Goals
With Antibalas set to release their first album in five years, and following a successful stint contributing for the music of the Broadway show FELA!, our goal for this worldwide campaign was to increase the band’s presence in the digital space and drive sales.
Tactics
We began our campaign with optimizing all of Antibalas’s social media channels and mirrored all channels with the album artwork to increase recognition. On Facebook, we updated the cover photo, implemented a buy link in the “About” section and installed FanRx and Bandsintown tabs to increase fan engagement with contests and videos, and ensure fans knew when to catch the band live. Similarly, we re-skinned the band’s Twitter background and verified their account, further branding the band while building fan relationships. Additionally, we created an Instagram account and optimized their Spotify and YouTube channels by creating and sharing playlists. Lastly, we created a new interactive microsite as the window to their official website, where we embedded a Spotify PlayButton so fans could stream the music straight from the site.
To drive sales, we took a three-prong approach with advertising. We executed online banner ads at specialized outlets including Stereogum, HypeMachine, Gorilla vs. Bear, BrooklynVegan and XLR8R. Next we ran an extensive leg of Facebook advertising pointing to the FanRx tab, iTunes buy links and Antibalas’s Fallon performance. We also hired a street team who wore masks featured on the album artwork and handed out printed materials tagged with QR codes pointing to iTunes. The street team attended local shows in New York including a new round of FELA! performances on Broadway and Antibalas with Sharon Jones.
Results
Antibalas’s self-titled release reached #2 on Billboard’s Top World Albums chart first week of release and was still in the Top 10 World Albums on iTunes more than two months later.
Between the start of our campaign in May and its end in September:
For your viewing pleasure:
A few months ago, we told you all about the 12-piece Afrobeat powerhouse that is Antibalas, and how they were cooking up their first release in 5 years. Well, it’s finally here! And it’s sure been a long five years since their last album, Security.
The band’s new self-titled album was released on Daptone Records on August 7th 2012, and reached #2 on the U.S. Current World Albums Chart in its first week. Antibalas has received rave reviews from Billboard, Pitchfork and NME, along with major features in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. In addition, the album was featured in the brand new iTunes “Editor’s Choice” promotion, which helped propel digital sales of the record to a 49% share of the first week’s total scans.
Antibalas are known for their groundbreaking albums and legendary live shows, and I was fortunate to witness the band play a set in the backyard of Daptone Records’ House of Soul Studios in Brooklyn on a sweltering afternoon in July, and the energy, groove and rhythm were indeed amazing. The band’s 30-date U.S. tour began August 10th at Outside Lands in San Francisco, and included a triumphant hometown show in Williamsburg, Brooklyn with Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings this past weekend. Now, the band will embark on a multi-country tour in North America and Europe throughout November. Do not miss the opportunity to see them play live if they are passing through your town. Or you can catch them on your TV when they make their national TV debut on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” this Friday, August 24th.
In the meantime, here’s Antibalas’ first ever music video, for the lead single “Dirty Money:”
Happy Friday, Freeloaders! This week we have a lot of free stuff for you, so get excited! You can stream tracks by Sixpence None The Richer and Menomena. You can also listen to Eternal Summers‘ entire album and watch videos from Antibalas, Crocodiles, and Ramona Falls.
Fridays don’t get much better than this one!
Enjoy!
Sixpence None The Richer: “Sooner Than Later” via Billboard and “Radio” via Perez Hilton
Lost in Transition out August 7 on Sixpence LLC
Crocodiles: “Endless Flowers” music video via Noisey
Endless Flowers out now on Frenchkiss Records
Eternal Summers: Correct Behavior via Hype Machine
Correct Behavior out July 24th on Kanine Records
Ramona Falls: “Fingerhold” music video via YouTube
Prophet out now on Barsuk Records
Antibalas: “Dirty Money” music video via Spin
Antibalas out August 7th on Daptone Records
Menomena: “Heavy Is As Heavy Does” via Pitchfork
Moms out September 18th on Barsuk Records
Good morning, Freeloaders! Even though it felt like we had two Fridays this week with the holiday, now you can truly celebrate the real Friday and the official weekend with free tracks and a video from some of our fave Orchard artists! So enjoy the weekend and the summer sun by checking out new single streams from Iggy Pop with Bethany Cosentino, Testament, and Antibalas plus a video teaser from Tomahawk:
Iggy Pop with Bethany Cosentino: “Let’s Boot and Rally” via KCRW
The single premieres on HBO’s True Blood on July 8th via Sedan Zero
Testament: “True American Hate” via the Dark Roots of Earth Landing Page
Dark Roots of Earth out July 31st on Nuclear Blast Records
Tomahawk: Oddfellows album teaser via YouTube
Oddfellows out this January via Ipecac Recordings
Antibalas: “Dirty Money” via The Atlantic
Antibalas out August 7th on Daptone Records
Remember when we told you last May that Antibalas was treating us to their first album in 5 years this summer?! Today, we have something to keep you going until the release of their self-titled LP on August 7… the premiere of “Dirty Money” on The Atlantic.
What’s more, the Brooklyn-based Afrobeat band also announced their new tour starting August 10th (dates after the jump) AND the return of the Broadway hit FELA!, for which they served as musical directors and wrote some of the music, for 32 performances only from 7/9 – 8/4 at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre.
The album coming out this August on Daptone Records is definitely something to get excited about. You will quickly find yourself dancing through the rhythm of the first track — and the one we’ve featured here — “Dirty Money,” which comes alive with Antibalas‘ funky guitars, warped farfisa organ, massive horns and a call-and-response led by singer and percussionist Amayo. And where does all this inspiration come from? The economic meltdowns and global uprisings… Contradictory, isn’t it?
Whatever may inspire them, we will whole-heartedly enjoy Antibalas‘ doing their thing on stage. On this two-month tour — their most extensive one in five years! — people from the entire continent from California to New York, as well as fans in Canada, will be able to enjoy the band’s new tracks live.
Calendars, out! Here are their tour dates:
