March 17, 2015, Wired,
Innovation Insights
When U2 released its album “Songs of Innocence” with an exclusive iTunes partnership, the band was trying to figure out something a bit more complex than simply reaching as many fans as possible.
February 25, 2014,
LinkedIn Articles
As an entrepreneur, it’s important to keep your ears open for helpful advice — especially when you’re new to the game.
Read the entire article here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140225155053-9638-5-unlikely-music-legends-with-great-advice-for-entrepreneurs/
Attention is a scarce resource—and that means it’s a costly one. In a world of hundreds of competing voices, art and music have become a powerful way to bring a brand back into the spotlight. The perfect example? The “marriage” of Alicia Keys and Blackberry.
Blackberry didn’t just bring Keys in as a spokesperson, either; it made her its creative director. That wasn’t just some made-up title to give the “Girl on Fire” credibility; Keys has brought in some stellar ideas to create user (and fan) engagement.
For her first act, Keys shot videos in every location of her tour, and she invited local fans and residents of those locales to send their own photos to include in the video clips. Photos chosen went on Alicia Keys’ on-stage video projection.
Now that is a huge win around user experience—one of the fastest ways to turn engagement into ROI.
Make It Relevant
Right now, consumer brands are marketing more and more with music and entertainment. In fact, it’s become so important that some major brands have started their own record labels—including Red Bull, Scion, Mountain Dew, and Converse.
Why? Music is a powerful way to create a cultural connection and engage with an audience while drawing your product even closer to your demographic’s lifestyle.
Being hip, cool, relevant, and present as a brand is important, but the more important issue can be the cost to your image if you resist popular trends. (Just one example: Levi’s missed the hip-hop boom, and it cost the company $1 billion in sales—in one year.)
Tuning in isn’t just a smart way to connect with your audience; it can be vital to your brand’s survival.
The New ‘A&R’
Brands are becoming a trusted source for breaking hip underground artists to the mainstream media. The iTunes team at Apple (my alma mater) chose specific, obscure artists to create buzz around the launch of iTunes.
That curating practice was really a form of Artist and Repertoire (or A&R), which used to be the domain of a record company. An “A&R” role—which I once did for EMI Music prior to launching the music vertical at Apple—was responsible for cultivating new talent for a label. Now, brands are performing that role themselves.
By partnering with artists who fit your audience, you can create the perfect exposure for your brand to the right people. Here are a few ways to start:
Behind the Music
There’s nothing quite like a smart, well-executed match between a brand and an artist. When Rihanna debuted her clothing line for River Island during London Fashion Week, she helped generate buzz and boost awareness in the United States around the UK-based clothing brand.
When Panic at the Disco partnered with Honda Civic for the Honda Civic Tour in 2008, the group created an original, exclusive song for Honda’s Civic commercial. The band reached a much broader audience, which resulted in higher CD and ticket sales, and Honda was on the cutting edge with a new kind of branded content.
Apple’s commercial for the launch of the MacBook Air featured a soundtrack from a little-known artist, Yael Naim. “New Song,” which was recorded in Naim’s Paris apartment, jumped up the charts and subsequently led to a wildly popular US tour—and critical success.
Those are just a few examples; dozens of artistically interesting campaigns have benefited from the touch of a complementary musical act. That creative matchmaking is different every time, and it brings a new, fresh twist to a brand’s perception.
The reason is simple: By its nature, music is both emotional and powerful. That’s why fans gather around their favorite artists, creating strong, tightly knit subcultures. Tuning into those communities can be the difference between becoming “white noise” and making a truly engaged connection—and that’s every advertising campaign’s goal.
This post was originally published on Marketing Profs.
September 15, 2014,
LinkedIn Articles
Attention is a scarce resource—and that means it’s a costly one. In a world of hundreds of competing voices, art and music have become a powerful way to bring a brand back into the spotlight.
Read the entire article here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140915152830-9638-music-and-your-brand-five-ways-to-tune-your-demographic-in-with-the-right-band/
The most talked-about “secret” of 2014 was Apple’s $3 billion acquisition of Beats. Although it wasn’t officially announced until May 28, rumors swirled around the Internet for weeks.
Apple now owns Beats Electronics (the makers of the headphones and speakers) and Beats Music, a streaming service similar to Pandora and Spotify. Apple has also added Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine to its executive roster, though their roles have not yet been clarified publicly.
To read the rest of this article on my LinkedIn Influencers Page, please go to: https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140609013728-9638-why-apple-s-beats-acquisition-may-be-its-smartest-move-yet?trk=prof-post
June 9, 2014,
LinkedIn Articles
The most talked-about “secret” of 2014 was Apple’s $3 billion acquisition of Beats. Although it wasn’t officially announced until May 28, rumors swirled around the Internet for weeks.
Summer music festivals are full of sunshine, fun, and community, but they’re also packed with thousands of potential customers and brand advocates. Advertising at these events is nothing new, but startups that can find a way to become part of the festival can reap significant benefits.
People love music festivals because they feel like they’re getting more value by paying one price to see several great bands. The music and the atmosphere can produce strong feelings of belonging and elation that are memorable and often affect attendees deeply. Having people associate your brand with that feeling is priceless.
We’re not talking about putting up a banner and handing out T-shirts; we’re talking about actually becoming an integrated part of the experience.
Rocking a Unique Approach to Brand Awareness
Music festivals provide unique marketing opportunities for startups — if they can just follow the music.
If your brand shares a target audience with a given music festival, you should attend and actively engage festival goers so you are visible and associated with their memories. Not only can your brand gain access to content that can be leveraged on its website, social media, apps, advertising, and marketing campaigns, but — if leveraged correctly — music festivals can provide a brand with:
Ben & Jerry’s takes advantage of the vibrant atmosphere. The company, which over the years has made ice creams in conjunction with musicians like Jerry Garcia, Phish, and Dave Matthews Band, is a celebrated regular at the Bonnaroo festival and even gives out free scoops of Bonnaroo Buzz ice cream. The company also operates a tent in the festival’s Planet Roo eco-village, where nonprofits and other organizations promote environmental and social activism. These approaches lead to positive and loyal responses from music and ice cream fans alike.
How to Become Part of the Experience
Forever 21 helped launch the 2014 festival season with an epic “Party in the Sky” at Coachella in Palm Springs, Calif. The party featured performances by artists like Azealia Banks and included two gifting suites, the premiere of Forever 21’s “Summer 2014” fashion film, and a 20-foot party pod suspended above the main event.
If you want to gain brand recognition by becoming part of the music festival experience, it’s time to get creative. The goal is to authentically integrate your startup into the experience beyond just being a sponsor. Provide something tangible that endears your product or service to fans. When leveraging a music festival to enhance brand awareness, there are three approaches you can take:
Deepen and enhance the fan experience.
Use your technology as a tool for making the music festival experience better for attendees. FanFootage, for example, crowdsources fans’ videos and syncs them with high-quality audio of the show from the mixing console at the venue to preserve memories with optimal fidelity. You can also deploy a mobile app or social media campaign that’s contextually relevant and delivers value. Give fans a game to play or a chance to win prizes to make them want to share it with their friends.
Deploy “festival support” technology.
Festival goers aren’t the only people you could target; you can also develop tools geared toward artists, event organizers, and promoters. BeatSwitch is a relatively new event planning platform that helps streamline scheduling in fast-paced concert or festival environments.
Deploy “fan support” technology.
You can use your technology to ensure fans don’t miss a band they want to see or an event they want to attend. Songkick allows you to track your favorite artists to ensure you never miss them when they come to town. You can also achieve this on a smaller scale and allow fans to schedule reminders for specific sets or events during a given music fest.
Another great way to support fans is by appealing to their ancillary needs. What else do they need besides festival tickets and food when they’re at a live event? WaterIn is an app that reminds users to drink water, and Wi-Fi sponsors setting up stations at remote locations become heroes. Pamper festival attendees by giving them something of value, possibly offering special discounts and coupons that are available at the airport or hotel when they arrive in town for the festival.
If you’re on a budget, you don’t have to compete at really big events. Smaller local events still pull in large crowds and can sometimes provide better opportunities to increase brand awareness. Whether you’re headed to Bonnaroo or to the local blues festival, take advantage of these unique opportunities to get your name out there and demonstrate your value to all the parties in the festival ecosystem.
Until next time,
Kelli Richards
CEO of The All Access Group, LLC
PS, The right mentor will also have the right CONNECTIONS to move any effort forward. Be sure to ask who they think they can bring to the table around advisor ship, possible collaboration and even funding.
May 21, 2014,
LinkedIn Articles
The most talked-about “secret” of 2014 was Apple’s $3 billion acquisition of Beats. Although it wasn’t officially announced until May 28, rumors swirled around the Internet for weeks.
You’ve eventually got to get creative when it comes to buying gifts for your music lover. They’ve got plenty of collector’s edition guitars, decorative tambourines to hang on the wall and tour merchandise from their favorite bands. You need to start surprising your audio engineer, music student or musician. Give them something amazing and unexpected, and they’ll start to think you’re the best in the world when it comes to choosing presents that really rock. Here are 4 awesome ideas to get you started that are sure to please any music fan.
Photo by matsuyuki via Flickr
Every guitar player carries around a guitar pick. They just never know when they’ll be invited to jam with local musicians, friends, or even famous people they meet while doing audio engineering jobs. A pick is as necessary to a player as cash, credit cards and a driver’s license. Most players keep their picks in their jeans pockets or tucked in their existing wallet with their insurance cards. These aren’t the most convenient places to keep something as tiny as a guitar pick, and they can easily be lost. The Mojave Leather Picker’s Wallet solves this problem by providing a pick pocket directly in the wallet. The pocket holds the pick securely and makes it easily accessible whenever it’s needed. This is a true gift of thoughtfulness and convenience for a music lover. $31.00
Photo by Affendaddy via Flickr
This multimedia book set is any Beatles lover’s dream. This is especially true if the Beatles lover in question is also a music engineer. This highly detailed book goes into exactly how the Beatles recorded everything at Abbey Road.Recording the Beatles is full of technical details you won’t find anywhere else. The technicality of the book makes it intriguing to someone attending an audio engineering school like Pinnacle College. With extras included like a slipcover with the appearance of an old EMI tape box, a poster of the Abbey Road mixer controls, a copy of the handwritten lyrics for “A Day In the Life,” this will be the present of the century for any music lover. $120.00
Photo by nipotan via Flickr
Lots of today’s audio engineers like to record things on the fly with their iPhones or iPads. However, the sound quality often leaves something to be desired. The iRig Pro remedies this problem. It lets musicians connect any electronic instrument or microphone directly to an iPhone or iPad (4). It has a preamp that matches the output of whatever is plugged into it and also has phantom power for the most advanced instruments and microphones. It is the accessory for allowing crystal clear iPhone and iPad recordings, and your music lover will use it all the time. $150.00
Many audio engineers and mixers are also musicians on the side. They like to record as well as play. The Tronical Robot Tuner will make playing a lot easier, and you’ll be their own personal Guitar Hero for getting this for them. The TronicalTune is high technology that attaches to the headstock and tuning knobs of any guitar. It then accomplishes the amazing feat of tuning the guitar automatically. It will even re-tune to alternate tuning settings instantly just by pressing a button. It makes playing on stage with a band much simpler and more fun. $330.00
This blog was contributed by Joseph Treece
Joseph is a reporter for an independent music network. He loves everything from shoegaze to top 40 pop to Japanese surf punk.
Music has been the lifeblood of many social media services, but it appears that Twitter will not be one of them. Social media music sites have prospered, with CNET reporting that Spotify recently topped $500 million in revenue. At the same time, however, Twitter has decided to fold its hand in the music business and get out of a hashtag-based sound promotion service. What proved to be the sour note in this social media foray?
In The Beginning
Launched in April of 2013, the Twitter #music platform hoped to connect users to music through hashtag searches. With this app in hand, Twitter allowed users to track Tweets from artists as well as search for popular tracks with hashtag searches of label, record, song, or lyrics. Stating that half of all Twitter users follow at least one musician, Twitter launched the mobile app with the hopes of gaining ground on their social media music competitors like SoundCloud. The app allowed musicians to promote new riffs and tracks with a simple update, while users could directly Tweet songs to followers. Twitter never owned any music itself, drawing its tunes from iTunes, Spotify, or Rdio, but allowed free promotion and distribution.
The High Note
Twitter’s music app enjoyed a brief spell of popularity when some celebrities picked up on the promotion. The New York Times reported that Ryan Seacrest hyped up the app as a means of finding new followers and contacts, going so far as to have a dance party with the streaming music function. Twitter #music peaked at number six on Apple’s downloaded app list, but quickly fell down into the mid-thousands. Competitors like Vine, which allow users to play short videos (including music) within a Tweet, enjoyed steady popularity between the 10th and 20th spot of the Apple app rating.
Lessons Learned
Why did Twitter #music prove to be a bust rather than a boom? Several factors contributed to the downfall. First and foremost, social media users preferred to stay with their established music platforms, and social music sites like Spotify never flinched from the release of #music. Users with slower Internet services can load Twitter easily, since the site has a bare minimum of graphics to slow down the latency, but it takes a stronger Internet service to launch the streaming music function. Some people need satellite Internet to stream videos if their local provider cannot keep up. By comparison, DSL and cable Internet may not reach peak efficiency needed to load Flash programs.
Twitter’s Next Venture
Though Twitter took a blow to the chin, the company is sure to bounce back. Mashable reports that Twitter founder Ev Williams has begun to spend “98%” of his time in development of a new site called Medium, a publishing platform with about 30 employees. Whether this new venture does better than #music remains to be seen, but since Alexa pegs Twitter as the 9th most popular site on the Internet, the social music app’s failure to launch will not keep the company down.
Until next time,
Tim Douglas, Blogger for All Access Group
Tim is a music producer and father of 3 young boys. He runs a studio out of his home (which he also calls his sanctuary).
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