The invention of the Internet opened up so many new doors in the world of music marketing. One of those doors specifically is blogs. Coming in different shapes and sizes, the ultimate goal of blogs is to provide a place for the author to voice his/her opinion and for other people in the world who are interested in the subject to respond with their own. What should follow are conversations back and forth between author and viewers, creating a sense of community.
Before the invention of the Internet, there was a big gap between artists and fans. When the Internet came along, it helped immensely to bridge that gap by allowing a more personal connection between the two sides. I invite you to follow me on my journey as I explore and use this technology of the Internet and blogs to market a recently released album. Please add your own input on anything you like as I truly value the opinions of others.
Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Sam Vicari (pronounced Vih-care-ee) of Crown Point, Indiana recently released his debut album Keep Careful. The album was recorded by Mike Lust at Chicago’s Phantom Manor recording studio in January of 2009. Neil Hennessy of The Lawrence Arms and The Smoking Popes played drums on the album. Keep Careful was officially released almost a year later on January 19, 2010 and celebrated 3 days later with a CD release show at Cal’s Bar in Chicago, IL. Sam’s musical creation contains 10 honest, sincere and truthful tracks:
1. Reasons
2. Things I Say
3. Stare At My Maps
4. Like An Island
5. Please Come Around
6. Gain My Pride
7. Driveway
8. No Patience
9. Sleep When You Want, Wake When You Please
10. Where Will We Go From Here
Keep Careful is by no means just another album in the endless sea of music. It has a great number of qualities that distinguish it from other albums in the market. Jenna Slesinski of Guerrilla Music Review shares that the album has an obvious cohesion throughout, showing more thought and craftsmanship than just having an overly technical piece. Cohesion is something that seriously lacks in the market and is something that the target market really needs. Keep Careful moves smoothly from one song to the next, making emotions flow and telling a story throughout.
Aside from the cohesion aspect, the music itself is solid in every part. Jenna Slesinski explains that the album doesn’t beat you over the head with any one component of music. It achieves a great sonic balance between aggressive guitar and sincere lyrics. The Windy City Times/Bent Nights describes Sam’s voice as pure innocence. “His voice is kind of a cross between the sweet natured burble of Buddy Holly and the aching arc of Harry Nilsson.” However, despite his lyrics being truthful and sincere, his “jangly guitar accompaniment erases the possibility of him turning into a sweet baby wimp.”
One last great aspect of Keep Careful is the songwriting itself. All reviews of the album agree that excellent songwriting shines through with flying colors. Again, Jenna Slesinski of Guerilla Music Review states that Sam creates virtual worlds with lyrics inside of his songs that are completely relatable and follow you throughout the entire day. This is something that the target market is in need of. Most of the music in the target market doesn’t have excellent songwriting that completely immerses you. It may have catchy hooks, but that’s as deep as it goes.
All of the things mentioned above give strength to the statement that Sam and his album Keep Careful are different from others in their market and satisfy the needs of that market. Now that we have those in our minds, let’s take a look at exactly who the target market is for this product and break it down. Keep Careful speaks to a target market of males and females between the ages of 21 and 35. Their hobbies and entertainment include buying music and attending shows. They tend to make more affordable choices, whether it is with small things like food or with larger things like vacations or the cars they buy. Some publications they tend to read include music magazines Spin and Mojo. Lastly, they are very technologically adept, relying on it a lot in their daily lives.
Of course both myself as a marketer and the product are going to have a number of competitors. The biggest competitor I will have is other marketers trying to promote other albums within the same target market. This is when I’ll have to step up my game and be creative with the ways I market. I believe that this blog and the Internet will allow me to do that effectively and efficiently provided I make the most of it. The biggest competitor to my product will obviously be other albums that are targeted towards the same market. There are an endless number of them and they are available in so many different places. For starters, go on iTunes and just browse. You could be there for days looking at other albums. While this is obviously an issue, my product has a great number of things that the others don’t, as mentioned above. This means that Keep Careful will have the power to shine and stand out once it gets the needed exposure from the creative ideas I come up with.
With all of that said, this blog is sure to be a wonderful experience for me. I plan to keep this up to date with everything I’m doing and things I come across that are either interesting or really helpful. I don’t want this to be just about me though. I want to provide the world with what I have learned but I also want to learn from the rest of the people in the world. Please don’t hesitate to share your input and create a conversation about any of the topics on this blog. As I said at the beginning, I greatly value everybody’s opinions and think that knowledge is strength. Thank you for reading this and I hope to hear from you soon.
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Bridging the Gap 