A New Superfan Newsletter...

So, as a dyslexic with mild ADHD, I’ve always tried to circumvent the written word in any way I could. So why with that in mind am I starting this Newsletter? I really do question my sanity, but it’s probably the only way I’m going to stop ex-colleagues, artist managers and industry friends from bugging me to get involved again.

Get involved in what?

Well, I suppose the ‘what’ all started with the Goldman Sachs report into the music industry. Within that report the phrase ‘Super-serving the Superfan’ was coined. Or was it Lucian Grainge's letter to the industry? Oh, I can’t remember, but essentially that's the ‘what’ that people wanted me to get involved in.

It's a term that has been bandied about the industry for a while now. As I've travelled for work (and a little fun) in the UK, US and Europe, the term would invariably come up in a variety of statements like “Everyone’s talking about the superfan, but no one knows what it means” or “we have no idea how to respond, or what to do”. Perhaps that's the real catalyst.

Lots of, let’s say ‘well-meaning’ friends started pressuring me to get involved. As one eloquently said “Buddy, you’ve had a career that’s included artists strategy, fan insight, international markets, experiential & immersive theatre, brand strategy, physical product and you were a really, really bad band manager. If anyone knows what 'Super serving the Superfan' is, it’s you”.

Look, despite what’s been said, I don't have the answer, but I suppose my experience does give me a unique alternate view on the opportunity, because it is a huge opportunity. Now that I’m no longer working within a major record company, I’ve got no axe to grind, no shareholders to satisfy, and an objective, personal view.

So, bowing to the pressure or perhaps just believed the hype, I’ve started this little, humble newsletter. In it, I hope to share insights into what fandom is, unpick Superfandom, explore what 'super serving' could actually mean, but also share interesting innovation, new ideas and great work. Together we’ll cover live, content, experiential, web3, commercial partnership, gamification, immersive, product and much, much more.

Just prepare yourself for some truly shocking spelling as I mangle the English language in an attempt to share interesting ideas, innovations and insight. Oh, and not be boring. Trust me, this newsletter will be anything but boring.

Best Philip

RZA - Bobby Digital in Stereo

I’ve been desperate to share this project, since the initial rough sketches.

MNRK Music Group’s brief: a limited edition 25th anniversary vinyl celebration, evoking the Bobby Digital universe throughout its physical construction. A collectable piece of ‘theatre’ that cannot be pushed onto a shelf between other LP’s, but demands to be experienced and then exhibited as a piece of objet d’art .

Starting with a blank piece of paper, our small MNRK+Pozzoli creative team developed the ideas that became the product you see here. Despite being spread across LA, NYC, London and Milan the team met regularly to brainstorm and develop the project. 

“...with Pozzoli, you’re not working with a vinyl pressing or packaging company. You’re working with, a music company and music people who are passionate about the art within and without.”

When it comes to mid-range products, we owe the fan more than just some jazzy coloured vinyl. IFPI 2023 data shows that 43% of vinyl fans buy it to have a physical record to look. To Look At!.  And a staggering percentage don’t even own a turntable. So tactile, displayable deluxe vinyl sleeve are logical. Collectability, exclusivity, and value can lie within the design and construction of the sleeve of mid-range releases. Not just the colour of the vinyl.

Bobby Digital is the natural extension of the way we have explored this value proposition for a while now. This fun playful product has little Easter eggs buried within the piece for the fan to discover.

Recorded across three LA studios and released on November 24, 1998, Bobby Digital in Stereo was RZA’s first solo album. As the leader of the Wu-Tang Clan he’d produced most of the albums of the group and solo records of the other members.

Bobby Digital is RZA’s alter-ego, a comic book antihero who drives around in a bulletproof Digimobile, “with an externalized id with little regard for manners, foes or anything resembling consequence”.  Visually, Bobby Digital evokes the US blaxploitation movie posters of the early 1970s in all their vibrantly coloured, sexy, explosive, and intense glory.

“43% of vinyl fans buy it to have a physical record to look. To Look At!”

— IFPI

Unsurprisingly, it’s a producer's album, showcasing RZA's talents in the control room. Instead of the edgy street vibe of Wu-Tang Clan, Bobby Digital showcased an experimental sound utilized different production and vocal styles. Instead of the sample heavy beats that RZA became known for, this album leaned heavy on keyboard-driven sound which RZA named the “Digital Orchestra”.

Ghostface Killah, Method Man, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, U-God and Inspectah Deck were the only contributors from the Wu-Tang Clan.

It’s been one of the most fun and rewarding projects to be involved in.

Kate Bush - Hounds of Love - The Baskerville Edition

Over the years, the team at Sound Effects have had the privilege for working with Kate Bush on various projects. Mostly while we were at EMI and Warner Music, but this year, with our amazing friends at Pozzoli in Milan, we got to witness the creation of The Baskerville Edition of The Hounds of Love, Kate’s revolutionary fifth album. This project marks the start of a series of illustrated editions of Kates albums. 

Flashing LED, embedded into artwork.

In that vein, the Baskerville Edition features completely new artwork, created by the Glasgow-based design studio Timorous Beasties. Kate had previously worked with the studio on some of the illustrations for Before The Dawn, her incredible live residency at the Hammersmith Apollo in 2014. 

These projects are all very personal to Kate, being directly involved in every single aspect of the design, development, and production of theses pieces. In constant contact with the Pozzoli + State51 project team, Kate would also attend the weekly project meetings. These pieces are her vision, we simply facilitated that vision, to carry it into physical format.

Belly band

“It’s been great fun putting together these new versions, including coloured vinyl’s for independent record stores. They’ve been designed as a ‘set’. It’s very exciting to see the resurgence of appreciation for the physical presence of albums released on vinyl. It’s how it’s always been for me, especially when I was a teenager. The whole buzz of the record store was part of the experience. Buying an album was an event. There’s a special emotional connection that happens between the possessor of an album, the music and the artwork, when it exists in the real world. It’s something we can treasure in a unique way.”

— Kate Bush, November 2023, UK

The single 180gram vinyl comes in an exceptionally finished gatefold, comprising Timorous Beasties new “hounds” illustration on the cover and presented within a bellyband that features new typography specific to this illustrated edition.

The whole of the inside of the gatefold features Timorous Beasties expansive illustrative interpretation of The Nine Wave suite from the Side 2 of the album. A reinterpretation of the albums original photograph of Kate.

Further attention to design detail is the way the illustration wraps around the edges of the sleeve to great effect. The central figure of the illustration is of course Kate, in lifejacket, cast adrift on an ocean of fantastical sea creatures. Her lifejacket features a red light, brought to life via an embedded LED pulsing slowly and referencing the “the little light shining” lyric from And Dream of Sheep.

The light is powered via a solar panel, incorporated in the back of the sleeve.

The challenges for this piece were creative, structural, and technological. In the case of the latter, the need to source an LED and solar panel that where small enough to be incorporated into what is essential a standard gatefold sleeve. In turn, produce a sleeve design that could structurally support and protect the circuitry and solar panel, seamlessly into the overall design. In the end Pozzoli worked with a partner to develop a bespoke solution for the LED.

The attention to detail on this project even extends to the shipping! An additional unique illustration was created and dedicated specifically for the shipping sticker.

The Baskerville Edition has been accompanied by a beautiful new Cloudbusting-themed video which depicts a young Peter Reich (actor Gus Turner) receiving the record and telling his story.

The Baskerville Edition is available from Kate’s newly designed Fish People website.

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London + Los Angeles

Working With Italian Legends

We are really excited to be working with the legendary, Pozzoli S.p.A.

What can we say? Pozzoli are both a legend and an institution in the music business. Founded in 1968 just outside Milan, they’re an award-winning specialist in the design and manufacture of high-end, bespoke packaging. They’ve created work for superstars of every era:

David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, Radiohead, Ed Sheeran, Pink Floyd, U2, Pearl Jam, Kate Bush, Prince, The Ramones, Eric Clapton, Andrea Bocelli, Liam Gallagher, Taylor Swift, Depeche Mode, Chemical Brothers, Bruce Springsteen, Florence & the Machine, Queen, Paul McCartney, Muse, Tom Petty…

…that's literally just a handful of the artists that they have created stunning work for. 

Pozzoli also works in Film, Cosmetics, Beverage, Fashion and the Luxury Goods sectors creating innovative designs for some of the world’s most famous and desirable brands - Tiffany & Co, Cartier, Chloe, Channel, Armani, Joop!, Coty, Choppard, L’Occitane, Miu Miu, Cerruti 1881, Hublot, Walt Disney, Warner Bros Film and Sony Pictures.

This isn’t the first time that the Sound Effects team has worked within the physical product and bespoke packaging space, far from it. In the past, we’ve explored fans unique interaction and perception of physical product. We’ve discovered how fans feel about physical product, their expectations around bespoke and limited-edition releases. We’ve also uncovered insights about the role of physical product in an evolving music streaming landscape. 

WE'VE TEAM UP WITH ADVERTISING LEGEND NEIL A. DAWSON & COMPANY

Direct Line

Adidas

Asics

BEASTIE BOYS AND THE ADAM YAUCH PLAYLIST

WE'VE BEEN TOTALLY LOST IN THE WONDERFUL BEASTIE BOY BOOK FOR SOME TIME NOW.

In this bestseller Adam Horovitz and Michael Diamond, better known as ADROCK and Mike D, transports you back in time, to a New York that no longer exists.

If you were wannabe B-Boy or B-Girl back in the day, this book will take you back to a mad, bad, colourfully crazy time. It might just remind you how you felt as a wide-eyed teenager.

At the end of the book Mike D takes you through an Adam Yauch playlist which serves to highlight the splendour of a man we lost way to soon.

Listen on Spotify: Taken from Beastie Boys Book (Adam Horovitz & Michael Diamond, Faber & Faber 2018)

And the audible book is a must as well. Hoping to try out some of those recipes soon.

MUSIC FANS ARE AGE AND GENRE AGNOSTIC. GET USED TO IT.

Check out this brilliant clip of YouTube stars Tim and Fred Williams, it shows a truth that sadly the music business and the media seem to miss. Music fans are increasingly age and genre agnostic and have been for quite a long time.

Our work at Sound Effects has shown that this is particularly true with younger fans. Working with audiences all over the world has revealed that music is ‘new’ at the point of discovery, not the point of creation. When a younger music fan discovers Sly & the Family Stone, or Floyd, or Fontaines D.C, or Miles Davis, that music is contemporized by them at that point of discovery.

Any type of consumption data will not reveal these powerful human truths. Thats the type of WHAT data that we’ve talked about before is probably telling you more about the platform or point of consumption than the audience itself. These are human truths that can only arise from WHY insights.