A resurgence in original music.
Investing energy and resources into developing a great song in the campaign ideation process represents a smart way to go, as exemplified in “Dumb Ways To Die.”
History is becoming a more relevant subject–a prime case in point being an artist’s previous brand associations.
The right fit between artist, label and brand can be a win-win-win proposition.
These are some of the observations made by leading ad agency music producers participating in a SHOOT survey on the state of the music and sound biz. SHOOT posed the following two questions to these industry professionals:
1) Are there any creative and/or business trends or developments you would point to thus far in 2013 as being most significant in the music and sound arena, perhaps carrying implications well beyond this year?
2) What has been your most gratifying or creatively challenging project thus far in 2013? Provide a brief description and explain why the job was noteworthy.
Here’s a sampling of the feedback we received:
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2) A Smirnoff Global spot called “Manifesto.” The global portion of Smirnoff is always a challenge because Smirnoff is a very music focused client and the music has to appeal to different markets across the globe. We found a great new band called Elijah and the Grapes and used one of their songs called “Sleep in Trees” for the commercial . We also created a custom re-mix in the studio for the spot. It’s been a big hit. The song and the re-mix can be found on iTunes for download. |
 Gabe McDonough, VP, music director, Leo Burnett Chicago1) As musicians and brands align more closely, and more often, a brand’s comfort level with an artist’s or musician’s previous brand associations is going to become more of an issue. Rare is the A-list (B-list or even C-list!) artist that has not had some kind of brand association at this point, so what is the “statute of limitations” on an artist’s previous brand relationships? Is there one? How much does having “untouched” talent matter? Those of us involved in the brand/musician/celebrity space are going to have to deal with this issue more and more in the next few years.2) Our Delta Faucet “Touch20” spot was a career highlight for me. We had experimental percussionist/composer Glenn Kotche recreate the song “Reach Out I’ll Be There” using only the sound of water from the taps hitting household objects. To watch him perform the track live on set, with the drum-kit-made-out-of-Delta-faucets we had created for him was incredible. In Glenn’s solo compositions he makes music using unconventional sound sources, so to use him in this way was a natural, but unexpected fit. |
 Bill Meadows, VP/executive integrated producer/music, talent + public works, CP+B, Miami, Boulder, Colo., L.A.1) This year more than ever, I’ve seen an increased effort from artists and their labels to connect specifically with advertising agencies to debut new music. From intimate performances at the Warner Bros. Summer Sessions—which featured the likes of Atlas Genius and Surfer Blood—to private “listening parties” at the Sonos Studio in Los Angeles with Washed Out and St. Lucia amongst others, it is clear that musicians are making a definitive move towards seeking out opportunities to pair their music with popular brands. This is a mass exodus from the old modus that licensing your band’s music for commercial use is a form of “selling out,” and it provides opportunity for all parties involved. On the agency side, there’s also a continued interest in seeking out only the freshest music to license in an effort to be the first to “break” an emerging artist to its consumer audience. This is not merely an attempt to sidestep costly licensing fees. It is becoming a priority for brands to find the next great band or artist, to get behind new music and help spawn careers. Under this model, at the end of the day, an agency gains the right to say they contributed to the start of something special, while a band gets to say they were given the opportunity to introduce their music to a wide scale public platform.2) This year, one of our music producers, Chip Herter, supervised a rather significant license of the song “Fitzpleasure” by the band Alt-J for our client Windows Phone. The partnership resulted in a massive online presence of the ad, with YouTube views topping 2.5 million and a constant stream of comments from fans of both the band and the product remarking on the power of this music sync. In this case, we managed to engage the attention of both the band’s audience and the consumer audience of our client. From a music supervision standpoint, this was a gratifying opportunity because it gave us a chance to attach our client’s name to a great emerging artist; and from the artist’s standpoint they saw an increase in popularity and sales of the song. Their label, Atlantic Records, has definitely attributed this license to taking Alt-J from their already popular position in the underground music scene and launching the band into the world arena. The largest challenge in this project was convincing Alt-J—a band who had historically been very cautious about commercial licensing—that this was the right partnership for them. In the end, we can only credit our success in earning the band’s trust to the excellent creativity they saw in the commercial, which was a perfect match for their unique sound. |
 Josh Rabinowitz, sr. VP/director of music, Grey NY1) To me the fact that the Melbourne Metro Train campaign “Dumb Ways to Die,” which was steeped in a great, simple, originally-composed song, took the Grand Prix at Cannes this year was huge. Not only was everybody at the awards show singing along as the spots were being played in the Grand Audi at Cannes, but even my daughter, who has never even seen the spots knows the words by heart. Great music drives great concepts, and every so often the best and most respected/lauded spots are seeded from a great song or track. If wisdom and analysis has served me right in my career, my suggestion, which I’ve been suggesting since day one, is that investing energy and focus on a great song during the creative ideation process for an ad is the way to go.A trend I’ve noticed, which some may even call an accelerated or mega-trend, is how so many people who have had sustained themselves in the recording industry for years and years are now calling themselves brand music experts. Many can talk the talk, but can they walk the walk? Also, EDM remains a potent soundtrack to many an ad, and the players in this space are receiving great brand sponsorships, and even greater appearance fees. Let’s hope that the events at Electric Zoo this past week in NY don’t become a game changer that I fear it will be for said brand sponsorships. 2) For me there have been several challenging yet satisfying occurrences this year: • Creating and maintaining a stealth, creative and efficient music team here at Grey in 2013, following the lead of our stealth creatively successful agency here in NYC. • Getting Lou Reed to speak at the 7th Annual Grey Music Seminar at Cannes Lions that I created with Tim Mellors back in 2007. The fact that someone who had a liver-transplant only a few months before could inspire, enthrall, and provoke a huge crowd and become the talk of Cannes truly was a pretty amazing buzz. • Helping to initiate and create the first US truly music and sound dedicated awards show this past May—The AMP Music and Sound Awards—which exceeded each and every one of our expectations. • Leading my sixth Midem Song/track contest this past February—the intersection between the world’s largest music conference and advertising music is in full effect. |
 Rani Vaz, sr. VP/director of music and radio, BBDO New York1) I have been asked about free music quite a few times this year.Everything is influenced by the digital world we live and work in, including the way we interact with music across platforms both at work and in our personal lives. The topic of payment and revenue streams for musicians is of course hotly debated. These things are certain: pennies count and ownership counts more than ever. On our side, agencies and suppliers are required to do heavy lifting for much less so we must often scale projects in a different manner. Our clients challenge us, so we in turn have to challenge our partners, the composers, music companies, labels and publishers. But we must also diligently protect the integrity and value of music in our process just as we need to protect and be compensated for our agency’s creative work. In our world, music serves commerce. But music should not be free. Tremendous skill plus heart and natural talent are required to create a memorable track—a track that inspires, elevates our work and makes us feel. The craft and power of music must be valued. |
Paul Greco, director of music & radio, JWT New York1) Originally composed music for ads continues to make a resurgence. The amount of licensing and licensing fees continue to go down and labels, publishers, and artists are looking for new and inventive ways to partner with brands. The concept of “selling out” is almost completely gone. Brands are also looking for ways to align themselves with artists and bands more than just a one-shot license for a spot as way to get more of a bang for the buck. Music is still a very effective way for brands to connect to their target audience.