Marketing

Playlists – Art and Science

Playlists – Art and Science

Pitchfork plumbed the depths of playlists, providing a fascinating insight on music marketing and analytics. Record labels are eager to hire those who have established track records of peer-to-peer playlist popularity. “I can see a time coming when the playlist creator becomes just as important an element in the process as the artists being featured,” Spotify […]

Major Lazer Gets Rum Deal

Major Lazer Gets Rum Deal

Bacardí has tapped Major Lazer as brand advisers, appointing its DJ Jillionaire the “Minister of Rum,” tapping the group’s new song, “Front of the Line,” written with Jamaica dancehall artist Konshens, for promotional use. The canny cross-promotion has a lot going for it, leveraging the electronic dance trio’s Caribbean musical influences, the party atmosphere of its […]

Twitter Freestyles in Brooklyn

Twitter Freestyles in Brooklyn

Hipster Brooklyn hotspot Freehold has teamed with Twitter on a series of intimate concerts, that are being billed as secret summer sessions. The first of eight unfolds tonight with St. Lucia. Freehold is a mixed-use destination, serving food, offering workspace and operating a bar. Though open to the public, it is also a club that […]

CDs are Not Dead — They’re Finding Fans on Facebook

CDs are Not Dead — They’re Finding Fans on Facebook

Downloads are dreamy but CDs are far from dead, according to Marty Fahnke, head of marketing for specialty label Barton Publishing. Fahnke said he pumped out $10 million in sales in the 18-month period prior to Christmas, the majority of it physical media. While Barton mainly sells health books, Fahnke has carved out a music niche, targeting […]

Shazam Keeps it Real with Wyclef

Shazam Keeps it Real with Wyclef

Shazam leverages Wyclef Jean’s new EP drop to debut its AR platform. The Fugees lead alum headlines SWXW’s “How Did Shazam Get Wyclef in AR on My Phone?!” March 15. The new massively scaled augmented reality (AR) platform is the next generation of which is the next generation of the Shazam’s visual recognition feature, launched in 2015 to provide custom content […]

SM Embraces ‘Culture Tech’

SM Embraces ‘Culture Tech’

K-pop powerhouse S.M. Entertainment is pursuing a strategy of global expansion powered by New Culture Tech — finding innovative ways to reach its audience using the devices that are part of its daily life. Lee Soo-man, who founded the South Korea-based S.M. in 1995, has expanded the four core tenets of “CT” — casting, training, producing […]