David Malkin

Format strategy · AI × music

Format strategy for an AI × music campaign

A feature article and a long-form interview video on AI and music had to work as one campaign arc, on a subject where I anticipated audience skepticism.

Opening frame of the published mixed-media carousel: Music has survived every technology that has threatened it
The published pilot. The partnership’s first mixed static and MP4 carousel. I led the organic campaign strategy and planned the format and fallback; design and production were team functions. View it live on Instagram →

The work

I anticipated skepticism about AI’s place in music, so the format needed to acknowledge that concern before making its case. I proposed the partnership’s first mixed static and MP4 carousel, drawing on how comparable formats had performed for us.

I wrote three routes through the story, each carrying a different risk: open on the fear and resolve it in the sound, run the collaboration chronologically, or follow one skeptic changing their mind. The same practical risk applied to all three: music rights. I worked out the licensing terms in advance and wrote a kinetic-text version that could ship if the rights fell through.

Around the pilot, I planned a three-part Q&A carousel series, an X thread, a Stories takeover, and partner sharing. These were proposed extensions; the mixed-media pilot below is the published example.

CHOSEN ROUTE Fear → Sound → Outcome meet the skepticism first, resolve it in the music The Timeline chronological build of the collaboration Skeptic → Believer a conversion arc told in first person Each route carried licensing contingencies and a kinetic-text fallback if music rights fell through.
  1. Chosen: fear → sound → outcomeMeet the skepticism first and resolve it in the music.
  2. Alternative: the timelineFollow the collaboration chronologically.
  3. Alternative: skeptic → believerFollow one person changing their mind.
  4. Fallback across routesUse kinetic text if music rights fall through.
Three routes, with a fallback ready. Recreated from the campaign proposal; route names are from the proposal document.

What shipped

The pilot went out as the partnership’s first mixed-media carousel and drew multiple collaboration acceptances the same day. The music rights were still unresolved while the format was being chosen, so I wrote a kinetic-text alternative at the same time. If the rights had failed, the campaign could still have published on schedule.

Attribution Strategy lead on the organic campaign; design and video production were team functions.