Given the very positive reception that Northlane’s surprise album Mesmer has garnered in the last few days, it’s only fair to also talk about the captivating viral marketing campaign that went into it. It’s clear it played a part in hyping up the album for a surprise release that most didn’t see coming – whether it was the cryptic messages or even the Facebook Bot, the successful release of the album is a tribute to the power of strategic and cryptic marketing.
So many of today’s bands don’t successfully utilize the resources available to them – they’re often content to slap a rushed single out, randomly drop the album out 2 weeks after the fact, with nothing to really get fans hyped up other than the fans they already have. Which is fine, but if you’re not working to increase and expand your fanbase, what’s your real endgame? Progression is key.
We’re in the Internet Age, I mean c’mon now. Bands as big as Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails (In Rainbows was a free album, and Year Zero was teased via various flyers and even on tshirts) have done this well, but also smaller bands like Darke Complex utilized strange cell phone transmissions to create hype for an impending album. Especially in the former two cases, it worked tremendously well, as both In Rainbows and Year Zero both charted well and were major critical successes as well.
It takes a creative mind to create something that will be effective in hyping up new music. It’s fairly clear that the old ways of thinking are on the way out – I mean hell, remember Ok Go? They’re arguably one of the first, if not THE first band to utilize this. Walking on treadmills will forever be a 2000’s staple. Not every musician is necessarily creative beyond music, and that’s okay. But if you have the means to try to do something even a little different, why not go for it? If it worked for Northlane and Radiohead, it could make your music career thrive too. And when the music is as ethereal and atmospheric as Mesmer, you have a winning formula.
