3 Great Examples Of Creative Music Marketing: Tailored Songs, One-of-a-Kind Albums, Video Games

Creative music marketing takes many forms but I think the strongest approach is directly connected to the music. In fact, two of today's examples involve individually unique offerings. Riot !n Paris are currently creating personalized songs based on people's social media presence. Artist/programmers Icarus are releasing 1000 digitally unique versions of their album Fake Fish Distribution. We're also sharing info about AWOLNATION's Megalithic Mayhem video game recently made available for the iPhone.

What I really like about these examples is that they illustrate how marketing can be an effect of how one creates and releases music or an extension of one's music rather than a process that begins after the fact.

Riot !n Paris Track Mike Woods

This is my first exposure to Riot !n Paris and it's a good first look. In both their video introduction to the Track Me project and the above example, they have a friendly, approachable vibe that doesn't come across as pandering.

For their Track Me project, you simply hit the "Track Me" button on their site and, if you're lucky, they'll pick you to create a song based on your social media profiles and then drop it online. It sounds like a lot of work but a fun project.

More: Twitter, The Next Web, Interactive Video

Icarus – Fake Fish Distribution [Cover Art Also Individualized]

Icarus is doing one of the most conceptually interesting projects I've seen in awhile. As Peter Kirn describes it:

"Fake Fish Distribution…a self-described 'album in 1000 variations,' generates a one-of-a-kind download for each purchaser. Generative, parametric software takes the composition…and tailors the output so that each file is distinct."

"If you’re the 437th purchaser of the limited-run of 1000…you get a composition that is different from 436 before you and 438 after you. The process breaks two commonly-understood notions about recordings: one, that digital files can’t be released as a 'limited edition' in the way a tangible object can, and two, that recordings are identical copies of a fixed, pre-composed structure."

Kirn has more from the artists about creating Fake Fish Distribution.

AWOLNATION – Not Your Fault Music Video

Back in December, AWOLNATION released Megalithic Mayhem, a video game based on their music video for the single Not Your Fault.  It's available on the open web and on Facebook.

Last week they released a free iTunes app featuring the game. Though one could certainly argue that the game was an after the fact project building on the music video, one could also think of it as an extension of the song itself. In any case, when you can afford to produce something this cool and give it away for free, it's a nice gift to one's fans that is also a potentially strong marketing initiative.

Hypebot Features Writer Clyde Smith maintains his freelance writing hub at Flux Research and music industry resources at Music Biz Blogs. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.