Positioning
Table of contents Musical style appreciated by this audience 3 Model based on the three following singers 4 Maya s musical identity 6 Maya on stage 7 Videoclip / Promotion 7 Stunt 8 Presence on the WEB 8 Positioning of Maya 9 2
oung virtual singer whose target audience is the 15-25 crowd, the Y largest consumers of music and products. Girls in particular are more prone to listen to and buy various styles of music. The young girls/ women are looking for many things in a singer: a friend, an idol, somebody who sings about subjects they don t dare talk about. This segment of the population dictates what plays on the radio. Musical style appreciated by this audience On the technical side, the musical style is pop. We avoid the bubblegum version and embrace what plays on the radio these days: electronic pop, with a low BPM (beat per minute). Recent examples are Magnets by Disclosure and Lorde, Work by Rihanna and Drake, Lean On by Major Lazer and MØ or Sorry by Justin Bieber. The Virtual Love song demo produced by Billboard and co-written by Vanessa Rocque, Maya s voice, is a good example of what we re looking for. Maya possesses a clothing style selected to please her young fans. Cuts strongly inspired by the kandall and kylie clothing line as well as Quebec designer Ève Gravel. 3
Model based on the three following singers Taylor Swift For her success in many levels of the industry: her albums smash records; her concerts sell out immediately. She has also become a fashion reference and is always dressed to the nines. Her image is a good mixture of sexiness, but always in a classic beauty mode. Her recent hits like Shake it Off and Blank Space are her response to those who denigrate and mock her. Her story is a great marketing idea: a teenager who plunges into country music by singing about her first loves, her first break-ups and her insecurities. Her lyrics directly come out of her personal diaries. Her proximity with her fans explains her success. She sends gifts to certain lucky fans at Christmas; she sells herself like a product on her Instagram account, like the world s most approachable millionaire. She now declares herself a feminist and promotes girl power with her squad: a group of beautiful and famous stars, who are all best friends. This is a real fantasy scenario for female teenagers. She has also become a reference for teens that are victims of intimidation. Her song Mean is a case in point. She mentioned it when she won the Grammy award for Album of the year in 2016, following comments by Kanye West who was taking credit for her success, referring to the incident that took place at the MTV Awards in 2009. 4
Katy Perry Another singer considered by her target audience to be a friend. She radiates a sort of innocence, one of the reasons behind her success. But it s mostly her repertoire that has made her a hit. Lots of her songs end up in the top of the sales charts. She has even managed to tie a record established my Michael Jackson by scoring five number one hits out of a single album. Her songs are perfect pop concoctions, with messages that speak to the young (Roar, Firework, Teenage Dream, etc). She has a comic and colorful side to her that wins her many fans, and allows her to talk about more mature and dark subjects without falling into bad girl mode like Rihanna (I kissed a girl, Dark Horse, Waking up in Vegas, etc), a mode we wish to avoid for Maya. Her success won her an invitation to perform the 2015 Super Bowl half-time show. She had a movie out, Katy Perry: Piece of Me, which was a box-office success. She also starred in many successful advertisement campaigns. Even though she is considered less a reference in fashion than Taylor Swift, she is also, like Ms. Swift, a spokeswoman for Covergirl. Lady Gaga The singer our target audience would love to be like for her eccentricity, her extravagance and her creative talent. She likes to take chances and push back boundaries. She has great credibility in the industry and in the public in general. She manages to put out hits such as Just Dance and Bad Romance, all the while redefining the look of popular music. She is an exceptional dancer and a classical pianist. Her talent is undeniable. She has collaborated with many industry giants, like Elton John and Tony Bennett. She was chosen to perform the homage to The Sound of Music at the 2015 Academy awards as well as the tribute to David Bowie at the 2016 Grammy awards show. 5
Maya s musical identity Maya s musical style will be configured as to insure that these three artists own musical signature find themselves in her repertoire. The subjects conveyed in her songs and her musical styles will connect with the fans we want to reach, but will also reflect the virtual singer s emotions, her quest for a humanity that will always escape her and her affection for the virtual universe she comes from and for the real world that has adopted her. In Maya, we find an artist who wants to conquer her fans, all the while preserving her own identity. The Virtual Love demo is a good example of her inner struggle: she wants to understand love, but doesn t possess the capacities or the experience of human beings. Maya is conflicted, but she still wants to create energetic music that pleases young people and makes them want to dance. She will stay in the pop world, but will make herself known for her exploration of different sound environments. Her first album will be used to tell her story, without becoming a musical comedy. We discover her on this record, which contains «club ready» songs as well as ballads. We are working with producer/beatmaker Billboard whose services were used by Britney Spears for her album Femme Fatale, well received by the public and the critics. He will be able to polish the songs and add an international touch to Maya s repertoire. Neweb.tv has chosen singer Vanessa Rocque, whose powerful, crystal-clear voice is perfect for what we want for Maya. Neweb.tv will also launch a record company, which will facilitate making all investments profitable. Negotiations are under way with Universal Music for the digital distribution of 6
Maya s songs. Select Digital, another key player in the Canadian music industry, has also shown interest. Maya on stage Maya will be accompanied on stage by ordinary, real-life persons, which will had to the curiosity factor and help ticket sales. Her band will be composed of actual musicians who will play live on stage. The technology used will allow Maya to transform herself in front of the audience: she will become tall, will change color, become invisible, develop diamond skin and offer a host of other stupefying visual morphs. Maya s show will be a unique, never-before seen experience. Maya, who will have her own personal story, will be able to share confidences with her fans at her concerts. She will be able to talk to them between songs, for a realistic effect never accomplished before when compared to Japanese vocaloids and holograms. The cameras present will allow the actress/singer backstage to react in real time. For Maya s show, we are creating rich tableaux that will tell her story and illustrate her state of mind. The show is about 25 minutes long. Theaters seating from 500 to 1000 spectators are preferred, to accommodate the show s technical needs. There will be dancers. We are thinking of adding an interactive element, to facilitate the participation of fans in the audience. Videoclip / Promotion For Maya s first clip, we want to focus on how her virtual world melts into our own. We want to organize a small, private concert, inviting people who are not expecting to see 7
this virtual being sing, dance, and most of all, speak and exchange in real time. This is the kind of honest and spontaneous interaction we are looking for to introduce Maya to the world. Stunt We could also surprise people in a public space with our technology. Who can expect to suddenly find themselves face-t-face with a 3-D virtual character, who exchanges freely with you and can answer your questions in a very human, non-robotic way? As a publicity stunt, it s a fantastic possibility that could go viral on sites like Facebook and YouTube. Presence on the WEB Maya is born out of the Year 2000 bug, so her existence comes for the Web. It is really important that her presence on the Internet be impeccably handled. -A complete website, which offers exclusive information on Maya. Backstage videos would be a good idea, or a simple forum where she can answers her fans queries. Websites are less necessary since the advent of social media, but she has to have her own site, very intimately linked to her origin and backstory. -Facebook is a true giant. The site generates immense revenues thanks mostly to its ads. Every artist in search of visibility has to have a Facebook page. It s a necessary platform for selling the image of any singer. -Other social media such as Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr are also excellent assets. 8
-YouTube has become over the years its own video universe. YouTube has its own stars, its own ad campaigns, shows critics are raving about, its own line of full-length movies, etc. The advent of the vlog, or video-blog, allows creating a link between these new celebrities and those of traditional media. The site could allow Maya to produce video capsules in addition to her video clips. Positioning of Maya As a product, Maya connects with teens thanks to a non-dangerous image, one that is rather alluring. She makes pop music that can be enjoyed by a wide audience. Yes, she is not from our world and yes, her origins and her level of autonomy can be a source of concern for some, but she is not a bad girl, like other singers (Rihanna, Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus, etc). All these singers have one thing in common: they use their sexuality to sell their product. We are avoiding this for Maya, whose target audience is teenage girls. That does not mean that Maya is a concept for young children. Her songs, such as Virtual Love, can address mature and complex themes. But we are not touching the subject of Maya s sexuality, to avoid falling into uncomfortable situations one can find, for instance, in the movie Her, because after all, Maya isn t human. We are not looking to sell Maya with some sex appeal, but rather with the qualities that make her unique in the modern singing world: she is the only holographic occidental singer. Unlike her Japanese cousin Hatsune Miku, she has a beautiful human voice, impossible to confuse with a software program. This is what makes her different from her competition and feeds the mystery around her. Personality-wise, Maya is a sort of immature genius; she may be an encyclopedia of knowledge, she doesn t have a clue about the subtleties and nuances of human personalities. Through her music, there is a real joie de vivre and an immense enthusiasm to learn about our world and to become a part of it. Her songs lyrics will easily be able to tell her story while making her endearing and almost human to her fans. Certain songs will be common 2010 pop standards, while others will be more quirky and unique to her situation. 9
Maya has a certain resemblance to Ariel in The Little Mermaid, with her great naivety and her lack of understanding of all things human. If Maya falls in love with her guitarist, but cannot feel human emotion, is she truly feeling love? Can she actually feel anything, for that matter? We will try to address these questions through her songs and create an infatuation with her; her fans will want to know who she is. The mystery surrounding her will be another important element of her image. 10
Yves St Gelais Producteur stgelais@me.com 514 842 6602 (#240) 5524 St Patrick, suite 320, Montréal (Qc) Canada, H4J 3A8