The phenomenon of record labels starting out with the intention of being a ‘lifestyle brand’ is a relatively new trend. This is due to developments in technology, specifically the internet, where online communities such as MySpace, a popular social networking website, have vastly opened up ways to reach and communicate to new people. This has also affected the way people listen to new music, giving everyone the chance to upload music for the world to hear. “Like a lot of bands we don’t get much publicity in the mainstream media or press but because of MySpace these kids know about us and our music” Dan Rice, guitarist with the band Hadouken, said in a recent article for the Guardian newspaper.
07/12/2008
I am going to look at how a selection of record labels are transforming into ‘lifestyle brands’ in the digital age, through the use of iconic artwork, limited edition t-shirts and legendary parties. I will specifically look at Ed Banger Records and its art director So Me. Ed Banger interests me because it demonstrates the enduring desire for the input of a designer who can create a distinctive look and feel, moulding the record label into a lifestyle brand that many people aspire to be a part of.
The phenomenon of record labels starting out with the intention of being a ‘lifestyle brand’ is a relatively new trend. This is due to developments in technology, specifically the internet, where online communities such as MySpace, a popular social networking website, have vastly opened up ways to reach and communicate to new people. This has also affected the way people listen to new music, giving everyone the chance to upload music for the world to hear. “Like a lot of bands we don’t get much publicity in the mainstream media or press but because of MySpace these kids know about us and our music” Dan Rice, guitarist with the band Hadouken, said in a recent article for the Guardian newspaper.
The phenomenon of record labels starting out with the intention of being a ‘lifestyle brand’ is a relatively new trend. This is due to developments in technology, specifically the internet, where online communities such as MySpace, a popular social networking website, have vastly opened up ways to reach and communicate to new people. This has also affected the way people listen to new music, giving everyone the chance to upload music for the world to hear. “Like a lot of bands we don’t get much publicity in the mainstream media or press but because of MySpace these kids know about us and our music” Dan Rice, guitarist with the band Hadouken, said in a recent article for the Guardian newspaper.
Lifestyle brands
“Lifestyle brands bring freedom to the player in all of us because they exist dynamically in real time in multiple places. They are more purposeful and meaningful than just being a commodity because they exist in culture on all levels, and are therefore truly relevant to their audience.” This definition by Jonathan Ford in an article for Step Inside magazine (2005) describes the lifestyle brand as dynamic, relevant and meaningful – key aspects that a company needs to stay ahead of competitors. A lifestyle brand “embodies the values and aspirations of a group or culture”, (Wikepedia) and acts as a “magnet that attracts people with certain philosophies and lifestyles to buy the products that this brand promotes.” Such “magnetic marketing” can easily be adapted for record labels where they can market a certain artist as part of the ‘label.’ MySpace enables the label or artist to create a fan base of friends with similar interests and lifestyles from all over the world.
According to the blog ‘DNVO’, DJ Kissy Sell Out “emerged from the MySpace generation of cool nerds and sonic visionaries engaged in a feverish revolt, a wholesale shredding of the musical and business rulebook, as they mix their influences into exhilarating results spreading the word online and beyond.” Thus the “online generation” is able to source influences from afar and spread its music without constraint.
In 2006 Patricia Sellers interviewed Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe, founders of MySpace, for CNN’s Fortune magazine. It is interesting to see that when asked what MySpace was turning into, DeWolfe said he saw it as a “lifestyle brand.” Sellers also talked to Martin Sorrell, who heads ad giant WPP. He felt that MySpace “could be like a fashion brand. The more successful you get, the more common you become.” However DeWolfe disagreed saying “We’re not deciding what’s cool. Our users are. MySpace is all about letting people be what they want to be.”
This is the great strength of the site - anyone can be a part of it, and so many people from so many different backgrounds and cultures use it. MySpace has made significant progress in its quest to evolve into a ‘lifestyle brand’. The record label, MySpace records, started in 2006 and already has 1,356,531 friends and 11 artists on its books. However, I see MySpace as a ‘middle man’, with other record labels using the site as a resource to promote themselves. The MySpace label does have the advantage that it could (and perhaps does already) access new talent quicker than anyone else. One of the definitions of ‘lifestyle brand’ is something a user accesses every day. It is interesting that a company born from a digital site still has links to shops to buy cds and vinyl, formats which mp3’s were expected to replace. MySpace is certainly something many people check every day, and this can be described as alluring and attractive but do people desire to be associated with it? I think not. The ‘MySpace’ name is synonymous with the online community site, catering for hundreds of different labels not one.
From a blogger’s point of view Hipster Runoff observes, “the best part about being a ‘lifestyle brand’ is that you are really easy to blurb about in alternative magazines that people may or may not read/take seriously. You supply writers with multiple ‘talking points’ that they can reference in blurb-style mentions.” This enables a company to get vitally important exposure to the right audience, and in the right places such as the uber fashionable blogs Hipster Runoff, discodust and madhectic that are valued by its consumer market.
Examples of ‘lifestyle music brands’
The record labels 1234 and April77records have built their record/clothes labels as ‘lifestyle brands’ from the start. In a recent interview with The Guardian by Krissi Murison, fashionable East End label PPQ’s Amy Molyneux and Percy Parker said that they understood the “fusion of music and fashion so well that they started up the record label 1234 to release the tunes that scored their shows.” When asked what comes first creatively they said it was “a circular affair. You go out, hear music, get inspired… go home, draw, make it, wear it, inspire someone while you’re out.” Combining the two elements into their creative process allows both sides to of the label to develop naturally. In a thesis on branding in music, Asa Larsson backs this up by arguing “musical products allow consumers to buy into a lifestyle just as other brands do.”
The catwalk is an interesting place to find new music that fits a certain lifestyle brand. Murison’s article also mentions Tony Farsides. Through his work for Stella McCartney on her fashion shows, he credits himself “with breaking such acts as Santogold and MIA” on the catwalk. He confesses that with hip-hop artist Santogold, he played her music on the catwalk two years before she released a record. “Basically, she’d posted something up on MySpace about a week before I came across it. She didn’t have a record deal or anything. It was the same with MIA and Dizzee Rascal, we had both their stuff in the show before they were signed.” It is interesting to see how the three elements - MySpace, the fashion label and the musician - can work together to create the look and feel for a brand, especially on a catwalk where image and first impression is everything. At the same time, such exposure helps the artist to reach the type of audience that he wouldn’t necessarily get on MySpace.
French label April77records’ mission statement reads: “our clothing is music, and music lives in our clothes.” It describes its concept as “groundbreaking and unique.” The label promotes a different artist each month, (called a ‘custom artist’) releasing a 7” vinyl with an A and B side. Every record or item of clothing relating to a custom artist has a code that can be scratched off. The code gives access to download the two exclusive tracks from that artist or band on the website. This concept is original and deliberately aimed at a niche market - ‘old school’ vinyl has been incorporated with downloaded mp3s, ensuring both needs are satisfied. Having the downloads from its own site guarantees a constant flow of visitors to its online catalogue, and having the music to accompany the t-shirt, the consumer feels part of the brand. However, the label remains more important than the artist because the catalogue is ever changing and each month brings a different artist upon whom to focus.
The lifestyle music brand combines the subculture with the label, rather than referencing existing subcultures or groups. A subculture is a group of people with a culture (whether distinct or hidden), which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong (Wikepedia). In his book, Subculture - the meaning of style, Dick Hebdige explores “the status and meaning of revolt, the idea of style as a form of refusal”, using Jean Genet’s novel The Thiefs Journal to define ‘subculture’. Hebdige describes how the process starts with a “crime against the natural order… the cultivation of a quiff, the acquisition of a scooter or a record or a certain type of suit. In a gesture of defiance and contempt… it signals refusal.”
Ken Gelder in Subcultures: Cultural Histories and Social Practice (2007), states six key ways to understand subcultures: 1. Through their often negative relations to work (as ‘idle’, ‘parasitic’, at play or at leisure, etc.); 2. through their negative or ambivalent relation to class (since subcultures are not ‘class-conscious’ and don't conform to traditional class definitions); 3. through their association with territory (the ‘street’, the ‘hood, the club, etc.), rather than property; 4. through their movement out of the home and into non-domestic forms of belonging (i.e. social groups other than the family); 5. through their stylistic ties to excess and exaggeration (with some exceptions); 6. through their refusal of the banalities of ordinary life and massification.
According to the blog ‘DNVO’, DJ Kissy Sell Out “emerged from the MySpace generation of cool nerds and sonic visionaries engaged in a feverish revolt, a wholesale shredding of the musical and business rulebook, as they mix their influences into exhilarating results spreading the word online and beyond.” Thus the “online generation” is able to source influences from afar and spread its music without constraint.
In 2006 Patricia Sellers interviewed Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe, founders of MySpace, for CNN’s Fortune magazine. It is interesting to see that when asked what MySpace was turning into, DeWolfe said he saw it as a “lifestyle brand.” Sellers also talked to Martin Sorrell, who heads ad giant WPP. He felt that MySpace “could be like a fashion brand. The more successful you get, the more common you become.” However DeWolfe disagreed saying “We’re not deciding what’s cool. Our users are. MySpace is all about letting people be what they want to be.”
This is the great strength of the site - anyone can be a part of it, and so many people from so many different backgrounds and cultures use it. MySpace has made significant progress in its quest to evolve into a ‘lifestyle brand’. The record label, MySpace records, started in 2006 and already has 1,356,531 friends and 11 artists on its books. However, I see MySpace as a ‘middle man’, with other record labels using the site as a resource to promote themselves. The MySpace label does have the advantage that it could (and perhaps does already) access new talent quicker than anyone else. One of the definitions of ‘lifestyle brand’ is something a user accesses every day. It is interesting that a company born from a digital site still has links to shops to buy cds and vinyl, formats which mp3’s were expected to replace. MySpace is certainly something many people check every day, and this can be described as alluring and attractive but do people desire to be associated with it? I think not. The ‘MySpace’ name is synonymous with the online community site, catering for hundreds of different labels not one.
From a blogger’s point of view Hipster Runoff observes, “the best part about being a ‘lifestyle brand’ is that you are really easy to blurb about in alternative magazines that people may or may not read/take seriously. You supply writers with multiple ‘talking points’ that they can reference in blurb-style mentions.” This enables a company to get vitally important exposure to the right audience, and in the right places such as the uber fashionable blogs Hipster Runoff, discodust and madhectic that are valued by its consumer market.
Examples of ‘lifestyle music brands’
The record labels 1234 and April77records have built their record/clothes labels as ‘lifestyle brands’ from the start. In a recent interview with The Guardian by Krissi Murison, fashionable East End label PPQ’s Amy Molyneux and Percy Parker said that they understood the “fusion of music and fashion so well that they started up the record label 1234 to release the tunes that scored their shows.” When asked what comes first creatively they said it was “a circular affair. You go out, hear music, get inspired… go home, draw, make it, wear it, inspire someone while you’re out.” Combining the two elements into their creative process allows both sides to of the label to develop naturally. In a thesis on branding in music, Asa Larsson backs this up by arguing “musical products allow consumers to buy into a lifestyle just as other brands do.”
The catwalk is an interesting place to find new music that fits a certain lifestyle brand. Murison’s article also mentions Tony Farsides. Through his work for Stella McCartney on her fashion shows, he credits himself “with breaking such acts as Santogold and MIA” on the catwalk. He confesses that with hip-hop artist Santogold, he played her music on the catwalk two years before she released a record. “Basically, she’d posted something up on MySpace about a week before I came across it. She didn’t have a record deal or anything. It was the same with MIA and Dizzee Rascal, we had both their stuff in the show before they were signed.” It is interesting to see how the three elements - MySpace, the fashion label and the musician - can work together to create the look and feel for a brand, especially on a catwalk where image and first impression is everything. At the same time, such exposure helps the artist to reach the type of audience that he wouldn’t necessarily get on MySpace.
French label April77records’ mission statement reads: “our clothing is music, and music lives in our clothes.” It describes its concept as “groundbreaking and unique.” The label promotes a different artist each month, (called a ‘custom artist’) releasing a 7” vinyl with an A and B side. Every record or item of clothing relating to a custom artist has a code that can be scratched off. The code gives access to download the two exclusive tracks from that artist or band on the website. This concept is original and deliberately aimed at a niche market - ‘old school’ vinyl has been incorporated with downloaded mp3s, ensuring both needs are satisfied. Having the downloads from its own site guarantees a constant flow of visitors to its online catalogue, and having the music to accompany the t-shirt, the consumer feels part of the brand. However, the label remains more important than the artist because the catalogue is ever changing and each month brings a different artist upon whom to focus.The lifestyle music brand combines the subculture with the label, rather than referencing existing subcultures or groups. A subculture is a group of people with a culture (whether distinct or hidden), which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong (Wikepedia). In his book, Subculture - the meaning of style, Dick Hebdige explores “the status and meaning of revolt, the idea of style as a form of refusal”, using Jean Genet’s novel The Thiefs Journal to define ‘subculture’. Hebdige describes how the process starts with a “crime against the natural order… the cultivation of a quiff, the acquisition of a scooter or a record or a certain type of suit. In a gesture of defiance and contempt… it signals refusal.”
Ken Gelder in Subcultures: Cultural Histories and Social Practice (2007), states six key ways to understand subcultures: 1. Through their often negative relations to work (as ‘idle’, ‘parasitic’, at play or at leisure, etc.); 2. through their negative or ambivalent relation to class (since subcultures are not ‘class-conscious’ and don't conform to traditional class definitions); 3. through their association with territory (the ‘street’, the ‘hood, the club, etc.), rather than property; 4. through their movement out of the home and into non-domestic forms of belonging (i.e. social groups other than the family); 5. through their stylistic ties to excess and exaggeration (with some exceptions); 6. through their refusal of the banalities of ordinary life and massification.
Ed Banger records as a 'lifestyle music brand'
Ed Banger Records has also mixed the use of vinyl and digital to great effect in creating a ‘lifestyle brand.’ The label was started in 2002 by Pedro Winter (also known as Busy P) and has had the same art director – So Me - since the start. The label functions as a whole, with each artist part of the ‘Ed Banger crew’. It has a distinctive look and feel throughout. With MySpace pages, t-shirts, vinyl and even headphones, Ed Banger has a house style that is synonymous with
the brand.
Dexy’s Midnight Runners stated in the cover text to ‘Show Me’: “For us everything is important, every record/sleeve/advert/photo, everything can be used to project emotion.” Factory Records designer Peter Saville talked about a ‘hearts and minds’ theory, the proposition that design was able to cross over into the consciousness of a new generation through popular music. Ed Banger and the other record/clothes labels I have mentioned have taken this to another level by creating a lifestyle brand which people really aspire to and can feel a part of. Instead of just one cult band with a following there are a number of different artists under one umbrella, and having one designer for everything allows Ed Banger for example to have complete control in the visual look and direction of the brand. Describing the artwork to Justice’s debut album Busy P sums up the freedom that comes with being an independent label “we don’t give a fuck. There's no name on the cover, no band logo, the album
is just †."
So Me’s inspiration to create a visual movement comes from the decline in record sales, which has generated a greater need for artwork that will stand out and be desirable. “I get the music for free just like everybody else.” (He is referring to the MySpace page where you can listen and sometimes download the music free of charge). “Sometimes when I feel like an artist is real and makes the effort on the covers, I will go to the shop and buy the record. I think people are going to buy two or three records a year, maybe… We just try to be one you want to buy.” This is an interesting observation and demonstrates how much thought is put into the visual elements and the marketing.
Clif Stoltze, author of 1,000 Music Graphics, (2008) has similar ideologies, describing how “music packaging from major labels these days veers toward the proven and formulaic, intended to maximise visual presence on sales racks and retain that presence as postage stamp-sized images on MP3 players and websites.” He believes that “the designers role and responsibility is to create an
‘unfair disadvantage’ by employing innovative ideas that add value to the product, helping it rise above a sea of conventionality.” In a recent article with the Boston Globe, Stoltze observed that “there’s a whole resurgence of poster art going on now. Especially gig posters. I think it’s helping to fill the gap. The posters give artists and designers another way to align their artistic vision with the music that they love, which is hard to do with CD packaging.” Gig posters, music videos, t-shirts, flyers and online adverts and virals allow artists’ visual identity to be marketed on different levels.
“New technologies certainly create challenges, but if you act like a luddite then you are never going to win. You have to embrace these new things and see them as opportunities as opposed to threats, they are inevitable and if we don’t do it, someone else will” stated Steve Gallant, Head of Home Entertainment ITV Global Entertainment, in Home Entertainment Week, 16th October 2008. The music industry didn’t embrace the digital age when the younger generation did and this meant it lost touch with its target audience. Instead of working alongside the original file-sharing sites such as Napster.com it declared war and has effectively been fighting a losing battle ever since. In an article for The Rolling Stone magazine in 2007 Jeff Kwatinetz, CEO of management company the Firm describes this squandered opportunity; “The record business had an unbelievable opportunity there. They were all using the same service. It was as if everybody was listening to the same radio station. Then Napster shut down, and all those 30 or 40 million people went to other (file-sharing services).” With everybody listening to the same station, record labels could have had complete control over what people were listening to, and marketed artists accordingly.
The actual music itself has now been degraded “to the status of promotional tools – useful to sell concert tickets and fan paraphernalia”. This is the view of Robert Sandall, director of communications for Virgin Records from 1996 to 2002, in his article in The Sunday Times (October 2007). This was accurately predicted by the guitarist for the band Anthrax in the 1990’s, who described their new album as “the menu; our concert is the meal.” Coupled with George Martin’s assumption that The Beatles track Please Please Me was “just a memento of a concert” it seems the music industries fate had long been written. These observations are particularly interesting, given that they were made at a time before the digital age, when the music industry was booming.
When asked how he felt when Ed Banger is described as a ‘lifestyle brand’ Busy P said he wanted “to create a brand that can live without the music of Ed Banger.” He went on to say that “merchandising became a
real thing for me, it’s why I prefer to talk about the branding side rather than another merchandising thing. We do t-shirts as Stussy does. We are also launching a publishing company with So Me. We will publish art books and fanzine soon...Kids all around the world seem attached to our Ed Banger codes. We mixed the crowd, break the rules and try to spread good music.” By fusing elements of dance, hip-hop and electro, Ed Banger has brought a generation of different cultures together.
Ed Banger has taken Robert Sandall’s suggestion that “music is, at root, a communal experience as much as it is something that goes on between your ears” by using tours as a main source of income for the label and also to generate a dedicated following. Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records, (The New Yorker, 2003) is quoted as saying the target audience record labels are trying to reach “don’t view music as a commodity but as a relationship with the band.” This relates back to Jonathan Ford’s earlier definition of a lifestyle brand and shows how Ed Banger has exploited the need for more than just the music, using MySpace and tours as the main resources.
The formula used by Ed Banger can be compared to those applied by Factory Records and 4AD. Stoltze analyses that 4AD art director Vaughan Oliver’s sleeves “would gain a devoted fan base, which enticed fans into buying 4AD releases sound unheard.” Stoltze goes on to say that the labels are “as renowned and influential for their visual output as they were for the music of their artists.” Busy P acknowledges his debt to Peter Saville & Factory, Futura & Mo Wax and Jeff Jank & Stones Throw for giving art the same importance as music for the label. Factory records, in particular, was a pioneer having had aspects of a lifestyle brand long before Ed Banger. Its founder, Tony Wilson, set up the legendary nightclub ‘The Hacienda’, financing this largely from the record sales of Factory band New Order. The venue was a musical outlet for the label and pioneered the acid house and rave scene.
According to Tony Naylor in The Guardian (April 2007) “Ed Banger has inspired a new cavalier underground club culture.” Busy P affirms that it was “time to bring back the fun, happiness and colour… it’s an emotional experience and we make the dancefloors sweat.” In the same way that Tamla Motown and Stax tours often featured several of the label’s major artists, the Ed Banger set list usually consists of at least three members of the Ed Banger label. The Ed Banger parties are important because they ca
n be seen as face-to-face interactions. Roy Shuker, author of ‘Understanding popular music’, feels “it is always important to give fans a link, or closeness to the artist, as it is this closeness and physicality consumers have with performers that contributes to the intensity they can experience at the live performances.” The ‘crew’ interacting with the crowd creates the full experience, which according to Larsson “tightens their relationship that adds value to the brand.” The comparison to Motown and Stax is important because I feel they became ‘lifestyle music brands’ without intending to. Motown in particular has almost become a genre of music in itself, and this is also an aspect I feel Ed Banger has thought about.
The tour posters are also sought after as memorabilia. I recently went to see Ed Banger’s DJ Mehdi in London and remember spending half an hour meticulously peeling a tour poster off a wall. I wanted the poster for two reasons: firstly for So Me’s artwork and secondly as a memento of the night. Asa Larsson observed in her thesis on ‘Bands as Brands’ that “listening to a certain type of music with friends connects a group and the people within feel a sense of belonging. The clothes, language, and other visual attributes build up a group and these attributes communicate a sense of identity.” ‘Experiencing’ the Ed Banger brand creates a feeling of closeness. People come away from the party feeling as if they are involved and part of something.
According to Larrson “a certain type of experience has to be obtained to make a person become a ‘fan’ of the brand. This special experience is obtained through the sense the brand engages.” Larsson detects “the most common way for an individual to choose a brand is through past experiences but by creating a desired image, customers can gain a strong brand preference even though they have never bought it before.” The sought-after artwork and ‘unmissable’ parties mean Ed Banger has used this formula to great effect.
Busy P was recently featured alongside Barrack Obama and Jay-Z on the cover of American magazine URB’s ‘power’ issue. In the feature, Busy P stated that Ed Banger “is not just a music label.” The URB’s Joshua Glazer described a visit from the Ed Banger crew “like a visit from the circus.” This describes the label well, as it fuses the aural excitement of dance music with brilliant visual graphics. The Ed Banger years can be viewed as the closest we have come this millennium to those associated with movements such as mods, punks or new romantics. A subculture has emerged surrounding the record label and this has aided its progression in becoming a lifestyle brand.
However, can the Ed Banger movement really be classed as a subculture? If so, is the Ed Banger subculture real? Their values apply to Gelder’s six key ways, but whilst the movement is global and the internet is the main source of interaction, will it burn out because of the exposure?
In the book ‘Band ID’ by Bodhi Oser, Art Chantry describes how “logos define tribes, band logos became symbols even more powerful than the music bands created”, saying how they became “iconographic symbols of defiance and rebellion and rebirth and belonging.” The book concentrates purely on band logos but the observations it makes can relate to other aspects of the brand. “When you see kids wearing band logo t-shirts they are telling you exactly where they stand, and what they like, and what they don’t like.
They are also isolating themselves in a marginal definition of self.” Chantry portrays this almost as if the t-shirt is a uniform - it is worn to make a statement. He goes on to say that “they are using the icon to give themselves a personal identity that they attempt to build a life around.” When the Ed Banger t-shirt is worn to a party it enables that person to show immediately who they are, what they are interested in and gain respect or disrespect because of it. Concluding, Chantry defines the logo as “a rally point for subculture,” which “can be used to filter, separate and then capture.”
The original artwork for the Rolling Stones logo was recently sold to the V&A for £50,000. Designer John Pasche had kept the 14-inch square colour separations in a safe place since 1970. Even though the logo is a piece of graphic design, newspapers such as The Daily Record, describe Pasche as an ‘artist.’ Patrick Burgoyne, Editor of Creative Review, points out that “even in these screen dominated days, we still attach more value to physical objects - both emotionally and financially - than digital ones.” The internet and MySpace are important but they do not fully satisfy our needs. We need something physical to engage us, and so sales of vinyl, cds and t-shirts from the internet are just as important, and there is still a need for desirable artwork that captures the imagination.
In an interview for the book ‘Cover Art by:’ Julian House describes his label, Ghost Box, as a “consuming passion”. The label started out printing and burning its own CDs and with House designing the bold, generic sleeves each artist has the “understanding that the finished cover will be in keeping with the Ghost Box ethos.” House’s passion for design shines through when he argues he’s “never believed you can listen to music devoid of visual reference” going on to state that “the visual and the aural are inseperable within Ghost Box.” A comparison can be made here to Ed Banger striving to produce material that is as much a visual as it is an aural experience. Busy P stated “we don’t just sell beats and plastic CD boxes, we’re here to put out modern music and sleeves that will make you dream”, implying the Ed Banger look and sound allows you to escape the mundanity of everyday life. Ghost Box co-owner Jim Jupp also admits that even though the label’s catalogue is available to download on iTunes they sell much more material on CD, stating “our audience prefers a physical product.” He also predicts that in the future, labels like his will have to “release their own publications and merchandise in tandem with downloads.” This is something Ed Banger has been doing for the last couple of years, and shows it has adapted faster than most other labels to the digital age.
Marc Gobe, author of Emotional Branding: The New Paradigm for Connection Brands to People, (2001) talks about how “design will be the element that adds the all-important human element to our wired world.” This can be seen throughout the music industry, particularly on MySpace where every a
rtist ‘customizes’ their page to portray their identity. So Me’s graphics also add to the ‘human’ look and feel, with every piece of artwork hand drawn. His typography and illustrations are original and relevant. Gobe also points out that “a logo without a ‘heart’ is like a person without ‘heart’: cold, uninteresting, a robot.” The Ed Banger logo of a badly drawn silhouette of a man carrying a record bag, with the rough hand drawn letters in the wording, gives the feeling of a down to earth company with a sense of humour – a “heart”. Busy P adds to this by describing the Ed Banger sound, in the interview with URB, as “a bit of a mess… taking the fun part of hip-hop, the noisy part of heavy metal, the funky part of French house.” So Me’s graphics portray this perfectly - the consumers relate to the Ed Banger logo and trust the lifestyle brand as a whole because of it.
the brand.
Dexy’s Midnight Runners stated in the cover text to ‘Show Me’: “For us everything is important, every record/sleeve/advert/photo, everything can be used to project emotion.” Factory Records designer Peter Saville talked about a ‘hearts and minds’ theory, the proposition that design was able to cross over into the consciousness of a new generation through popular music. Ed Banger and the other record/clothes labels I have mentioned have taken this to another level by creating a lifestyle brand which people really aspire to and can feel a part of. Instead of just one cult band with a following there are a number of different artists under one umbrella, and having one designer for everything allows Ed Banger for example to have complete control in the visual look and direction of the brand. Describing the artwork to Justice’s debut album Busy P sums up the freedom that comes with being an independent label “we don’t give a fuck. There's no name on the cover, no band logo, the album
is just †."
So Me’s inspiration to create a visual movement comes from the decline in record sales, which has generated a greater need for artwork that will stand out and be desirable. “I get the music for free just like everybody else.” (He is referring to the MySpace page where you can listen and sometimes download the music free of charge). “Sometimes when I feel like an artist is real and makes the effort on the covers, I will go to the shop and buy the record. I think people are going to buy two or three records a year, maybe… We just try to be one you want to buy.” This is an interesting observation and demonstrates how much thought is put into the visual elements and the marketing.Clif Stoltze, author of 1,000 Music Graphics, (2008) has similar ideologies, describing how “music packaging from major labels these days veers toward the proven and formulaic, intended to maximise visual presence on sales racks and retain that presence as postage stamp-sized images on MP3 players and websites.” He believes that “the designers role and responsibility is to create an
‘unfair disadvantage’ by employing innovative ideas that add value to the product, helping it rise above a sea of conventionality.” In a recent article with the Boston Globe, Stoltze observed that “there’s a whole resurgence of poster art going on now. Especially gig posters. I think it’s helping to fill the gap. The posters give artists and designers another way to align their artistic vision with the music that they love, which is hard to do with CD packaging.” Gig posters, music videos, t-shirts, flyers and online adverts and virals allow artists’ visual identity to be marketed on different levels.“New technologies certainly create challenges, but if you act like a luddite then you are never going to win. You have to embrace these new things and see them as opportunities as opposed to threats, they are inevitable and if we don’t do it, someone else will” stated Steve Gallant, Head of Home Entertainment ITV Global Entertainment, in Home Entertainment Week, 16th October 2008. The music industry didn’t embrace the digital age when the younger generation did and this meant it lost touch with its target audience. Instead of working alongside the original file-sharing sites such as Napster.com it declared war and has effectively been fighting a losing battle ever since. In an article for The Rolling Stone magazine in 2007 Jeff Kwatinetz, CEO of management company the Firm describes this squandered opportunity; “The record business had an unbelievable opportunity there. They were all using the same service. It was as if everybody was listening to the same radio station. Then Napster shut down, and all those 30 or 40 million people went to other (file-sharing services).” With everybody listening to the same station, record labels could have had complete control over what people were listening to, and marketed artists accordingly.
The actual music itself has now been degraded “to the status of promotional tools – useful to sell concert tickets and fan paraphernalia”. This is the view of Robert Sandall, director of communications for Virgin Records from 1996 to 2002, in his article in The Sunday Times (October 2007). This was accurately predicted by the guitarist for the band Anthrax in the 1990’s, who described their new album as “the menu; our concert is the meal.” Coupled with George Martin’s assumption that The Beatles track Please Please Me was “just a memento of a concert” it seems the music industries fate had long been written. These observations are particularly interesting, given that they were made at a time before the digital age, when the music industry was booming.
When asked how he felt when Ed Banger is described as a ‘lifestyle brand’ Busy P said he wanted “to create a brand that can live without the music of Ed Banger.” He went on to say that “merchandising became a
real thing for me, it’s why I prefer to talk about the branding side rather than another merchandising thing. We do t-shirts as Stussy does. We are also launching a publishing company with So Me. We will publish art books and fanzine soon...Kids all around the world seem attached to our Ed Banger codes. We mixed the crowd, break the rules and try to spread good music.” By fusing elements of dance, hip-hop and electro, Ed Banger has brought a generation of different cultures together.Ed Banger has taken Robert Sandall’s suggestion that “music is, at root, a communal experience as much as it is something that goes on between your ears” by using tours as a main source of income for the label and also to generate a dedicated following. Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records, (The New Yorker, 2003) is quoted as saying the target audience record labels are trying to reach “don’t view music as a commodity but as a relationship with the band.” This relates back to Jonathan Ford’s earlier definition of a lifestyle brand and shows how Ed Banger has exploited the need for more than just the music, using MySpace and tours as the main resources.
The formula used by Ed Banger can be compared to those applied by Factory Records and 4AD. Stoltze analyses that 4AD art director Vaughan Oliver’s sleeves “would gain a devoted fan base, which enticed fans into buying 4AD releases sound unheard.” Stoltze goes on to say that the labels are “as renowned and influential for their visual output as they were for the music of their artists.” Busy P acknowledges his debt to Peter Saville & Factory, Futura & Mo Wax and Jeff Jank & Stones Throw for giving art the same importance as music for the label. Factory records, in particular, was a pioneer having had aspects of a lifestyle brand long before Ed Banger. Its founder, Tony Wilson, set up the legendary nightclub ‘The Hacienda’, financing this largely from the record sales of Factory band New Order. The venue was a musical outlet for the label and pioneered the acid house and rave scene.
According to Tony Naylor in The Guardian (April 2007) “Ed Banger has inspired a new cavalier underground club culture.” Busy P affirms that it was “time to bring back the fun, happiness and colour… it’s an emotional experience and we make the dancefloors sweat.” In the same way that Tamla Motown and Stax tours often featured several of the label’s major artists, the Ed Banger set list usually consists of at least three members of the Ed Banger label. The Ed Banger parties are important because they ca
n be seen as face-to-face interactions. Roy Shuker, author of ‘Understanding popular music’, feels “it is always important to give fans a link, or closeness to the artist, as it is this closeness and physicality consumers have with performers that contributes to the intensity they can experience at the live performances.” The ‘crew’ interacting with the crowd creates the full experience, which according to Larsson “tightens their relationship that adds value to the brand.” The comparison to Motown and Stax is important because I feel they became ‘lifestyle music brands’ without intending to. Motown in particular has almost become a genre of music in itself, and this is also an aspect I feel Ed Banger has thought about.
The tour posters are also sought after as memorabilia. I recently went to see Ed Banger’s DJ Mehdi in London and remember spending half an hour meticulously peeling a tour poster off a wall. I wanted the poster for two reasons: firstly for So Me’s artwork and secondly as a memento of the night. Asa Larsson observed in her thesis on ‘Bands as Brands’ that “listening to a certain type of music with friends connects a group and the people within feel a sense of belonging. The clothes, language, and other visual attributes build up a group and these attributes communicate a sense of identity.” ‘Experiencing’ the Ed Banger brand creates a feeling of closeness. People come away from the party feeling as if they are involved and part of something.According to Larrson “a certain type of experience has to be obtained to make a person become a ‘fan’ of the brand. This special experience is obtained through the sense the brand engages.” Larsson detects “the most common way for an individual to choose a brand is through past experiences but by creating a desired image, customers can gain a strong brand preference even though they have never bought it before.” The sought-after artwork and ‘unmissable’ parties mean Ed Banger has used this formula to great effect.
Busy P was recently featured alongside Barrack Obama and Jay-Z on the cover of American magazine URB’s ‘power’ issue. In the feature, Busy P stated that Ed Banger “is not just a music label.” The URB’s Joshua Glazer described a visit from the Ed Banger crew “like a visit from the circus.” This describes the label well, as it fuses the aural excitement of dance music with brilliant visual graphics. The Ed Banger years can be viewed as the closest we have come this millennium to those associated with movements such as mods, punks or new romantics. A subculture has emerged surrounding the record label and this has aided its progression in becoming a lifestyle brand.
However, can the Ed Banger movement really be classed as a subculture? If so, is the Ed Banger subculture real? Their values apply to Gelder’s six key ways, but whilst the movement is global and the internet is the main source of interaction, will it burn out because of the exposure?In the book ‘Band ID’ by Bodhi Oser, Art Chantry describes how “logos define tribes, band logos became symbols even more powerful than the music bands created”, saying how they became “iconographic symbols of defiance and rebellion and rebirth and belonging.” The book concentrates purely on band logos but the observations it makes can relate to other aspects of the brand. “When you see kids wearing band logo t-shirts they are telling you exactly where they stand, and what they like, and what they don’t like.
They are also isolating themselves in a marginal definition of self.” Chantry portrays this almost as if the t-shirt is a uniform - it is worn to make a statement. He goes on to say that “they are using the icon to give themselves a personal identity that they attempt to build a life around.” When the Ed Banger t-shirt is worn to a party it enables that person to show immediately who they are, what they are interested in and gain respect or disrespect because of it. Concluding, Chantry defines the logo as “a rally point for subculture,” which “can be used to filter, separate and then capture.”The original artwork for the Rolling Stones logo was recently sold to the V&A for £50,000. Designer John Pasche had kept the 14-inch square colour separations in a safe place since 1970. Even though the logo is a piece of graphic design, newspapers such as The Daily Record, describe Pasche as an ‘artist.’ Patrick Burgoyne, Editor of Creative Review, points out that “even in these screen dominated days, we still attach more value to physical objects - both emotionally and financially - than digital ones.” The internet and MySpace are important but they do not fully satisfy our needs. We need something physical to engage us, and so sales of vinyl, cds and t-shirts from the internet are just as important, and there is still a need for desirable artwork that captures the imagination.
In an interview for the book ‘Cover Art by:’ Julian House describes his label, Ghost Box, as a “consuming passion”. The label started out printing and burning its own CDs and with House designing the bold, generic sleeves each artist has the “understanding that the finished cover will be in keeping with the Ghost Box ethos.” House’s passion for design shines through when he argues he’s “never believed you can listen to music devoid of visual reference” going on to state that “the visual and the aural are inseperable within Ghost Box.” A comparison can be made here to Ed Banger striving to produce material that is as much a visual as it is an aural experience. Busy P stated “we don’t just sell beats and plastic CD boxes, we’re here to put out modern music and sleeves that will make you dream”, implying the Ed Banger look and sound allows you to escape the mundanity of everyday life. Ghost Box co-owner Jim Jupp also admits that even though the label’s catalogue is available to download on iTunes they sell much more material on CD, stating “our audience prefers a physical product.” He also predicts that in the future, labels like his will have to “release their own publications and merchandise in tandem with downloads.” This is something Ed Banger has been doing for the last couple of years, and shows it has adapted faster than most other labels to the digital age.
Marc Gobe, author of Emotional Branding: The New Paradigm for Connection Brands to People, (2001) talks about how “design will be the element that adds the all-important human element to our wired world.” This can be seen throughout the music industry, particularly on MySpace where every a
rtist ‘customizes’ their page to portray their identity. So Me’s graphics also add to the ‘human’ look and feel, with every piece of artwork hand drawn. His typography and illustrations are original and relevant. Gobe also points out that “a logo without a ‘heart’ is like a person without ‘heart’: cold, uninteresting, a robot.” The Ed Banger logo of a badly drawn silhouette of a man carrying a record bag, with the rough hand drawn letters in the wording, gives the feeling of a down to earth company with a sense of humour – a “heart”. Busy P adds to this by describing the Ed Banger sound, in the interview with URB, as “a bit of a mess… taking the fun part of hip-hop, the noisy part of heavy metal, the funky part of French house.” So Me’s graphics portray this perfectly - the consumers relate to the Ed Banger logo and trust the lifestyle brand as a whole because of it.
Ed Banger & the internet
Is MySpace a superficial subculture? I feel the MySpace generation are missing out on their own youth culture by buying into the idealistic/virtual youth culture. I disagree with Chris DeWolfe’s earlier quote that “MySpace is all about letting people be what they want to be”, because it no longer is. The pressure to be individual, to ‘sell yourself’ is so great that personal profiles are inevitably ‘dressed up’ to portray the owner in the best possible way. It seems the younger generation are so preoccupied worrying about how they portray themselves to the online community that they don’t have time to actually ‘live’ their lives. In The Future of Music, David Kusek (2005) states that “couch potatoes have become cyber-networkers”, and some might see this as a positive thing, with people communicating and interacting online rather than doing nothing. However, it seems it’s not just couch potatoes that have made the transformation into ‘cyber-networkers’. Almost everyone in this age group has a MySpace or Facebook page, and is probably more likely to communicate from their laptop – a poor substitution for interaction face to face.
The Ed Banger fanbase falls into the “net generation” category, born between 1976 and 1998. What would happen if MySpace closed down? What would happen to Ed Banger and the thousands of other independent labels that rely on the site daily as a homepage? MySpace is no longer what it was originally set up to be and it has been taken over by businessmen using it as a tool to market and advertise their products. Even though artists have their ‘own’ MySpace page, it is almost impossible to contact them directly.
In the book Visual News Power (2003) Mieke Gerritzen observes that “the immense power of the net is not in the applications but in communication, not in the masses but the individual.” This is crucial when it comes to Ed Banger’s MySpace page, where each ‘friend’ is made to feel individual yet part of the Ed Banger ‘crew’ and movement. The ‘top friends’ list on the Ed Banger MySpace page contains the twelve artists on the label: Mr Flash, DJ Mehdi, Justice, Busy P, Mr Ozio, Uffie, Feadz, Sebastian, Vicarious Bliss, Krazy Baldhead, DSL and Micky Moonlight. It also features So Me. Each Ed Banger artist has his own MySpace and visitors can request their ‘friendship’, although as indicated in the previous paragraph this ‘friendship’ is unlikely to be truly reciprocal. The artist will still contact the ‘friends’ but the contact will be via an email sent to many recipients at the same time. Contact may also be through forums, where artists may respond to certain ‘posts’.
It is interesting to read the comments fans had left on So Me’s MySpace page regarding his artwork. One photo of a recent t-shirt design has comments such as “these are sick (a good thing). Where can I purchase your shirts?”, “they’re soooooo amazing” and “dude. I need.” Another uploaded photo of a proposed t-shirt design was followed by “fucking fresh, this dude is the illest” and “dude I need that on a t-shirt.” The comments quoted are from Sweden, Japan, Australia, America and France demonstrating how MySpace helps the brand, band or even graphic designer to create a global fan base with ease. By commenting on the images, the fans show their appreciation and feel part of the Ed Banger movement. The Ed Banger ‘home’ MySpace page has 75,841 friends, and numerous links to different online shops where the cds, vinyl and t-shirts can be purchased. In comparison, rival Australian label Modular has been in existence for ten years yet has only 25,388 friends on MySpace. There is little to suggest that the label is more than just the music, and each of its artists has a completely different visual style. I believe Ed Banger’s acknowledgement of the importance of MySpace means it has created much more of a community and lifestyle ‘feel’ than other record labels. A Modular spokesman recently dismissed Ed Banger : “for every life-changing, blog-quaking outfit the Frenchies can throw at the world, we have our own Southern Hemisphere equivalent” – an acknowledgement of Ed Banger’s significant presence on the internet.
The comments on Uffie’s record covers on her MySpace are as much about the artwork as they are the music. One comment reads “wickid artwork… I’m going to buy ittttttttttt”, reinforcing the idea that artwork still has a significant place in today’s digital world.
Ed Banger is also talked about on different MySpace pages - for example, a friend of the HRO MySpace page recently asked “Are WESC headphonez the new shutter shades?” Shutter shades, a type of sunglasses made popular by rapper Kanye West, were regarded as ‘must-haves’ and could be seen everywhere. The comment thus implied that the Ed Banger headphones designed by So Me were set to inherit that status.
MySpace have used Ed Banger as a marketing tool, booking the crew for the MySpace tour in America to add credibility. This can be seen as a major coup for Ed Banger considering the size of the French label compared to the ever-growing status and power MySpace has in the music world. Busy P justified how the alliance came about: “we’ve been on MySpace since 2005, which was a bit earlier than the rest of the European people. We’ve been active, so they were happy to work with a group that knows the MySpace code and everything.” The tour gave Ed Banger a huge break in America, where it is notoriously hard to succeed – especially for European dance music.
Ed Banger has also formed a valuable relationship with cult Parisian shop ‘Collette.’ One of the first to adopt the idea of a lifestyle store, Collette’s original concept was to be a place where the consumer could find fashion, art and music. This idea has since been copied in many places, for example in shops such as Base in Miami and others in New York. The Collette team handpicks every item in the shop, which stocks established designers as well as new ones. According to its promotional video on youtube it “wants everything to look precious – to be desired.” It sells the iconic Ed Banger records as well as the t-shirts by So Me. The t-shirts have such cult status that they sell out in minutes on Collette’s website – www.soldoutstore.com; the only shop to sell Ed Banger t-shirts in the UK is Rough Trade East, thus creating a sense of exclusivity and community for the purchasers.
Notorious ‘alternative’ blogger Hipster Runoff admits he himself is “one of the most critical people in the world, but it is safe to say that So Me’s work is extremely visually and conceptually satisfying”. He even goes on to argue that So Me is the “best party & concert flyer-maker of our generation.” Considering most of his blog is dedicated to scathing comments on a variety of subjects, this is significant praise. The October 2007 edition of Mass Appeal magazine describes how, thanks to So Me, Ed Banger “strives to be as much a visual movement as it does an aural one.” One of the promotional videos produced for the Ed Banger ‘Volume Two’ compilation, directed by Jonas & Francois for 75 Productions alongside So Me, animates the sleeve for each track on the compilation. The video has had 181,336 hits on youtube already and is another example of innovative marketing.
So Me has also worked with Jonas & Francois to produce award winning music videos for Ed Banger. The video for Justice’s single D.A.N.C.E. was a backlash against French laws that don’t allow advertising on music videos. After being forced to blur the background of a previous video for DJ Mehdi, So Me tried a different approach. “I’m going to make a three-minute advertisement for So Me T-shirts, and they’re never going to notice so they’re not going to make me blur it. It was very sneaky and it worked.” The music video was nominated for best music video in the MTV Music Video Awards 2007 and features nearly 500 different t-shirt designs.
A selection from the video was officially printed and sold. However, this clever marketing ploy created such a huge demand for the t-shirts on blogs and message boards that people tried to cash in, printing their own by reproducing So Me’s designs from the video and selling them as ‘fakes’ on sites such as eBay. Instead of promoting the Ed Banger brand further this has had a negative effect. One comment on the Erol Alkan forum stated “the reason they were good was because you couldn’t get them. As soon as they became widely accessible they lost what they meant which was ‘I am scene enough to have got my hands on one of these shirts.’”
The backlash against Ed Banger has started and can be found on a number of online forums, with aggressive, scathing comments depicting Ed Banger’s downfall. Negative comments mainly focus on how Ed Banger has lost its exclusivity. Fans on the forum football365 felt that the music is being overshadowed by the ‘lifestyle brand’ label, complaining they got “too big too fast”. Busy P (June 12, 2008) recently admitted that “for some people Ed Banger is already over, it’s become too mainstream or whatever”, accepting the drawbacks that come with success. However he goes on to say that “while we may be losing some early fans, we’re replacing them with new ones.” Xavier de Rosnay from Justice backs this up, arguing that “people like to destroy what they build up.”
The Ed Banger fanbase falls into the “net generation” category, born between 1976 and 1998. What would happen if MySpace closed down? What would happen to Ed Banger and the thousands of other independent labels that rely on the site daily as a homepage? MySpace is no longer what it was originally set up to be and it has been taken over by businessmen using it as a tool to market and advertise their products. Even though artists have their ‘own’ MySpace page, it is almost impossible to contact them directly.
In the book Visual News Power (2003) Mieke Gerritzen observes that “the immense power of the net is not in the applications but in communication, not in the masses but the individual.” This is crucial when it comes to Ed Banger’s MySpace page, where each ‘friend’ is made to feel individual yet part of the Ed Banger ‘crew’ and movement. The ‘top friends’ list on the Ed Banger MySpace page contains the twelve artists on the label: Mr Flash, DJ Mehdi, Justice, Busy P, Mr Ozio, Uffie, Feadz, Sebastian, Vicarious Bliss, Krazy Baldhead, DSL and Micky Moonlight. It also features So Me. Each Ed Banger artist has his own MySpace and visitors can request their ‘friendship’, although as indicated in the previous paragraph this ‘friendship’ is unlikely to be truly reciprocal. The artist will still contact the ‘friends’ but the contact will be via an email sent to many recipients at the same time. Contact may also be through forums, where artists may respond to certain ‘posts’.
It is interesting to read the comments fans had left on So Me’s MySpace page regarding his artwork. One photo of a recent t-shirt design has comments such as “these are sick (a good thing). Where can I purchase your shirts?”, “they’re soooooo amazing” and “dude. I need.” Another uploaded photo of a proposed t-shirt design was followed by “fucking fresh, this dude is the illest” and “dude I need that on a t-shirt.” The comments quoted are from Sweden, Japan, Australia, America and France demonstrating how MySpace helps the brand, band or even graphic designer to create a global fan base with ease. By commenting on the images, the fans show their appreciation and feel part of the Ed Banger movement. The Ed Banger ‘home’ MySpace page has 75,841 friends, and numerous links to different online shops where the cds, vinyl and t-shirts can be purchased. In comparison, rival Australian label Modular has been in existence for ten years yet has only 25,388 friends on MySpace. There is little to suggest that the label is more than just the music, and each of its artists has a completely different visual style. I believe Ed Banger’s acknowledgement of the importance of MySpace means it has created much more of a community and lifestyle ‘feel’ than other record labels. A Modular spokesman recently dismissed Ed Banger : “for every life-changing, blog-quaking outfit the Frenchies can throw at the world, we have our own Southern Hemisphere equivalent” – an acknowledgement of Ed Banger’s significant presence on the internet.
The comments on Uffie’s record covers on her MySpace are as much about the artwork as they are the music. One comment reads “wickid artwork… I’m going to buy ittttttttttt”, reinforcing the idea that artwork still has a significant place in today’s digital world.
Ed Banger is also talked about on different MySpace pages - for example, a friend of the HRO MySpace page recently asked “Are WESC headphonez the new shutter shades?” Shutter shades, a type of sunglasses made popular by rapper Kanye West, were regarded as ‘must-haves’ and could be seen everywhere. The comment thus implied that the Ed Banger headphones designed by So Me were set to inherit that status.
MySpace have used Ed Banger as a marketing tool, booking the crew for the MySpace tour in America to add credibility. This can be seen as a major coup for Ed Banger considering the size of the French label compared to the ever-growing status and power MySpace has in the music world. Busy P justified how the alliance came about: “we’ve been on MySpace since 2005, which was a bit earlier than the rest of the European people. We’ve been active, so they were happy to work with a group that knows the MySpace code and everything.” The tour gave Ed Banger a huge break in America, where it is notoriously hard to succeed – especially for European dance music.
Ed Banger has also formed a valuable relationship with cult Parisian shop ‘Collette.’ One of the first to adopt the idea of a lifestyle store, Collette’s original concept was to be a place where the consumer could find fashion, art and music. This idea has since been copied in many places, for example in shops such as Base in Miami and others in New York. The Collette team handpicks every item in the shop, which stocks established designers as well as new ones. According to its promotional video on youtube it “wants everything to look precious – to be desired.” It sells the iconic Ed Banger records as well as the t-shirts by So Me. The t-shirts have such cult status that they sell out in minutes on Collette’s website – www.soldoutstore.com; the only shop to sell Ed Banger t-shirts in the UK is Rough Trade East, thus creating a sense of exclusivity and community for the purchasers.
Notorious ‘alternative’ blogger Hipster Runoff admits he himself is “one of the most critical people in the world, but it is safe to say that So Me’s work is extremely visually and conceptually satisfying”. He even goes on to argue that So Me is the “best party & concert flyer-maker of our generation.” Considering most of his blog is dedicated to scathing comments on a variety of subjects, this is significant praise. The October 2007 edition of Mass Appeal magazine describes how, thanks to So Me, Ed Banger “strives to be as much a visual movement as it does an aural one.” One of the promotional videos produced for the Ed Banger ‘Volume Two’ compilation, directed by Jonas & Francois for 75 Productions alongside So Me, animates the sleeve for each track on the compilation. The video has had 181,336 hits on youtube already and is another example of innovative marketing.
So Me has also worked with Jonas & Francois to produce award winning music videos for Ed Banger. The video for Justice’s single D.A.N.C.E. was a backlash against French laws that don’t allow advertising on music videos. After being forced to blur the background of a previous video for DJ Mehdi, So Me tried a different approach. “I’m going to make a three-minute advertisement for So Me T-shirts, and they’re never going to notice so they’re not going to make me blur it. It was very sneaky and it worked.” The music video was nominated for best music video in the MTV Music Video Awards 2007 and features nearly 500 different t-shirt designs.
A selection from the video was officially printed and sold. However, this clever marketing ploy created such a huge demand for the t-shirts on blogs and message boards that people tried to cash in, printing their own by reproducing So Me’s designs from the video and selling them as ‘fakes’ on sites such as eBay. Instead of promoting the Ed Banger brand further this has had a negative effect. One comment on the Erol Alkan forum stated “the reason they were good was because you couldn’t get them. As soon as they became widely accessible they lost what they meant which was ‘I am scene enough to have got my hands on one of these shirts.’”
The backlash against Ed Banger has started and can be found on a number of online forums, with aggressive, scathing comments depicting Ed Banger’s downfall. Negative comments mainly focus on how Ed Banger has lost its exclusivity. Fans on the forum football365 felt that the music is being overshadowed by the ‘lifestyle brand’ label, complaining they got “too big too fast”. Busy P (June 12, 2008) recently admitted that “for some people Ed Banger is already over, it’s become too mainstream or whatever”, accepting the drawbacks that come with success. However he goes on to say that “while we may be losing some early fans, we’re replacing them with new ones.” Xavier de Rosnay from Justice backs this up, arguing that “people like to destroy what they build up.”
In conclusion
Bernd Schmitt wrote in Experimental Marketing (1999), four years before the MySpace generation, that he felt consumers wanted “products, communication, and marketing campaigns that dazzle their senses, touch their hearts, and stimulate their minds. They want products, communication, and marketing campaigns to deliver and experience. The degree to which a company is able to deliver a desirable customer experience - and to use information technology, brands, and integrated communications to do so - will largely determine its success in the global marketplace of the new millennium.” In today’s financially challenged music industry, Ed Banger has shown how this “desirable customer experience” can be achieved.
On the blog threedworld, Tristan Burke (2008) described the Ed Banger phenomenon as a “carefully orchestrated assault on pop-culture.” The comment was written as a negative one, but I see this phenomenon as a good thing. Ed Banger has reached out beyond the club crowd to a more mainstream audience, mixing all the codes and reference to create party tunes without parameters. It has made the most of So Me’s creativity, the opportunites offered by MySpace and the audiences’ thirst for accessible dance to exploit a gap in the market.
The internet has enabled Busy P and his crew to reach like-minded people from all corners of the globe at any time. They keep fans advised of their whereabouts by updating the MySpace page with the latest photographs and flyers. The influence of blogs has also helped the Ed Banger label to gather momentum and reach different types of ‘scenes’. During my research for this project I found the Ed Banger lifestyle brand has raised multiple talking points that are discussed daily on numerous music, fashion and lifestyle blogs. Lifestyle brands such as Ed Banger are seen by their fans as the new religion and people are turning to them for inspiration and belonging.
Ed Banger has left other struggling independent record labels in its wake with its innovative and flexible approach to branding and marketing. It has signed acts that belong to more than one genre and created a desirable movement that has attracted a global following. It has utilised the talents of its art director So Me to such good effect that he is regarded as being as influential as the musical artists in the success of the label.
It is a testament to Ed Banger that other lifestyle music brands are starting to appear. In July New York producer DJ Junior Sanchez set up the Brobot label and lifestyle brand, which will include a production/recording studio, stylish toys and a clothing range. Its aims to be a lifestyle brand for all things fresh and to operate as a movement that understands where the future of entertainment is. As Brobot’s latest signing Retro Kidz state on their debut single “It’s a movement. It’s a new era right now.”
Ed Banger has raised the bar for independent record labels by pioneering the neccesary adjustment to the digital age. This has opened the door for brands such as April77Records and Brobot and I’m sure many others will follow suit. For the moment however Ed Banger lead the field, as Uffie raps on her song Robot Ouef : “We ain’t frontin’ we’re still about what makes you pop that head off. And if you hate it's ‘cause you’re not hot like the Ed Banger crew. ‘Cause from Tokyo to Scandinavia they say Ed Banger rules.”
On the blog threedworld, Tristan Burke (2008) described the Ed Banger phenomenon as a “carefully orchestrated assault on pop-culture.” The comment was written as a negative one, but I see this phenomenon as a good thing. Ed Banger has reached out beyond the club crowd to a more mainstream audience, mixing all the codes and reference to create party tunes without parameters. It has made the most of So Me’s creativity, the opportunites offered by MySpace and the audiences’ thirst for accessible dance to exploit a gap in the market.
The internet has enabled Busy P and his crew to reach like-minded people from all corners of the globe at any time. They keep fans advised of their whereabouts by updating the MySpace page with the latest photographs and flyers. The influence of blogs has also helped the Ed Banger label to gather momentum and reach different types of ‘scenes’. During my research for this project I found the Ed Banger lifestyle brand has raised multiple talking points that are discussed daily on numerous music, fashion and lifestyle blogs. Lifestyle brands such as Ed Banger are seen by their fans as the new religion and people are turning to them for inspiration and belonging.
Ed Banger has left other struggling independent record labels in its wake with its innovative and flexible approach to branding and marketing. It has signed acts that belong to more than one genre and created a desirable movement that has attracted a global following. It has utilised the talents of its art director So Me to such good effect that he is regarded as being as influential as the musical artists in the success of the label.
It is a testament to Ed Banger that other lifestyle music brands are starting to appear. In July New York producer DJ Junior Sanchez set up the Brobot label and lifestyle brand, which will include a production/recording studio, stylish toys and a clothing range. Its aims to be a lifestyle brand for all things fresh and to operate as a movement that understands where the future of entertainment is. As Brobot’s latest signing Retro Kidz state on their debut single “It’s a movement. It’s a new era right now.”
Ed Banger has raised the bar for independent record labels by pioneering the neccesary adjustment to the digital age. This has opened the door for brands such as April77Records and Brobot and I’m sure many others will follow suit. For the moment however Ed Banger lead the field, as Uffie raps on her song Robot Ouef : “We ain’t frontin’ we’re still about what makes you pop that head off. And if you hate it's ‘cause you’re not hot like the Ed Banger crew. ‘Cause from Tokyo to Scandinavia they say Ed Banger rules.”
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