What do you think of this marketing strategy?

[sabriel9v]

My friend and I are going to be recording a few songs and personally I feel one of them has a lot of potential (ie could get some minor airplay, maybe some cool write ups in the local mags, who knows). I'm not looking to record Pet Sounds, but if the song turns out sounding the way I want it to, I'm thinking about having a video made for it instead of premiering it as an individual single.

Right now the ideal scenario in my mind is this:

 

- We record the song and the record sounds amazing. I hire a local college grad to film the music video for cheap and we stick it up on youtube, my blog and a few of my friends blogs.

- I send out a few e-mails to some of the local mags and see if they'll do some quick write ups on the "single" and push people to some kind of web medium (which I have not yet established...might be a lala or reverbnation account)

- In the meantime, I can record the other songs and post those on the website

 

The biggest problem that I foresee is if I build any kind of steam for this project, I'm not sure what to do with it. I haven't "established" myself as a solo artist and I'm really just recording these songs for fun and not monetary profit.

[paulz]

JIT hits music production!!

 

My worry is that step 2 (underpants gnomes) - not just what to do, but can you move on it - say U DO get some attention, do you have it polished enough perform live (and do you have backing musos ready)? do you have enough material to follow up and ride any momentum you get? stuff like that.

 

I can understand the theory is that there will be lag from release to attention that you can ride - but that's putting something (your follow-up option) you could otherwise control out of your control

and while there can be that lag, this is a new project, so you could have serious production lags -- like that problem finding a drummer you talked about on efx -- that could erase that buffer zone.

 

Unless the song is topical or timely (about the hatian earthquake or something), it seems to me like waiting and getting a deep enough 'bag of tricks' and polished up would be a wise way to go.

You could still RELEASE on a single type basis, but your pony would have other tricks ready if something does happen

 

Sarah silverman kind of got in that situation of not having a deep enough repertoire a couple of years back

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7680076.stm

[sabriel9v]

I think I'm going to do it, I have nothing to lose. The studio time is free and the only money I'd be investing is in finding a director to shoot the video. I'm sure I could get a SCAD grad to film it for $100-150. But once again, if the track doesn't come out the way I want it to, I'm not doing any of this stuff...so I guess I should go ahead and record the song, then get back to this thread lol.

[paulz]

Oh, my worry wasn't about to produce or not - it was how you handle the release schedule up against the rest of the production

it's more about that impatience and jumping the gun you were talking about having trouble with on that drummer thread yesterday

[paulz]

if the production cost is that low..{censored} yeah! no reason not to, at least, record the thing.

As far as the vid - maybe burn that bridge when U come to it

if the song turns out really good, maybe looking at putting a little more into the video would be cool so it's not too homebrew.

 

I'm kind of back and forth on the 'hire out a cheap vid' service thing. I mean we see the low budget film guys advertise for film music "oh there will be no pay, but you will get exposure and on your deathbed you will receive total consciousness" and musos looking for cut rate on the visuals side. I think it's alright for artists to work together and bring down the monetary stakes cooperatively (sometimes you'll see big names work for scale on film projects for artistic interest reasons). But we are probably the last people that should be trying to chisel a discount and undervalue another artistic endeavor - reap what we sow and all.

[sabriel9v]

if the production cost is that low..{censored} yeah! no reason not to, at least, record the thing. As far as the vid - maybe burn that bridge when U come to it if the song turns out really good, maybe looking at putting a little more into the video would be cool so it's not too homebrew. I'm kind of back and forth on the 'hire out a cheap vid' service thing. I mean we see the low budget film guys advertise for film music "oh there will be no pay, but you will get exposure and on your deathbed you will receive total consciousness" and musos looking for cut rate on the visuals side. I think it's alright for artists to work together and bring down the monetary stakes cooperatively (sometimes you'll see big names work for scale on film projects for artistic interest reasons). But we are probably the last people that should be trying to chisel a discount and undervalue another artistic endeavor - reap what we sow and all.

 

I would be operating under this principle. I don't want to underpay anyone and I'm willing to pay based on experience and previous works. But I don't have a lot of money, I graduated about a year and a half ago myself. I'd be looking for the recent art/film school grads and seeing what they have to offer.

 

But I'll keep you guys updated. If I decide to take the video route, I'll document the entire process via threads

[Dancebass]

It's a workable scenario. The local blogs would be more than happy to run the vid for you. That would be helpful getting attention locally.

 

It would be worth it to take your time and come up with a video treatment that would be very clever and original. You have a limited budget as we all do. You could get a lot more bang for your buck if you had a GREAT idea for your video.

 

Try to create "the blair witch" of music vids if you get my drift.

[sabriel9v]

Try to create "the blair witch" of music vids if you get my drift.

 

I gotcha and I agree

 

I'm really big into viral marketing right now and actually the Blair Witch was a revolutionary project in terms of its viral marketing. I know MTV has lost faith in the power of video, but I still think it's alive and well. It's one of the best formats to convey a message these days.

[Dancebass]

Simply, along this line of thinking, did you happen to catch the Google Superbowl ad?

 

It must have cost Google $1.75 to produce that. I thought it was the most effective ad of the night. From an advertising position it was brilliant.

 

Very well done, very classy, and it left an impression. Check it out if you haven't seen it.

[Ryst]

I gotcha and I agree I'm really big into viral marketing right now and actually the Blair Witch was a revolutionary project in terms of its viral marketing. I know MTV has lost faith in the power of video, but I still think it's alive and well. It's one of the best formats to convey a message these days.

 

I agree, sabriel9v. Video is still alive and well. When my EP is finished I'll definitely be doing a lot of vids. I have a particular song that is almost 12 minutes long (mostly instrumental - think Isis meets Sigur Ros). Let's just say that it's "perfect" for a film...or even just a film trailer. It's epic in that sense. What I plan on doing is making a fake trailer with scenes of action, pain, struggle...and of course the most epic parts of my song will be the music to it. Throw it on youtube and see what happens.

 

I have seen more than a few videos that were based on the visual but a ton of people asked.."what's that music from"? In fact, I'm thinking of doing trailers for a few of my songs.

 

Video is definitely still alive. It's just a matter of creating the buzz.

[sabriel9v]

 

Simply, along this line of thinking, did you happen to catch the Google Superbowl ad? It must have cost Google $1.75 to produce that. I thought it was the most effective ad of the night. From an advertising position it was brilliant. Very well done, very classy, and it left an impression. Check it out if you haven't seen it.

 

 

I just watched it, the marketing behind that is smart as hell.

[Dancebass]

 

I just watched it, the marketing behind that is smart as hell.

 

 

Yea. Someone was rewarded very handsomely for their creative thinking on that one.

[paulz]

 

. I know MTV has lost faith in the power of video, but I still think it's alive and well. It's one of the best formats to convey a message these days.

 

 

I don't think that' MTV has really lost faith in any power of video - it's just that they are an economic module of viacom. The message that they need to convey is "our quarterly numbers are really good" and who they need to convey it to is the board and shareholders.

 

It doesn't even matter if one option is viable if another option gets you better returns. They are in the profits business not the widget business. That can change the widgets -- i read a funny example once : BSA motorcycles...Birmingham Small Arms

[sabriel9v]

I agree, sabriel9v. Video is still alive and well. When my EP is finished I'll definitely be doing a lot of vids. I have a particular song that is almost 12 minutes long (mostly instrumental - think Isis meets Sigur Ros). Let's just say that it's "perfect" for a film...or even just a film trailer. It's epic in that sense. What I plan on doing is making a fake trailer with scenes of action, pain, struggle...and of course the most epic parts of my song will be the music to it. Throw it on youtube and see what happens.

 

Ooohh, Isis meets Sigur Ros? Nice, like are they meeting for coffee and scones at an Icelandic cafe to discuss ambient post metal?

 

Your idea sounds like it would fit perfectly within your genre. Be careful when you film the action scenes and scenes of struggle. This can either come off as extremely epic or totally lame. It might be easier to do a well-timed edit of different movie scenes and make a montage to go with the song.

[Ryst]

 

Your idea sounds like it would fit perfectly within your genre. Be careful when you film the action scenes and scenes of struggle. This can either come off as extremely epic or totally lame. It might be easier to do a well-timed edit of different movie scenes and make a montage to go with the song.

 

 

That's the idea. Not one movie but a collage of different scenes from different movies. Almost like the small trailers you see at the beginning of DVDs. Like "Celebrating 50 years of Universal Pictures" where they show a bunch of different movie clips from their catalog.

 

The trailer needs a "theme" to make it work. I think I have the angle but I'm still working out the final details.

[sabriel9v]

That's the idea. Not one movie but a collage of different scenes from different movies. Almost like the small trailers you see at the beginning of DVDs. Like "Celebrating 50 years of Universal Pictures" where they show a bunch of different movie clips from their catalog. The trailer needs a "theme" to make it work. I think I have the angle but I'm still working out the final details.

 

Stick with this idea and make it happen man. I'm a big fan of Isis, not so much into Sigur Ros, but I can appreciate it. I'd like to hear the finished product

 

btw "Working" in the office while the boss is at home and sick is awesome!