Everyone in the recording business felt it coming – the growing stampede of internet-savvy listeners who got a taste of free music and never went back. While many cynics see this as a harbinger of doom for the music industry, optimists like Terry McBride see this transformation in listener behaviour as an opportunity to rethink the system. McBride believes the focus needs to shift away from monetizing music files, because he predicts our desire to “own” music will fade away in the next few years.

“The iPod is over,” says McBride, referring to the hassle of downloading and organizing music files. If his predictions are correct, on-demand streaming programs like Spotify and Last.fm will inevitably change our cultural instinct to collect CDs, download mp3s, or otherwise “own” a music library. Instead, we will have instant access to any piece of music ever recorded (just check out the YouTube-based Muziic.com if you don’t agree). Who wouldn’t want infinitely free music?

There still may be a part of us that isn’t convinced. Why should I replace my personal, meaningful album collection with a vast, impersonal database of songs somewhere up in the clouds? This question is one at the heart of the new music revolution, and it’s precisely the point McBride is getting at. According to McBride, it’s no longer content that matters, but the music’s context. The new industry leaders will be those who create the most emotionally engaging system for listening to and discovering music.

Back in 2002, Wired’s co-founder Kevin Kelly wrote an insightful article on the digital music revolution:

“Copies are so ubiquitous, so cheap (free, in fact) that the only things truly valuable are those which cannot be copied. What kinds of things can’t be copied? Well, for instance: trust, immediacy, personalization.”

In other words, we don’t need a gigantic database of music files, we need a friend who finds us awesome music we will like. When the music is free and infinitely reproducible, real-life human recommendations become the precious commodity. Talent scouts will be leaders in this new music industry – heartening news for the music supervisors, reviewers, DJs, and mixtape junkies of the world.

Charlie McCarron, Sound Consultant
soundlounge

Sound Branding, Brand Alliances With Music, or Branded Entertainment, call it what you like, these are effectively a form of advertising disguised as: a game, event, sponsorship or hospitality. Midem, the largest international music convention dedicated several sessions to that almost Holy Grail, ‘How Can Bands and Brands Work Together?’ So it is not surprising that some serious players from the brands were invited to take the stage, from Nokia to Coca-Cola (‘Top Brands talk Music Strategy’ and ‘Converse, Pepsi and Cornerstone talk Music Marketing’). Music and Brands are big business. According to the Association of National Advertisers, in 2006, the top 100 US advertisers splashed between $150 million and $2 billion just on sound-enabled media, such TV ads and the Internet. In the UK, it is estimated that in 2008 the production spend on acquiring copyright music for synchronization, that is the right to choose a well known track and use it in a commercial, hit £60m ($98.8 million). Current predictions are that in the next decade, advertisers will be looking to invest an eye-watering $240 billion on branded entertainment.

With marketers freely admitting that music makes up 50% of the total consumer experience, it may have been a little surprising for the Music Industry to learn from Emmanuel Seuge of The Coca-Cola Company “The music industry is much more open and willing to find new creative models in the way we interact with them…but at the same time it’s much more complex. The management of the artists are more smart marketeers than I am! They have a real vision of what they want to do with their artists, and the artists themselves have a point of view. Aligning everyone on a shared view is the challenge.”

This brave comment goes straight to the heart of the issue and it may be some consolation for Emmanuel to learn that he is no alone. Whilst 63% of Brand marketers use music, 56% have no idea how to measure the use of sound and music and 20% don’t even try (Resource Association of National Advertisers).

So having heard from the Brands – it was the turn of the Music Industry to take the stage. Management giants like Chris Morrison from CMO Management (Blur, Gorillaz, Grace Jones and many more) had some very important things to say about bands and brands. Morrison agreed that Brands will be involved in some of his artist projects with a word of warning: “You have to be very careful about branding – there’s a great danger of music being corporatised at this point, and I see things that certainly worry me considerably.” When asked what kind of things Morrison is seeing that he doesn’t like: “The Duffy Coca-Cola ad was abysmal, and Robbie Williams on T-Mobile was terrible…You have to be very very careful with how you associate with brands.”

One thing is for sure, simply slapping a brand logo on stages is very different to becoming true partners. And with an increasing number of events and artists now wanting to enter the dialogue and the projected figures brands are willing to invest, we have to be talking real music strategy rather than just brand involvement. We know that just like any relationship, it will need trust, honesty, shared values and vision and that will mean a shift to what can I do for you, from WIFM. Then Emmanuel, we can start to get real alliance round the table.

Ruth Simmons, CEO
soundlounge

Imagine a commercial with music so alluring and contemporary that it draws thousands of YouTube visitors within weeks with comments like “can you tell me from where i can download the song please?” and “it’s really awesome!!!”. It must have used a hit song or a track from a new artist with Record Company marketing clout, and it probably cost tens of thousands of dollars to licence, right? Listen for yourself…

In reality this track chosen for the new Canon commercial (”Blackbird Song” by Ben Cocks) was from a production music library. The truth is that it was significantly less expensive for our client than a hit song would have been. And the song’s production quality and “catchiness” is on par, if not ahead of, most higher-profile tracks out there. Read more…

Music is one of the most valuable tools at an advertiser’s disposal. In 2006, the top 100 US advertisers splashed between $150 million and $2 billion just on sound-enabled media, such TV ads and the Internet, according to the Association of National Advertisers. In the UK, it is estimated that in 2008 the spend on acquiring copyright music for synchronization hit £60m ($98.8 million).

But brands have worked to understand how a particular target group, with shared values and aspirations, forms a loyalty to a specific brand. They have figured out how to manage and measure how we respond to color, texture, lighting, and other apparently visceral stimuli. So is sound simply the next frontier?

For the full article, please click here.

So which tv Christmas commercial most holds a special place in your heart? At soundlounge, we have created a list of our own personal selection. Let us know if we have left out your favourite…

1. Coca Cola (Holidays Are Coming)
2. John Lewis (From Me To You)
3. M&S ( This Party Started)
4.Budweiser (Horses)
5. Coca Cola (Polar Bears)
6. Irn Bru (Walking In The Air)
7. M&S (Most Wonderful Time Of The Year)
8. Heineken (Let It Snow)
9. Kellogg’s
10. Lucky Strike

As I was watching Sprint’s clever “What if ____ ran the world?” ads, I noticed they used no music, no jingles, nothing that would traditionally qualify as a sonic logo. Only one sound stands out consistently in each ad: the walkie-talkie-like bleep of the Sprint phone itself. And every time we hear it in Sprint’s commercials, it’s followed by a joke. By the end of each ad, we’ve heard it 6 to 12 times, and it’s no longer just a phone bleep. It’s a brilliantly timed comic device that has preconditioned us to laughter.

Of course, the same sound can mean vastly different things for different people. For the majority of us, the sound of an incoming text message is exciting, a happy beep signaling a new message from a friend. But for my mother, it’s a sound that strikes terror in her heart and gets her adrenaline flowing. For her, it means she’s received a text from my younger brother in Africa. Often his messages bear bad news – he was robbed on the street once and lost all his money. So this seemingly harmless sound evokes fear and maternal instincts in a split second. One day she told me, “I hate that sound more than any other sound.” Who knew a simple, neutral beep could stir up such an emotional reaction?

The finest sound designer can craft the most perfect sound for your brand, but context is everything. Though most of us don’t start salivating, we’re a lot like Pavlov’s dogs once we’ve been trained to hear a sound in a certain way. Sprint was smart; they trained us from the beginning to hear their phones as fun, even before we interact with one in real life. As soon as a strong sonic branding plan meets a positive customer experience, the Pavlovian buttons will be pushed in just the right ways. For 99.9% of us, this is good news. For the unfortunate alarm clock marketers of the world…I wish you luck.

Charlie McCarron, Sound Consultant
soundlounge

You know how it is on Sunday morning. Sitting back, tea in hand, lazily leafing through the papers – not really reading, just vaguely capturing the headlines. But this week, one particular story in The Sunday Times caught my eye. Beware, iPod zombie cyclists are on the rise the headline warned, followed by the image of a cyclist wearing some serious headphones but no helmet. Now that’s a worrying thought.

Here’s another worrying thought. According to my children, I have a tendency to move very rapidly from one apparently disconnected idea to another before settling on one, final thought – a trait they affectionately describe as my ‘ipod shuffle mode’. So is this the first sign of my mature years creeping up on me? I don’t think so. And I’m beginning to sense that I’m not alone.

Our 30-second attention spans appear to have evolved into something of a modern-day survival function – affecting the way we read, watch, shop and buy. We live in an age where information is more accessible than ever before, but the very amount of data we encounter makes it all less meaningful. It has also impacted hugely on the way we consume music.

In the 1960s we would invest hours in discovering the meaning behind certain music – listening to albums over and over, learning every lyric, knowing every chord. We wanted to understand every element of a song and resonate wholly with the artist. But today, we leave ourselves with little time to really digest what we are hearing and within seconds are hankering to move on to the next offering.

So before my concentration quota for the day runs out let me put this out there. Is the 30-seconds we spend on listening to a track on iTunes before flicking to the next the equivalent of a watching a TV commercial? Are we choosing music based on as little information as that, and with as much distraction surrounding it?

Answers in 30-second sound bites please…

Ruth Simmons, CEO
soundlounge

The most important piece of business advice I was ever given when I first started talking about sonic and sound branding, was from John Bartle, the first B in BBH. “Yes’ he observed profoundly, “all that theory is all very interesting but can you measure it? If you can’t measure it, it ain’t any bloody use to me”.

Those of us who were in Hamburg at the beginning of November for the first ‘Audio Branding Congress’ in the world appreciated that brands are now acknowledging the emotional importance of using sound and music in their marketing. Some are looking at imposing more rigour into the process of choosing and briefing music, but existing business evaluation frameworks are still ‘missing a beat’. It would seem that cost outlay and how to reduce that investment into procurement and production fees is still the only metric that is applied to measure the value of music by those brand guardians in charge of the process

But it was in Hamburg, amongst much sharing of sound branding concepts and processes, I realised that I owed a huge debt to John. He was so right. Understanding how to define and produce a sound identity is just the first step. For if brands are to understand the role and impact of music, they need systems that allow for comparison of costs against market rates, potential savings, process optimisation and best practices is vital. What is allocated to finding and acquiring music properties will then be an easier conversation. It has taken my team and myself at soundlounge 10 years, but it was so worth it.

Ruth Simmons, CEO
soundlounge

For further reading: Putting the Metrics into Music.

Here at soundlounge, we’ve been working with brands to understand and develop their sound branding for nearly three decades. We’d like to share some of the most common sonic branding sins and some simple strategies you can apply for absolution.

1. LUST – Being seduced by the Music Industry. Being offered a link up with an iconic artist or a hit song can seem irresistible. And it’s true that well-known tracks in a commercial can create an instant emotional connection with consumers. But if the popularity of the song overshadows the advertiser’s message and consumers remember the song and not the product, it can prove to be a very expensive liaison.

SOLUTION: Resist the temptation to just look for hit tracks and big names. Have plan B and C and consider music from unknown or emerging artists; explore library music or commission an original composition. Re-record/re-invent an existing copyright so that you incorporate your brand sound DNA. Challenge and rationalise creative choices against fees and costs.

Read more…

The soundlounge jukebox is our outlet for sharing the cream of the music industry with all. Updated every few weeks, it offers a chance for people who don’t have much time to sample good quality music, whether new releases or hidden gems from the archives. We receive music from all the majors, indies, publishers and sometimes the artists themselves and will bring to your desk (and attention) some of the most interesting and diverse music out there.

Visit the soundlounge jukebox to hear the following tracks.

Love You Better – The Maccabees
After breaking onto the scene in 2004 with a song about a swimming pool, the Maccabees seem to have grown up. Their first album had a innocent charm in its angular songs and with the help of Orlando Weeks’ distinctive vocals they carved themselves a place in a scene full of bands trying to be the Libertines. Their second album sees the arrival of Markus Dravs, producer of such acts as Coldplay and the Arcade Fire and it’s his work with the latter that really comes through here. There’s a lot more to come from this lot so stay tuned.

Zero – Malcolm Middleton
Malcolm Middleton has been releasing music since 1995. Originally he was one half of folk rock outfit Arab Strap but since 2006, after six studio albums, he embarked on a solo career that’s has seen him release five albums. His most recent offering, from which this track is taken, sadly may be his last. He has stated that while he will continue with a career in music he may start to write for other people or simply change his name. For what it’s worth, I’d like him to carry on with his solo career so if you’re reading Malcolm, don’t stop making your musics.

Psychic City – YACHT
Jona Bechtolt formed YACHT in 2003 after leaving another Portland band, The Blow. Until 2008, YACHT was a solo act but for his most recent album, ‘See Mystery Lights’, he as teamed up with Claire L. Evans who contributes vocals to many of the new songs. The introduction of Claire seems to have allowed YACHT to evolve into a band with more pop sensibilities than before although the odd production quirks that give Bechtolt’s music so much character remain. It’s a weird one but well worth checking out.

Loading – Knuckles
This one’s a bit of fun. Taken from the ‘Loading EP’, Parisian electro producer Knuckles has turned out a real crowd pleaser. It’s a floor filler that almost guarantees to get the crowd jumping, something that the enigmatic DJ/Producer/remixer, Fake Blood has cottoned onto. He plays it live regularly and also included it in his Radio 1 essential mix. Something for the weekend. Enjoy.

Growls Garden – Clark
Another recent Warp release, the new album from Clark sees him raise the bar for anyone else in his sphere. On previous albums like Boy Riddle and Clarence Park he experimented with abstract tones and textures and occasionally dropped in some of the hard tech that he’s known for now. His previous album, Turning Dragons, saw him go straight down the hard tech route, which belied his true talent. Here however he combines his original experimentation with some bone shattering beats and bass lines. Not for the faint hearted.

Lovers’ Carvings – Bibio
Recommended to Warp records by the now legendary Boards Of Canada this album is Bibio’s first release on the illustrious label. The recommendation seemed like an obvious one as his sound has always been close to the Scottish songsmiths’ but this album has seen him move away from this somewhat. He draws upon a huge variety of styles creating an endlessly eclectic mix of tracks that could sound like a compilation if it wasn’t for the lingering influence of the Boards Of Canada. One of the most interesting albums of the year so far.

Listen to these tracks on the soundlounge jukebox.

Sam Nicholson, Creative Assistant
soundlounge