The 1975 - A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships (November 30, 2018) Album • Page 98

I remember him saying about radio stations having the single, and that he’d find it annoying I’d it was just for an album. Nothing more though? I haven’t been part of this particular thread for long, so I don’t know what was said before!

 

I’m just happy this band exists. Let’s be happy about that at least my internet friends.

 

Is it out yet?

 

Lol my dude

 

While ya wait

 

Do you have any thoughts as to why people are disengaged with the rollout? I initially thought that ‘people don’t have the patience/attention span to concern themselves with it’ but then realised (after your post) that I was making a lazy generalisation.

 

Can anyone confirm or deny that the you always look so cool line in Robbers is a direct reference to a line from Daisy in the Great Gatsby?

 

Damn. Totally forgot about it.

Can anyone confirm or deny that the you're so cool line from True Romance is a direct reference to the you're so cool line from Daisy in the Great Gatsby ? hahaha

 

can't confirm

 

"Please Be Naked"-"Lostmyhead" is so perfect. That is all

 

Well, I definitely wouldn't say people are disengaged. I think all of their active fans are starving for music and will stream the song the moment it appears, which from a D2F marketing standpoint clears the main first bar.

What I will say is that some people (myself included before my post) are probably interacting with these elements on a surface level without more fully digging into their references/metatextual philosophies/whatever. But that's the nature of a rollout like this: the hardcore fans get more value out of it. Luckily for The 1975, they have one of the more hardcore fanbases in popular music (at least based on their concert/merch sales). I'm sure that they're close to 100% saturation of the hardcore base. They've done an incredible job of that... everyone knows about the countdown and the June 1 date, I imagine most artists would be extremely envious of the remarketing pixel data on their site. So they're probably doing a lot better than say Lord Huron, who had a similarly thematically comprehensive rollout but I didn't notice as much traction.

However, after allllll that, the secondary marketing goal is just reach -- to build awareness amongst more passive fans -- and while it's obviously quite hard to do that without a song (duh) or a controversy (hi Kanye), I'm not sure that's being accomplished here. I'm certainly not hearing too much about this rollout from mainstream publications or general music fans outside of the band's niche. I don't know what their PR situation is, but I think they need to do something that gets them a little bit more mainstream blog play. There's a great story being told here, but I'm not sure it's reaching the wider music world.

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All that said, this band is special and obviously cares a lot more about creating a world for their fans and an emotional/philosophical throughline for their project than blasting to the world that it exists (though they should/will 100% do that with lookalike audiences from the aforementioned pixel data once the album actually drops). To me, they're going to be the biggest band in the world someday just based off the strength of their music... might as well focus on converting passive fans into diehards. They've obviously developed an incredible way to build their fanbase, and the confidence that they are displaying in this rollout is both laughingly audacious and inspiring.

 

I agree with this, but I also feel like these cryptic things are geared more towards existing fans rather than reaching a new audience. I'm not sure how many people who have never heard of The 1975 are going to care about a 30 day countdown with strange posters. Sure, brand awareness, but the blogs/press probably feel like they don't have a good enough story to run with until something actually comes out.

I have seen some articles like "What Are The 1975 Hinting At?" etc.. but again, seems more geared towards their existing market rather than grabbing the attention of the wider music community.

 

Yeah, that's what the first two paragraphs I wrote are about.

 

Haha I know. I was just echoing why I think there's not really anything their PR could do based on the existing circumstance to reach the "wider music world." Unless by "I think they need to do something that gets them a little bit more mainstream blog play" you meant a different approach to the marketing of this in general, in which case I misinterpreted that. But yeah I don't think it's gonna happen till a song is out.

Every article I have seen jumps to absurd conclusions.

Did The 1975 Confirm Their Album Release Date? | Radio 104.5

If anything, that poster makes it seem like the single is June 1st.. not the record.

 

I refuse to believe this is a countdown to a single.

 

Yeah, I think it's more about doing interviews and creative integrations, which they're saving for later in the cycle. This is the teaser phase, honestly that stuff makes more sense to do when there's actual music out. Keep in mind that whole diatribe came about because I was asked why people were disengaged with the rollout, and I essentially said they weren't.

 

It’s gotta be a single at this point right? Feels like the more realstic scenario than an entire album.

 

June 1st seems to always be such an important date to them, so to only drop a single on that date seems odd.

 

what if nothing happens on june 1

 

Then these guys are just “taking the piss” at this point.

 

What if on June 1st, they release their piss?

 

What if it’s a countdown to a scavenger hunt that then concludes with an encrypted file that, when decrypted, tells us the date of the single release?

That’d be pretty epic.

 

Damn, that'd be like y2k.

 

Personally I think anyone who is 100% convinced it won't be just a single on 6/1 needs to remember who we're talking about here. These are the same guys who had been teasing literally nothing with cryptic tweets for months up until the countdown started. It would definitely be monumentally boneheaded for them to release just a single on 6/1 but that doesn't mean that's not what they're going to do. It's not a sure thing either way, is my point. Just going to have to wait and see.