Background information

Twenty One Pilots were formed in 2009 by high-school friends Tyler Joseph, Nick Thomas, and Chris Salih. The pop trio built an enormous regional following across Ohio and the Midwest, spurred on by constant energetic touring, shrewd use of interactive social media, and connecting with fans on a grassroots level. Twenty One Pilots self-released their eponymous debut album of rap-infused high-tech pop in December 2009 before Thomas and Salih left the band in 2011; Tyler Joseph carried on with new member Josh Dun.

Later that year, second album Regional at Best surfaced, the first with the new duo lineup. The pair also gained popularity through publicly releasing a series of videos made by their friend Mark Eshelman. In 2012, they signed to Atlantic subsidiary Fueled by Ramen, releasing the Three Songs EP in the summer of that year and working with Adele producer Greg Wells on Vessel, their debut album for the label. Vessel saw release in January of 2013, and the band was scheduled to support it with an international tour deep into the year.

Genre21 Pilots have several genres, for example;Alternative hip hop,Electro pop,Indie pop,Rock music,Rap rock

All these genres appeal to 21 Pilots target audience of teenagers, this is due to all the stereotypes that these genres maintain. For example, rap rock, hip hop, and rock music stereotypically appeals to members of youth.

The song, ‘Stressed Out’ was released in 2015 and became an instant hit in the charts.

The song is about the transition from childhood to adulthood, which is interesting portrayed within the narrative of the music video.

The lyrics within the chorus states “wish I could turn back time, to the good old days when our momma sang us to sleep when I was stressed out”, showing that the song is about reminiscing about childhood when things were much simpler, within the music video they have used props which relate to childhood. At the beginning, we witness Tyler singing and riding a tricycle down the road, he then stops and knocks on the door of his friends house were they do a secret handshake. As the narrative unfolds and escalates, one scene sees the two of them drinking from juice pouches whilst sat on the curb when Tyler invited Josh to his house. They then ride their tricycles together with their drums attached to a trailer on the back.

21 Pilots are Christian and include hidden meanings about Christianity within some of their song lyrics. For example, their song ‘Heathens’ has a hidden meaning of Christians being cautious on who they know and accept into their religion.

VideoProduction

RepresentationThe representation of 21 Pilots is very unique, for example, in some concerts they wear masks (to present the theme of insecure, which relates to ‘Blurry face’ in the song ‘Stressed Out’. They tend to breach stereotypes with their unique mise-en-scene for music videos. They are not about glamour and fame, its about making a statement, that’s why the climb the stage sets and have an eccentric fashion sense.

From their music video ‘Heathens’ for DC’s Suicide Squad.

MarketingKeeping relevant is a huge method in marketing, 21 Pilots continue to evolve and remain fresh in order to establish their strong brand, selling shirts etc on their website.

One of the most important marketing strategies to keep businesses (and bands) relevant is keeping things fresh by continuing to evolve. The music and performances of Twenty One Pilots are always changing. This makes upcoming albums and concerts unpredictable and keeps people interested and engaged. Listeners are curious to find out what the next song or the next album will sound like. As for the concerts, anything can happen. It might be weird or creepy or impressive. Tyler might come out in a strange costume or show up randomly in the audience, and Josh might flip off the piano or jump into the audience at any time. With Twenty One Pilots, no one, including Josh and Tyler, knows quite what to expect, which keeps fans coming back for more.

Their website

Twenty One Pilots has also given their loyal fan base a name: the “clique.” Clique members feel a sense of belonging and pride when they wear or use the band symbol or anything Twenty One Pilots branded. This helps them connect to not only the band members, but anyone else wearing or using the symbol or part of the clique. The moral of this story? Develop a strong brand with meaning behind it.

Also, another marketing strategy is their merchandise. Buy selling merchandise, this increases and establishes their brand, pleases their loyal fan base, and creates more money for them to use for props, videos etc.

A final marketing strategy is the use of social media. Through the use of social media, 21 Pilots, as well as other bands, can promote their albums and merchandise. The platform of social media is global and therefore get more eyes on the 21 Pilots brand. An example of this is through ‘Twitter’ and ‘Facebook’. They also have a YouTube channel in which they could show a little preview etc. Their own website supports their marketing strategies with them selling merchandise on there and highlighting their brand.

Target AudienceTheir music is labeled alternative, which is pretty accurate. Their music tends to have faster beats, sometimes in-your-face lyrics, and rap.The main target audience for 21 Pilots, more specifically, their music video ‘Stressed Out’, is young people mostly from teenagers to early twenties. This is due to the song’s theme of remising on childhood nostalgia and some lyrics being relatable, for example, “Wish we could turn back time, to the good old days”. The other lyric “need to wake up and make money”, this enforces the theme of childhood meeting adulthood.

Audience Interaction There are many ways in which 21 Pilots interact with their

audience.

One of which is through the platform of social media, for example, tweeting, and facebook. Social media has made it easier to interact with the band’s fan base, this helps them promote their selves as well as keeping social and interactive with their loyal fans or even haters.

Another way in which 21 Pilots interact with their audience is when they preform on tours. This gives the audience an opportunity to meet the band as well as share a personal moment with them by getting photos and autographs.

Audience PositioningThe audience positioning for 21 Pilots are that they are rising to mainstream however, they appeal more to fans who don’t follow the mainstream trends and are innovative. The purpose of this is highlighted by the way that the band performs, for example, in a concert in 2016, a member of the band climbed to the top of the scaffolding wearing a mask. This is also supported by the mise-en-scene in their videos with them wearing unstreotypical clothing for artists in a music video, for example, masks, un-casual clothes like torn jeans (this was done to highlights the theme of childhood nostalgia).

Also, the band would appeal to ‘wannabes’ due to the bands taste and thrive for being unique and independent, being fueled by the indie genre.

Audience ResponsesThe audience response to 21 Pilots is popular, Suicide Squad helped promote them. For example;"Stressed Out" and "Ride" are from Twenty One Pilots' album Blurryface, which debuted atop the June 6, 2015, Billboard 200 and has sold 1.1 million copies in the U.S. to date. "Heathens" is from the soundtrack The Suicide Squad: The Album, which spent its first two weeks (Aug. 27 and Sept. 3) at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

The audience take well to the band’s new songs and the loyal, die-hard fan base would listen to the new songs more than once, creating positive responses.

Media DebatesThere are a few media debates synominous with 21 Pilots. For example, one small debate is that many music fans believe that 21 Pilots deserve more fame that they are given and that they are better than people are perceiving them as. Others argue that 21 Pilots don’t deserve more fame to establish their brand.

On a larger scale, another controversy, is the fact that many festivals cut the band from performing, this could be due to the fact that they do climb dangerous scaffoldings and this would breach health and safety issues.This caused 50% of music fans to believe that the festivals were right to cut them off, and the other 50% believe that the festivals were wrong to cut them off. All in all, this controversy made people pay more attention to the 21 Pilots brand.

Industry - Production21 Pilots are signed with some well-known record labeling companies, such as;Fueled by Ramen,Atlantic Records,DCD2 RecordsWith them having, wealthy, and well-known labeling record companies puts more eyes on the brand of 21 Pilots.