Conclusion of Music Marketing Project

Hello Blog!

Since my last post, I have completed, turned in, and had my music marketing project graded.  This project was intense, long, and worth 400 points.  My group and I had to really come together as a team and concur on this project thoroughly and precisely as we had a strict rubric guideline.  

As mentioned in my last post, the project began with research.  As a group, collectively, we researched the music industry in terms of record labels, artists, and groups involved, as well as case studies for each artist. This research allowed our group to analyze the context of each artist and record label and base our project and band group off of the research.  For instance, when my group researched marketing strategies and cross-media convergence as well as distribution, we applied the best methods to our band.  As our project was presented to classmates, we cited the case studies we researched below:

Although the research was mentioned in our presentation, my group could have elaborated more on the influence of the distribution strategies and record label analysis on our band.  The research was analyzed on paper, however, when it came to the crossover between our band pitch, we did not elaborate on the effect of these strategies and examples from the research as much.  

Through the research aspect of the music marketing project, my group started to brainstorm for our project, naturally.  We wanted to create a band that was unique and through great marketing strategies, we decided on what we wanted to go for.  My group created a band based on the song “Me and My Mama” by Childish Gambino.  This band consisted of three characters.  All of which would be masked on stage.  Our band is a pop-funk band that has an electric neon theme throughout.  The main idea we came up with to be unique like artist Sia, was to be an anonymous group that focused on drug addiction awareness.  In order to get our message across about drug addiction, we thought our band should be anonymous as the message of the music is our top priority. Our band is called “Wake Up.” As we worked through this idea of our band, we began to draft our presentation pitch in the app called Canva.  Here are some of the slides:

Through these slides, we created a neon theme and created simple slides to where the main information being pitched to our classmates was that of what we memorized and experienced through our brainstorming and research project. 

Part of our project was to create a promotional video for our band, “Wake Up.”  So, my group began a storyboard along the lines of a main female character who overdoses and “Chases the Next High.”  That is the name of our music video.  I and one other group member took the time after school to begin the storyboard.  After completion, we sent the draft to the two other team members who could not make it for approval.  This was one hardship my group endured-being able to get together outside of school.  Once the storyboard was approved and complete, my group decided to meet and film at a park nearby as well as one of our homes.  Again, only three out of the four members could make it.  So, in order to make the workload even, the one team member who could not make it was left to edit the shots together.  This was another struggle endured by my team.  Since one member was left to edit, not everyone had a say in how the clips were edited together.  This caused some backlash in our overall music video as we received an 80% instead of an A.  

Here is a look inside the music video slide presented during our presentation pitch:

In regards to the presentation presented to our classmates, my group did a successful job of splitting up the slides in terms of who was going to talk about each slide.  Our voices were projected well and the audience was intrigued by our website, marketing strategies, and overall our theme of drug addiction awareness. 

At the end of our presentation, my group was asked questions on the topics of the band “Wake Up.”  We soon realized that we were receiving backlash for the music video, “Chasing the Next High.”  Many people missed our message of the cycle of drug addiction and how it is hard to overcome.  Many classmates thought my group romanticized drug addiction because of the lighting in some shots in the music video.  This is something my group had to take into account for future reference.  The lighting is crucial to the theme and tone of the video, we may have missed the mark slightly as some questions from classmates were concerned in regards to the overall message of our video. 

In regards to the entire music marketing project, I have learned many strategies for marketing, distribution, research, and even film techniques.  This project has taught my team and me immensely in regards to teamwork and dealing with differing opinions.  In order for everyone to be successful during this project, all group members needed to be on the same page.  Thus, when opinions were voiced, we had to hear them and adjust.  The most important takeaway from this project was how to get my message across clearly and concisely to an audience and to always hear my group members out because listening is more influential than talking. In regards to my Cambridge portfolio, this project helped immensely in planning strategies and planning under a time crunch.  I have learned how to deal with differing opinions and differing work schedules for those around me.  I will take what I have learned and use it to complete my Cambridge portfolio to the best of my ability moving forward.

Thank you.