Alesso and Liam Payne Are Crowdsourcing Your Vocals for Their Next Hit
On April 8th, DJ is releasing a new dance/pop song called “Midnight” with former One Direction member and pop artist Liam Payne. Before that happens, the pair is enlisting the help of their social media followers — asking fans to send in recordings of themselves singing part of the song. One winner will be placed on the official remix.
“I need help with this song I’ve been working on during these quarantine times,” Alesso said in a video that was tweeted out by his music publisher Universal Music Publishing Group (). “It’s called ‘Midnight.’ I’m gonna play you a small snippet of it, and then, hopefully, whoever is interested and has the time can cut it can send it to me, tag me, DM me — whatever works best for you.” In the clip, Alesso then plays a guitar part and some keys software Logic Pro, before going straight into that vocal part. Fans are encouraged to submit their videos using the hashtag #AlessoMidnight.
“Just like everyone else, we’re trying to figure out a way to finish this song and video,” he continued in another video. “We came up with this idea for fans to be a part of the official remix… We never thought there were gonna be so many people submitting, which makes this super, super exciting.”
It’s a smart way to encourage fans to stream the song more than they might have otherwise. Music streaming as a whole is down in the time of coronavirus-related self-quarantining — possibly because of the elimination of the work commute, where many Americans do the bulk of their music listening. Moreover, the execution is a good example of social-distancing adaptation, as the involved parties avoid congregating in a studio space.
“Someone is definitely going to be joining me,” Payne added. “Yep, you’ll be singing along with me” — a dream come true for One Direction fans, who are known for their extremely active and engaged presence on social media.
It’s unclear if the final vocalist will be given any royalties — i.e. money typically received by a song’s creative contributors each time it is played or used in an instance that generates revenue. UMPG did not immediately respond when Rolling Stone reached out for comment.
