BUS4C004P 001 24102574 Professional Studies 1 (Business) : Music and A&R in the Creative Industries

Musical examples ( ‘Puppet Master’ – demo file/unreleased)Download

(EXAMPLE TRACKS ABOVE TWO VIA YOUTUBE LINKS, ONE VIA DOWNLOAD)

ARTIST DETAILS-

Until Joy preferred to be referred to and advertised as an alternative rock band, a three piece consisting of Joel Taylor on vocals and lead guitar, Lydia Tregay on vocals and bass and Sophie Savage on drums, all being local students in Leeds. Their music is built primarily around, and consists of catch heavy guitar riffs, prominent bass lines and powerful vocal performances, to quote themselves, taking inspiration from, and often compared to Muse, Paramore, Queens of the Stone Age, Smashing Pumpkins, and early arctic monkeys, presumably regarding the officially released albums from 2006 till 2009. Currently they have 4 singles (both final mixes and demos) released across multiple streaming platforms, such as Spotify, and video platforms, such as YouTube, beginning with an initial first ‘Not All Vampires Should Be Lonely’, notably a huge sonic departure from the regular alternative rock sound, and instead demonstrating an ability to produce a different style, instead having a lighter tone. They also have a history of being featured on Spotify playlists as well as numerous local radio appearances.

JUSTIFICATION-

POTENTIAL MARKET APPEAL-

Based on my own experiences attending their events multiple times, the accounts interacting with their social media and their own Spotify statistics, which I kindly received the opportunity to view, their primary audience age range sits between eighteen and twenty-five on average and are located in the United Kingdom, with little exception. Contrary to recent public and industry opinion, I personally I see a current opening potential in the market for a self-professed and unabashed ‘alternative rock band’, despite not topping international popular music streaming numbers, the top stats still being held primarily by American solo pop musicians, there is a select few and rising successful rock artists in the United Kingdom, specifically I would like to briefly draw a comparison, with the UK’s ‘Last Dinner Party’, a notable “out of the blue” rising rock band, whom despite lacking international success have managed to hold multiple top spots on UK streaming charts, primarily a UK top ten as well as national attention being featured in Rolling Stone magazine. From 2023 onwards multiple UK and Irish rock bands, importantly advertising themselves as ‘rock bands’, have proved a younger market for both, live and recorded market still exists. Returning back to Until Joys grassroots efforts, their streaming numbers, although small are rising and remain consistent, rising noticeable between every release, for context, their first single, the demo track ‘She’s a Charmer’ currently sits at 2,208 streams and has now risen to 12,652 for their latest release, ‘Not All Vampires Should Be Lonely’ (a song I personally see market potential in).

DEVELOPMENT PLAN-

Firstly, I would begin with asking ‘Until Joy’ to select up three tracks they feel have potential in the popular music realm, based on a number of primary points, such as run-time (as modern streaming caters for and actively pushes shorter tracks, ideally under three minutes), structure i.e.: the placement of choruses, repeating riffs and patterns (ideally clearly featuring musical ‘hooks’), instrumentation and possible modern production choices. The logical next step from here would be to begin the process of recording the demo tracks from scratch, as well as re-recording a number of current releases, remixed and mastered at a far higher, mainstream radio standards quality. As at their current quality level, particularly the mastering is simply not high enough for ‘plugging’ the tracks to local and mainstream radio stations, and for play-listing, from creators and from official playlists for companies and platforms. As part of this process I would consult with the band members to help understand what their preferences and ideals would be regarding finding them and booking their perfect studio and producer, whilst also balancing practical hurdles such as travel and general expenses. I would also attempt to take and collect as much audio and visual materials during the recording process, for later use in marketing material, such as Instagram reels, YouTube and future music videos/content. Beyond the studio and recording aspects I would immediately hire and book out a photographer and session at the best price, being connected to a deep student body community in Leeds will help during that process. New, updated, professional high-quality photos will be an essential for the rest of the marketing and content campaign, designed to run alongside the release of the first new re-recorded single, ideally posting one new piece of short form or visual content each day for the last ten days before release. I would also immediately wipe all content from current social media accounts, maintain the stylistic three-piece rock image but with a new professional aesthetic, with all aims being on getting the social media audience onto Spotify as smoothly as possible. I would take advantage of Instagram open and non-punishing reels algorithm, and focus on posting as many reels as possible around the release date frames, as Instagram reels are by far the best way to achieve higher outreach, as its algorithm, pushes all content equally regardless of its quality, the amount of previous reel posts or their lack of linked hash-tags. This would be the first step of the campaign and would be done for each initial three single releases. Outside of social media platforms, I would immediately begin track pitching, pitching to playlisters and radio stations before and after each release, in an attempt to maximise audience range as soon as the release drops. In regards to live music bookings, I have contacts that I will reach out to, but not with any concentrated effort until I can see clear positive results on social media platforms, such as general numbers and more importantly, interaction.

WEAKNESSES/IMPROVEMENTS-

I will admit there are clear issues regarding my optimistic marketing and management campaign, primarily finances. The best way to address this would be to begin forming a shared bank account between the band members, and perhaps if I am involved, my own finances after drawing up some form of contract and shares agreement. The follow-up step being to draw up budget suggestions for each area, being marketing, recording and photography