Freeloader Friday: Torche, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings & More

Happy Friday, and Happy 2015, folks! It’s the first Freeloader Friday of the New Year. Can you believe an entire year’s passed us by? Neither can I. But here’s to a fresh start and your first dose of music to come in the next year!

We begin this year’s Freeloader goodness with quite the array of track premieres. Torche starts us off with yet another thrashing head-banger. If the others leading up to this one weren’t enough, this one will absolutely rock you — mind, body and soul. Speaking of Soul, the Queen of Rhythm and Blues Sharon Jones and her Dap-Kings have just put out a previously unrecorded track from this year’s Give The People What They Want (which just so happens to be in the running for best R&B album at this year’s Grammys). It’s pure Jazz, electric, Funky Soul that’ll have you dancing around in no time at all. In the same vein, Red Baraat have their own danceable track. This one’s not so much Soul as it is Romping Groove, complete with worldly Percussion and dramatic Brass.

On to a completely different sound, Johan Agebjorn (yep, of Sally Shapiro) has a delectable ditty that focuses hard on the 80s keyboard sound. One might even go so far as to compare it to something used in a Twin Peaks soundtrack — think overly melancholic suspense in a satirical kind of way. Wildhoney follows up with mellow, dreamlike Shoegaze. If their upcoming album follows suit, next Tuesday can’t get here fast enough!

To round out this most excellent track listing, there’s a powerfully riveting track from Red Pill in which he raps his frustrations on the Eric Garner, Michael Brown and other recent crime cases. And finally, Lost Boy ? sends us all on our merry way with a perfectly Punked Indie Pop jam that, unlike its title would have you believe, has absolutely nothing to do with the future. Nope, it’s a turn-on and tune-out kinda track.

That does it for this week, folks! Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy this first list of 2015.

Torche: “Annihilation Affair” track premiere via Pitchfork
Restarter out February 24 on Relapse Records

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings: “Little Boys With Shiny Toys” track premiere via Billboard
Give The People What They Want out now on Daptone Records

Red Baraat: “Bhangra Pirates” track premiere via NPR
Gaadi of Truth out January 20th on Sinj Records

Johan Agebjörn: “The Boy Who Thought It Was A Good Idea To Cry” (ft. Sally Shapiro) track premiere via Stereogum
Notes out February 10 on Paper Bag Records

Wildhoney: “Sleep Through It” track premiere via Noisey
Sleep Through It out January 13 on Deranged Records

Red Pill: “All Of Us” track premiere via Potholes in My Blog
All Of Us out now on Mello Music Group

Lost Boy ?: “About the Future” track premiere via Stereogum
Canned out March 31 on PaperCup Music

Down! Set! Hut! with “The Roughnecks”

‘Tis the season for halftimes, bowl games, touchdowns and fantasy leagues — the magic of football is in the air! There’s the College Football Playoff happening next week, shortly followed by Super Bowl 49 (less than a month away). So we thought, why not add the cherry on top with some of our very own news? We’ve just picked up Pee-Wee football documentary The Roughnecks!

That’s right — once the season winds down and you feel the need to retreat from your off-season woes, we’ll be there to bring you this exceptional film about some of the toughest kids in the youth football business. The documentary, which was co-directed and co-produced by Marty Bowen (Twilight, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, The Fault in Our Stars, Maze Runner) and Richard Cameron White (The Sleeping Bear), takes a look at what it’s like to play for Fort Worth’s Ridglea Roughnecks who, FYI, are some of the very best in the nation.

The 11-year-old players take “two-a-days” to a whole new level. Bowen and Marty capture the intense training and rigorous struggles they face, both on and off the field. For Bowen, the film was a dream come true. Being a Ridglea Roughneck himself, he wanted to show just how influential this program has been to so many other young boys in Texas. Likewise, White felt compelled to tell a similar story through film, one that pays homage to the sport that so deeply influenced who he is today.

So when February 1st rolls around and you’re down in the dumps about the end of the season, don’t wallow too much! The Roughnecks is set for a 2015 Spring release date from yours truly. Until then, check out all the info in our official press release and wet your whistle with the trailer below:

The Roughnecks – teaser trailer from Richard Cameron White on Vimeo.

Case Study: The Raveonettes and Their Surprise Release “Pe’ahi”

GOALS
For The Raveonettes’ 7th studio album, Pe’ahi, the indie duo opted for a less traditional marketing route: the surprise release. This new project came almost two years after the band’s last album, Observator. Therefore, our main objectives for this worldwide campaign were to both set the stage for a new release and reinvigorate the fanbase without giving away any new album plans.

TACTICS
In order to properly spread the news of the album release without giving away too much information, we decided to break our campaign down into two phases over the course of only two weeks. In the first, we began by concentrating solely on serving core fans by “secretly” issuing the track “Sisters.” We did so by sending out a newsletter that included the track to the band’s mailing list. Additionally, hidden, “dark” posts, ones targeted only to Raveonettes fans, were promoted on the band’s Facebook page, including a video trailer and link to the secret download page.

Simultaneously, a series of YouTube pre-roll and search ads using terms related to “new The Raveonettes album” were launched targeting only the most engaged fans, for instance those who had watched certain Raveonettes videos in the previous 30 days. Because the actual album release was still secret, these ads left out any kind of sales messaging. The idea was that although no formal announcement had been made, superfans would share the “secret” with their friends to organically get the hype going. In the process, we gathered valuable data on the band’s top fans, which allowed us to later push the album’s release to the right audience.

Three days later, the track was announced publicly across the band’s socials, driving traffic towards the hidden track download page. When intrigued fans made their way to the website, they submitted their email to download the track via the Unlock FM widget, marking first-time use of the platform and allowing us to collect remarketing data for the second phase.

Phase two of the Pe’ahi campaign came the following week when the album made its surprise drop. We used all the segmented remarketing data gathered from phase one to really push release awareness. With it, our interactive marketing team helped The Raveonettes post targeted messages on their socials to the most relevant audiences. We retired the original “secret” download link so that it simply forwarded to the band’s website, thus making the search easier for those who weren’t superfans. Throughout the first week of the release, a series of themed lyric videos and album streams premiered across publications like Pitchfork, Q Online, This is Fake DIY, NPR, USA Today and other leading online editorials in Germany, Spain, Italy and Australia.

To continue driving sales and streams, official music videos for each track are set to roll out throughout 2015. The first, “Endless Sleeper,” premiered on Stereogum one week after Pe’ahi came out.

RESULTS

• From the start of the campaign in May up until September, Facebook engagement increased by 13%, YouTube subscribers were up by 176%, Wikipedia Pageviews increased by 94% and Instagram Followers increased by 48%.
• The average time spent on the splash page was 39 seconds – that’s quite a long time for splash pages, meaning the viewer was fully engaged with content on the page.
• As part of the Email Unlock campaign, there was a 25% increase in the number of emails acquired.
• Pe’ahi debuted at #5 on the Billboard Top New Artist Albums chart, remaining on the chart for 6+ weeks, peaked at #3 on the overall Danish iTunes Chart, #1 on the Danish iTunes Alternative Chart, and spent 5 weeks on CMJ’s Top 10 Album Chart.

For your viewing pleasure:

Welcome, Martina!

Introducing Martina Canale, Client Manager, Latin America

Hi, I’m Martina, born and raised in Buenos Aires. I studied Communications at Austral University, and I’m only a couple of finals away from getting my degree. I chose my major because I wanted to be a Music journalist and because I love to travel, and I felt like this career would allow me to do it. As time went by, I realised that I could work in the music business in areas other than journalism, and that’s how I found The Orchard.

I also work as a producer in a radio station and write my own blog about music. As for my favorite artists, I spend my time listening to Ellie Goulding, Alt-J and Arctic Monkeys, between many many others. I also play tennis, learn Portuguese, take photography lessons and love watching TV shows and traveling.

I’m very excited to join The Orchard team!

5 Ways to Tell a Compelling Story in Your Bio

This article, written by Green Light Go Music PR Founder, Janelle Rogers, originally appeared on Sonicbids. We’re excited to be working with them to exchange industry tips and trends for your business! 

If you’ve ever attempted to write your own band bio, you know how difficult it can be to be objective and also create something that would be interesting to the reader. A few weeks back, I posted the article “6 Components of a Great Bio” and emphasized the importance of knowing your own story, which is how you differentiate yourself from other bands and stand out from the crowd.

So how do you get to that juicy center? How do you figure out exactly which story to tell that will engage the reader, but is still true to you?

1. Start with the basics

What inspires you? How did you come up with your band name? Who are you influenced by and why? Do your surroundings inspire you, and if so, how?

2. Get specific and tell anecdotes

Were you inspired by a specific event when you started your band or wrote and recorded your album? For instance, Rahim Quazi was inspired by ghosts, both living and dead, when he wrote his current album. The story of hearing a woman scream in what he reluctantly called “a haunted house” was intertwined in both his life philosophy as well as his music, which allowed both his music and story to come to life.

Read the full bio here.

3. Look for themes

At Green Light Go Music PR, the surveys we create for our clients to determine their story angles have over 40 questions, including many of the basic ones mentioned above. Here, I’ll look for a central theme that seems to keep coming up throughout their responses. For instance, when we wrote the Moonbabies bio, I noticed the term “color” came up in many of their responses. I wanted to tie in the importance of their music feeling colorful and vibrant with the overall story, which was feeling as if they lost their way during a seven-year hiatus and then finding home again. In this case, we used the metaphor of Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz to connect the two ideas.

Read the full bio here.

4. Connect the story to your music

Neil Holyoak is a great storyteller by nature, and although I typically recommend against a first-person bio, he does it so well. He places the reader directly in his setting so they can see, taste, and feel it. His story captures the feel of who he is as a person and how his experiences inform his songwriting by evoking his inspiration from the great outdoors and the open road, youthful energy, and the journey to find himself. All of this engages with a reader who would be drawn to those same things. The music perfectly matches the story. By giving the journalist the backstory, he or she will be more inclined to listen to the music with a deeper appreciation.

Read the full bio here.

5. Dig deeper

I’ll also look at areas where there’s more to the story, but the band seems to be holding back a bit. This is typically where I can find that juicy center. I’ll then ask the band to elaborate on a specific angle while looking at ways we can convey what’s still true to what they’re comfortable telling.

For instance, as I mentioned, it had been seven years since Moonbabies had released any music, and we knew there was a story to tell. We dug deeper and discovered all the steps along the way from struggling with success while staying true to themselves, and striving for that place that felt true again to them. It was all those missing stories in between that gave depth to the band, story, and music.

If you’re struggling to find your story, look at one of the points above that speaks to you. Write out those anecdotes that are true to only you to give yourself a starting point to write your own compelling story.