Music Marketing Blog Post #2

 Music Marketing Project

 RESEARCH

    When assembling the PowerPoint for our Music Marketing Project presentation, we made sure to include several successful soul artists. Tyler, the Creator, is one of the artists that we researched in-depth as well as Silk Sonic which is the newly combined duo of Bruno Mars and Anderson.Paak. Important details in regards to modernized soul music and the genre of soul music in the 21st century were taken into consideration for our campaign and our music video as a result of the research that is outlined below. 

BRAINSTORMING/PLANNING

    The brainstorming and planning were a combined process. We brainstormed during class and planned when, where, how, and what we were going to do. As stated in the previous post, the brainstorming was not easy as we weren't extremely familiar with the soul genre and the culture that comes with it. Not much of our brainstorming was done on paper, rather it was done by bouncing ideas off of each other and combining them in order to form a cohesive concept for the music video and for the marketing campaign. The music video was going to be filmed entirely out of school, and it was. We filmed at various locations across Weston including Town Center and Markham Park. However, the marketing campaign's PowerPoint was worked on during class and out of school. We used Snapchat to communicate with each other, we had a group chat. 

PRODUCTION & POST-PRODUCTION

    When producing our video, our group worked very closely as a team and bounced ideas off of each other as we continued through shooting. Additionally, three group members were actors in the music video, two being the main characters and one (me) being a side character in one scene. We filmed the entirety of the music video on Sunday, January 30th. On that day, we traveled all over Weston in order to film and we came up with creative ideas such as shooting the camera's screen at Publix and shooting through the window at The Cheese Course on the spot. Production went very smoothly for the most part. However, because we filmed the entire music video so close to the due date, Helbert, our editor, had to edit and release the final video within a limited time frame. We were able to get it all done on time and (in my opinion) it came out really creative and the intended message was clear. The audience (our class) understood it and really enjoyed it based on the comments we received in class. Below is our finished music video:

PRESENTATION

    The presentation consisted of the slides that introduced our new artist and outlined our marketing campaign as well as the music video. Each group member was assigned a couple of slides to present and I was behind the laptop, clicking to change the slides as we presented. Logan was in charge of the introduction of our artist, the Converse collaboration pitch, and the major selling points. Helbert presented the slides that demonstrated the social media influence of the artist and the outline of how we plan on distributing the single. Nina focused on the release date, the feature of the artist on Euphoria, and the other popular soul artists from who we drew inspiration. I built the artist's website and therefore, presented the artist's internet presence, showed off various potential examples of merch, and explained it as well as the idea we had of giving a portion of the proceeds towards cancer research. 

    The presentation went very smoothly, everyone was aware of their parts but I was really nervous which could be noticed by my stutter and how I tripped over my words. Overall, our presentation was cohesive, clean, and well organized. However, if I could do the whole thing over, I would change so much from the PowerPoint. The video, however, I liked and was satisfied with it.

REFLECTION

    This project was a great way to learn to accept others' opinions and make sure everyone is included. Additionally, this project was super fun and was a great way to explore new genres of music that I wasn't extremely familiar with.

    Various aspects of this project will be helpful when developing my Cambridge portfolio. Working together in a group was good preparation for the portfolio project as well as for future endeavors. I'm a perfectionist so giving up complete control was difficult for me throughout this project but it helped me in understanding that different viewpoints combined result in something far more intricate and detailed than just one idea. This project also allowed the freedom to experiment with different shots, angles, composition, and editing techniques. This prepares us for the portfolio as it familiarizes us with various techniques that we enjoy and find visually pleasing. I'm super excited for the portfolio project.