Part 2: BABY BANDS AND MEGA BRANDS: Past, Present, and Future of Indie Music in Commercial Advertising

In the last post, I discussed how over the course of the last decade, high profile advertising placements have helped launch the careers of many little-known artists.

Now, brands are also finding much more creative ways to partner with musical acts that go beyond the confines of the 30 second TV spot, despite the fact that it will always be an important source of revenue and exposure, especially for emerging artists.

So, what will the future of brand/band partnerships look like especially for indie artists? I believe it’ll be centered on two themes: 1) “Brand as Label” and 2) “Band as Corporate Tug Boat.”

Brand as Label:

Lately, a growing number of large companies have taken the brand as label concept literally.

For example, Mountain Dew launched its own record label back in 2008 called Green Label Sound. It promotes exclusive music content, and sponsors tours by hip up-and- coming artists, many of whom already have existing record/publishing deals in place.

What makes this concept effective is that fans are able to download the music for free, but first have to visit the GLS website (greenlabelsound.com).

It’s a win-win for the brand and fans, but what about the artists? Well, in addition to exposure, bands also receive residuals from Mountain Dew based on the number of downloads they’re giving away.

(This triple-win scenario also reminds me of the “Letters for Lyrics” campaign that country artist Zac Brown Band did with Ram Truck: www.ramtrucks.com/en/letters_for_lyrics)

Another powerful example? Coca Cola chose artist K’naan’s song, “Waving Flag,” as the official theme song for its $300 million 2010 World Cup Soccer marketing campaign. The result was an unprecedented swap of exposure for credibility in which Coke benefited tremendously from the once-obscure Somali-born rapper’s universal appeal.

K’naan went from playing local shows near his hometown in Canada to performing in front of thousands at Coke-sponsored concerts in literally dozens of countries.

   

Band as Corporate Tug Boat:

More brands are depending on indie artists to reach out to a younger target audience.

One of my favorite examples comes from Trojan (yes condoms).

For a while the company has been making videos featuring artists – part viral ads (no pun intended), part public service announcements – to help promote their products.

Here are two such videos that feature a couple of unsigned artists, Good Old War and April Smith.

http://trojanvideos.com/video/64/evolution

http://trojanvideos.com/video/66/colors

All of these examples point to a clear trend that I think will only continue to grow in the coming years.

Large corporations are going to partner with new and emerging artists by placing their music in high profile advertising campaigns or larger scale brand/artist tie-ins, while the brand’s credibility rises among the ever-more discerning and fickle consumer base. In exchange, the baby band gets some much needed exposure and potential new streams of revenue by teaming up with a company like Mountain Dew, Coke, or Trojan.

Even as overall record industry sales continue to decline steadily and the amount of marketing dollars coming from record labels continues to shrink, clearly the stage is set for a new wave of opportunities for both musicians and brands–where companies find it worthwhile to hitch their wagons to small but bright rising stars.

– Mario Davis, Director of A&R

BABY BANDS AND MEGA BRANDS: Past, Present, and Future of Indie Music in Commercial Advertising

Part 1:

Situation: “Brand Y” wants to launch a new product, or increase awareness for an existing one. To make its product seem cutting edge, a massive ad campaign features music from a hip, new and unknown indie band.

Outcome: Ads become ubiquitous and the under-the-radar indie band is catapulted into the mainstream and exposed to a host of new unimagined opportunities for its music.

While this marketing truism is now standard in commercial advertising, it wasn’t so 10 years ago. Back then, brands almost never used music from unknown acts in their promotional campaigns – in fact, the vast majority of songs on TV and radio ads in those days were either custom jingles or well-known pop hits.

Ironically, during the same decade in which music industry sales were cut in half, there was also a dramatic rise in the number of relatively unknown artists who’ve launched their careers in large part because of certain high profile commercial placements.

See:

The reasons why the music business is pushing this trend are clear. However, brands and ad marketers have also realized the value of finding creative voices of authenticity to partner with as well, especially when it comes to penetrating the often fickle and increasingly artsy younger demographics.

What better way to gain credibility with the all-important youth market than for a brand to provide the first point of contact (e.g. a television, internet, or radio spot) between that consumer and his or her new favorite musical act?

A noteworthy example of advertising-as-musical-vehicle is “1234” by Feist in a 2007 iPod Nano ad. Before the commercial, her album The Reminder sold an average of 6,000 units a week, and the song registered only about 2,000 downloads a week. After the commercial aired, the track passed the 73,000 download mark, peaked at No. 7 on Billboard’s Hot Digital Songs Chart, and reached No. 8 on the Hot 100. The Canadian singer became one of the most recognizable new artists around.

Here’s an amusing parody of the song and commercial on the sketch comedy show  MadTV:

But even though Apple may have perfected the art of breaking bands via large-scale product ad campaigns, today’s baby bands are taking more of a buckshot approach to co-branding, rather than putting all their eggs in the proverbial marketing basket of Steve Jobs and Co.

Two great examples are Vampire Weekend and The Black Keys. The bands recently appeared on the Colbert Report where they participated in an epic contest of “sell-out-off.” Host Stephen Colbert tallied up music that appeared in commercials for mega brands such as Zales, Victoria’s Secret, HP, and Tommy Hilfiger:

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/370725/january-11-2011/metunes—grammy-vote—dan-auerbach–patrick-carney—ezra-koenig

While music placement in advertising has progressed along the lines of “find a cool song that fits the product, and sync it in an equally cool TV commercial,” the future of commercial music integration looks much more intriguing.

Up next, we’ll look at how Old Navy, Ram Truck, Bud Light Lime and Mountain Dew are blazing new trails when it comes to partnering with indie artists to create original interactive experiences geared toward turning die-hard music fans into loyal customers.

– Mario Davis, Director of A&R

ASCAP’s “I Create Music Expo 2011” A Success!

ASCAP’s “I Create Music Expo 2011” went off without a hitch as Angry Mob’s Allison Wright Clark joined a panel of other film and television professionals to speak to a packed house of aspiring composers.

 The Film &TV Scoring Feedback panel was moderated by ASCAP’s Associate Director of Film and TV, Charlyn Bernal. Allison, along with composers Ryan Shore, Scott Starrett, and score mixer Greg Townley, gave a varied cross section of comments about how the new class of up and comers can improve their compositions and mixes. Allison noted, “There were quite a few composers that I really felt have what it takes to move to the next level. Hard work does pay off.” Allison also got to sit and talk with a number of emerging songwriters and composers during the Mentoring One-On-One sessions. “I really enjoyed the diversity of talent in attendance. All the people I spoke with were incredibly motivated and focused. It made for an absolute great and meaningful day.”

 Other Expo notables:

Sara Bareilles interviewed Golden Note Award winner, Lindsey Buckingham, which was a highlight of the Expo for many. Other highlights of the Expo included Dr. Luke, Drumma Boy & Keith Harris, and the legendary Rufus Wainwright.