Music Marketing Project

Still from the music video for "Me and Your Mama"

My group and I were assigned to create an entire campaign for a made-up artist in the "hip hop funk" genre. Of course, we were ecstatic to work in this genre as some of our favorite artists' music is categorized into this genre. We found that a lot of artists in this genre heavily rely on their music videos to further market their song, of course focusing on social media presence as well. Our case studies use stylistic and aesthetic visuals and images to mirror their brand as well as their music. Their target audience includes both males and females classified as teenagers and young adults.

My group and I wanted to focus our target audience on teenagers and young adults. From living and breathing the Internet and media world, we found that a majority of youth are attracted to artists like Tyler, The Creator and BROCKHAMPTON. This helped us create the brand for our artist, Third Eye. 

Still from the music video for "Me and Your Mama"

We wanted Third Eye to be real and resemble a chaotic, aesthetically surprising image that similar artists, like Tyler, The Creator, have. Having a pleasing aesthetic grabs attention from lots of young people, so we made sure Third Eye branded that to the music and media world. Third Eye is supposed to be real, not portrayed as a robot from the music industry but a real-life individual. So, with an amplified social media presence, Third Eye is able to establish and maintain her brand. This was done through her Twitter, where she posted whatever she wanted and said whatever she wanted, along with her Instagram, which again provided content curated specifically by Third Eye.

To help further market the song "Me and Your Mama" as well as Third Eye and her campaign, we created a music video, merchandise, and a vinyl record of her upcoming album. The music video is a visual representation of Third Eye's personality and music, and it is filled with easter eggs for her new album to create a discussion with viewers and fans. It is uploaded to YouTube as it is the #1 platform for viewing music videos. Almost all youth live on YouTube, so it is the perfect way to engage with the audience. The merchandise puts listeners right next to the artist and provides promotion. Besides digital distribution through streaming services, like Spotify and Apple Music, we wanted to create a vinyl record as it has risen in popularity amongst the youth. Vinyl record sales sky-rocketed in 2019.

Still from the music video for "Me and Your Mama"

Working on this project has taught me a lot about the development of a marketing campaign and production of a music video. A marketing campaign should include elements that make it and the artist stand out amongst the music community. Trends follow the same path, and it does lead to success, but it is vital to be unique and representative of something unique. It is not easy to produce an entire campaign, but taking the easy path by following what every other artist is doing will not result in fulfillment and true success. Producing and editing a music video for an entire song is not easy either. That alone requires days of production and days of editing. It should be visually stimulating and entertaining to honestly gain attention and potential fans.