Key Learnings from Beyoncé’s Disruptive Music Marketing

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Marketing and Communications Best Practises from Queen Bee

Social media hype and virality continue to make the world spin faster. TikTok dance trends and socio-cultural discussions on online forums such as Reddit and X have contributed to the growth trajectory and popularity of new music releases as they rise or fall. But one celebrity dares to defy the conventional rise and demise of contemporary music trends – Beyoncé.

Beyoncé has taken a unique approach when marketing her most recent album – Renaissance. Despite the constant demand from fans, the artist continues to be silent on any music video release, limiting her tour to a select few countries, and refusing aggressive marketing campaigns.

Her unconventional approach to album promotion has generated an impressive $579 million, making her the highest-grossing tour by a female artist in history as of October 2023. What can marketers and communicators learn from Beyoncé’s alternative approach to music marketing in a fast-evolving consumer culture?

Engage Communities Authentically: The Renaissance album is inspired by the vibrant Ballroom community and is a tribute to Beyonce’s Uncle Johnny, who introduced her to house music. The ballroom community is an African-American and Latinx underground community with a large presence in North and South America, Europe, East and Southeast Asia, and Australasia, and is famed for house music, chic fashion pieces, and breathtaking vogue performances. Ballroom-inspired artists such as Sam Smith, Azealia Banks, Jennifer Lopez, Frank Ocean, Katy Perry and Calvin Harris.

Beyoncé stayed true to the underground nature of the inspiration of her album by not releasing music videos and official visuals. But what makes ballroom ‘underground’? Ballroom was exclusively available to people it admitted to its events – specifically those belonging to ethnic minorities in the United States. Its music, dance, and fashion were only made available to the world when Madonna featured it in the song and music video – Vogue.

Staying true to the organic creativity and exclusivity of the community that inspired the album, Beyoncé gave her listeners, members of the ballroom community, and fans the power to create their visuals. Fans gave life to the album making the album experience authentic.

Fans created their costumes and organised parties, concerts, and balls worldwide. Organic TikTok videos, Instagram reels, and Facebook posts of the events immersed the public into the fan-dominated visual interpretations of the album. Eventually, Beyoncé organised an exclusive star-studded event for the album during the Paris Fashion Week, which was a marketing tactic inspired by her fan-led events.

Challenge Conventions: Entertainment Weekly reported that Beyoncé wore 148 outfits from renowned houses Balenciaga, Gucci, Ferragamo, Givenchy, Rabanne, Mugler, Loewe, and Dolce & Gabanna; designers – Iris Van Herpen, Gaurav Gupta, and even Arab designers – Ellie Saab, Georges Hobeika, and Amina Mauddi. Her fashion diplomacy generated a whopping $187 million in media coverage, helping brands such as Alexander McQueen garner $7.7 million and Tiffany & Co. $7.2 million. Beyoncé’s fashion choices ignited creativity amongst fans as they interpreted and remade couture and designer clothes with their creativity for her concerts. Instead of selling traditional merchandise to her fans, she challenged them to create their own costumes for her concerts.

Beyonce went on to launch a partnership with Balmain – the Renaissance Couture, which gave additional visuals to the hit album. Vogue India reported that the African-American icon triggered a trend of silver fashion after asking her fans to wear silver, including A-list celebrities to her birthday concert.

Exclusivity Creates Demand: Beyoncé limited her Renaissance World Tour to only 57 cities, all of which are in Europe and the U.S.A.  Fans living in South America, Asia, Africa, and Australasia waited until the last day of her tour hoping to hear concert dates in their respective cities.

Fans were prompted to plan vacations in countries that had concert dates. Ticketmaster reported in February 2022, that the demand for concert tickets exceeded the number of tickets available by 800%. And because of the high demand and limited seats available, the prices of tickets surged and quickly sold out. The live Beyoncé experience had tickets priced as high as US$1,000 to US$5,000, giving fans a more intimate and distinct experience per concert. According to Forbes, Beyoncé’s concert created a value of US$ 4.5 billion to the U.S. economy which heavily benefitted African-American women entrepreneurs.

Fans living in countries with no concerts relied on online merchandise, continued listening to the album, and continuously shared concert footage – making Beyoncé’s presence stronger than ever.

This consequently made her upcoming Renaissance Film another in-demand experience with fans awaiting tickets even before they went on sale. Unlike her limited world tour, the film is expected to be released on a much wider global scale.

Renaissance is a gift that keeps giving for the multi-award-winning Grammy artist and her loyal army of Beyhives. Beyoncé harnessed the power of making her album and its music experience exclusive to reiterate her status as an unconventional thinker and experimental artist. With a revolutionary listening and concert experience, she has pushed the boundaries of what music can do. Marketers and communications professionals can surely take cues from Queen Bee.

Words By: John Albert Pagunsan, Junior Account Executive & Copywriter at Atteline