ACTIVIST STRATEGY

Title: Can we get Red Amber Green 2 million plays on Myspace??

Style: Campaign + event

Aim: To plug independent music more into the mainstream market using conventional + unconventional media techniques.

Project extra details: ‘Red Amber Green’ is the alter ego for “electro-techno-indie Kid” David Woolford. Based in Bristol, this musical talent is currently developing his skills by studying Music at Bournemouth University. However, his talent has exceeded beyond amateur level, with him acquiring his own Manager who works with bands including ‘One Night Only’ . He has also had his work played on BBC Bristol and BBC Radio Ulster. He is fairly young in the game, starting remixing and producing at the age of 17. Yet what he lacks in years, he makes up with talent. This is evident in his remixes…….. His talent has also led to him being requested by General Fiasco.

Woolford’s sound is unique and recognisable.  Although it is clear that his music is inspired by the electronic 80’s legends including Prince and Talking Heads, David cites many genres as influential. The sound is very familiar with modern day audiences, and with sales of electronic music increasing to make up just under 10% of all music sales, there is definitely a viable market.

Objectives:

We as a team are planning on promoting Red Amber Green into the mainstream. We feel that whilst independent music is recognised as a valid stage of music development, it doesn’t have enough impact upon the mainstream market. It remains as a very underground scene, Social networking site Myspace has bridged the gap between mainstream and independent music, with it being designed for users to “support great bands…and find some new favourites.” In fact, thee social networking site has generated a whole new genre of music artists, known as “myspace” artists. Exemplified by Lily Allen, this is where artist’s work, which is put on myspace gains such popularity and plays that it forces record labels to take notice.  This project will therefore merge mainstream and myspace even further.

The specific aim of the campaign is to get 2 million plays on Red Amber Green’s myspace page (http://www.myspace.com/redambergreenmusic). If he achieves this, then he will DJ for one night and one night only at a local venue in Bournemouth. Media elements will be used not  only as a platform for the campaign, but as advertisement to promote both the campaign and red Amber Green as an artist.

Action plan:

The following actions will be taken to put the campaign in place and achieve our main goal:

-       Video diaries on Youtube channel. Once every 2/3 days, David will release a video diary on his Youtube channel indicating the success of his campaign and how his newest mixes are coming along. Similarly, the diaries will give an insight into the preparation for the event.

-       Poster adaptation. We intend to include a “tongue in cheek” element into the campaign and manipulate intertextuality. This will be done by taking well known poster adverts from over the centuries and adapting them to include David’s face as well as amusing slogans eg: adapting the reputable Uncle Sam poster to read “Red amber Green will rock you” instead of “We want you.”

-       To continue with the theme of “tongue and cheek” we will also include a slight element of hacktivism. What is being considered is getting videos from Youtube of celebrities speaking eg:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIPJajeFG08 and dubbing the sound so it makes it sound like they are talking and promoting Red Amber Green.

-       Developing a logo and possibly using it as a form of viral advertising; This is a simple procedure. After working with the artists to develop a recognisable logo, we will then simply print them off and position them at random points around uni with the myspace link written on the bottom.

Target Audience:

The campaign is essentially on a Facebook and Myspace platform. As a result, key audiences would essentially be members of both social networks. Similarly, due to the style of music that is being promoted, key audiences would be possibly a fairly youthful crowd, between 15- 30 year olds. Yet we must remember that the aim of the campaign is not to appeal to certain demographics, but to raise the possibility that independent music can exist within the mainstream. Therefore essentially any music lover is potential audience member, which means the general public as a whole is our target audience.

Reasoning:

We chose this campaign over several of our other ideas primarily because it has a goal and a purpose. Other ideas floating about during idea generation involved;

-       Getting people to play a charity song at a specific time on a specific day

-       Mock adaptation of modelling adverts where the models have been accused of being too thin. This would involve drawing speech bubbles and voicing food-related thoughts such as “I wish I was in Mcdonalds right now.”

Every person in the group is passionate about music and would like to see more independent music in the mainstream. We hope to actually change people’s perceptiont o the “myspace” generation. Therefore, with this goal combined with our enthusiasm towards not only R.A.G’s music but music in general, we can make this a real success.

We have chosen to work with Red Amber Green specifically for numerous reasons. Firstly, we already have a very tight relationship with David Woolford which therefore means that working with him will be no problem. Secondly, his sound is very unique. We are not trying to push another “Myspace” guitar band into the mainstream David is effectively doing something a little different by remixing classics. We feel he has real talent, and with this campaign behind him, he has the potential to go far.

Facebook is our primary platform because of its level of interaction. People can contribute to the wall, add photos, add videos etc. David can effectively interact with his audience and really try and sway them to his website. Facebook and Myspace offer a level of interaction that normal campaigning cannot.

Potential risks:

-       people may join the group without acknowledging  what they have joined. This means they wouldn’t necessarily listen to his myspace page and therefore the objective of the campaign is ignored.

-       If we stage an event, there is the possibility that he may not get enough plays in time before the event. Similarly, there is the chance that we may not find a venue in time to stage the event (though 176 is a strong contender)

-       Because the group is so interactive, people may abuse the group.

-       If the video dubbing does take place, then there is the risk of copyright infringement. However, more research will be done into this as there is the chance by dubbing the video, we can class it as our own material.