On September 14th, Weezer released there latest album, "Hurley".
There are currently under the Epitaph Records label. They are an independent record label who are currently behind artists such as Alkaline Trio, Off with Their Heads and New Found Glory. This shows that Weezer is with a record label that works specifically with pop punk / alternative rock artists which both reflect their genre of music but also creates opportunities for them to collaborate together.
The website benefits the band in several ways but the five most important ways are:
- It raises awareness of Weezer and "Hurley"
- It promotes the band's upcoming tour and other live performances.
- It constructs the artist's brand identity.
- It appeals to the target audience.
- It provides a platform for them to sell their music and more.
On the website, there are many signifiers concerning the way in which Weezer brands themselves. As they are an alternative rock band, they have gone against the convention of showing themselves, the main imagery is that of Jorge Garcia (Hurley from "Lost"). The band is also trying to brand themselves as being very friendly by showing fun candid shots of themselves and allowing their target audience to engage with them and other fans on a higher level.
From four different sources, I believe I can say who is Weezer's target audience:
- Google Trends - The USA and Canada are looking up Weezer the most which suggests they have more fans in those regions.
- YouTube - From the official video for "Memories" from "Hurley", it confirms that they are targeting an North American / Canadian audience (see below - darker regions are more popular). Additionally, it shows that their audience is mixed gender although mostly male and that they are popular with 13-24 year olds.
- Social Networking Sites - From looking at the band's Facebook likers, Twitter followers and Myspace friends, I see that this confirms what I thought about their audience's age and nationality although it seems there seems to be more gender balance here.
- Members of Weezer.com - Here, I see that their target audience is definitely composed of 13-24 year olds however they seem to be a lot more popular in America than Canada. This may be because they are only touring in the USA right now.
| Where to people who watch "Memories" come from, where darker areas indicate more popularity. |
To appeal to their young target audience, they do many small things but the main thing is that they allow the audience to interact in these 8 particular ways.
- The website actively encourages that fans sign-up (banner at top says "Sign Up" / "Sign In"; banners on the side of the page say the same;
- People who sign up can create their own page with status updates, information, etc.
- Additionally, they can communicate with other fans through the website's forum or use the chat option to talk to people in real time.
- Anybody signed up can upload pictures or videos relating to Weezer (taken at concerts, fan art, themselves wearing the band's merchandise, etc.)
- Visitors of the site can add the band on Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, YouTube or through RSS feed. Also, all of the band members have a Twitter or Myspace.
- Anybody who visits the site can listen to their latest single and watch videos / view pictures.
- Anybody can buy tickets for the band's tours, performances, festivals, etc.
- They can buy merchandise from the site's store such as the usual t-shirts, CDs and posters but one unique thing to Weezer is that you can buy a Snuggie because of the popularity these received on the internet (around about the same time they had a success with their viral hit, "Pork and Beans")
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| The Weezer Snuggie |
Besides the methods previously mentioned, the band and album are marketed with adverts such as the large banner across the top of the page and a few on the sides; people can embed badges (see below) into blogs, signatures, etc.
Apart from the artist and their products not much else is being publicised on the website. A few exceptions are:
- The band's "unofficial fifth member" / their webmaster, Karl Koch
- The venues of their performances
- Other similar artists on the embeddable 'radio' (see below)
In terms of reaching their target audience, many things are important however, the top NUMBER are:
- The internet. Not just because of their website, but also through social networking sites that their audience uses and the fact that they gathered a significant internet following after their single "Pork and Beans" went viral on YouTube.
- The charts. Based on information on Google Trends, they were most popular in the second quarter of 2005. This is because of their album, "Make Believe" which peaked at #2 in the USA and #1 in Canada.
- Other artists. By looking up information about other similar artists such as The All-American Rejects, Deftones and Dashboard Confessional, I have found that they all cite Weezer as an influence to their music. Additionally, Weezer has has live performances with many popular artists in the past including Blink-182, Klaxons and Foo-Fighters.
- Music television. Although I think that this is due to Spike Jonze's popularity, Weezer has had several music videos with a lot of play on music television channels (even today). These include "Buddy Holly", "Undone - The Sweater Song" and "Island in the Sun".
