Creative agency Bolster and Laneway Festival launch indy music site
Claiming to be a world’s first, Melbourne creative agency Bolster and the Laneway music festival will launch a new music publication, LNWY.CO, later today.
“We can’t find any festival around the world that’s done a custom publishing move like this,” Bolster’s founders Alex and Anthony Zaccaria told Mumbrella earlier this week.
Alex & Anthony Zaccaria of Bolster
The publishing venture will be headed by former Junkee managing editor Darren Levin, who joined Bolster’s content arm in July.
LNWY.CO – pronounced ‘laneway dot co’ – will focus on video storytelling, long-form articles, bespoke illustrations and photographic features.
“It’s not just talking about the festival and its own artists, but also artists that fit in the brand and ethos,” said Anthony Zaccaria.
“While the festival’s audience is predominantly 18 to 24-year-olds, it spreads up to 35 depending upon the artists performing. The publication itself aims towards the ‘mature millennial’ audience.
“There’s no breaking news and no album reviews, premieres and that sort of stuff. There’s enough music media out there doing that and doing a fine job.”
“It’s to help the festival and brands connect with the audience year round, not just when the festival is on.”
The site has no advertising and features an audio player that automatically starts when a reader hovers over text mentioning a band or music track. The linked text also pulsates while the clip plays.
Bolster’s founders see the site being supported by native content with launch partners for the site being footwear retailer Blundstone and Victoria’s Transport Accident Commission.
LNWY.CO’s in-house contributor team includes Levin, Melbourne-based author Brodie Lancaster, Kate Hennessy, former Age senior journalist Chris Johnston and LA Weekly senior writer Katie Bain along with photographers Cybele Malinowski and Daniel Boud.
Alex sees the platform’s data offering allowing brands the opportunity to move beyond experiential campaigns at the festival into building a deeper connection with a broader audience.
“We have a pretty hefty launch plan,” Alex continued. “One of the things we’re talking about with clients we’re creating content for and for brands is flipping the model on its head – it’s not about impression targets, it’s about engagement.
“We’re going to tell the story in the places they are best told.”
Laneway festival founder Danny Rogers hopes the site will act as a platform for music discovery in same way as the festival has introduced acts to Australian audiences over its 12 years: “It will aim to work with the best emerging artists, the most exciting and established acts, and become a year-round conversation with audiences, all of the time,” he said.
“We’re looking at building out those forms of content,” concluded Anthony. “We’d like this platform to be a voice for this space and be as respected as the festival.”
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Pretty interesting publishing model. The idea of a publisher being free of page view targets is refreshing!
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