Lead: Messaging apps are growing at a rate of knots but music has played a back seat role until recently. Major acts like Paul McCartney, Madonna and Taylor Swift are […]
Tag: Behind the Campaign
Behind the Campaign and Behind the Single both give you deep dives into one individual successful campaign, with vital data, and insight from the people who created them. They are published twice per month as part of Sandbox.
Posted inMarketing, Sandbox
Sandbox 121 – The 10 Worst Ideas in Digital Marketing
Our lead feature this week explores the 10 Worst Ideas in Digital Marketing, as marketers, label bosses and artist managers vent their spleen on some of the campaigns and technologies […]
Posted inMarketing, Sandbox
Sandbox 117 – Video budget: Making promos on a shoestring
Lead: Videos used to the the bit that swallowed up most of the marketing budget but today they can be shot relatively quickly and cheaply. We speak to those who commission and create videos to hear what advice they can give on getting the most effective visual results for the lowest outlay.
Posted inMarketing
Sandbox 116 – Cloudbusting
Lead: SoundCloud is (finally) moving towards moentising its platform and Mixcloud is adding new premium subscription tiers. Both have prided themselves on the part they play in giving underground and […]
Posted inMarketing, Sandbox
Sandbox 109 – #MUSICMARKETING
Lead: Twitter has turned the hashtag into a powerful marketing tool and now Facebook, Instagram and even Amazon are piling on. We look at how hashtags can be best used, where they can go disastrously wrong and why they will – despite Twitter saying it is pushing them to the background – remain an essential part of the music marketer’s arsenal for years to come.
Posted inMarketing, Sandbox
Sandbox 108 – Tracks & Field
Lead: summers for the music industry have traditionally meant festivals, but this year’s “summer of sport” spells out huge opportunities for music to get involved – and all beyond the standard tie-in album or sync licensing deal. Digital means that music can now be more intricately woven into the biggest sporting fixtures from the starting whistle.
Posted inMarketing, Sandbox
Sandbox 107 – Info Blizzard
Lead: the music business used to run on guesswork and now it’s awash with intricate data. But are we now generating data for data’s sake? Or is this actually helping in refining music marketing and getting the most possible bang for your buck? Marketers themselves are divided on this issue, so we speak to those on the pro and the con side to consider what data is worth bothering with and how best to dissect it.
Posted inMarketing, Sandbox
Sandbox 106 – Rise of the MCNs
Lead: If everyone has content on YouTube, how do you stand out? MCNs claim they have the answer to boosting views and driving a sharp uptick in revenue. Are they earning their keep with their immense expertise? Or are they doing things that any label and marketer could easily replicate or even surpass should they choose to put their shoulder to the wheel? We speak to labels and MCNs to figure out the pros and cons.
Posted inMarketing, Sandbox
Sandbox 105 – Marketing to older consumers
Lead: older consumers are sometimes sneeringly regarded as Luddites fearful of that new-fangled internet. However, devices like the iPad and Kindle are ensuring their content consumption is increasingly digital, while the fact that they are both time-rich and cash-rich means they are consumers that need to be thought about a bit more seriously. Trusted media brands are incredibly important here, but the draw of Facebook and Amazon hint at where music marketers tasked with reaching older music fans need to be thinking.
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Sandbox 103 – Teenage Rampage
Lead: Those aged 11-14 are perhaps the most misunderstood of all audiences for music. Some presume these digital natives have scrapped old media completely, turned their noses up at the social giants like Twitter and Facebook and prefer instead to use messaging apps and games. But that’s only part of the story. Those tasked with marketing to them told us how they do it, what language they have to use and how the major music consumers of tomorrow should be best understood.
Posted inMarketing, Sandbox
Music Ally Sandbox 102 – Platform and Function
Lead: As the brands and music world gets more crowded, standing out becomes exponentially harder. This is where digital music platforms are hoping to step in and offer something more engaging than a standard endorsement deal. Mixcloud, Spotify, iTunes Radio, WiMP and others are showing how they can be a lot more than just an audio partner by adding whole new dimensions to sponsorship deals and marketing.
Posted inMarketing, Sandbox
Music Ally Sandbox 100 – Welcome to 2014
Lead: To kick off our first issue of 2014, we speak to a wide range of people in digital music and music marketing about the things they are most excited about this year and also the one trend that they’d love to consign to the dustbin of history. Beats and YouTube come out with glowing reports but social media statistics and Facebook ads are among those being put in detention.
