Marketing in an Unfamiliar Mindset
Working at a punk rock record label has been a new and different experience than I’ve ever had before. My name is Delaney Vasvilla and I work at Manic Kat Records in Pomona, NY. I work remotely for my position as a social media intern. I’m in the Klein College majoring in Advertising on the Art Direction track graduating in the spring of 2024.
Working on the Manic Kat Record social media has been a great learning experience for me. I’ve been able to get out of my comfort zone and work in a field in which I wasn’t as knowledgable. I had to immerse myself in the punk rock world and think, “what would punk rock fans want to see and know?” Music is a huge industry that has many opportunities to work in and be creative. Social media is a very important aspect in music. It provides a voice for the brand that the team can communicate with on a daily basis, we can find new artists, promote their music, and create public awareness about the label. I post different series and videos to promotes artists, their new songs, and events like the Holiday Show we have coming up in December. I’ve learned how to educate myself on a topic I’m not familiar with and target it to the right audience. I’ve learned to really listen to the music on the label and be able to give an educated opinion when we are looking for new artists. I’ve learned how to analyze what content is and isn’t working on the account.
My president Peter is very inspirational. He runs this record label himself and is a very professional and stand up guy. He wants everyone to succeed and knows how to have fun while running this impressive business. I’ve gotten to know about many artists with inspirational stories and who are very successful as well. Musicians devote their lives to their music and work very hard to thrive in this industry.
The experience was something I didn’t expect. To be fair, I didn’t know what to expect, but this is unfamiliar territory for me. The music industry is very “go with the flow” and I thought it would be more structured. Artists are so creative; everything is always changing and being perfected. I had a very free and open creative field to do what I wanted on the social media. I needed to figure out what was working and figure out the brands voice and keep that consistent.
I’ve gained experience and knowledge in the music industry that I can carry into my future careers. I see how quickly social media can be booming at one point in time and your engagement decreases, the followers don’t stay and the algorithm doesn’t promote your videos anymore. Seeing that drastic change showed me I really have to commit and come up with a plan, strategy, and execution system to have a consecutive page to keep up with the algorithm and following. This would also be my advice to anyone coming into social media as well.
This sounds so interesting interning at a punk rock record label! I’d imagine that you were really allowed to go off the rails with whatever you wanted to create/post and it’d be received well from Maniac Kat’s followers. I’m glad that you were able to have some creative freedom, I also had creative freedom at my internship and it makes the environment so much better when you’re not heavily restricted. I have a tip for figuring out how to maintain a brand’s visual presence: create templates! Once you make one post (for example, promoting a showcase once a week), use that as a template and just switch out the text and picture(s). This way you don’t have to rack your brain on designing from scratch every week, plus you can create posts quicker, which means you’re getting them out faster and posting consistently- which the algorithm loves.
Delaney, your journey at Manic Kat Records sounds like an incredible adventure! It’s inspiring to see how you’ve embraced the punk rock world and used your creativity in the social media realm. Your ability to immerse yourself in a new field, think from the perspective of punk rock fans, and contribute to the label’s voice is truly commendable. It’s evident that your president, Peter, has been a significant source of inspiration, creating a positive and fun environment while running a successful business.
Wishing you continued success as you carry your newfound experience and knowledge into your future endeavors.
Hi Delaney, I love that you have learned so much from this experience. I never thought of working for a music label, as most of our experiences at Temple are centered around agency work. Your story is a great reminder that advertising is everywhere. Even though you didn’t know what to expect, it’s inspiring that you immersed yourself and learned about things you were unfamiliar with. It’s a super cool experience and I’m sure it’ll help you in the future!
Hi Delaney,
Your journey at Manic Kat Records as a remote social media intern in the punk rock scene is truly captivating. Your commitment to immersing yourself in this dynamic world and understanding what resonates with fans is commendable. Your role extends beyond mere promotion, actively shaping the brand’s voice and engaging with the audience on a personal level. The creative freedom you describe, along with the challenge of finding a consistent voice, highlights the fluidity of social media dynamics.
Hi Delaney, your internship experience is unique, and I loved reading about your experience as a music lover myself! The music industry is huge with so much creative opportunity! It must have been so interesting to dive into each artist to craft strategies to promote their art since they must all have various needs and styles! Also, it was interesting how you brought up how social is constantly changing, that is an aspect of marketing that I still can’t wrap my head around being that quick to be on top of changing trends. Social media marketing calls for constant creativity, being present in media and even thinking before getting ahead of the trend and this is all very strategic.