To any rookie filmmaker, adding music to a great piece of footage might seem easy and fun, but any serious commercial production team knows the headaches, heartaches, and often cheque book-aches in getting exactly the right track for a film. When it comes to permission from big bands in the league of Radiohead – it can seem an impossible task.

For over 30 years soundlounge have been persuading artists like The Beatles; Madonna; David Bowie; Duran Duran; The Who; Iggy Pop; Cream and many, many others to say yes – some for the very first time – for their music to be used in a TV commercial.

The UNICEF campaign is now gathering its own momentum. In just a few days of being live on youtube, it has achieved 50,000 views, 94,000 records on Google and been tweeted out by Bill Gates. Many people are now asking just how did we secure Radiohead’s  “Yes”……..

The Brief

Way back in Feb this year, soundlounge were invited to meet with the passionate yet exhausted creative team from Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, Katie Stanley and Huw Williams, who had literally just returned from their three-week shoot capturing the lives of children in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Uganda and the Philippines. Their account of what they had lived and filmed was moving and passionate. They spent a great deal of time going into minute details to try and explain to our music supervisors, Brian Kelly and Sam Nicholson, their ambitions for the music and exactly what they needed the viewer to feel through the music and picture working together.

Not every agency is so thorough with their music brief or in their willingness for music supervisors to probe into the heart of the desired response

The Film

Rarely in 30 years of music supervision work has the soundlounge team been so moved by a film. The award-winning director Adrian Moat has shot a spectacular film and editor James Rosen of Final Cut had created a fantastic edit together, all 5 min 20 secs of footage! Our first challenge: the agency wanted music throughout the entire film – tricky when most tracks are under 4:30 minutes!

The Search

Brian and Sam began the search for potential tracks. They knew the music had to tick off the following boxes:

• Evoke the desired emotions
• Work with the images and pace
• No negative associations with the artists or song lyrics
• No other brand conflict
• Liked by the agency
• Loved by the client
• Approved by the artist and writers

Literally hundreds of tracks and creative ideas were explored, the best of the ideas edited to picture, tracks remixed to extend to five minutes, and each presented to the agency and charity for consideration.

Free?!

As music supervisors we receive many calls from producers at agencies asking about music that often starts with “we have a very small budget for music”. Calls asking to ’help’ them find a song for their charity clients campaigns always means one thing – pro bono, which means a whole different conversation with Rights Owners

What this means is that in addition to every other creative requirement, the final track for UNICEF would have to be donated with all fees waived by Artist, Publisher and Record Company. For each one of our ideas we presented to the client, tentative enquiries were made as to availability. This in itself is an exercise in diplomacy – asking questions that do not compromise any artist into feeling obligated or imply that their track is the one selected (or rejected). Not easy conversations.

Radiohead

But there were only two tracks that ever really resonated for us. Both of them were Radiohead copyrights – we knew that the tracks we had chosen were exactly the right sound for the film and reflected the message from the charity.

Knowing what to ask for and when to ask is key in negotiations at this level. Tom Foster, Head of Sync at Warner Music Group, was brilliant in the way that he worked with our lead licensing negotiator Dan Payne. We had included Tom in the loop early when the possibility of Radiohead came up. Having seen the film in its various stages, he advised that it was now worth a conversation with the band. But we also knew that Radiohead get at least five enquiries a week for synchronisation, most of which are turned down.

Successful bands are notoriously busy, whether writing or recording or relaxing from all of the above, so the windows of opportunity are short. The film was sent over to Radiohead.  All we could do now was wait. We got the call. They had seen the film. We held our breath. Radiohead granted us approval for its use.

Approved

The band had said yes to the UNICEF message, a yes to the film edit and a yes to our five-minute mix of ‘Videotape’. Huw Williams at AMV BBDO understood the significance of this permission:

“The sheer power of the film and the Radiohead association will unquestionably strike genuine appeal with more people than we could have ever hoped. But we have been ever mindful that investing in the planning of the campaign would help us make the absolute most of this rare and wonderful opportunity.”

Sellouts or Saints?

Charities, the music industry and famous (and sometimes not so famous) artists often conjure up one thought – Live Aid, Live 8, charity records…. High profile events where the cynical amongst us question motivation. The truth is that many, many artists in the world of music make things happen under the radar that have a much more far reaching, powerful and targeted effects.

Radiohead obviously know the true meaning of charity, where something is quietly given with no press statements, that enable and empower others to improve their lives.

We truly hope this spirit of charity will rub off on viewers when they take the 5mins to view this amazing film.

To learn more about UNICEF’s ‘Put It Right’ campaign and how you can get involved, visit unicef.org.uk

soundlounge

We were hoping today’s post would be a tribute to England’s great triumph over Germany. We were prepared to scour YouTube for the best (or worst) English football chants we could find, like the controversial crowd favorites “Ten German Bombers” and “Two World Wars, One World Cup”. But not even a stadium full of rousing anti-Deutschland chants could save England during the match this past weekend.

Instead of dwelling on the past or arguing over missed goals, today’s post is dedicated to our German friends. It’s an inspiring story about a German pop song, a parody football song, and a few lucky university students who landed a record deal.

It all started back in May, when 19-year-old singer Lena Meyer-Landrut won the Eurovision Song Contest for Germany. With over 18 million YouTube hits, her song “Satellite” has become an über-hit:

Not long after the Lena phenomenon, some clever university students wrote new lyrics to the song in honor of the German football team, and recorded “Schland o Schland”:

Their music video went viral and was hastily removed by EMI, the rights holders of the original song. But it wasn’t long before Lena’s label, Universal Music, saw the potential for this song and struck a deal with this new “band”, Uwu Lena (after the German football star Uwu Seeler and Lena).

“Schland o Schland” has become a fresh new football anthem, but will the band’s fame last beyond 15 minutes? They’re probably just hoping Germany stays in this World Cup as long as possible…

Charlie McCarron
twitter.com/soundlounge

Special thanks to Spiegel Online for their coverage of this story.

A slightly different look at the value of sonic branding…I recently applied for tickets to see Aerosmith at O2 this summer. The face price was quoted at £140 and the lead singer Steve Tyler is not even in the line up! This whole business of the price of tickets seems to be following me around. My manicurist(!) a big gig fan challenged me the other day with ‘You are in the Music Business, why do we have to pay so much to see the bands nowadays?’ From my perspective that is an easy one to answer – if we are not paying anything or anywhere near enough for downloads (and please don’t get me started on THAT whole debate), then the bands have to make money somewhere for their art and the easiest place is live performance and merchandising.

So this morning whilst reading the paper and eating my breakfast, I was more than interested to spot the headline “Pink Floyd in Victory to stop EMI selling singles”. It would seem that PF have successfully won the argument that when they originally made their albums, they had a contract with EMI that specified which tracks could be released as singles.

‘The dispute centred on a line in the contract stating, “There are no rights to sell any or all of the records as single records, other than with [Pink Floyd’s] permission”. EMI claimed that this applied only to physical copies of songs, but the band argued successfully that it also applied to songs sold online. The judge said the purpose of a clause in the contract was to “preserve the artistic integrity of the albums”‘.
The Times 12^th March 2010

For what it’s worth, I have to say that I am fully in agreement with PF. The original albums were developed and released as a whole, with an idea being developed through out the 10-12 tracks that enabled fans to get an insight into where they were thinking, feeling or going as a band at the time of the release. Any singles would have been on the basis of the band having artistic control over what they wanted us to know about them or what they wanted to emotionally underline. Arbitrarily breaking an album is almost like taking a book of photographs, tearing out the pages and selling them separately, or editing an hour-long documentary and giving us 3 min sound bites. Yes, they make sense and can exist on their own, but they do not tell the whole story.

Pink Floyd are one of the superstar bands that have survived the test of time – a brand in their own right. They have sold more than 200 million albums during their career and have been one of the EMI’s most lucrative acts. How many other superstar artists from the Seventies, Eighties and Nineties will now be thinking the same thing: ‘Did I approve single tracks to be sold as single downloads?’ As I write this, I think I can hear the rustle of old contracts being hauled from storage and the sound of lawyers rubbing their hands. I actually have some sympathy for the record companies – we need to remember that they haven’t always been the bad guys and did a great job developing artists when we were all buying music. But it would seem they are now paying dearly for their short sightedness when Steve Jobs offered them ridiculously low royalty rates on each download as a way to take on piracy. At that moment in time they were holding all the cards i.e. all the content for a delivery platform that would have been obsolete before it began, no matter how beautiful the design. The repercussions of that decision are just beginning to reveal their hand. And as someone who avoids litigation at all costs, I have to say that I wish them luck. It’s about time someone stepped up to the plate and said NO, that’s enough.

Ruth Simmons, CEO
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

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.

In September 1998, two young students from Stanford University registered a small, private company in a friend’s garage in California aimed at giving web users across the globe a more informed and wide-ranging choice when it came to searching the internet. Google fast became the perfect platform for businesses, organisations and individuals from all backgrounds and industries to promote, display and advertise their services. The search engine, with its simple interface and user-friendly design gave people, whether technically savvy or not, access to the world wide web – a place that for the last decade had been mainly the preserve of the geeks and hackers. The now multi-billion dollar brand began life giving a voice to the ‘everyman’, encouraging linking and communication, and helping to expose a fat cat culture now so heartily disliked. Read more…

Music production is evolving. Upcoming artists are turning from record companies to the Internet for financial support from investors. But what does this mean for music licensing and music copyright? soundlounge explores the changing world of making music.

It’s a lifestyle that millions aspire to. Private jets, five-star hotels, adoring fans and a top music production team. But it seems that for an increasing number of upcoming artists the reality of forging a career in the industry is far from the glamorous existence of times past. Like many other sectors, the music production industry is being forced to adapt to a changing economic and social climate. Gone are the days when a talent for singing or instrumental skills was enough to get a band noticed let alone to the top. Now artists are increasingly adopting a head for business and taking an entrepreneurial attitude towards their profession. Read more…

It’s a fact of life that businesses often receive more telephone calls than they can handle at the same time. But being put on hold remains a frustrating experience, writes Ruth Simmons, MD of music branding consultancy soundlounge.

A recent poll by The Consumer Association suggested that 48 per cent of the UK population object to hold music. People may have accepted call holding as a fact of life, but it seems that impersonal or inappropriate music can actually worsen their frustration.

Hold music tends to be sourced in one of five ways:

• Well-known tracks that have proven their popularity in the charts
• Library music written for general commercial use
• Music that is especially commissioned
• Music that is now out of copyright and in the public domain
• Music from radio stations

But with these options come problems. The music industry doesn’t make it easy, with five possible clearances required depending on the music source. Instead, many companies are opting for a one-stop company to handle all of the issues. This involves a blanket licence and an annual fee, which in itself will be the cheapest way to purchase the service. What it can’t do, however, is allow the business a real choice of bespoke music. Read more…