For our group’s music marketing project, we were assigned the rock genre, so I chose to focus on Paramore and Twenty One Pilots. I already liked both bands, but researching them made me notice things I had never paid attention to before. I started with their record label, Fueled by Ramen, and then looked at their official websites, interviews, album releases, and social media pages. I began to understand how much work goes into music marketing. It is not just posting a song and hoping people listen. It involves planning out visuals, choosing specific colors for each album era, deciding how they want fans to see them, and building a strong identity. Seeing how Paramore changes their style with every album and how Twenty One Pilots creates a whole storyline behind their music made the project feel really creative and interesting.
My favorite part of the assignment was looking at how both bands connect with their fans. Paramore communicates through honesty and emotion, especially in their lyrics and the way Hayley Williams interacts online. This makes fans feel understood and supported. Twenty One Pilots uses a very different approach by building mystery and symbols into everything they do. Their fans try to solve clues together, which creates a strong sense of community. I liked watching how their digital marketing works, especially through music videos, photo shoots, and the way each album era has a specific look. I also learned that real world marketing still matters a lot. Things like vinyl records, merch, concerts, and magazine interviews help artists stay connected with people outside of social media.
If I could improve anything, I would organize my research chart in a clearer and more brief way so it looked less crowded. I also think I could have compared the two bands more directly, because they represent different sides of the rock genre and use different strategies to reach their audiences. Still, this project helped me understand how much effort goes into promoting music and building a fanbase. It made me appreciate the artists I listen to even more and showed me how creativity and marketing work together to make an artist successful.
Working on this project also helped me realize how much the music world has changed because of technology. Artists now rely on streaming and constant posting to stay relevant, but they still use older methods like going on tours and creating vinyl records to keep fans engaged in a more physical way and not digital. Learning about this mix of new and traditional techniques made me understand rock music on a deeper level and reminded me that every successful artist has a strong plan behind the scenes, not just talent. It made the whole project feel meaningful because I got to see how music and fan culture connect.
