How a band gets signed by a record label workshop:

 How a band gets signed by a record label workshop:

 

-   To understand why some bands will get signed and some bands don’t, we need to understand A&R.

-   A&R means Artist and Repertoire, and so an A&R executive is someone who would look for new talent and help them to develop themselves into becoming good performing and recording artists.

-   For example, A&R executive Michael Alago would go out to every New York City bar and/or nightclub looking for new bands and artists to find someone who would work.

-   He would often sign band that maybe didn’t have an awful lot of their own material, or a massive musical talent, but would sign them purely on how they looked on stage, or on their sound.

-   Now, music streaming platforms such as Spotify, or Apple and Apple music collect data from what is being listened to the most at that point, so that it is easier to find new artists as it narrows down the genre that is trending at that particular point in time.

-   So essentially, in modern times the bands that get signed are already on the up of a trend, and already have value, unlike the bands that Michael Alago was signing. But the things that originally made those new artists stand out from the crowd are the same as the things that Michael Alago looked out for in the 80s.

-   With my Artists, we have to find out what it is that makes them special and make that coincide with the music they are playing.

-   I am going to use a character sheet and describe what it is that makes my artist special. I am then going to try and find some unknown music to try and match up my character with it. To find the music I am going to use bandcamp.com and richerunsigned.com.

 

 

               -   The song that I am using to go with my musical character is “Starting a New” by Dishy Tangent.

What is a music campaign?

A campaign in this context is the entire advertisement of a band or the band’s new album/song. It includes television adverts, social media promotion, and other forms of advertisement.

 

The music campaign that I will do for my artist will include:

-   Social Media accounts on at least Instagram and Facebook, and perhaps Twitter and TikTok in addition to these if it fits the persona of my character

-   A Music Video

-   Promotion for the music video and upcoming work of the artist

 

To grasp what a music campaign really is, I am going to research a music campaign that the British band The Rolling Stones have done. The Rolling Stones were a big London-based Band that took off in the 60s and were able to become one of the biggest bands in the world. The Rolling Stones formed in 1962 and are still together today. Their advertisement for their band has proved very successful over the years. For example the stones wrote a song for Kellogg’s Rice Krispy’s TV Advert 1964 to gain awareness for their brand.   

 

 

In 1964, the Rolling Stones also tried to introduce a “bad boy” look to their band to try and attract more teenagers to listen to their music. Forbes Magazine said that “It may shock plenty of people to learn that one of the best examples of how marketing can make or break a career is the Rolling Stones, who wouldn’t be where they are today without the look and antics” which proves how successful this bad boy look worked for them. This look worked very well with their music, in particular their song “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”, which made people regard them as a bigger band as the lyrics were considered inappropriate which only fortified their image as bad boys.

 

More recently, the Stones have used Instagram and social media to promote their brand to a new range of teenagers. Since the band is still together, not only can they promote their older music from the 60s, but they can also promote their new music. For example, here is a picture on their Instagram they posted that promotes the release of their 1968 album “Beggars Banquet”. They promote it by saying that it was released on that day in 1968:

 

 

Here is a photo posted that again promotes the bad boy look that they were trying to represent.

 

 

By using Instagram and social media, they can bring their band into the 21st century, and attract the same demographic that they were trying to attract when they originally came out, as social media is primarily used by teenagers.