Recently in my class, my group and I were assigned to create a music marketing campaign. This project was very large at start and needed to be broken down into sections to make it easier to begin planning. We began by conducting research about our genre to develop a better understanding.
What is country music?
Country music was originally nicknamed,"cowboy/western music" and originated in the southern/southwestern United States. Popular musicians in the genre drew upon traditional sounds and gained large success, laying a foundation for today's modern country music. Typical instruments played in country consists of banjo, bass, drums, acoustic guitar and steel guitar. By drawing upon traditional sounds, we can garner huge success for our artist, "Journee Fae".
How will we be able to attract younger audiences?
Country is one of the most popular genre of music, but 60% of listeners are ages 18-49. A challenge we encountered is the ability to garner a younger audience. What is wrong with country music? Most country songs are overplayed, have cliche stereotypes and use repetitive melodies. To differentiate our self from the norm, our artist will incorporate Neo Traditional country which emphasizes newer instrumentals and combines traditional vocals. Incorporation of traditional vocals is key to the success of our artist because we will be able to keep the older fan base through traditional means and build up a younger fanbase through the use of new instrumentals.
Marketing Trends
Social media is one of the most used marketing tool by all marketing campaigns, regardless of genre, due to the global reach it has in our modern society where technology is greatly embraced. Blake Shelton is a popular country singer that uses social media as a tool to market. He makes posts relevant to his songs and albums, promoting his music. He also has a website that offers an email subscription for fans to keep up to date with latest news and updates about his music. His social media accounts are linked at the bottom of the website page and include: Facebook, Twitter,TikTok, and Instagram. Another country singer that has gained popularity over the recent years is Maren Morris. Likewise, Morris has a website with all her social media accounts linked at the bottom of the page. The website also has tour dates, important announcements and merchandise. Additionally, almost all artists distribute their music on YouTube, Spotify, Pandora, and Apple Music.
Marketing Products
For digitally marketing products and building a following, we created an instagram, YouTube, Twitter and TikTok. All platforms will post updates, announcements, videos and photos relating to the artist and their work.
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| Journee Fae's instagram account |
Additionally, we will create flyers and advertisements for her concert, meet-and-greets and pop up events. Although it is important to market digitally, we must not forget traditional means of marketing as everyone may not have access to social media. We will be placing posters, advertisements, and flyers at local shops or stores to reach a wider audience. By creating physical advertisements, we will be able to market our artist a wider audience and gain a following. Our artist will also go on local radios and podcasts to announce upcoming events, songs or albums.
Poster for upcoming concert
Takeaway
This project has taught me about the extensive work and planning that goes into a music artist's marketing plan. Many country artists have become well established in the music industry due to their amazing marketing team. Every post on instagram, set up on music video, production and other factors affect the way your artist is portrayed to the world.
