Digital-Music-Report-2014

Hunter Hayes photo by Guzman for StocklandMartel.comHunter Hayes: The YouTube orchestraWarner Music Nashville/Atlantic Recordsrecording artist Hunter Hayes released anew version of his song Everybody’s GotSomebody But Me featuring label-mateJason Mraz as part of the Encore editionof his eponymous debut album. Atlanticand Warner Music Nashville wanted to useYouTube to help attract new audiencesto Hunter’s music. They felt there was anopportunity to reach Generation C, createa compelling piece for Hunter’s fans, andextend the reach to new audiences.Jeremy Holley, senior vice president,consumer and interactive marketing,Warner Music Nashville, says that digitalchannels such as YouTube are centralto the label’s promotion of Countryartists. “There is a misconception thatCountry music fans are not digitally savvy,but that’s just not true. Hunter and hisaudience are highly engaged in the spaceand we thought it would be a great way togive them a campaign that was engaging.”The label contacted YouTube andsounded the platform out about aninteresting campaign.Rather than film in Nashville, Warnerarranged to shoot in Los Angeles atYouTube’s own creative space, theYouTube Hangar. This enabled the labelto pull together a range of the ‘YouTubeStars’ who post their own versions ofhit songs onto the platform togetherand invite them to perform with Hayesand Mraz.Content creators ranging from TylerWard to Kina Granis submitted theirown versions of Hayes’ song and WarnerMusic Nashville along with Huntercreated a mash-up of the results. It then“There is a misconception that Country music fans arenot digitally savvy, but that’s just not true.”— Jeremy Holley, Warner Musicbrought together Hayes, Mraz and allthe ‘YouTube Stars’ to create a one-shotmusic video featuring all of them, dubbedthe ‘YouTube Orchestra’, for the mash-uptrack. Holley said: “Hunter and Jason hada blast. They even partially recreated thevideo when they played the track at theCountry Music Awards.”This unique approach to filmingYouTube material for a song meantthat Warner Music Nashville couldrun a lengthy campaign that engagedsignificant numbers of music fans. Theindividual ‘YouTube Stars’ released theirown versions of the track and then the‘YouTube Orchestra’ video was releasedahead of the official music video. Holleysays: “This enabled us to build excitementand expectations around the multiplevideo releases. It allowed us to extend thetypical runway of a music video by onemonth. We received a significant spikein views, engagement, and built morefamiliarity around the track than we wouldnormally have.”The whole approach was built aroundthe Nashville mantra, “It all starts with asong.” Holley says: “It’s really cool to hearsuch different variations of the track fromacoustic to a capella. A powerful songtranscends all formats and demographics.”Holley says the campaign saw digitalteams from across Warner Music Group(Warner Music Nashville, Atlantic Recordsand Warner Bros. Records) work togetherto make it a success. He believes thatmajor labels and publishers are still at theheart of the music industry. “There is areason YouTube Stars — who are hugelytalented — cover our songs. Living inNashville and seeing how much work goesinto the creative process is inspiring. Wehave writers and artists in town that crosscollaborate and extending this to othermusicians in the YouTube ecosystem onlyadds more value.”27