March 1st, 2010

Fok! How “Die Antwoord” Became Viral Music Stars pt.1

“What is this”?! They are fake! …but the website is cool. I have to send this to my friends!” These four statements summarise my friends’ reactions on South African band “Die Antwoord” quiet well.

Die Antwoord’s frontman NINJA aka Waddy Jones describes their style simply as “rap rave next level shit” or an Afrikaans version of 2Unlimited with a bit more gangster and street attitude. Satellite members of die Antwoord include a DJ with Progeria Syndrome and a number of local gangsta rappers. DJ Hi-Tek, Yo-Landi Vi$$er and the Zef rap rave master NINJA are new viral music stars.

Although the big hype of the first days seems to calm down slowly two of their videos have constant top positions in the Viral Video Charts since the internet community discovered them in late January 2010. “Zef side” and “Enter the Ninja” collected more than 2,500,000 views on YouTube, were tweeted more than 2,000 times and encouraged viewers to over 8,000 forum and blog comments worldwide. According to their website they are already planning a tour to Europe contradicting the theory that “nobody from South Africa ever really makes it overseas” (Vice Magazine).

Before the big hype started in January Die Antwoord was basically an interesting experiment observed by a small fan base and an even smaller group of journalists. Within a couple of days they were polarising opinions around the globe, eliciting a range of reactions from euphoric laughter to total disgust. Die Antword is a perfect example of how the internet has changed the music business and the opportunities interactive media offers for bands and brands to market themselves. Many people speculated about the question for Die Antwoord (In English “the answer”); you might ask yourself: How did they make it?

Cash? Rumours overflowed the internet they might be a product of a Puma and Jagermeister Viral marketing campaign as both brands appear on the band’s homepage. Die Antword’s website and music videos both have a professional design. Moreover parts of their stage outfits support speculations about closer relationships to both companies’ marketing departments. As public media will also focus on modern South African culture during the 2010 FIFA World Cup this opens the stage for clever Ambush Marketing Strategies. In fact Ninja and Yolandi have already been working together in former projects like Max Normal TV. Even though a Puma sponsorship contract exists it only supports the band with shoes and outfits and they are 1 of 20 South African bands Jagermeister supports as part as their local sponsorship program. Die Antwoord’s professional media appearance is mainly a result of being embedded into South African art scene and their friend’s work and support, not of big corporate cash (although it might have been helpful to some point).

…to be continued!

Image by vark.

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