Used abbreviations
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Have album cover, website banner or front page, social media banners, music video etc. all link together
Maybe link 2 or more of album art, music video etc.
Summary:
The whole promo package is linking the website, music video and album cover (rarely all three will be clearly linked but commonly at least 2 are linked)
Summary Vodcast:
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Simon: DJ Snake - Taki Taki ft. Ozuna, Cardi B, Selena Gomez
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As of writing this (8.10.18) my track doesn't have a official music video yet, however DJ Snake very recently release a trailer for the video as seen below. DJ Snake's website is not as linked with the cover art as it could be, however from what I've seen of behind-the-scenes footage the music video and other marketing strategies will have strong links with the cover art.
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Here we see the banner for DJ Snake's website, as you can see the, the only link we can see is that some of the artists are wearing the same clothes as shown in the music video.
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Although DJ Snake's YouTube banner is the same as his websites
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UPDATE: 9th October the music video was release and as predicted, there were several clear links to the cover art and trailer for the music video. Watch below:
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James:
The whole promo package is linking the website, music video and album cover (rarely all three will be clearly linked but commonly at least 2 are linked). Twenty One Pilots have clearly linked all three with their latest release Trench. The album cover, website background and multiple of the videos for the songs all feature a vulture, also, this color of yellow ties all pieces of promo together, the costumes in every video are the same with the yellow crosses on them and the website and covers main themes are around yellow. The website and album cover contain an identical background, this is obviously done on purpose to tie everything together and create continuity through the work ...
Website
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Album cover shown on website
... The music videos from the album have some obvious links to the album, for example the costumes with the yellow, but throughout all the videos are more subtle hints towards the work, for example, the vulture that can be seen below, although shown multiple times is never on screen for more then a second. There are many small "Easter eggs" such as this throughout the videos which not only aid in promotion but keep audiences engaged with their work.
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Vulture shown in music video
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Music video - costumes with yellow cross
Christian: Marshmello - Happier ft. Bastille
Marshmello and Bastille have clearly linked music video, album cover and website to their latest release Happier.
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... Below will be the obvious link in the branding:
Website
The top one is from the website of Bastille who collaborated with Marshmello for this track. The website on the bottom is Marshmello's however it is a cover art as branding instead of changing the banner as seen with the "Enter Site" button on the top right.
YouTube Banner
As you can see the album cover art is also on the YouTube banner of the artist Marshmello.
Music Video
The mise - en - scene has links to all the other promotional packages with the smiley faces clearly shown in the music video as well as lollipops on the left of the table and two huge balloonsattached to the chair of the central protagonist. Album Cover
The branding of the album cover is clearly linking all these together into a promotion package which has been done a bit to the extreme here where it all links together. A more common convention is for there to be one or two links mainly with the album cover and website.
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With the Foo Fighter growing older they don't appeal as much to a younger audience and realising this they have created a new platform on their website and if you go on the mixtape section of the homepage it takes you to an interactive site where you can build your own Foo Fighters "Mixtape" depending on your mood and the Foo Fighter Era you want to listen to.
Foo Fighters have done this because they want to introduce their older audience to streaming, where they would usually just buy CDs, and also introduce younger audience to the Foo Fighters with a cool new concept.
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Here you can see all the songs in your mixtape that the website has mixed up for you, you can rearrange the tracks
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Here is the option to name your mixtape
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Here you can share your newly made custom mixtape. You can share it on Facebook, Twitter, or send it to your email or add it to your Spotify playlist. There's also an option to subscribe to a newsletter
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James: Big Shaq - Mans not hot
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... Social media has a huge influence over the popularity and success of a track/ music video. A brilliant example of this is Big Shaq - Mans Not Hot. This was a hugely viral hit back in 2017 in which Micheal Dappah, an English actor made a skit on Radio 1 as one of his characters (big shaq) which quickly went international bringing in millions of views. Micheal Dappah saw the opportunity social media brought him when the skit went viral and proceeded to create a full music video boosted by his recent success and current status. This video ended up getting over 300 million views. This is the google trend for Big Shaq, as you can see there is a huge spike where his career quickly boomed. ... ... Instagram:Social medias such as instagram play as massive role of the promotion of music videos for artist, it is a way of artists showing people there work and communicating with there audience to create a community of fans. This is Michael dappahs instagram, he has about 1.5million followers and uses the platform to promote his content and stay as relevant as he can ... ... This is an example of him telling people about his music video, thanking them and telling them to go watch it and support him ... ... This is another example of him interacting with his fans, he's thanking them for their support, this helps to create a community and fan base for him. ... ... This is a post about Big Shaqs success from the viewpoint of his record company: Link to page ... ...
Christian: George Ezra - Paradise
Distribution of a track and music video is becoming more and more important as social media is having a larger impact on peoples lives. The music video can be posted on multiple different platforms such as YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion and sometimes even Spotify. There can also be links or videos on other social media as well! The video I have chosen is George Ezra - Paradise.
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He uploaded the video to YouTube as it is by far the largest platform for video content, there are no official uploads on Vimeo and Dailymotion however there are fan made (UGC) uploads.
Social Media
George Ezra has advertised his music video on all the mainstream social media sites. He has also built up hype by saying there is a video "coming soon" on all his social media aswell.
Instagram
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As you can see this post has nearly 80,000 views (counts as likes) and has 680 comments with very positive feedback from his audience and fans!
Twitter
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Twitter seems to be the least popular social media where he has promoted the video due to the small amount of likes (2.1k) and comments (110). This may be due to his target audience more commonly use Instagram.
Facebook
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This promotion on Facebook has slightly more likes and comments than Twitter. With 3.4k likes and 308 comments. Again Facebook is not as popular for his target audience as Instagram is.
These numbers on social media are surprising as you are about to see the amount of views of his video on YouTube.
The amount of views he has on the official video are a huge amount greater than any of his other social media combined. Apple music also streams his music video however it doesn't show the amount of views or streams it has.
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Spotify
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On Spotify the song has nearly reached 100 millions streams with it counting upwards everyday. It is nearly twice as much as
Conclusion
The target audience that heavily use social media are T(w)eenagers and it is obvious which one of the social media platforms is most popular for him. Which is Instagram. The most popular streaming service is also Spotify. However YouTube is the platform for most views on his music video (not counting TV). The distribution and "advertising" of the music video on the other social medias has defiantly helped the song gain traction and become a hit.
Usually an artist will only release one music video. Sometimes they might release a official lyric video with cool animations, and sometimes they might also release an audio track, for those who don't like any extra diegetic sound from the music video or lyric video. Very rarely will they release 2 official music videos, however Taylor Swift released a second music video to her song 'Delicate'. This isn't your average music video, though.
Official video:
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Vertical Version:
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First off the 'Vertical version' was initially only released on Spotify, as they have a recently added a new video section in their app and online, where viewers can watch the music videos of songs that have released the music video on Spotify. Taylor Swift however, release a completely new video, with vertical dimensions so users didn't have to put their phone horizontally. This new concept of a 'vertical' music video blew up and numerous articles were written about it.
Secondly the video is a single take, meaning Taylor lip-synced the whole video in one go. It's also filmed using a Steadicam backwards as you can see both her hands on a couple occasions.
Taylor Swift did not release an official lyric video, but did release an audio. The point of multiple videos is to widen audience appeal and rack up more views. This was effective because all the non-Spotify users were unable to access this new 'vertical version' and it made them more and more excited to watch, and once released on Youtube got almost 4 million extra views. Although nowhere near as successful as the Official one with 278 million.
According to JustJared the 'Vertical video' is only available in the UK, US, Sweden and Latin America. I checked on Spotify, and rightly so it isn't available in Luxembourg.
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In Luxembourg you don't get the video, you get the standard player rather than the video playing with the album cover in the underlay
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James: Friends - Marshmello & Anne-Marie
It is becoming more common to have alternative videos to one track created by the artist. The most common is having a lyric video and a music video. The track that will be analysed is Marshmallow - Friends. This video is the main official video, it was posted to the main channel of Marshmallow, it has about 350 million views ... ... This second video is also an official video but it was posted to Anne-marie's official page, she's the featured artist, the video is also titled as the alternate video, it has just under 100 million views ... ... This video, again is a official video posted to Marshmallows official account, this is the smallest video of the 4 reaching only about 17 million views ... ... Lastly is the lyric video, this falls just short of being the most viewed video of the 4 with 340million views, about 8 million less then the official video. ... ...
Christian: One - U2
It is becoming more common to have alternative videos to one track created by the artist. The most common is having a lyric video and a music video. The track that will be analysed is U2 - One. U2 made three music videos for this track all different to appeal to a wider audience. All music videos were directed by different directors as well. ...
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This playlist has all three music videos in.
Directed by Anton Corbjin ...
... The first video in the playlist was filmed in Berlin at a studio. Featuring the iconic Trabant which is now an iconic car used in Eastern Europe and East Germany. This was very cleverly thought of mise - en - scene There are shots with the band memebers dressed in drag as the opposite sex. This visually striking video was removed as the band members felt that critics would link it to AIDS and sexuality being linked.
Directed by Phil Joanou ...
... The second video in the playlist is set in a nightclub. It is following the main singer who is sitting alone smoking and drinking. There a cuts to both females and males dressed as the opposite sex. Transvestites. There is also a performance from the band to cut up the video. This is the video they chose as their main one and is uploaded to their official YouTube channel.
Directed by Mark Pellington ...
... The third one in the playlist is a live performance cut up with blooming flowers and buffaloes running in a response to the "Falling Buffalo" photograph by David Wojnarowicz, taken as natives are chasing them off a cliff .Wojnarowicz who was a homosexual artist in the 80's, died in 1992 with complications of AIDS. The "Falling Buffalo" also happened to be the single cover to the track as it represents the American Dream in its broken state. The band loved the meaning behind the video but did not believe it was good for promotional material.
Additional EGs:
Teaser (Linked to Distribution): Lil Pump - ESSKEETIT (Contains explicit language)
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Lil Pump Teased his song 'ESSKEETIT' in early February this year on his instagram (Link to post here). He then in march posted some behind the scene footage of him while shooting the video (Post). April 1st he posted a teaser of the first 30 seconds of the video with the caption "Comment if I should drop now". The post has 171,692 (now) comments, and he didn't release the video until April 13.
Animation (Explicit language):
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'The Story of O.J.' is animated as if it were to be an old movie, all the characters are african-american and they are animated in the style of an old racist cartoon called "Scrub Me Mama with a Boogie Beat" . Jay-Z has done this in protest of all current racism in America.
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Top picture is a screenshot from the music video, bottom is a screenshot from 'Scrub Me Mama with a Boogie Beat' a 'satirical' cartoon from 1941.
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Lyric Video: Bring me the Horizon - True Friends
Create competition where "fans" enter with their own UGC
Have a "fan" create lyric video
Encourage UGC through social media
User Generated Content is a convention that some artist try to push and some that just happen naturally to bond the audience/fans with the music. UGC can range form recreating or making a new music video for the song to making fan pages about their favourite artist. UGC can be seen as a huge marketing scheme which in some ways it is. As in some cases UGC is more popular and has gathered a larger audience than the official content. Below are some examples of UGC.
Music Videos
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... The Unofficial fan made video has more views than the official music video for Sail by AWOLNATION. This is partly due to it being released before the official music video where a fan saw an opportunity and made a music video for this song. There are a lot of slow takes in this music video but the cinematography and narrative is outstanding making people believe it was the official music video. ...
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The people who made this had this as a "project for high school" according to the description and decided they would recreate the music official music video for the hit song "Stressed Out" by Twenty One Pilots. This is much like what we are doing this year! Lyric Videos ...
... Lyric videos used to be just UGC but has since become popular with artists making multiple videos for one track (Official Video, 1 - take video, lyric video, etc.) The convention started with fans/the audience making these lyric videos. (Without) Music Videos ...
... A bizarre but very funny concept that is a parody of the official music videos created by artists. What this channel has done is removed all non - dietetic sound and added all dietetic sound that is happening in the music video which creates a quite funny parody and shows how quirky music video's are sometimes. Fan pages
... This is a Justin Bieber fan page which a fan has setup and attracted an audience which are also fans of him and want the latest news.
(JC) What is UGC?
UGC (User generated content) is one of the conventions for the industry and audience of music videos. There are many examples of this online, for example fan made music videos, covers of songs online or any content posted by users such as on social media or wikis.
UGC is one of the most popular marketing methods and utilises visuals taken by real people. Audiences are tired of seeing the same type of marketing campaigns with similar-looking people, set to the same backdrops.
Instead, they demand more authenticity and want to feel a stronger connection with brands. This is where UGC plays a vital role; it’s a way for consumers to see people just like themselves in marketing promotions.
MGMT - KIDS
Music Videos
Original Video
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Above is a example of a UGC for the music video "KIDs" by MGMT, despite being made for a school project it amassed a total of over 52 million views. This is a brilliant example of why UGC can be so effective because of the potential reach it can have to people.
Examples:
Radiohead "In Rainbows"
In 2008, Radiohead started a competition for their album "In Rainbows," that gave fans a chance to make a music video of one of their songs and win a prize. This meant fans had a chance to be personally recognised by the band and to share their work. ... ... This use of UGC by Radiohead was made to market their new album and get people engaged with their content. This seemed extremely effective and had many people interact with the band.
Drake "In My Feelings"
Another example of a artist interacting with fans through UGC is Drake's "In my feelings challenge," in which fans would get out of moving cars and dancing to the song "In my feelings," and upload it online, clips of this were then put into the end of drakes official video for in my feelings. ... Fan Made video compilation ...
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The use of UGC for in my feelings blew the video up, at the time of writing this it add over 120mil views and multiple in my feelings UGC videos ha dwell over a million views.
Fan-Made/ A-level videos:
More examples of UGC is the videos made by A-level students for Media Studies, such as the ones we are trying to make, a good example of this is a Bring me the Horizon video made by students at our school. ... ...
Depeche Mode - Its No Good:
Another example of fan-made videos is Depeche mode, below is a official video published by the band and the other is a unofficial, fan-made, alt video using footage of the band. The fan-made video has more views with a total of over 26.5million views whilst the official only has 12.5million.
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Mannequin Challenge:
The mannequin challenge started in 2016 and went extremely viral, based around the song, black Beatles by Rae Sremmurd, the videos feature a camera panning around locations with people frozen in a pose.
This is our Mannequin Challenge from our school: ...
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(SS) UGC
For this convention i will be discussing the UGC made for Silentó's Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)
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... This song blew up in the summer of 2015 due to the distinct reference to popular African American dances. The distinct references led to a specific "challenge" started with the hashtag "WatchMeDanceOn". This first got popular by the YouTube channel 'Tianne King". And since then numerous #WatchMeDanceOn compilations have been made by youtube channels by gathering videos from individual uploads and compiling them to a massive compilation ...
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This is a screenshot from the video above where the little girls are doing the infamous 'Nae Nae'
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Here is Silentó demonstrating how to whip and Nae Nae C
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Summary + Vodcast
Doesn't have to be another music video
Can be any type of music video not uploaded by artist or band
Lyric video, Track with picture, paradoy, recreation of music vid, animation etc.
