Music Marketing Blog Post 2

Music Marketing Blog Post 2 - The Process

    Creating a band from scratch was no easy task, but, although M’lady isn’t perfect, I am proud of what my group was able to accomplish in a matter of weeks.

    Although the research itself was not difficult to obtain, we found ourselves getting distracted with music video ideas popping up in the back of our minds. Due to this, we decided to call a second day after school in order to complete the research chart. When reading, we decided to change our target audience from teens to 20-24-year-olds, and we concluded that a common trait among alternative bands is a quirk or theme of theirs, such as the constant symbol of llamas within Fallout Boy and the optical illusions making up Animal Collective’s brand. We also decided that a quick and strong way to market ourselves would be through social media platforms, like Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. We considered other applications but decided that TikTok was geared for a younger age than our target audience, and Facebook for a far older group. Finally, we agreed upon our last necessary marketing platform: a website.

    With Isa’s experience in website building, we were able to find a layout that best fit our target audience. A simple color palette that matched the logo of our brand (a purple and yellow lion), and pages that were easy to navigate through. Within these tabs, listeners could purchase merchandise, read the origin story of the band, and watch music videos and bloopers available on YouTube.

    When it came to writing our music video, we had various changes in ideas. Our original idea was to have a woman standing up against various men in her life, as the title of our debut song was “The Man.” However, after some time, we came to an agreement that a serious music video would go against our brand’s idea of lighthearted fun. Our new idea was the exact opposite, actually: “The Man” in question was the band member himself causing chaos throughout his neighborhood. He disturbed the public, stopped cars to let ducks cross the road, and fell out of a tree. At one point, he trespassed into private property to his own demise. The crew agreed that what this video needed was fun. The more ridicule, the better.

    For our video, we wanted a symbol, like  Fallout Boy’s iconic llama. To match our logo, we went with a king and ordered a purple robe to match our color scheme and a gold crown. We filmed for about 3 days, far longer than we had originally planned. The biggest surprise to me is how well we managed to work together; when I created the shirt for Isabella to wear, Anthony taught himself how to use my camera to continue filming with Logan. 

    Editing was the most difficult part for us as a group, as we fell into many issues with the way our shots turned out. Yet, after much back and forth, we managed to push through and get it done. Logan and I found that editing in person was more efficient than over discord, and we managed to finish in just a few hours.

    I felt very uneasy throughout the presentation. Although we knew our information, I experienced some technical issues that wasted some time for the group. Other than that, however, things went smoothly, and we each presented our section without any issues. The critiques really made me smile, and I'm glad that our hard work was appreciated.

    Overall, this project opened my eyes to the layers that go behind creating a band or musician's marketing. It also gave me a great opportunity to collaborate with other students without an intense time limit, giving us time to really get to know each other.