s still organic reach and there’s a clear streaming battle going on between the corps.
#spotify
I’ve checked a couple of dozen of indie bands on Chartmetric and I see that most of them didn’t upload their stuff to Amazon music.
Amazon Music is expanding like a mofo. According to them, they passed 55 million subscribers. Most probably a lie, but still Amazon is a serious streaming competitor to Spotify and Apple. There’s also YouTube, but I’ll talk about it later.
Spotify is slowly focusing more on podcasts because they can put ads inside and avoid paying royalties to record labels and musicians. Later Spotify will introduce ads for musicians in way FB did and will probably increase the price of a subscription for all users when it captures all planned territories.
Upload your music to all platforms while there’s still organic reach and there’s a clear streaming battle going on between the corps.
#spotify
Spotify, again.
(hangover edition)
Spotify is testing a Stories feature. Notable influencers will have an ability to conduct Q and A with fans and post stories.
-- first impression --
Spotify says it will make it easier to find new music, i.e. (my guess) the curators with help from the fans will make better playlists.
At the same time Podcasts are getting more spotlight at Spotify corp.
In the end, there will be some kind of mix of music and podcats which people knew for years as radio. And each influencer becomes a mini radio station as we have now with online radio. And we gonna have shitloads of gatekeepers.
We already have a problematic situation with all the playlist services, curators, fake streams etc.
Later the problem will become bigger and the only way to get noticed on Spotify platform will be to buy ads.
Provide a freemium service. Get everyone hooked. Raise the price. Make them buy ads. FB all over again.
And then Disney buys Spotify.
#spotify
(hangover edition)
Spotify is testing a Stories feature. Notable influencers will have an ability to conduct Q and A with fans and post stories.
-- first impression --
Spotify says it will make it easier to find new music, i.e. (my guess) the curators with help from the fans will make better playlists.
At the same time Podcasts are getting more spotlight at Spotify corp.
In the end, there will be some kind of mix of music and podcats which people knew for years as radio. And each influencer becomes a mini radio station as we have now with online radio. And we gonna have shitloads of gatekeepers.
We already have a problematic situation with all the playlist services, curators, fake streams etc.
Later the problem will become bigger and the only way to get noticed on Spotify platform will be to buy ads.
Provide a freemium service. Get everyone hooked. Raise the price. Make them buy ads. FB all over again.
And then Disney buys Spotify.
#spotify
Stickers and GIFs
Another way to promote a band is to create stickers and gifs, especially to make them searchable on Instagram. It’s a pain in the neck to do, but once it out there, it is mega dope.
Example: search for 3teeth stickers when you create an Instagram Story.
To make them searchable you need to:
1. Create an account on giphy.com
2. Upload 5 gifs that are relevant to your brand/band
3. Get verified (takes a week)
I gonna do it myself and will tell you once it’s done.
#marketing #promotion
Another way to promote a band is to create stickers and gifs, especially to make them searchable on Instagram. It’s a pain in the neck to do, but once it out there, it is mega dope.
Example: search for 3teeth stickers when you create an Instagram Story.
To make them searchable you need to:
1. Create an account on giphy.com
2. Upload 5 gifs that are relevant to your brand/band
3. Get verified (takes a week)
I gonna do it myself and will tell you once it’s done.
#marketing #promotion
Docs
Biebs launched his documentary series “Seasons” on YouTube Originals.
There’s a new Taylor Swift’s documentary film on Netflix “Miss Americana”.
Beyonce had one last year “Homecoming” also on Netflix.
The list goes on. Most of such docs are part of a promo campaign for that artist.
But you don’t need to wait. I would suggest bands to start making some sort of a vlog. For example, documenting the creation of the new album with all the troubles that a band goes through. People love such stuff.
Yes, it takes a lot of energy, effort and time. In the beginning, it is tough, but later it becomes automatic. And it solves the problem of content creation for a band and gathers your audience before you released anything.
#marketing #promotion
Biebs launched his documentary series “Seasons” on YouTube Originals.
There’s a new Taylor Swift’s documentary film on Netflix “Miss Americana”.
Beyonce had one last year “Homecoming” also on Netflix.
The list goes on. Most of such docs are part of a promo campaign for that artist.
But you don’t need to wait. I would suggest bands to start making some sort of a vlog. For example, documenting the creation of the new album with all the troubles that a band goes through. People love such stuff.
Yes, it takes a lot of energy, effort and time. In the beginning, it is tough, but later it becomes automatic. And it solves the problem of content creation for a band and gathers your audience before you released anything.
#marketing #promotion
FB ads. (update)
The band responded. Yes, they made a mistake in FB ads. I told them, they fixed it and saved some money.
Before you make any FB ads, please prepare. There are many tutorials on YouTube, but if it’s too overwhelming start with the official free FB course.
Here: https://www.facebook.com/business/learn
#facebook
______________
The situation:
https://tttttt.me/interceptorbeyond/71
The band responded. Yes, they made a mistake in FB ads. I told them, they fixed it and saved some money.
Before you make any FB ads, please prepare. There are many tutorials on YouTube, but if it’s too overwhelming start with the official free FB course.
Here: https://www.facebook.com/business/learn
______________
The situation:
https://tttttt.me/interceptorbeyond/71
Meta for Business
Meta Blueprint: Free online training for advertising on Facebook
With more than 90 e-learning courses, Meta Blueprint helps you learn the skills to move your business forward. Get the best from your Facebook ads with our training courses.
Merch
Don’t forget to bring portable lights with you, because venues usually don’t any for the merch table.
Make sure the signs are big enough and easy to be read from a distance.
Help drunk people buy your merch. They are blind and slow mofos.
Here’s a first photo I found on the Internet that shows a good merch table.
#merch
Don’t forget to bring portable lights with you, because venues usually don’t any for the merch table.
Make sure the signs are big enough and easy to be read from a distance.
Help drunk people buy your merch. They are blind and slow mofos.
Here’s a first photo I found on the Internet that shows a good merch table.
#merch
FB is sneaky
I’m checking my FB insights all the time, to see what works or not.
It looks like that FB gives more organic reach to posts that don’t include links to outside sources. FB wants to keep you inside their platform.
All my posts without the links have a double amount of views. Probably, FB is even looking for text-based links like www (dot) facebook (dot) com.
Bitch, game on!
gonna use
⚡️ for a slash
☢️ for a dot
︰ for the two dots
and as an extra, gonna put ▪️ between www and http => w▪️w▪️w, h▪️t▪️t▪️p
So if you see posts on my fb page with these, give a like.
Later I will tell you the results.
#facebook
I’m checking my FB insights all the time, to see what works or not.
It looks like that FB gives more organic reach to posts that don’t include links to outside sources. FB wants to keep you inside their platform.
All my posts without the links have a double amount of views. Probably, FB is even looking for text-based links like www (dot) facebook (dot) com.
Bitch, game on!
gonna use
⚡️ for a slash
☢️ for a dot
︰ for the two dots
and as an extra, gonna put ▪️ between www and http => w▪️w▪️w, h▪️t▪️t▪️p
So if you see posts on my fb page with these, give a like.
Later I will tell you the results.
New market
I was checking the music news yesterday (25.01.2020).
I see a post at Rolling Stone about Lizzo.
I think “marketing people found a new market of obese people.
respect, respect.
wait, but, there are also so many skinny people. why not target them also with somebody?”
And then 30 min later I read a post at Variety
“Taylor Swift Opens Up About Overcoming Struggle With Eating Disorder”.
Snap!
Respect.
#marketing
I was checking the music news yesterday (25.01.2020).
I see a post at Rolling Stone about Lizzo.
I think “marketing people found a new market of obese people.
respect, respect.
wait, but, there are also so many skinny people. why not target them also with somebody?”
And then 30 min later I read a post at Variety
“Taylor Swift Opens Up About Overcoming Struggle With Eating Disorder”.
Snap!
Respect.
#marketing
Engagement
Acknowledge that your fans exist, talk and listen to them. It is mega important. One simple "thank you" or "nice to meet you" does a mazafakin magic. Not only in person but also online.
On Saturday I discovered the music of Des Rocs on Spotify. Listened to one song. Great song. Loved it. Who's Ded Rocs? I check Spotify. 1 million monthly listeners. Featured in many playlists. All info is top: good description, photos, etc. Same with social media. Quality shit. Signed to a good label.
Clearly the guy is a pro. So he should dig engagement.
Question: How soon he or his team is going to respond to my message and what he says?
Instagram 14,5k followers. Not that many, so chances are higher, but many bands don't respond in general.
I send him a message to one of his stories “Discovered your music today. It is fiiiiire. Keep it up!” at 18:18 and he responded at 19:58 saying "THANK U 🔥 welcome to our twisted little world".
Awesome. Quick response, caps and a welcome to the club. A perfect message.
Either he wrote it, copy&pasted it or his team did that, it doesn't matter, cos he made feel acknowledged and a part of something unique.
Top shit.
#marketing #engagement #instagram
Acknowledge that your fans exist, talk and listen to them. It is mega important. One simple "thank you" or "nice to meet you" does a mazafakin magic. Not only in person but also online.
On Saturday I discovered the music of Des Rocs on Spotify. Listened to one song. Great song. Loved it. Who's Ded Rocs? I check Spotify. 1 million monthly listeners. Featured in many playlists. All info is top: good description, photos, etc. Same with social media. Quality shit. Signed to a good label.
Clearly the guy is a pro. So he should dig engagement.
Question: How soon he or his team is going to respond to my message and what he says?
Instagram 14,5k followers. Not that many, so chances are higher, but many bands don't respond in general.
I send him a message to one of his stories “Discovered your music today. It is fiiiiire. Keep it up!” at 18:18 and he responded at 19:58 saying "THANK U 🔥 welcome to our twisted little world".
Awesome. Quick response, caps and a welcome to the club. A perfect message.
Either he wrote it, copy&pasted it or his team did that, it doesn't matter, cos he made feel acknowledged and a part of something unique.
Top shit.
#marketing #engagement #instagram
More about engagement
I checked out “Social Media Content Study” by Social Insider (link below). They analysed 100m posts and blabla. They don’t give the details of the research, but anyways.
Here’s what’s useful for us + my comments from what I see on my pages and online in general:
Highest engagement rate: Instagram. - I agree.
Users with big followings get less engagement. - Counterintuitive, I know, but makes sense with a FB mindset. The algorithm should limit the “engagement friendly users” so that you would buy ads.
Posts with questions get less engagement. - Not sure about it. Don’t know how the research was made. Gonna check it out.
20.7% of all posts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter include emojis in the caption and they have higher engagement rates per post. - Not sure again, but I see emojis quite often. Depends on account type. Gonna experiment with this one. Might be that algorithm favours such stuff, cos teens love emojis and they are a potential new audience.
Posts about contests and giveaway are still top performers. - No shit, mate! I agree. Especially with ads.
When posting links, single images, statuses, or videos, people need more information. - They mean a longer caption. I agree cos it looks more human, i.e. that you care about what you write.
If you’re planning on posting for the Holiday, Christmas posts only perform well on Facebook 0.35% - I agree, cos there are so many posts on holidays, it’s really hard to break through without ads.
#marketing #facebook #fb
I checked out “Social Media Content Study” by Social Insider (link below). They analysed 100m posts and blabla. They don’t give the details of the research, but anyways.
Here’s what’s useful for us + my comments from what I see on my pages and online in general:
Highest engagement rate: Instagram. - I agree.
Users with big followings get less engagement. - Counterintuitive, I know, but makes sense with a FB mindset. The algorithm should limit the “engagement friendly users” so that you would buy ads.
Posts with questions get less engagement. - Not sure about it. Don’t know how the research was made. Gonna check it out.
20.7% of all posts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter include emojis in the caption and they have higher engagement rates per post. - Not sure again, but I see emojis quite often. Depends on account type. Gonna experiment with this one. Might be that algorithm favours such stuff, cos teens love emojis and they are a potential new audience.
Posts about contests and giveaway are still top performers. - No shit, mate! I agree. Especially with ads.
When posting links, single images, statuses, or videos, people need more information. - They mean a longer caption. I agree cos it looks more human, i.e. that you care about what you write.
If you’re planning on posting for the Holiday, Christmas posts only perform well on Facebook 0.35% - I agree, cos there are so many posts on holidays, it’s really hard to break through without ads.
#marketing #facebook #fb
YouTube
Thou shalt not forget about YouTube. It’s the easiest way for a general audience to discover new music.
The features that bands should use are YouTube Stories and Posts.
Yes, everything now is a platform where you can communicate with your audience. And, yes, everything has a Stories feature. Old news. But not many bands are using them, so again it’s a bit easier to be noticed.
Example: Mary Zimmer (the singer of Helion Prime) has a YouTube channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ8Imf-grdfjccLUcPLCSeA/community
#youtube
Thou shalt not forget about YouTube. It’s the easiest way for a general audience to discover new music.
The features that bands should use are YouTube Stories and Posts.
Yes, everything now is a platform where you can communicate with your audience. And, yes, everything has a Stories feature. Old news. But not many bands are using them, so again it’s a bit easier to be noticed.
Example: Mary Zimmer (the singer of Helion Prime) has a YouTube channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ8Imf-grdfjccLUcPLCSeA/community
#youtube
YouTube
VoiceHacks
Voice Teacher Mary Zimmer brings you VoiceHacks by Mary Z! Singing and Screaming Tutorials for beginner to advanced vocalists. My voice lesson videos and pla...
The Box
Now I have The Box on my website. Read the details there.
https://www.interceptorbeyond.com/the-box/
Now I have The Box on my website. Read the details there.
https://www.interceptorbeyond.com/the-box/
Booking gigs
I doubt that there ever be a good database with all venues, agencies and promoters in Europe. Reverbnation.com has a decent list, but just use it to find venues and don’t book gigs via the service. Most of the time you’ll have to find the gigs on your own.
Make a list of 10 bands that are similar to you in the way of:
1. Style of music played
2. Talent levels
3. Fanbase size
4. Area based
Search for these bands online, check FB events to see where they performed and the size of the venue. Usually, you can see who is promoting the event on FB and approach the promoter.
Choose smaller venues over big ones, i.e. it’s better to have it packed than to leave a big one empty and therefore disappointing the promoters.
Ask people for venues and promoters in FB groups of that country/city in advance.
#gig
I doubt that there ever be a good database with all venues, agencies and promoters in Europe. Reverbnation.com has a decent list, but just use it to find venues and don’t book gigs via the service. Most of the time you’ll have to find the gigs on your own.
Make a list of 10 bands that are similar to you in the way of:
1. Style of music played
2. Talent levels
3. Fanbase size
4. Area based
Search for these bands online, check FB events to see where they performed and the size of the venue. Usually, you can see who is promoting the event on FB and approach the promoter.
Choose smaller venues over big ones, i.e. it’s better to have it packed than to leave a big one empty and therefore disappointing the promoters.
Ask people for venues and promoters in FB groups of that country/city in advance.
#gig
TikTok
TikTok, you’re actually a beast. Signing licensing deals left and right. Opening offices and the LA HQ. Testing Spotify alternatives in India.
TikTok is definitely here to stay, especially with all that sweet Chinese ¥¥¥¥¥.
If you’re not a teenager or a celebrity, TikTok looks weird at the moment. But it’s just for now. ByteDance (TikTok’s sugar daddy) has some serious plans. I won’t be surprised if they buy a couple of some weird start-ups and make something completely different out of TikTok. Who knows, maybe something radical like an alternative to YouTube Mobile or something. Definitely, something with music.
For now:
Secure your username on TikTok while you can. I did mine some time ago.
TunerCore, DistroKid and others allow submitting your music to TikTok. Do it. It’s better to cover all streaming platforms. You never know.
#tiktok
TikTok, you’re actually a beast. Signing licensing deals left and right. Opening offices and the LA HQ. Testing Spotify alternatives in India.
TikTok is definitely here to stay, especially with all that sweet Chinese ¥¥¥¥¥.
If you’re not a teenager or a celebrity, TikTok looks weird at the moment. But it’s just for now. ByteDance (TikTok’s sugar daddy) has some serious plans. I won’t be surprised if they buy a couple of some weird start-ups and make something completely different out of TikTok. Who knows, maybe something radical like an alternative to YouTube Mobile or something. Definitely, something with music.
For now:
Secure your username on TikTok while you can. I did mine some time ago.
TunerCore, DistroKid and others allow submitting your music to TikTok. Do it. It’s better to cover all streaming platforms. You never know.
#tiktok