12.21.2020
Audible Treats Clients Who Pivoted and Innovated In Order to Succeed During a Global Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on all aspects of American life, and the music industry was no exception. Faced with the prospect of no concerts, festivals, or large in-person events like SXSW, all sectors of the industry needed to adapt. Record labels needed to scrap tour-based marketing strategies, artists needed to support themselves without the guaranteed income live performance provides, and promoters had to reconfigure the concept of live music from the ground up.
Audible Treats is proud to work with clients who navigated 2020’s treacherous waters with aplomb, upending their business models in an effort to face an unprecedented challenge. The Audible Treats Game-Changers of 2020 all found innovative ways to survive and thrive during an impossibly tough year.
Check their stories below:
TECH & MUSIC DISCOVERY:
TikTok
tiktok | desktop website
TikTok was one of music’s defining commercial and culture-shaping forces in 2020, propelling hits up the charts and introducing music fans to new artists. As the spaces where people normally enjoy music were impacted by the pandemic, TikTok helped fill the need for communal musical experience. Over 85 songs that trended on TikTok became Billboard Hot 100 hits, and 15 of those topped a Billboard Chart (including Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage” and Jason Derulo & Jawsh 685’s “Savage Love”). Dozens of artists who emerged on the platform signed major label deals.
TikTok was also an innovator in the livestream space in 2020, broadcasting The Weeknd Experience, an interactive expanded reality performance by The Weeknd, to an audience of over 2 million fans, and hosted LIVE streams with Miley Cyrus, Jennifer Lopez, Rivers Cuomo, Trippie Redd, and many more.
LIVE MUSIC:
Rolling Loud
website | twitter | instagram | facebook
Since its origins as a single-day festival in Miami, Rolling Loud has transformed into a worldwide festival behemoth. But more crucially, Rolling Loud also established a recognizable and valuable brand equity–the name “Rolling Loud” is synonymous with Hip-Hop culture in 2020.
That brand equity allowed Rolling Loud, led by co-founders Tariq Cherif & Matt Zingler, to make a major pivot as the pandemic shut down the live music industry. Inking a partnership with livestream giant Twitch, Rolling Loud transformed into a full-fledged media company, offering a diverse array of weekly programming with high-profile guests from the worlds of music, sports, and gaming.
Rolling Loud’s Twitch partnership also included two “Loud Stream” virtual festivals. Featuring performances from Trippie Redd, Swae Lee, Gunna, Ski Mask The Slump God, and many more, Rolling Loud’s “Loud Stream” virtual festivals provided hours of live music (no pre-recorded sets) and entertaining between-sets commentary, drawing millions of unique viewers and twice topping Pollstar’s weekly Livestream Chart.
Collectiv Presents
instagram | official site
It is a special kind of risk to start a live events company during a global pandemic, but Collectiv Presents co-founders Chris Den Uijl, Lucas King, and Michael Berg managed to pull off the impossible. The company innovated a new kind of socially-distant concert experience, organizing drive-in hybrid concerts in both Chicago and Atlanta. The hybrid concerts featured performances from A-list talent like Major Lazer, Omar Apollo, Steve Aoki, Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, Trampled By Turtles, comedian Iliza Shlesinger, and DEADMAU5, and many of them sold all available tickets. Collectiv is most proud of safely creating jobs for artists, their teams, venue crews, and of course, bringing live entertainment back to the fans.
PRODUCTION:
Internet Money
soundcloud | twitter | instagram | youtube
Founded by Taz Taylor as a type-beat factory, Internet Money has evolved into one of the industry’s most powerful hit-making collectives. Recorded over a period of weeks during quarantine, Internet Money worked to prove their status as the game’s top producers with B4 The Storm, their first album as lead artists. Recruiting a murderer’s row of rap talent, including Future, Swae Lee, Kevin Gates, Lil Tecca, and many more, the album debuted in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200. Internet Money made their biggest impact with their single “Lemonade,” one of the year’s biggest hits. Buoyed by a hook from Don Toliver, with flashy guest verses from NAV & Gunna, “Lemonade” peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100, generated over 500 million streams across platforms, and culminated in their live TV debut with a performance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
Links:
Audible Treats: official site | instagram | twitter