Music Marketing Project

For this project, my group and I created a fictional up and coming alternative rock/art rock band named Echo Park that makes use of several elements and trends seen in other alternative bands. Alternative as a genre is a popular form of rock music that aims to separate itself from the mainstream and be something unique. For example, our band Echo Park establishes its distinction from the mainstream by using deep meanings through symbols and interesting imagery that begs to be explored and dissected.

Image from the "15 Step" music video making use of symbolism through color

Alternative bands like Foster the People and Vampire Weekend share similar marketing trends and these trends are evident throughout many other alternative bands. Both of these bands make use of social media like to connect with their target audiences which mostly range from 19-21+. Because of this, Echo Park makes use of the social media trend through Instagram, YouTube, and its own website. The website is another common trend in almost every genre but can be seen especially with alternative bands like Vampire Weekend, who use their website to promote merchandise, music, and events. Taking some inspiration from them, the Echo Park website immediately opens to show the home page with a picture promoting the new "15 Step" single and the accompanying music video which both can be accessed from the website.

Home page of the Echo Park website 

Another common trend with alternative bands is the use of iconic and eye-catching imagery that draws in audiences. From posters to album covers, bands like Foster the people use interesting illustrations to peak the interest of fans. Color plays a large role in this method, with color establishing the overall tone of a band and giving viewers a hint at how the bands music may sound like. Cool colors may evoke a darker, mysterious, and moody tone while warmer colors evoke a happier, playful, and energetic tone. Foster the people uses bright warm colors like reds and oranges accompanied by illustrations to catch the eye of viewers and attract an audience who may be more interested in the energetic, happy feeling that the colors evoke. Echo Park plays with this technique in the website which uses dark and cool colors to evoke a mysterious and dark tone that attracts people who visit the site to learn more about the band and their music.

Example of an illustration on the Foster the People Website

Using our research, my group took inspiration from alternative bands to create a unique brand to set our band apart. A common trend in alternative bands is to try to deviate from the mainstream, which our band tried to achieve through its themes and imagery. This is where colors factor in again and help to establish a sense of the overall feeling of the band. Through the music video and website, our band makes use of dark colors and themes to give a mysterious and complex feeling to the band. The story throughout the video is dark and serious, but leaves room for viewers to think and dissect the themes and symbolism in the video alluding to themes of escapism, anti-establishment, and self fulfillment. Our band plays with these topics to peak the interest of our audience of young adults who can likely relate to the themes in the video. Although the subject matter is serious, our band presents these themes with an odd yet playful persona, seen mostly through the posts on the official Instagram and the pictures on the website. This persona appeals to our audience by showing viewers that the members of the band have personalities and humor while still trying to present a deep message.

About the band section of website with a playful picture

A number of products were made for the band and expanded on the band's unique and eye-catching imagery. An album and single cover where created for the fictional future album and the newly released song "15 Step" by the band. The album and single covers use simple and clean imagery to attract viewers and establish the tone of the music. The artwork can be repeated on vinyl covers, cds, and cassettes to further increase the amount of people who see the work. The wide variety of physical copies of the music also allows more people to gain access to our bands music.

Album cover of vinyl for sale on the website

Alongside the artwork and copies of the music, more merchandise was created to further spread the word about the band. Shirts displaying the sun image as well as the hills from the album/single covers are sold on the band's website and work as walking advertisements, as people may notice someone who wears the merchandise, which could lead them to discover the band's music. A poster featuring an altered version of the album cover is also sold on the website and acts similarly in spreading the band's artwork to attract fans with interesting imagery.

Shirt for sale on the website

Through research and trial and error, this project has taught me much about production and marketing with music videos and campaigns. The production of the music video taught me that it is especially important to recognize your target audience and develop a well made yet interesting story. Only with interesting visuals and storytelling in our video can our band hope to attract people to listen to our music. Much of the project relied on research and it taught me not only valuable lessons about genre conventions, but also the importance research plays in developing a good marketing campaign and music video. Research of the alternative genre gave me and my group clear guidelines for what is expected of a music video from this type of band and common techniques used in marketing campaigns for similar bands. Knowing our audience influenced us to use more complex themes and symbols that would much better relate to the target audience of young adults rather than other genres like pop which could include a younger target audience that may not understand or relate enough to the topics presented in the video. My knowledge of the music industry and its increasing reliance on social media definitely was a driving factor for the majority of the marketing campaign. A large part of the marketing depends upon social media especially Instagram to attract fans and it follows with the trends not only in the alternative genre, but in the music industry as a whole. Through the use of research and the knowledge gained from our production, I believe my group and I were able to create a unique music video that keeps the curiosity of viewers and a successful marketing campaign that attracts the target audience well enough to have the band succeed.

Echo Park group photo