Here in the Product department, we’re always busy building cool stuff to make life (and business) easier for our clients. This time, we’re very pleased to announce the launch of a brand new Accounting section. Please, everyone, calm down. Excuse me, sir, can you put your shirt back on? This …
Videos are by far the most engaging form of social content. This isn’t exactly a new discovery, but there’s a lot of missed potential by bands that claim to have a YouTube presence. The common misconception is that your music videos go up on YouTube and you’re done. Although MTV …
Plugging — it’s a word we often hear in relation to promoting something, recommending it, giving it your stamp of approval. iPluggers does just that for your music, and it does it all around the world. With a 100% airplay guarantee (or your money back), iPluggers provides the platform for …
Meet our latest partner: Conduit Mobile. The mobile app creator is getting all kinds of press these days, and it’s not without good reason. Their sexy app offers every function you could dream of with the ease of use you’ve always wanted. What’s more, they’re compatible with all major mobile …
Introducing Desi Vach, Label Relations Manager, GSA (Germany/Switzerland/Austria)
Hello everybody! I am happy and excited to join The Orchard Team.
For almost 18 years, I have been living in Berlin. I graduated in Fine Arts/Acting and later in Audio-Visual Media. After meeting Gonzales and Peaches at a gig in London, I decided to work for the label Kitty-Yo. I did an internship there and worked in the International Department for 5 years.
Following that, I ran Weekender Records GSA; but once Weekender UK closed, Weekender GSA closed as well.
In 2009, I founded Snowhite, a Label, Management and PR company in Berlin representing bands like Anika, Eights Legs, Zoot Woman, The Bishops, The Sounds on its roster.
Working for The Orchard is a new challenge for me, which I am really excited about.
Besides music, I really love British TV series such as The Mighty Boosh, Doctor Who, The Hour etc; I do Yoga, play piano, really like dogs and enjoy being happy. :)
It’s no secret that online advertising has flocked to YouTube. The opportunity for advertisers to tap into an already engaged audience of viewers is too good to pass up. But with so many advertisers vying for a spot in front of the crowd, does the ad clutter ruin the experience? You’d be surprised.
Online advertisers now have to be more careful with their strategy. If your ad creates a barrier between the viewer and their content, they won’t be happy and neither will the content owner if they leave. The solution? TrueView Video Ads. This flexible ad format allows YouTube channel owners to monetize their videos without blocking their viewers’ experience. TrueView ads are skippable after 5 seconds and provide a refreshing alternative to brand barriers for everybody.
Channels
The decision to monetize YouTube content can be a difficult one if you have a specific brand presence that you’d like to maintain. Brands don’t want ads to alter their image or drive away viewers. But with over 3 billion video views per week globally, ads are becoming an expected part of the experience. Just because everybody else is doing it, does that mean you should too? Not necessarily. But it is comforting to know that the stigma associated with advertising on your content is fading and becoming more normalized.
TrueView ads give channel owners the best opportunity to monetize content without deterring viewers. Because the ad can be skipped after 5 seconds, viewers are more likely to stay and watch. In fact 15-45% of viewers stick around to watch the whole ad. This helps keep your viewers happy and your brand image intact. If you’re going to monetize, why not give your audience some options?
Viewers
It’s up to advertisers to compete for your attention. Campaigns have to be carefully catered to what you want simply because the power is now in your hands. Advertisers need you to watch their whole ad before they get paid. If their TrueView ad sucks and you skip it, they loose out. This introduces an interesting new level of competition to the mix. Advertisers are trying harder than ever to make creative, engaging commercials that you might actually want to watch. This improves the quality of everything you’re “forced” to watch and could occasionally produce a pretty cool commercial. Also, YouTube knows when they showed you a TrueView pre-roll last so you won’t have to sit through it on repeated views.
Advertisers
TrueView ads might be one of the most insightful campaign options available to advertisers. The simple fact that you can tell if a viewer skipped or watch the entirety of the ad can give you valuable information about your strategy. If you get viewers to actually choose to stay and watch your commercial, you’re doing something right. Some advertisers have even used TrueView to test the effectiveness of ad campaigns before pushing to a wider television campaign. You only pay for views on the whole ad which makes ROI an easier stat to track. YouTube has also seen click-through rates of up to 4% (3-4 times higher than other video ad formats).
The fact that there is more adversing happening on YouTube doesn’t necessarily have to be a negative thing. Competition is now a much more important part of the equation. High demand for space among advertisers and the ability for viewers to outright skip them means they have to produce knock out content every time. Nobody’s thinking “man, I’m really glad that Swiffer commercial came on before this Phantogram video,” but at least the potential is there.
From Lonestar to Müslüm Gürses and PJ & Duncan to The Black Angels, we’ve got quite a diverse set of music that popped up in charts throughout the month of April. Congrats to our clients!
WEEK ENDING April 28, 2013
Billboard Top 200
#82 — Queensryche: Frequency Unknown [Cleopatra Records]
Billboard Current Albums
#74 — Queensryche: Frequency Unknown [Cleopatra Records]
Billboard Heatseeker Albums
#15 — Har Mar Superstar: Bye Bye 17 [Cult Records]
#19 — Charles Bradley: Victim Of Love [Daptone Records]
#28 — The Appleseed Cast: Illumination Ritual [Graveface]
Billboard Independent Albums
#12 — Queensryche: Frequency Unknown [Cleopatra Records]
#43 — Whitesnake: Made In Japan [Cynjas]
iTunes Russia Top Albums
#1 — Basta: Basta 4 [Gazgolder]
#4 – Grigoriy Leps: The Best (Deluxe Version) [Nikitin]
#9 — Deep Purple: Now What?! (iTunes Exclusive) [Soyuz Music]
iTunes Turkey Top Albums
#7 — Various Artists: Karadeniz’e Kalan [Kalan Ses Goruntu]
#10 — Taksim Trio: Taksim Trio 2 [Dokuz Sekiz Müzik]
MusicRow Country Breakdown Chart
#27 — Lonestar: “Maybe Someday” [4 Star Records]
WEEK ENDING April 21, 2013
Billboard Top 200
#164 — Rodriguez: Cold Fact [Light In The Attic]
Billboard Current Albums
#194 — The Black Angels: Indigo Meadow [Blue Horizon]
Billboard Heatseeker Albums
#35 — Charles Bradley: Victim Of Love [Daptone Records]
#47 — Thee Oh Sees: Floating Coffin [Castle Face]
Billboard Independent Albums
#48 — The Black Angels: Indigo Meadow [Blue Horizon]
iTunes Russia Top Albums
#1 — Basta: Basta 4 [Gazgolder]
#2 – Grigoriy Leps: The Best (Deluxe Version) [Nikitin]
#3 — Deep Purple: Now What?! (iTunes Exclusive) [Soyuz Music]
iTunes Turkey Top Albums
#6 — Various Artists: Karadeniz’e Kalan [Kalan Ses Goruntu]
#7 — Müslüm Gürses: Veda / Ervah-ı Ezelde [Kadırga Prodüksiyon]
iTunes Brazil Top Albums
#6 — Jorge & Mateus: A Hora e Agoro (Ao Vivo) [Som Livre/Globo]
iTunes Greece Top Albums
#4 — Paola: Meta ta Mesanihta (Live) [Heaven Music]
MusicRow Country Breakdown Chart
#24 — Lonestar: “Maybe Someday” [4 Star Records]
Goals
For the international physical and digital campaign surrounding the release of The Story So Far’s sophomore album What You Don’t See, our goal was to build off of the already existing anticipation the album was generating, keeping fans engaged throughout the album cycle, and making it easy for them to seamlessly purchase the release through everyday actions like checking Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and watching YouTube videos.
Tactics
To begin, we provided new designs for the band’s Twitter page as well as the label’s YouTube channel, and we supported key promotional pushes and retailer mentions by writing tweets, Facebook posts, and Tumblr updates.
To capitalize on fans visiting the band’s website, we built a Splash Page, complete with video, buy links to physical and digital, and a remarketing pixel, which helped us build a remarketing group to which we could later serve ads on various music blogs and websites.
Next, we partnered with Switchcam, an interactive multi-camera app, to record The Story So Far playing at the Glass House in Pomona, CA. The way it works is fans record the show — on their phones, video cameras, etc. — and Switchcam pairs those shots with original board audio for a high quality, fan-generated video that can then serve as an asset for the band to share.
To keep momentum and reach fans anytime, any place, we created an iOS/Android mobile app through Mobile Roadie. The app encourages users to connect their social networks upon launch for easy sharing, sign up to the band’s newsletter for exclusive updates, and invite their friends to spread the love. Features include music with buy links, videos, tour dates, fan wall, and more, all below a prominent image of What You Don’t See’s album art that promptly leads to iTunes.
Last, we supported the release through banner ads, which not only targeted the remarketing group we built through the band’s Splash Page, but also focused on key Best Buy markets to support the physical release. Outlets that displayed the ads include AltPress, Mashable, The Los Angeles Times, and HypeMachine.
Results
*Note: we cannot calculate conversion rates for physical sales
For Your Viewing Pleasure:
What a beautiful day! And what colorful album art to accompany it. Now that’s the way to start a weekend. Well, that and this fabulous selection of free music you see below.
To start, NPR has got the first track to Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings‘ latest album, which can’t come soon enough. The track, “Retreat,” is also available for instant download when you pre-order the album on iTunes, so if you love it, you know what to do.
Next, we have a diverse array of single premieres and free downloads from Grim Tower, Mark Mulcahy, Way Yes and Say Hi, who just released the music to the adorable film Free Samples, starring The Social Network‘s Jesse Eisenberg.
On the music video front, AM & Shawn Lee give us their new video for “Two Times,” PVT remind us how awesome their February release is with the video for the title track, and Children of Bodom make it easy for you to try out your Metal singing chops with their lyric video for “Transference.”
To conclude, we’ve included a very special video of Local Natives performing alongside a troupe of dancers interpreting their song “Bowery.” It’s very unique and quite breathtaking.
Happy Weekend!
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings: “Retreat” track premiere via NPR All Songs Considered
Give The People What They Want out August 6 on Daptone Records
Grim Tower: “Soft Seance” via Spin
Anarchic Breezes out May 21 on Outer Battery Records
Mark Mulcahy: “Let The Fireflies Fly Away” via A.V. Club
Dear Mark J. Mulcahy, I Love You out June 18 on Fire Records
Way Yes: “Macando” track premiere and free download via Stereogum
Tog Pebbles EP out now on Lefse Records
Say Hi: “Love, Love, Love” track premiere and free download via Stereogum
Free Samples (Music from the Film) out now on Barsuk Records
AM & Shawn Lee: “Two Times” video premiere via USA Today
La Musique Numerique out now on Park The Van
Children of Bodom: “Transference” lyric video via YouTube
Halo Of Blood out June 11 in North America on Nuclear Blast
PVT: “Homosapien” music video premiere via FILTER
Homosapien out now on Felte
Local Natives: “Bowery” live performance via Pitchfork
Hummingbird out now on Frenchkiss Records
