Major Project:Â Evaluation
Background, Concept and Ideas
Since my initial Major Project pitch, what I originally wanted to do and my eventual aim for this project hasnât particularly changed, but several aspects that were integrated within the pitch have changed.
As originally intended; I recorded and released a 4 track EP called Year Off, which consisted of 3 songs that I said previously would be on the EP (âHomeâ, âFool to Blameâ and âDouble Fourâ), with the newly added intro track âDream of Youâ. I felt that the other song that was previously meant to be on the EP (âGrey Hairâ) didnât quite stylistically fit in with the rest of the tracks and didnât fit the finished aesthetic of the EP as a whole. Â As planned, using the DIY ethos (Chertkow, 2009) that I always wanted to use, I recorded the EP completely by myself in my bedroom, however I felt that my mix of the tracks werenât doing them the justice that I thought they deserved, so I got my friend and music producer Conal Kelly to mix the EP for me and I was very happy with the outcome. Conal mixed the EP so that it is one flowing musical experience, with all the songs seamlessly connecting together so that they are not heard as completely separate songs.
One considerable change that I decided to make was to not make a music video for any of the songs. I noticed that the artists that stylistically I was trying to match myself to such as Pinegrove and Honey Milk have never made a music video, viewing them as visual distractions, that detract from the listening experience of their music. Honey Milk further inspired me to decide not to have a photoshoot of myself. Not proactively to hide my image or my identity, but to keep the focus on my aesthetic the EPâs imagery. I also made the decision not to put the EP on streaming services, as I am trying to portray myself as a DIY, niche, ârare findâ type of artist like Honey Milk, who just has his music on Bandcamp. As a fan of the niche Bandcamp music scene, I was inclined to follow suite, as certain music fans who are looking for something different and not mainstream, tend to dig deep for that artist on Bandcamp that no one else has heard of yet, and then feel a sense of ownership and pride when that artist eventually becomes more popular. Iâd hope this would be me.
Overall, I felt the music that I created and imagery that went with it, fitted nicely with the aesthetic and stylistic approach that I was trying to achieve.
As I intended to portray myself as a niche artist whose music mainly spread due to word of mouth, I understood that my music wouldnât appeal to a massive audience or market and would mostly be people in the local area that have heard of me and my music through the local shows that I have played. I targeted my music and aesthetic approach at the 14-35 age bracket, with my imagery and artwork colouring being quite bright and youthful, without being too serious. My EP is called Year Offwhich refers to the gap year I had between college and university where I attempted to get a job and become more mature. My intention with the title was that people within this age bracket could relate to it, with them possibly remembering back to their âyear offâ and finding common ground with the EP. Also, as most of the songs are about a relationship between two individuals, I also hoped that people within this age bracket would relate to lyrics of the songs.
As previously mentioned, I decided to release my EP through only Bandcamp due to stylistic reasons, which fitted the market that I intended to make an impact on. However, I did identify and contacted several record labels and music blogs that I thought might be interested in my music â
                                     Record Labels
Altpress (1,230,968 Facebook Likes)
Punktastic (16,423 Facebook Likes)
Kerrang (877,429 Facebook Likes)
Scuzz (47,392 Facebook Likes)
Rocksound (633,733 Facebook Likes)
UK Pop Punk (11,263 Facebook Likes)
New Noise (31,148 Facebook Likes)
Bring the Noise (14,845 Facebook Likes)
Noisy/Vice (1,189,753 Facebook Likes)
Spilt Milk (361 Facebook Likes)
Punk Online (830 Facebook Likes)
Black Velvet (3,290 Facebook Likes)
Punk News (82,255 Facebook Likes)
DIY (256,776 Facebook Likes)
Prior to this project, I had never tried or experienced promoting a product or even released any music of my own before, so this whole experience was completely new to me and I had to learn as I was going along.
I always intended to promote my music through social media and word of mouth, with knowing to be successful with this method takes a considerable amount of time and perhaps a spot of luck. Playing live shows was probably my most productive form of promotion, as I usually received a positive and warm response from my audience, however this was completely based in the local community of Cheltenham as I found it difficult to get shows outside of the town. One promotion strategy that I used was that I did a live streaming session on Facebook with Giggle, playing my EP in full. This brought me quite a bit of attention, with the video receiving 500 views within its first day.
I used the sponsor feature on Facebook to advertise a post promoting my EP. Targeting males and females aged 14-35 within the Gloucestershire region, focusing on the viewers clicking the link to my EP, rather than directing them straight to my Facebook page. This strategy gathered quite a fruitful audience, with the post being viewed almost 2000 times within a day (please see blog). This led to my EP being downloaded a few times, and myself receiving positive messages from listeners.
While reflecting on the development of my Major Project, there are several components of this project that I am very happy about, however there are several things that I wish I had done differently and had improved on.
I believe I could have built a stronger social media presence if I had put more time into the project. Likes and Follows are unfortunately a major factor when it comes to promoting yourself as an artist, and I donât believe I gathered enough of these to promote my EP as much as I would have liked to. I can address this issue by creating more content to put on my social media pages such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram which will then generate more Likes and Follows. Another aspect that I wish I had improved on was simply playing more shows. The shows that I did play were all Cheltenham based and limited me to a small audience. I need to obtain live event contacts in other parts of the UK, so then I can play more, get more experience and improve my audience. I also wish I had also put more time into the project, as this would have allowed me to develop Northwestern Girl more and gathered more content to display. Due to being committed to another band with a single promotional campaign, this unfortunately hindered the amount of time I could put into this project. In future I will need to manage my time more effectively.
Despite these regrets, I am overall very happy with my final project. Iâve completed what I set out to do, which was to release a 4 track EP, which Iâm very proud of and I have been humbled by the positive response that it has received. I feel like I achieved the aesthetic image that I originally intended to accomplish and that it is a good platform to continue from.
Looking to the future, I believe I must simply gather more of a following and audience, by playing more live shows and putting more Northwestern Girl content on social media. I also intend to release a second EP in the near future, which will help me build momentum and I can build a better promotional campaign than this one, learning how to improve myself and develop my skills from the mistakes and accomplishments that I have made from this Major Project.
Chertkow, C., 2009. The DIY Music Manual: How to Record, Promote and Distribute Your Music without a Record Deal. (s.n.)
