Where’s the Hype? • Page 2

There’s more music coming out than I have time to listen to and most of it I never get early.

 

I think people are right on the money here. A big part of it is just making sure people are constantly reminded about your album coming out but with streaming platforms becoming the overwhelming norm, the actual day of the release is not quite as important as far as roping in potential buyers. I love being surprised on release day and hearing all of the songs for the first time that day, but I also know that it's definitely not the popular way to do things nowadays, so releasing songs/lyric videos or something sporadically ahead of the release date is a solid way of keeping people engaged. Not even sure that a long build-up cycle is bad because it gives you a chance to really let a couple of singles really take off as opposed to killing the "hype" for a potential single by promoting it well after everyone's heard it on the album.

 

One of my favorite album rollouts of all time was when Underoath their little studio journal videos for lost in the sound. I ate that right up. It gave snippets of songs, and individual instruments even. Built the hype so well.

 

There definitely is a big change in how things are promoted, especially via the internet. It's not even as much having the technology instead of how they changed. most of this is a hypothesis as i have very little personal experience with it due to age but like, any average user is using ten big websites where all pop culture news is linked, and everything from a band with 1,000 followers to a new buzzfeed article has to compete to get clicked and it gets clickbait-esque, until you're just overwhelmed entirely and scroll past it. It seemed like pre-2010, there was still social media and such, but it was less centralized? idk if thats the right word, but it was more like you had your own corner or neighborhood in the internet rather than spending time with the digital version of times square where there's ads everywhere and you just learn to ignore them, even if it's something cool. I hope this doesn't sound like "technology is bad thomas edison is a witch"-esque at all.

Another thing I'm wondering: are there less interviews coming out during the album build up, are certain scenes/types of artists just not getting the slots, or am I just noticing them less with the overwhelming of information? I feel like I almost never see video interviews more, and I know smaller artists will do interviews with smaller publications or journalists who are also in their beginnings, but usually that happens on tour after the album so it can be done in person. There will be reviews early but little to none talking about it formally in publication, and some do on social media but it doesn't feel quite as detailed. Reviews are cool as well but I feel like it's not the same as an artist discussing their own creation, like that's part of what got me into the wonder years album cycle this time was them going in depth with the "goal" of it. I like that they did fan experiences too, like the pop up shops I know a lot of people were into and the coordinate thing would have been cooler if they checked their website coding before doing it.

I don't know much about promotion or social media marketing so this is not based in any like, actual research just anecdotal experience

 

As someone who's been writing about music for far too long, I know that a lot of it has to deal with the publicist. Many of them only allow publications they consider cool (Pitchfork, Noisey) to interview their clients. After the record is out, they'll normally allow whoever to talk to them.

 

Ah okay, yeah it’s weird bc I feel with those notable publications the interviews can be really great or really forgettable. I guess you don’t want them answering everyone because things are busy enough and if there’s not much history you can’t guarentee that someone you don’t know won’t try to make your client look bad if you’re the publicist, but I always liked how they were also more laid back and almost conversational with smaller publications.

 

Totally agree, though there's plenty of good examples on how an album roll out might be exciting etc., and I think there's never a rule for that. I enjoy the diversity, that's for sure. Love surprise releases, but it wouldn't be any cool if everything would happen that way. Especially seeing as the anticipation is rewarding as well.

 

Great thoughts Jason.

 

I mean, emo, progressive/hardcore and 00's punk is dad music now. We're all closer to dying. It's all good. Streaming and whatnot has no effect on that; generation after generation determines the new mainstream. We just gracefully settle into our roles as relics and be fine with it

 

whether we personally like it or not i feel like hype and the money thrown at hyping things up (promotions, placements) are natural gatekeepers keeping real and efforts that are worked hard at the forefront. obviously money is something that can hype something un naturally but at that point it is the consumers discretion whether the piece of work is authentic....
this is just my opinion!