Muse
- 1. Muse and the World CREATIVE ASSIGNMENT #2 BRITTANY HAVERS COMM 2F00
- 2. What is a " Muse"? ? Muse is a rock band from England. They've been together for ages and have dipped into many different genres of music; grunge, pop, dubstep, etc. ? Their main recordings and songs tend to follow the rock genre, so I just labelled them as that. If anything, they're more eccentric and unique. It's hard to pin down their exact genre. Also they won 2010's Grammy for Best Rock Album. ? Since 2014 marks the 20th anniversary of Muse's formation, I feel like they were the only choice for me. ? Muse includes members: Matthew Bellamy (lead vocals, lead guitar, keytar (yes keytar, it is amazing), piano), Dominic Howard (percussion) and Chris Wolstenholme (bass, some vocals, keyboard).
- 3. Releases Overall, Muse has released 6 studio albums, and 4 live albums . Here are my highlights. First Album Favourite Album Favourite Track Showbiz Black Holes and Revalations Their latest release, The 2nd Law has my favourite track, Panic Station. Muse has sold over 15 million albums worldwide!
- 4. Social Media Presence ? Muse has one of the best websites I've seen for a band. Muse.mu is like a HUB of information and connections to the Muse world. ? Muse.mu is that band's official site, where it has everything a fandom needs. Tour dates, merchandise, twitter feeds, social media link, etc. ? Speaking of social media, Muse also has accounts for twitter (band as a whole, and personal accounts), facebook (personal and band accounts), myspace (who even does that any more, Muse apparently with personal and band links), youtube, and bebo.
- 5. The Muse.mu board. The muse.mu forum is THE place to be for Muse fans. With over 570,000 members, it is the easiest way to make Muse friends.
- 6. My Experience ? I used to go on the Muse forum all the time, especially when a concert was coming up. I've been to two Muse shows, both in Toronto, one in 2013 and one in 2010. ? I met some good people on there from my hometown, and we bonded and still talk from time to time on facebook. ? As well, I have a few friends from England that enjoy Muse just as much as I do. ? I find the older I get, the less crazy I get about fandoms. I like to enjoy myself, enjoy the music or tv show or whatever to myself and people I like. Sometimes little girls and people in general can ruin things or make it annoying to think about.
- 7. Engaging your Audience Does Muse engage their audience? ? Sometimes. My friend got a tweet from Dom (drummer) and died a bit. ? Matt does not usually tweet at all, nor does he really talk at concerts so that is not surprising. He sticks to his talent: being an awesome musician. ? Chris has a bunch of kids, and tweets on the important days, etc. ? Each member also talks about important things and dates on their social media feed. ? Their collective band twitter account, @muse is used for updates and important things.
- 8. Can they Improve? ? Sure! It'd be nice to get a tweet from anyone famous, but it is sort of unrealistic. And to be honest, most of the time people who spend their lives tweeting tend to annoy people. Your tweet may seem important to you and important to get to that person but they probably won't see it and you're clogging my timeline. Stop. ? But overall, whoever runs their social media does a great job in ensuring that fans are informed of the important stuff, and the forum members take care of all the other stuff. And Muse always does little contests for exclusive clips and stuff. It is fantastic.
- 9. Muse's App. Muse also created a Muse360 app, available in the Apple App store. This is a viewer for their concert, Origin of Symmetry Live at Reading. This app allows you to zoom in and out on the 5 live 360 cameras they used. It's a pretty amazing experience.
- 10. Street teams? ? Muse had very humble origins, and they've always done what they wanted to do. Their styles and songs reflect how they feel about music and what they truly enjoy. ? As a fan this is refreshing. Many bands fall into the wrong hands and go a completely different direction than they originally started as. They've always done music for themselves and if people liked it, all the better. ? That being said, I don't see Muse going out and pounding the pavement. Personally I think as a band that's old over 15 million CDs, they don't have too. ? They do have people who will place posters, put ads out, etc. As much as they'd probably like to, their time could be better used relaxing after the extremely long tours they do, or spending time recording music or with their families.
- 11. Muse is completely dedicated to their fans and music, and I personally think that they don't need to go out and put their name out. They've done tracks for many popular movies (the Twilight saga for example, as Stephanie Meyer is a huge Muse fan). They show their dedication and feelings about fans by playing amazing concerts, doing meet and greets and producing quality music. Their music of course has grown over time but you can see their roots and influences with every new album they put out. They're a band that is focused on their music, and enjoying what they're doing. Panic Station is one of my favourite songs for this reason, it is a funky song and the video is hilarious. It is them having a great time in Japan, doing what they want too. They're all very talented and their work has paid off. As much as I liked being one of the few people around who knew about them years ago, I love talking to people about them and being able to find friends who enjoy similar music.
- 12. The Muse Cycle Muse works on a great album Muse gets some rest People go to shows (sometimes more than one per tour) I feel like this cycle best describes my experience with Muse. The album is finished. People buy the album Muse goes on tour for album They're one of the few bands that I'm willing to shell out money for, rather than just streaming the music. As well, I'm friends with some dedicated fans who've went to three or four shows per tour. One girl even went to London just to see them, even after seeing them in Toronto and Detroit a month prior.
- 13. First Concert March 9th 2010 My experience with this concert was unforgettable. I managed to wrangle two floor tickets for myself and my boyfriend and we were at the barrier for the entire show. It was amazing to be RIGHT in front of a band I'd admired for so long. It was tiring and I was pushed a lot, but I held my ground and stood in my spot the entire 2 hour set. It was an incredible concert because it showed they really loved what they were doing. My own photo
- 14. How I feel as a fan... I feel as if Muse is one of the more accessible bands on the internet. At least the ones I listen to and enjoy. I tend to stay away from tweeting or posting on their facebook pages because I don't feel the need too, but the Muse online community is such a vast one. It's so great to be able to have found friends in my hometown from one website, and I'm thankful for Muse because they did this. Through their music and talent, they've brought thousands of people together.
- 15. My Personal Growth I feel as if I may not be alone in this pattern, but may just be one of many that falls into it. Find new artist/band you love. Get any and all information on them Go to a concert/ then fall into Post concert depression. Listen to their music until you can't listen any more. Slowly find a new thing to obsess about, maintaining your feelings but suppress them lightly.
- 16. Muse in the Future. I think Muse has a great thing going. They know, or their PR does, how to use social media to their advantage. By having accounts on all the popular social networks, they're ensuring that the most amount of fans can access information about them. This is the best thing for any band. You need to get your information out there but also make sure that people pay attention. Muse does just that by helping their fans come together from all over the world.
- 17. Thank you. Thank you, if you've viewed my power point up until this area. If you go to the next slide, you'll see a great video, which I may have talked about in this presentation.