How to spread an infectious viral
A mysterious clip posted on the internet possibly by a disguised celebrity is the latest way to get a new song heard
Milky sap trickles from a tree, a dog barks, a blonde figure covered in muck floats in an amniotic sac, licks some bark and releases strawberries from beneath her arms. No, this isn’t a deleted scene from Avatar but one of several musical virals from a shadowy figure known as iamamiwhoami, who may be an A-list musician in disguise. Whoever it is, the clips offer clues as to how the ailing music industry might save itself.
Diminishing sales, illegal downloads and a communication breakdown between labels and artists have reduced the music business to a relatively meagre enterprise. The days of Lear Jets, exotic recording locations and drugs on tap have gone. Meanwhile blogs and social networking sites have rendered television and the press less important. Promotion has become intricate and covert in a risky attempt to engage a newly savvy audience. Bands such as Monarchy, Silver Columns and Summer Camp have launched their careers with enigmatic online presences, and iamamiwhoami’s has become the biggest covert campaign yet.
It began when a 55-second YouTube clip was e-mailed to several music websites and blogs. It featured innocent woodland shots overlaid by gentle synth music. But, seconds in, the music had gone Wicker Man weird, the trees had sprung legs and there was a close-up of a blonde-haired woman covered in what looked like tar and encased in a huge foetal sac. More clips followed. With almost 100,000 hits to date, everyone is asking who it can be.
The music in the virals is dreamy cinematic electro, while the visuals echo David Lynch with their mix of the surreal and banal. Yet the artist’s identity remains a mystery. The big budget rules out an art-school student or indie band. Some suspect Knife or Goldfrapp, while others point the finger at the Swedish singer Jonna Lee, who certainly resembles the mystery blonde. Lee’s management has denied any involvement.
Which leaves the most tantalising suspect of all: Christina Aguilera, who has a forthcoming album, Bionic, made with such leftfield collaborators as M.I.A. and Le Tigre, and who has a taste for reinvention. If it is Aguilera (her representative would not confirm), it will be the biggest revelation since Paul McCartney hid behind the pseudonym of the Fireman to make dance music. It will also serve as a triumph for a singer who was losing ground to a whippersnapper called Gaga “It’s very difficult to rise above your peers and get major coverage,” says Chris Binns, of the marketing company Mediacom. “The ‘iam’ marketing strategy has ensured that when the artist is revealed they will be written about by both the niche and mass media.”
Similarly, a clutch of newer bands have benefitted from a cloak of mystery. The synth-pop outfit Monarchy turned out to be a rebranded version of the group Milke, while Silver Columns and Summer Camp used clandestine internet guises before revealing their real identities. One half of the electro duo Silver Columns was actually the folk artist Adem, while the melodic pop of Summer Camp turned out to be the London singer-songwriter Jeremy Warmsley and the journalist Elizabeth Sankey.
“It was quite stressful to keep our identity hidden,” Sankey admits. Warmsley adds: “We were never going to have a big reveal and jump out of a cake. But it sort of unravelled.” Pretending that they were Swedish proved fatal: “People would send us messages in Swedish to our MySpace page .”
So were they just marketing ruses? Adem says not. “It wasn’t about ‘creating a buzz’, it was more about the music. That’s why we released it on a white label. We didn’t want any associations with anyone. “ James Sandom, manager of the Kaiser Chiefs and White Lies, sees it as a reaction against information overload: “These days before you know about an artist’s music you know what they’ve had for breakfast. It’s important to hold some things back. If you reveal too much you take away people’s imaginations and that’s key to them getting excited about music.”
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article7071611.ece