Music promotion on social media in 2024 is a full-time job. Spending your time researching social media trends, creating reels and posting carousels are all imperative for successful music promotion. The Plugged Into Music Fandom study by Wasserman estimated that income from social platforms such as TikTok, Facebook and Twitch accounted for between $0.8 and $1.2 billion in 2021 (Source: Midia), reflecting just how important social media is for musicians. So, releasing music today is just hours of creating social media content, pitching to Spotify editorial playlists, and radio plugging, right?
Well, it doesn’t always work that way.
On the 22nd of June 2024, Who’s Who and Christopher Saint released their debut album, Ulterior Motives (The Lost Album), on Spooked Media Releasing (Saint’s own record label) with little to no promotion on social media. In fact, Who’s Who don’t even have a social media account on Instagram or TikTok. However, the title track—a generic '80s-sounding new wave number—has, at the time of writing, amassed over a million streams on Spotify. While this might not be groundbreaking for an established artist, for an unknown act self-releasing their debut in 2024? That’s huge.
So, how did they do it?
It was kind of an accident. Let’s back up a bit.
The Lost Track
The full story has already been covered multiple times, so we won’t go into the full details of what exactly transpired. If you want the full story, YouTuber Sully goes into detail here, but we’ll break it down briefly for you:
Before June 22, 2024, the only evidence of the track’s existence was a low-quality, 17-second snippet circulating on YouTube, Reddit, and a site called WatZatSong since 2021. This short clip was initially shared by Carl92 in an effort to find the original artist and the full song, claiming that the file was discovered on an old DVD backup with no information on the song’s title or its creator and featured heavy background noise (presumed by some to be Carl92 opening a packet of crisps).
The clip went viral on YouTube and the r/lostmedia SubReddit with Redditors scrambling to find the song's origin.
After many long hours of searching, one internet sleuth finally found the song’s title and the artist who recorded it; Ulterior Motives by Christopher and Philip Booth. However, he also revealed that the song was written and recorded as a soundtrack for Angels of Passion; an adult film from 1985.
It turns out that the 17-second clip that Carl92 shared was the only part of the song which didn’t feature other… erm… let’s say dialogue from the film. The background noise mentioned earlier was not in fact from a packet of crisps – it was the sound of bedsprings.
Naturally, everyone pretty much came to the conclusion that Carl92 found the song while watching the film and enjoyed it so much that he turned to the internet to find it. Obviously, he didn’t want anyone to find out that he’d heard it in a dirty movie, so in an attempt to hide this secret, he pretended that he found the clip on an old DVD backup. Carl92 has not been seen or heard from since, so we can’t know for sure.
As hilarious as it is that Carl92 was so enamoured by the infectious new wave vibe of this '80s banger that he took to Reddit mid-stroke to attempt to discover its creator, we as musicians and music promoters should take this series of events seriously. We can learn a lot from the hype surrounding the record even if there was no intentional marketing (until one of the band members, Christopher Saint, found out about the cult following the song had achieved and began re-recording, releasing officially and promoting the song).
Let’s be clear – we’re not saying that recording a song for a dodgy movie will make it become viral. However, there are a few lessons to be learned from the unintentional promotion of the release that can’t be ignored.
1. The Power of Mystery and Intrigue
The dusty 17-second clip with the very little information delivered by Carl92 left fans desperate to figure out where the song came from. It offered fans a puzzle to solve, making them feel connected to the music as they searched for answers to the mystery. In fact, the armchair detective who eventually solved the mystery had to trawl through 12 hours of adult footage before eventually finding it on Angels of Passion. In the industry, that’s what we call a mega-fan.
Think about how you can use social media in a similar way. Using short-form content, you can easily create a sense of mystery for your releases. An example of this in full effect is this Instagram clip from the band Blossoms which features Rick Astley fervently asking the camera to help him locate “Gary” before a transition to the band’s music video. If that doesn’t leave you desperate to find out more, nothing will.
2. Target a Niche Audience
It’s unusual for a song to become popular on a subreddit, but the topic gathered momentum because the r/lostmedia fanbase (AKA the Lostwave community) are a small but enthusiastic crowd, intent on finding the origins of mysterious films, music, and memorabilia that have been lost to time. This is a reminder that it’s important to think about where your target audience is. Would your audience want to see funny 30-second clips of your band’s pre-gig shenanigans? Focus on Instagram or TikTok. Would they prefer to see you performing a live DJ in your kitchen at 3 am? Maybe YouTube or Facebook. Or, take inspiration directly and look for some very niche communities on Reddit that might enjoy your releases.
3. Deliver the Goods
Upon realising the cult following the 17-second clip had gained, Christopher Saint re-recorded and released the song since the original masters could not be found. Sure, the song is a fairly generic-sounding piece, but it’s a definite earworm dripping in nostalgia; a recipe for success in the Lostwave community. He knew exactly what the fan base was asking for and delivered a full album of '80s adult-film bangers (no pun intended). Promotion is imperative as an artist, but you must ensure that you can deliver the goods at the end of it all. Make sure your songs are amazing, then put the effort into marketing them.
4. Memes
We’ve already discussed how memes are a powerful promotional tool for musicians, and though spending your time making them is probably not what you want to be doing as a musician, it definitely yields results. Ulterior Motives has not (yet) achieved meme status, but it’s still early days. There are already a few memes knocking around, creating more intrigue and indirectly promoting the song, and the subject matter is pure meme fodder.
Check out how Dexter and the Moonrocks meme-ify their music, referring to it as “sad cowboy music” in this Instagram clip. Avoid becoming a meme entirely, but consider how you can use them to promote your music.
Final Thoughts
As social media becomes saturated with AI-generated content and influencer-driven trends dominating the space, it’s crucial to find ways to stand out. Promoting music in 2024 requires creativity, dedication, and a whole lot of hustle. But there’s also a fair bit of chance thrown in. Though we should always learn from other artists when we’re trying to promote our brand, sometimes, the best lessons in promotion can come from the unlikeliest of places – like an '80s adult film.
While we wouldn’t suggest recording your music for an adult movie in hopes of it going viral, the story of Ulterior Motives shows how powerful it can be to generate intrigue while focusing on a clear target audience. Embrace these elements in your own music promotion and you just might find that success comes in the most unexpected ways.
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