Sandbox Issue 250: The power of smaller playlists
April 16, 2020
Lead: The likes of New Music Friday and Today’s Top Hits might theoretically get your music in front of the most people; but if they are not listening, then what’s the point? In a business that has long run on the assumption...
Lead: Music is critical to YouTube while the music industry (beyond the politics of the value gap debate) is hugely reliant on the platform. But so too are other content types. We look at the biggest channels on YouTube generally...
Lead: Personalisation is a powerful way to stand out in a noisy marketplace and to make fans feel involved with things. It all, however, has to be handled with care as one person’s “tailored messaging” is another person’s...
Sandbox Issue 245: Catalogue Marketing Rejuvenated
February 6, 2020
Lead: With pretty much everything available at all times, the fundamentals of catalogue marketing have had to bend to the needs of the streaming market and the social media landscape. There is still a role for the deluxe...
Sandbox Issue 244: How to Make a Big Artist Comeback
January 23, 2020
Lead: Don’t call it a comeback. Actually, DO call it a comeback. Fans today not only expect all the music in the world to be instantly available, they also expect every pop star to be available at all times. But musicians...
Welcome to the first Sandbox of 2020. Lead: It is now 10 years since we published the very first edition of Sandbox, so to start a new decade we speak to marketers from around the world about the tools and trends that shaped...
Sandbox Issue 242: The Year’s Best Music Marketing Campaigns. 2019
December 12, 2019
It is that time again when we highlight the best music marketing campaigns of the year. We genuinely were flooded with entries this year and therefore had to increase the number that made the final cut to 50 simply because...
Sandbox Issue 241: Music Merchandising Moves On
November 28, 2019
Lead: Billboard has just announced new chart rules around merchandise and album bundles in the US (effective from January 2020), seeking to close some of the loopholes that have been exploited here in recent years. This could...
Sandbox Issue 240: Music Marketing’s Wellness and Fitness Drive
November 13, 2019
Lead: Wellness and health have never been more culturally central than now – which is clearly a good thing. And within this, music is playing its part as acts soundtrack meditation apps and playlists power gym workouts....
Sandbox Issue 239: Music and Advertising’s tense union
November 4, 2019
Lead: The old rules of advertising are long gone – as is a lot of the inherent guesswork around advertising’s effectiveness. In its place has come greater tracking of ad spend and ad impact, but the entire process itself...
Sandbox Issue 238: Remixes Hit Saturation Point
October 17, 2019
Lead: Lil Nas X might have broken on TikTok but it was his deft use of multiple remixes (and collaborations) that kept ‘Old Town Road’ in the air throughout most of 2019. He claims he has 25 remixes of follow-up track...
Sandbox Issue 237: VIEWTUBE. When Music Video Plays Get Juiced
October 3, 2019
Lead: Sony Music India artist Badshah claimed to have broken the 24-hour record on YouTube for 75m plays of his track ‘Paagal’ in July. Then people started asking questions. It eventually emerged that the track’s success...
