How the music industry is using brands and advertising to plug the gap left by illegal downloads
by Julian Gratton
According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), illegal downloading of music is solely responsible for a 23% decrease in worldwide sales of music CDs between 2000 and 2006. And in 2008, music sales fell from 449.2 million in 2007 to 360.6 million in 2008, according to Nielsen Co.’s SoundScan service.
It will come as no surprise then that people’s attitudes towards illegally downloading music have changed dramatically in the last few years. Researchers in the UK from the Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property (SABIP) found that 1.3m people used one file-sharing network on one weekday, from that they estimated that over one year these downloaders would have free access to material worth £12bn. And there is no sign of attitudes changing towards illegally downloading music.
No stranger to boosting income with the help of brands.
The music industry is no stranger to using brands to fill its coffers. Take for example Moby’s 1999 album Play, which upon release underperformed commercially and was all set to be a flop. Thanks to every one of its tracks being licensed for use in advertising, movies and television, it is now the number one selling electronica album of all time with over 10 million copies sold worldwide.
According to Wired magazine, the songs on Play “have been sold hundreds of times… a licensing venture so staggeringly lucrative that the album was a financial success months before it reached its multi-platinum sales total.”
Another way the music industry and its artists have helped bump up income is through sponsorship. It seems you can’t go to any major concert these days without the main act being sponsored by Pepsi or Coca-Cola.
Take someone like Alicia Keys as an example. She’s boosted her income with the help of Dove, Glacéau’s VitaminWater and American Express. And if you’re a little too controversial to be sponsored by a mainstream brand, you can always take a leaf out of Eminem’s book and create your own, like the Shade 45 Radio Channel, Shady Ltd. Clothing, Shady Games and Eight Mile Style LLC.
Plugging the gap left by illegal downloads.
Everything I have mentioned so far with regards additional revenue streams for the music industry have been around long before illegal downloading came about and created such a dent in profits. So it’s no surprise then that the music industry and their artists are looking at new and innovative ways to ensure they can continue to entertain us without having to get a second job to pay the bills.
Take Maria Carey’s new album Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, which comes with a 34-page booklet produced by Elle magazine, including high-end lifestyle advertising from such clients as Elizabeth Arden and the Bahamas Board of Tourism.
Tony Wadsworth, ex boss of EMI and now Chairman of the British Phonographic Industry commented: “There’s obviously a lot of money on the table from luxury brands, they’ve realised that Mariah Carey’s brand somehow lines up with that and the income they’re deriving from it goes a long way to funding the launch of the album, which is a pretty innovative move.”
Mariah’s not the only one though who’s being innovative when it comes to using advertising, here are just a few other examples:
• ReverbNation: The leading marketing platform for musicians, announced the launch of ‘Sponsored Songs,’ a new online music distribution program that will give music fans access to unlimited free song downloads from 1,000 artists. Through this innovative pilot program, a passive advertisement is embedded alongside the album cover art that is seen by music fans when they play the song on their computer, portable device or phone.
• We7 MediaGrafting: Like Spotify, We7 is a free, advertising supported music streaming service. But rather than playing adverts in-between tracks, We7 has developed something incredibly clever called MediaGrafting. MediaGrafting takes a brand audio message and dynamically “grafts” it onto songs, which people choose to listen to…. Thus making the ability to switch off to the advertising message extremely difficult!
Advertising in song lyrics
For those fans of Rap music, you may be familiar with the Notorious B.I.G’s Nasty Girls, which features in its lyrics such brand names as: Jeep Cherokee, Hennessey Cognac and Chanel Cologne. Amazingly, despite such shameless plugging… there’s no evidence that Biggie and friends were ever paid to give such shout-outs.
The use of subliminal messaging in songs is certainly nothing new, but yet it’s quite surprising that there are no case studies of artists including brands in their lyrics and getting paid for it. Maybe such shameless commercialism would result in the kind of public and media backlash received by the likes of 80s band Sigue Sigue Sputnik… who famously put adverts between their songs on their album Flaunt It.
I’m sure it won’t be long, though, before we see some attempts by a major artist to cleverly insert a brand in their lyrics in return for a big wad of cash. After all, if millions of people are downloading the track and singing along to it… what better way is there to get your brand on the lips of a nation?
Working together to create new revenue streams
Music and brands are working increasingly together to generate new revenue streams. To date, brands devote around 5% of their advertising budgets to music and 41% of Brand Managers believe that music could be an effective way of building brand awareness.
At MIDEM 2009 (the world’s largest music industry trade fair), 18 key players of both music (Sony BMG, EMI and Glassnote) and brands/advertising agencies (Coca Cola and Telefonica/02; Euro RSCG KLP, Havas Media and M&C Saatchi) met behind closed doors to discuss and explore best practices for music-brand collaborations.
Both industries are aware that the partnering of music and brands offers one of the biggest financial opportunities. To quote the notes from the conference website:
‘Successful branded music partnerships look set to become more important and beneficial than ever, as traditional revenue streams and marketing methodologies prove less effective. The ability for music owners and brands to work together successfully will have a huge impact on revenue for both’.
So it’s safe to say we have not seen the end to the innovative ways that the music industry will be using advertising and brands to plug the gap left by those pesky illegal downloads.
If you’d like to see how advertising both online and offline can boost your business… why not give Red C a call on 0161 872 1361 or click here
Tags: Advertising, Advertising Agencies, Advertising in Songs, Advertising Innovation, Brand Advertising, Embedded Advertisements, Illegal Downloading, Internet Marketing Agency, Manchester Advertising Agency, Manchester Design Agency, Manchester Internet Advertising Agency, MediaGrafting, MIDEM 2009, Multimedia Marketing, Music Advertising, Music in Adverts, Music Industry, Music Marketing, PPC Marketing, Sponsored Songs
