In September 2008, Billboard Magazine published a list titled, “The 100 Best Ways For Your Music To Get Attention” which caught my attention this month when I received the top 20 from Peter Spellman’s Music Biz Insight newsletter. Note the volume of high profile opportunities in the licensing branch of the music industry as opposed to the more traditional sales and ticketing divisions which would have dominated this list through the 90’s:
1. Placement in a television ad for Apple
2. Performance on Oprah (6.6 million viewership)
3. Placement in a television commercial that runs during a special event with significant viewership (97.5 million viewers for the 2008 Super Bowl, for instance)
4. Song Featured as iTunes “Free Single of the Week”
5. Song covered on American Idol (approx. 27 million viewers)
6. Placement in Activision’s “Guitar Hero” videogame (approx. 10 million unit sales)
7. Song placed during a hit movie’s opening credits
8. Placement in a heavy-rotation television commercial for Nike
9. Performance on Lollapalooza Main Stage
10. Placement in MTV’s “Rock Band” videogame (US sales total 3.4 million units to date)
11. Video on YouTube’s Most-Viewed Videos page for music (approx. 75 million unique visitors)
12. Cover editorial in Rolling Stone
13. Placement in Rockstar Games’ “Grand Theft Auto” (4.7 million unit sales and growing)
14. Placement on HBO’s “Entourage”
15. Video on the YouTube’s home page
16. Placement in ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy”
17. Any single or video listed in the “Free on iTunes” section
18. Single played on Radio Disney (approx. 36.5 million listeners per week)
From hotel lounges to corporate advertising campaigns, music is an integral part of creating a unique identity. Businesses commission their own music to strengthen their brand in a number of capacities, including audio logos and signatures, gongs, jingles, theme tunes, and orchestral underscores.
The Cologne Bonn airport in Germany signifies the beginning of music in airport branding. Several frustrating hours of delay at this airport in the mid-1970’s prompted Brian Eno to produce a record of calming music intended for public environments called “Ambient 1: Music for Airports”. Its success paved the way for a new musical niche of ambient and ‘chill-out’ music. In 2003, Cologne-based group, “plus49”, partnered with a design firm to create music specifically for the Cologne-Bonn Airport, a collaborative effort inspired by Eno. The band wrote on-hold music for the telephones, elevator tunes, an airport speaker gong, and a short musical snippet called “Happy Sky” which aired prior to every overhead announcement at the terminals. Their song, “Symbols & Gateways”, dedicated to the launch of the Germanwings Airbus is, today, the airport’s theme song and featured on an album of airport-themed music.
Airports are, quite literally, a city’s gateway. Although most of the passengers passing through them are unaware, airports invest considerably in a unique musical identity which, in turn, becomes synonymous with the destination itself. Leaving a strong musical impression has become tantamount to providing a powerful customer service or shopping experience which helps to promote the city’s culture and attitude. Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), for instance, traces its theme tune back to a 1970’s chart topper called “L.A. International Airport”, written by Leanne Scott and performed by Susan Raye. For its 75th anniversary, LAX commissioned a change in the chorus to make the song more upbeat and ‘welcoming’. During 2003, Southwest Airlines gave each of its arriving LAX passengers a CD copy of the song.
Arguably, the most ambitious airport music program is attributed to Austin- Bergstrom International Airport in Texas. The airport hired a music coordinator to oversee its four live music venues and ensure that its passengers enjoy only local music, an approach now shared by many airports around the world to promote their local cultural assets.
Due to the ubiquity of music in today’s society – music is simply everywhere we go – brand managers and music coordinators have to work much harder and invest more money to ensure that their client, be it Heathrow Airport or Coca Cola, is tapping into an audience that will buy [and fly] with greater confidence if appropriate and assuring music accompanies the experience, a matter of increasing emphasis during a down economy.
Ethan Diamond, the brain behind OddPost, the web mail service acquired by Yahoo! and, more recently, founder of Bandcamp, dispatched a newsletter today announcing the band portal’s new feature-set and recent upgrades. The free publishing platform boasts nifty and relevant tools for artists and band promoters to optimize their online presence and provide an uber-cool experience for fans and new comers. Armed with features such as domain redirection to a unique domain name within the site, fan email capturing on transactions, and IP licensing control (courtesy of Creative Commons) associated with the variety of ways to transmit music files, Bandcamp is set to become a popular choice for the brand conscious and online promotion savvy music community. In addition to Bandcamp’s visual bells and whistles and you-control-your-music ethos, the company focuses on pertinent music file meta-tagging and artist profile-specific search engine optimization for its individual members. Did I mention that it’s free? Bandcamp is really quite simple, down to earth, and rather wonderful.
Online music licensing marketplace, YouLicense.com, launched an amusing initiative this week that compiles playlists based on “your weather”. If you’re feeling “hot & sweaty” or it’s “sunny” outside, click on the corresponding icon and listen to the music that matches your forecast.
Data Syndication for Artists ArtistData.com allows you to publish and manage your gig schedule across many different networks including MySpace, Last.fm, and Indie911, saving you time by seamlessly updating and distributing your data from a single hub. http://www.artistdata.com
Breaking the Band 16 days and counting… the independent music event that puts artists on the stages at major festivals, provides network tv licensing opportunities, radio promotion, press coverage, tour support and much more, is open for submissions! http://www.sonicbids.com/BreakingtheBand
Moving Large Music Files Earlier this month, German startup, SoundCloud.com, launched a music-centric solution for moving large digital files online, a process artists and music industry professionals often go through to collaborate and distribute their work. http://www.soundcloud.com
World of Music Awards
Ghalia Benali, a native of Tunisia, was selected by We Are Listening’s judges as the winner of the World of Music Awards, the first World music contest of its kind. Ghalia will be attending WOMEX, the acclaimed annual World music festival in Seville, Spain, next month for a weekend of networking, music promotion and career development. World of Music Awards is sponsored by Songlines Magazine. http://www.wearelistening.org/winner_woma_1.php
Derek’s Entourage Not enough time to do-it-yourself? CDbaby’s founder, Derek Sivers, is rolling up his sleeves so that you can focus on your music while MuckWork takes care of the rest. http://sivers.org/muckwork
I’m delighted to welcome Bahar Tozman to We Are Listening’s panel of judges. Bahar has been working for EMI Music Publishing for more than a decade. She started at the company in 1996 as a radio and television promoter and, in 1999, was promoted to A&R Manager. In 2002, she was promoted again to General Manager of A&R Germany and runs the A&R office in Berlin to this day. Among many others, Bahar signed and developed German chart-topping artists such as Juli, Culcha Candela and AZAD. She is also a member of the EMI Music Publishing A&R Forum which drives creative cooperation between artists and songwriters throughout Europe.
I’m delighted to welcome Hiten Bharadia to We Are Listening’s panel of judges. Hiten started his career as a singer/songwriter signed to BMG and then MCA. He was then headhunted by Universal where he worked for the next 12 years in both Marketing and A&R, while continuing to write songs as a hobby. He was responsible for the A&R and Marketing of the English language launch of Enrique Iglesias which resulted in 7 million world-wide sales. He left Universal in 2005 to follow his dream of songwriting and developing artists full time. Together with some very talented songwriters, producers and artists, he formed a new publishing, production and artist development company called Phrased Differently. The company has managed 90 song placements since its inception including three No. 1, thirteen Top 10 and eight Top 20 records around the world. As a songwriter, Hiten has collaborated with artists such as Craig David, Lemar, Ben’s Brother among many more. Hiten believes that only a continuous stream of great songs can save the music industry as we know it!
We Are Listening, the company that brought to you The Singer/Songwriter Awards, Lyric Writer Awards, New Music Videos Awards and Breaking the Band, together with YouLicense.com, online music licensing marketplace, unveiled a brand new initiative today: VIRV indie music television!
For the first time, indie music lovers can tune-in to a high-quality, music video playlist on the web with picture as sharp as DVD and sound as crisp as CD. The music web station, already broadcasting 24 hours a day, features high quality video clips by the likes of Bright Eyes, Fujiya & Miyagi, Architecture in Helsinki, Of Montreal, Dappled Cities, Aesop Rock, Cursive, Budos Band and many more.
As part of VIRV’s commitment to servicing independent music artists – and their fans – and contributing to the growing demand for music discovery and independent artist and label exposure, Lior Shamir, Founder of We Are Listening, and his partners, will be reviewing indie submissions for VIRV’s playlist. Access to the channel and playlist submissions are completely free at www.virv.tv
Please only enquire about sending your music videos for consideration if they meet the standards of those currently on the playlist. Submissions go to nadav@virv.tv
Bloggers: contact us to embed the VIRV player on your blog or website now at admin@virv.tv
Earlier this year, We Are Listening partnered with web video player provider, RayV, and online music licensing startup, YouLicense.com, for the development of a live, internet-only indie music television channel. Broadcasting 24 hours a day, VIRV.TV has already secured music clips by renowned ‘indie’ artists such as Bright Eyes, Architecture in Helsinki, Of Montreal, Fujiya & Miyagi, Dappled Cities and many others.
As an extension to We Are Listening’s music video contest, “New Music Video Awards”, successful participants have been hand-picked to be included in VIRV’s playlist and have their video broadcast back to back with more established artists.
We Are Listening is currently considering indie music videos for VIRV.TV. Interested parties should send a link to n.young@wearelistening.org
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