DATE: 2011

ORGANISATION Specialmoves

ROLE: Producer

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For the 2011 release of their fourth studio album The Future is Medieval, the Kaiser Chiefs and Universal Music decided on a new release strategy. They wanted to allow fans to choose 10 tracks from a selection of 20, arrange them in any order, customise the artwork and download their unique album, all via a website. I was the producer on the team that worked with the record label and the advertising agency Weiden and Kennedy to realise that vision.

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The site brought together a steampunk / victoriana aesthetic and some neat Flash interactivity as well as hand illustrations. What was interesting about this idea was that it came in the wake of The Kaiser Chiefs’ last album release, which was leaked days before it was formally released. The concept of this album was an attempt to address the issue of piracy by giving fans a personal stake in the unique albums they were creating. Whilst some would undoubtedly download all of the tracks for free on torrent sites, the point was that an album created by someone else would not have your personal stamp on it.

 

This was taken further by the site encouraging fans to create specific versions of the album to market and sell to their friends, giving them a return of £1 per album sold. Admittedly this came at the expense of an album experience precisely curated by the artist, but the idea was an exciting one to explore.

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The site was featured in the Creative Review Annual for 2011, and went on to win a host of awards, including:

• Two D&AD Yellow Pencils

• Two Silver Cannes CyberLions,

• Two Creative Circle Awards,

• Two IAB Creative Showcases Grand Prix