Album promotion gets creative
Published: 13 Dec. 2015, 19:05
Lucid Fall [JOONGANG ILBO]
Even if he does go on TV, the singer usually appears on a late-night TV music show that is not as popular as the prime-time shows that focus on the hottest young K-pop acts.
But the 40-year-old singer-songwriter recently went on CJ O Shopping, a TV home shopping channel, to promote his newest album, “For Somebody.”
The album includes a CD with 15 tracks, along with a fictional story written by the singer, a postcard set and 10 tangerines that the singer raised himself in Jeju, for a total of 29,900 won ($25.30).
Singer-songwriter Lucid Fall, center, and You Hee-yeol, left, discuss Lucid Fall’s newest album on CJ O Shopping, a home shopping channel, on Friday at 2 a.m. [SCREEN CAPTURE]
At first, home shopping and the singer seemed like an unlikely pair, but Lucid Fall’s gentle, soothing voice turned the home shopping channel into a decent music show for a few minutes.
The singer also detailed how he came to write the stories for this album. While the show’s host, Lucid Fall and You Hee-yeol - a singer-songwriter and the head of Antenna Music, which represents Lucid Fall - discussed various topics, from the taste of tangerines to Lucid Fall’s new songs, all 1,000 of the limited-edition album sold out within 10 minutes.
K-pop girl group f(x) recently held a media exhibition to mark their comeback. [EACH AGENCY]
Some fans of Lucid Fall also found it a cute and witty way to sell CDs, but it was a serious attempt for the singer.
“The music market revolves around digital music, and music is consumed way too fast. They kind of evaporate the moment they are released,” Ahn Hyo-jin, head of the promotional team at Antenna Music, said.
“But for people who create music, CDs are still an important medium, and Lucid Fall wanted his music to be appreciated on CDs, not digitally. That was the main reason for him to come up with the package.”
Boy group Bangtan Boys also recently organized a media exhibition to coincide with their new album release [[EACH AGENCY]]
“I didn’t want people just listening to one title track out of my 12 songs,” Shin said at a press conference last month. “So I decided to release them in two parts.”
In order to survive in the highly competitive music market, agencies have been using increasingly creative promotional tactics.
SM Entertainment, which represents the K-pop girl group f(x), held an exhibition titled “4 Walls” in October prior to the release of the group’s new album of the same title. At the exhibit, various teaser videos were unveiled each day for only four hours, from 8 p.m. to midnight.
The exhibit included exclusive photos and video clips of the group. [SUNG SO-YOUNG]
The exhibition was organized to mark the release of the group’s new mini-album, “Hwayangyeonhwa Pt. 2.”
“It is an album promotion, but we also wanted to tell the whole story related to the ‘Hwayangyeonhwa’ album,” said Kang Seol-hee, an assistant manager for the public relations team at Big Hit Entertainment, the K-pop group’s agency.
The first part of the album came out in April, and the second part was released in late November.
“I feel like more and more musicians attempt to plan this type of promotion,” Kang added. “We believe this is a way of returning the love of our fans, too.”
BY SUNG SO-YOUNG
[[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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