Music Marketing - Fontaines D.C.

Fontaines DC are an irish post punk rock band from Dublin, as hinted with the initials DC (Dublin City). They have released four albums, their most recent and most critically acclaimed album "Romance" released in 2024 is the project that catapulted their popularity. Their line up consists of frontman and singer Grian Chatten, guitarist Conor Curly, bassist Conor "Deego" Deegan III, guitarist Carlos O'connell and drummer Tom Coll. They were originally signed to independent label Partisan records however their fourth album was released under XL Recordings.

The lead single for Romance is a rap rock song called "Starburster" acclaimed for its distinct change in style from the band as they progress from indie to a more stylistic genre. The song was a huge success overtaking previous single "I love you" as their most streamed song. It went on to be Grammy nominated for Best Alternative Music Performance as well as the album for Best Rock Album.

The video stars lead singer Grian Chatten. After this, other singles released that received music videos involved a reoccurring cast, making this the only video to feature the band. Straight away there is a distinct change, from their indie fashion of Skinty fia featuring smart suits, polos and checkered with a red and yellow colour theme. Here he is wearing street wear, the neon green tracksuit becoming iconography within their marketing campaign, available to buy at merch stores.

The video is mostly narrative, the only element of a performance music video is Grian lip syncing. However the rest of the band do appear in the video, in a sequence following Grian around. This creates an emphasis on the togetherness of the band. There's a lot of emphasis on experimental film making within this video, multiple characters (two played by Grian), clips edited in time with the music such as knocking on the door matching the rhythm of the drums. There is also a mix in sound switching between music and spoken parts, even a couple scenes with live vocals from Grian. This further demonstrates a more experimental album to come from the band, giving a glimpse at what else was to come for this era.

Fontaines D.C. website.

For this album promotion there has been a very clear colour theme: neon green, blue and pink. We are immediately reminded of this on the opening page of the website, they have kept the font associated with the previous album however this bold colour scheme immediately distincts both of them. This screenshot is from around 11 months after the album was originally released, and they are now promoting the deluxe edition. This implies an image of longevity for the album, creating an impression it is a monumental era for the band, which has become true as it is their most successful yet. We are also reminded of the album name and album cover through the promotion of this limited edition vinyl variant.

There are two other home pages, both further promoting the band, as with the purpose of the website. Both pages continue with the vibrant colour scheme however the deluxe edition is has a lot more contrast with the darker background making it more striking.

On the top bar there are links to further content, such as other social medias, where to stream their music, concerts and merch.

Its really interesting to see Fontaines D.C. promote their other albums too as usually when an artist is severely pushing their newest album its very common for them to completely ignore their other work, almost like their is no trace of it. However this creates the impression the band is equally proud of all their work and what has led them to this new album.

Olivia McKechnie