If you are an act the size of The Weeknd, any new marketing campaign is pushing on an open door. He is usually – depending on if there is new music out or not – high in the top 5 of the biggest artists on Spotify and has monthly listeners of over 77m.
For the launch of Dawn FM, his fifth studio album, in January 2022, he was coming off the back of the staggeringly successful After Hours and its towering single ‘Blinding Lights’ (now closing in on 3bn streams on Spotify alone).
Even so, the campaign for the new album was not a case of hiding any lights (blinding or otherwise) under any bushels.
He partnered with Amazon for the 103.5 Dawn FM event that both parties were insisting be described as a “livestream experience”. It was accessible across a number on Amazon-owned platforms, including Twitch and the Amazon Music app.
The actual location was kept secret, with the only information being that it was “somewhere in Los Angeles”.
The Weeknd issued a statement that said, “The power of the ‘103.5 Dawn FM’ experience is that maximum fulfilment comes when all who hear it are tuned in at the same time.” So, just like any broadcast over the past 100+ years.
There was exclusive merchandise linked to the livestream (sorry, “livestream experience”) that was available via Amazon (of course it was). You could fill your virtual basket with all manner of hoodies, T-shirts and sweatshirts.
Pushing the Amazon partnership to the limit, the 34-minute show is also available to watch on-demand on Amazon Prime. It is described as taking place in a “theatrically unsettled and unnerving world”.
It’s part one-man Waiting For Godot, part arthouse film, part standard live show and part conceptual performance.
It shows what can be done if you are one of the biggest acts in the world launching one of the most anticipated albums in the world and go all in with the biggest online retailer in the world.
What lessons are there for acts who are nowhere near the size of The Weeknd? Probably none. But this is an album launch as high-octane spectacle and not intended as a template for others to copy. It still manages to be populist and mainstream without feeling like it is compromising itself artistically.
