Pesky Students

2009-07-21T11:44:00.000-07:00

I've been working with students in one way or another since I was asked to stop being one by the head of the Sociology Department at Loughborough University sometime back in 1988. They were an interesting beast back in that day, a genuine niche market and one where you could really get some support for new acts. Even at Loughborough, a college dominated by engineering and sports science, subjects attracting students not know for their love of Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, a chap called Ian was able to successfully promote regular gigs by the likes of the Mekons and the Three Johns while I looked after the mainstream acts at the union. But no more can you look at universities and think -'thats a good place to break a band'.

Over the years since my exit from Loughborough with a boot stamp on my backside I have promoted to students in many different ways. The student union was always seen as the epicentre, get the Ents Manager and you get the students. But all that has changed. Students in the Brown era are a very different breed. Many study close to home, and the union is not the hive of activity it once was. With money tight and other issues to the fore you are better off targeting the gyms than the bars. And the students are so vast a group now that they ARE the mainstream, not a niche.

At my company 1917 we decided a year or three ago to reinvent student promotion, change it from the tick box it has become and make it effective again. And we are doing that. Slowly but surely people are realising that our way is one that works. We focus our efforts almost entirely on students of the creative arts - film, art, fashion and in particular contemporary music. Spend less money reaching less students but ensure that those you hit are interested in the product you are selling. Hit 10,000 kids at Loughborough and the percentage interested in the new signing to Island records will be in single figures. Hit 1000 at Brighton Institiute of Modern Music and the total will be around 80%. They may not like all they hear, but they will pay attention to it and that is half the battle. But its not just new acts we bring to colleges. Over the last academic year we worked with tutors to ensure that Island Records was a case study for the whole year, generating interest in and awareness of acts as diverse as Tom Waits, Grace Jones and Cat Stevens in a new young market. We take films to these students and engage them in challenges that link them directly to industry.

And now we are launching a student facing website, www.diggingyourscene.co.uk, that will allow students and non students alike to pool their talents and create together, whilst also giving labels and distributors a way of reaching large numbers in one go. Check it out.

And thats what we do. I am going to write regular blogs on how the company is progressing and the inroads we are making with students, intercut with crap about bands I like. The history of music is an area of great interest to me, and through 1917 we are trying to educate a new generation about some of the greatest artists that have breathed. Get on board...

Thoughts from the village

Pesky Students