🔵 Labels have forgotten how to do marketing
Why labels have lost their way with marketing, and what we can do to fix that
Housekeeping note: my apologies for a reduced rate of publication on Network Notes of late. Motive Unknown has doubled in size in the last 6 months and as MD that's meant my time has been pinched more than ever. I'm hoping things will settle a little more soon though such that we can return to a twice weekly schedule here.
I really enjoyed reading Midia's article looking at the marketing campaign for Charli XCX's Brat album, asking whether niche has become mainstream or vice versa. Rather than regurgitate the article here I'd simply suggest you go and read it, as it raises a lot of great questions.
I tend to have a different angle on the Brat campaign. The last album Charli released struck me as being very much her 'major label' album; a direct attempt to be the kind of major pop star that might put her alongside someone like Miley Cyrus maybe. It felt like she’d placed a lot of trust into the label to lead that, to really take her profile up a notch, and it floundered as a result.
Consequently, this time around, I get the strong sense that the marketing has been entirely led and informed by Charli herself, rather than her label. Every point of activation aimed for genuine connection with fans, and certainly understood that the core fanbase are the evangelists who can help turbo charge sales and consumption in general. As Midia's article notes, the results have been far, far better than with the last album.
I'm happy to fall on my sword if I am wrong, but I would wager with some confidence that the entire marketing direction for the Brat album came from Charli herself. Let's not forget, this is a fiercely intelligent woman who has now been in this business since she was a kid. She's no fool, and I think the smarts around the Brat campaign smack of her taking control and dictating how this was going to play out.
However, if we accept that to be true, it confirms something I feel is increasingly prevalent now, namely that many record labels are increasingly misunderstanding how marketing works. Charli's experiences speak to that: when she let the label guide the marketing for her previous album, the results were arguably a career low point of sorts. Under her own guidance, she is now achieving her sales potential with plenty of incredible chatter about the record among anything from pop quarters to credible underground music sites.
What I feel the Brat campaign understands that perhaps others miss is the simple reality that marketing is about creating connection. It is not about just telling people your album is out, or is dropping soon, as if that is the fait accompli.
If this appears to be a critique of record labels, it is not. In reality, I think what has happened is that everyone has simply become bamboozled by the rapidly changing landscape. As a consequence, they have retreated to the safest high ground, namely just telling audiences an album is out, or up for preorder. When you factor in the ever-increasing rate of releases, often reflecting the shorter life span of an album campaign, it isn't hard to see why things can reduce to a box-ticking type of approach. Everyone feels time-poor and they are trying to cope accordingly. It makes for a grim combination of factors that has led to this point.
So, we should not blame anyone here; what I feel we are seeing is merely the consequence of a general sense of confusion, coupled with shrinking budgets, shorter campaigns (and therefore often smaller revenues), all of which does tend to reduce things to a "path of least resistance"-type mentality.
(At the risk of labouring a point, I also feel the state we find ourselves in is once again evidence of what has been lost with a diminished ecosystem through which to drive connections with fans. I've talked about this point enough of late though, so won't repeat it here. For more on that, read this edition of Network Notes, or this one.)
So for me, the Brat album is worthy of study, but more because its marketing clearly understood the value of connecting with audiences, and equally allowing them to connect with one another.
Midia's article questioned whether the Brat campaign was niche-going-mainstream, or vice versa. It even asked whether the Catch-22 of niche marketing is that once it becomes mainstream, it loses its core audience.
Personally, I don't worry about such matters. I've lived long enough to see many a niche go mainstream, whether it was the US Seattle scene crossing over with Smells Like Teen Spirit, or even the nascent house and acid house scenes turning into police-bothering mega raves around the M25 at the turn of the 90s. Niche things are always capable of blowing up and going mainstream. And, of course, those that were there first will feel disenfranchised and move on, and that scene - taking Grunge as an example - will have its day. But that's life, and culture. It is all a part of the cycle of arrival and departure and we are richer for it.
For now though, I think everyone should be focusing a lot more on what drives connections. When we connect with something it can be on a deep and long-lasting level. Casual fast food snacking on music can be left to the AI music generators who may very well start to eat into the revenues of catalogue plays on Spotify.
But that is not my world, and nor is it the world of the 35+ indie labels and artists that me and my teams work with. We are about long-lasting connection, because we believe in the true value of it.
"This band could be your life" - let's never forget that.
Have a great evening,
D.
🎶 listening to “Approachable” by Gurriers. I’ve been tracking these visceral buggers from Ireland for a good while now, and I’m still adamant they could be huge. All signs suggest I might be right too (and if they are, let’s remember that you heard it here first 😆), with this latest single being another step up. Superb stuff. As long as angry, noisy fuckers like this are in the world, I feel like we’re all still going to be fine.
📺 watching “Butthole Surfers- Live at Schlachthof in Bremen, Germany (1987)”. With more reissues on the way, this full concert was uploaded to YouTube the other day - and what a treat it is. Well, if like me you happen to love the Butthole Surfers, that is.
🤖 playing with Recall.ai. Imagine Pocket crossbred with Evernote, but with AI woven into it (of course). I’m hugely cynical about most of the AI crap being pushed on us all at the mo, but this one speaks to me ADHD side, helping organise things automatically, and summarising longer docs etc. Take a look - it’s pretty cool.
Stories from the Music Industry:
Denis Ladegaillerie-led bid for Believe has secured over 85% of shares, may acquire more by end of this week
A consortium led by Denis Ladegaillerie, founder and CEO of Believe, has secured over 85% of the company’s shares in its takeover bid. This advances the consortium’s effort to take Believe private. In an update to the market on Friday (June 140, the consortium, Upbeat BidCo, said it has acquired 85.04% of Believe’s share capital and 73.27% of its voting rights through agreements and its simplified public tender offer.
👆🏻Hot take: I am still curious to see what kind of business Believe will become when it moves back under private control. The potential implications for the major/indie landscape are massive.
After raising $125m, AI music generator Suno is now paying its most popular creators
The “Summer of Suno” program will pay out $10,000 to the highest-ranked track, and $7,500 to the second-highest-ranked track. The amount gradually decreases to a payout of $500 for tracks ranked between 6th and 50th place, $250 for the 51st to 100th track, and $100 for tracks ranked between 101 and 500. The track’s rankings will be determined “by popularity as measured by a combination of plays, likes and shares,” Suno cofounder Keenan Freyberg wrote on the company blog.
👆🏻Hot take: how do you hack growth? Incentivise people to get involved. It’s a move straight out of the growth hacking handbook.
TikTok is forming an investment team to acquire music content and companies
Today (June 18) MBW can reveal that TikTok is taking this evolution to the next stage – with a plan to acquire and invest in music rights. We’ve learned that TikTok is forming an in-house Music Content Investment Team based in Los Angeles, New York, and San Jose, focusing on “partnership or acquisition opportunities in the music content space on a global level”. In other words, TikTok is moving into the competitive music M&A market.
👆🏻Hot take: TikTok *really* wants to crack the music space, but I still struggle to see how this weaves into its main platform. One to track as a story either way.
7 in 10 musical artists dissatisfied with streaming music payouts, survey finds
The survey, carried out by IAO, an umbrella group of artists’ organizations across Europe, surveyed 9,542 artists in 19 EU countries, where there are an estimated 480,000 working artists. Of those surveyed, 4,215, or 44.2%, are signed to a record label, while the remaining 5,327 are independent (DIY) artists and session musicians. The IAO described the study as “one of the most comprehensive surveys undertaken concerning artists’ professional and economic situation.”
👆🏻Hot take: this won’t shock anyone, I am sure, but it is still good to have the state of things reiterated via a proper study here. Once again: ignore these facts at your peril.
Swizz Beatz and Timbaland’s Verzuz returns with exclusive distribution partnership with Elon Musk’s X
Commenting on the partnership with X, Swizz Beatz said, “We are beyond thrilled to have found the best partner for Verzuz. Not only are we excited to have Verzuz on X, we’re excited to help X build the biggest entertainment company in the world. I would like to thank Elon Musk, Linda Yaccarino, Brett Weitz, Mitchell Smith and the entire X team for believing in the Verzuz vision. We can’t wait to get to work.”
👆🏻Hot take: oh dear. I can see the logic for both parties, but to buy into that involves ignoring the insane cesspool of toxic BS that X has really become now.
SoundLabs and UMG announce responsibly-trained AI agreement
UMG has now announced an agreement with AI tech company SoundLabs, which offers “responsibly trained” AI tools for music creators. The agreement means that UMG artists and producers can use SoundLabs’ MicDrop product to create official vocal models – which can then be used to create new vocals (and that won’t be available to the general public). The idea is to give artists more control: they can choose which recordings of their voices are used for training, and retain control over ownership and “full artistic approval and control of the output.”
👆🏻Hot take: full disclosure, SoundLabs are a Motive Unknown client. Personally I feel this is the kind of AI startup that lands on the side of “genuinely helpful to creators”, alongside Voice-Swap.
Notable stories from the world of tech:
Luma Dream Machine makes mind-blowing AI video open to all
Luma AI's Dream Machine works much like the best AI image generators. You type in a text prompt, and it will generate video five seconds of video in around two minutes. I've was impressed with initial results, and beta testers already using the program have said that it adheres to prompts accurately and produces relatively coherent motion. Characters appear to be consistent and more capable of expressing emotion than what we've seen in a lot of AI-generated video.
👆🏻Hot take: this is certainly impressive, and I’ve already seen one music video made with it, but just as with AI-generated full songs, I wonder what true value it will actually have after the novelty wears off. Once again: things made with little-to-no effort have zero value, and get treated accordingly.
London premiere of movie with AI-generated script cancelled after backlash
In its statement the Prince Charles said: “The feedback we received over the last 24hrs once we advertised the film has highlighted the strong concern held by many of our audience on the use of AI in place of a writer which speaks to a wider issue within the industry.”
👆🏻Hot take: another fine reminder of just how strong the sentiment is around AI-generated content. Quite the clunker of a move from the Prince Charles Cinema too; to not be tuned into the sensitivities of this is embarrassing.
TikTok ads may soon contain AI avatars of your favorite creators
The first of the new offerings is Symphony Digital Avatars, which are available in two varieties: stock or custom. Stock avatars are based on paid actors from a diverse range of backgrounds, nationalities, and languages. They are available for commercial use. Custom avatars, meanwhile, are created to resemble a specific creator or a brand spokesperson and speak multiple languages — allowing the accounts that utilize them to reach foreign audiences while retaining a specific likeness.
👆🏻Hot take: whilst there’s one logical angle here (reaching people in foreign languages), overall I feel TikTok is wildly underestimating just how much Joe Public hates AI-generated content, viewing it as lazy and unoriginal - something the movie story above only reiterates.
Looking for something else to read? Here you go:
50 Perfect Movies, According to Rotten Tomatoes
Yes, ‘Citizen Kane’ is in Rotten Tomatoes’s 100% Club. So are ‘Paddington 2’ and ‘The Terminator.
👆🏻Hot take: a lazy listicle, maybe, but one I couldn’t resist. Enjoy!
Why the Disney Formula Doesn't Work in China
Why the Disney formula doesn’t work in China.
👆🏻Hot take: I have a continued, slightly odd, fascination with Disney as a company, so this makes for a fine read about how the company has tried to crack China and the problems it has faced along the way.