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. With What does your sound brand like?
Posted Under: Murketing,Music,Subculture Inc.,Uncategorized
Anybody out there read the blogs on AdAge.com? Just curious.
Anyway, I was poking around that site earlier this week, and noticed a blog called “Songs for Soap,” and this entry asking “Does Every Brand Have A Sound?”
We all know that there is no longer the slightest stigma involved in a band, indie or established, renting its music to a brand, but I was still a little surprised to read just how far from those forgotten notions we’ve come: The entry concludes with the marketers actually lecturing musicians about how to make sure they’re worthy of such collaborations!
“Artists need to think of themselves as brands; what they stand for, what their values are and what message they want to give,” if they are to succeed in partnering with consumer brands.
So to turn the item’s headline around, the question for musicians, I guess, is: Does your sound have a brand? Maybe there’s a future career here — consultants who help bands write their mission statements and so on.
Anyway, for what it’s worth, this September 4, 2006 Consumed addressed Umpqua Bank’s unusual music-branding work with Rumblefish, whose founder is the first person I can remember articulating the “what does your brand sound like” pitch.
On a related note, the same blog has an entry on Girl Talk cutting a long-form ad “I’m a PC” ad. Interesting ona number of levels, and I hadn’t heard about it. (And again for what it’s worth: My July 20, 2008 column on Girl Talk.)
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Reader Comments
I think the Obsessive Brand Disorder book has a section on branding sounds.
Bong, you are now free to approve my comment.
The relationship between band & brand is definitely murkier than ever. But in an era where authenticity is king, band consulting seems so formulaic and wrong (the music fan in me quiets the strategist).
The best bands in the world intuitively understand the principles of branding.
Case: The White Stripes
“band consulting seems so formulaic and wrong.
Um, yeah. That was a joke.
My bad. The possibility of such consulting gigs is so real that I missed the sarcasm… to be honest, I’m pretty sure i’ve heard of band branding workshops… my comment was more directed towards the lameness of that sort of thing.
I hear you. I’m a little distressed to hear that band branding workshops might be a real thing… but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I have to ramp up my sarcasm tone!
This is deffinately not a good sign for the arts. Although the entertainment industry (music, movies, ect..) has always been prone to selling out, it has come to the point that being marketed to is a form of entertainment. Young teens are especially a target for this kind of blatant advertising as seen in a music video (or EKO ad) featureing some disney star’s song “Sneaker Night” (the following link shows the video)….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRqOjhNN4hQ
Its starting to get pretty disgusting. Soon enough Hamlet will be stopping to drink a refreshing pepsi before dueling with Laertes who’s sword is a product of nike. Everything is so product based that every piece of art or performance is becoming a prospect for advertising rather than a greater purpose. Funding for the arts is so limited that many are forced to completely brand themselves. There are no longer major donors but major sponsors.