Supertasters: Why brands should be hungry for music

Don’t know your a-has from your Elbow? You need a tastemaker. In our recent FRUKT Music Intelligence report we spoke to marketing guru Seth Godin about the current turbulent state of the music industry and how his ‘Tribes’ concept could be applied to the new digital music landscape.

Seth outlined the overriding importance of connecting with, and leading, ‘Tribes’ in a music market place where the tastemakers ultimately have the most power. The new music community – now it has been set free from the gilded cage of the recording industry - is invitation only, and music fans are looking for leaders with a trusted voice. However, as the digital landscape becomes increasingly fragmented finding a recipe for the ultimate musical feast becomes increasingly difficult.

For some brands ‘musical ready meals’ are still popular, and short-term campaigns certainly have their place, however they tend to ultimately be unsatisfying for consumers who increasingly want musical leaders they can consistently rely on. Brands are now sensing this perception shift and are increasingly moving towards a deeper relationship with music. Music is no longer a quick fix ingredient – a token dab of garlic or chilli to spice up a campaign, that often subdues the other qualities of what is being served up - it is now being used to bring out the flavour, to offer up something that will make invited guests return again and again.

A select 25% of the population are classed as ‘Supertasters’ - a group with an unusually high number of taste buds that sense taste at a far greater intensity than the average person. The current music marketplace is ripe for brands to become Supertasters – to provide the filter for an audience who are hungry for new music, but are struggling to choose from the digital music smorgasbord. In this interview extract Seth outlines the underlying importance of becoming the mouthpiece that is deciding what’s next in music:

We need to make a distinction between the music business and music. There’s more music now than ever before, listened to more often, by more people. There’s no music shortage, there’s no music problem. The music industry however is a group of people who don’t necessarily play music but is trying to profit from the people who do. What we have is three people involved now, we have the listener, we have the musicians, and we have the industry, with the industry trying to put a tax on the relationship between the musician and the listener. Musicians will get paid when they lead people and the leading includes not just producing a song that someone wants to listen to but creating all the stuff that goes around it that people are willing to pay for: experiences, souvenirs, connections.
 
The music industry understands that what people will actually pay money for is a concert, what they will pay money for is the chance to meet other fans, what they will pay money for is a souvenir or a limited edition of something. The music industry is changing from a product business to a service business - music is still music.
 
You can’t really take this apart until you understand radio. Radio was so powerful at spreading music that the music industry bribed radio stations to play their music for free. Well the Internet is nothing but a giant radio station. The scale is what has frightened the music industry. But it is a radio station and as a result instead of suing people who spread your music you should be bribing them to spread your music. Because if everyone knows your song you will make money.
 
Problem is, the music industry is filled with people who want the status quo to remain because that’s what they signed up for. They signed up for expensive studio time, and limos, and contracts with advances, they signed up for Tower Records and a system of timing and releases and everything else that matches what they are used to. This is what Van Morrison wants to continue, and the Rolling Stones wants to continue and the people at Sony want to continue. But it’s not going to continue, it’s hemorrhaging, it’s over.
 
The example I gave when I spoke to Columbia Records is you guys have been publishing Bob Dylan forever, how many Bob Dylan fans have given you permission to talk directly to them? How many of them do you have their phone number or email address? How often do you send them an email newsletter? When they write to you do you write back? And the answer is zero. They have no connection with Bob Dylan’s fan base. They just ignored it for 30 years. Multiply that by ten thousand artists and you see the problem. But if you can lead and connect with a group of people who want to follow a musician you can profit all day long.
 
I think iTunes is really missing out by not building an asset where they get to pick what’s going to be hot tomorrow. That’s a huge mistake on their part. Music is very much about community and about hits, they’re not giant hits, they might be small hits, but the job of people who programme music, the job of people who create music is to figure out how to tap into the gestalt of the moment, to the zeitgeist, so they have the song that tribe needs to listen to right now.
 
I look at something like Pitchfork, the guys doing Pitchfork have an enormous amount of power over what music gets listened to next. That’s what I would aspire to do if I was in the music industry. It’s pretty clear that if you can be the middleman of who’s deciding what’s next, then you have the power.
 
The full interview with Seth Godin features in issue one of the FRUKT Music Intelligence Report

 

Brands, music and ‘credibility’

If we’re celebrating a boom era in the relationship between music and brands its worth recalling that the marriage hasn’t always been one of perfect harmony. Rock ‘n’ roll is an outsider sport and its relationship with rebellion, vice and general mischief is well documented (and as for reggae...) So, how do we reconcile rock to a future in which brand compliance looks increasingly unavoidable as labels shy away from artist development and traditional music media falls off the edge of a cliff?

We know that there has been something of a shift of mindset in recent years. Where once punk was defined in opposition to prevailing commercial tastes and leftfield electronic music of the 90s adopted anonymous anti-establishment personas, now bands feel more at home interacting amongst mass culture. In a world in which Jay-Z headlines Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage and Bloc Party are remixed by Burial, youth cultural tribalism has been confined to a fringe sport practiced by a very few living life at the thin end of the long tail.

Perhaps the two poles of the brand-music divide are best represented by former bandmates Carl Barat and Pete Doherty. Barat has been ubiquitous in branded contexts since the demise of The Libertines whereas no brand will touch Doherty with a long stick, naturally. Both are extreme examples but Barat’s complicity with unimaginative brand work has done little for him or his partners whilst Doherty retains a considerable dose of mystique for his impressionable fans. Whatever we feel about this state of affairs we need to understand how to communicate with this mindset.

The central principle in delivering credible brand-music partnerships is an obvious one but one that’s frequently overlooked: brands must offer something unique within music culture in order to earn their place at the party. What this means depends on the music audience that you’re addressing and will be different for a soft drinks company working with an R&B megastar to a fashion retailer supporting new bands on the festival circuit. But both will drive better results by following this simple dictum. Here are three principles that we adhere to at FRUKT when addressing the thorny subject of ‘credibility’:

1. Build big ideas that not only deliver on brand personality and values but excite a music audience with something genuinely new
2. Don’t assume your brand has a right to a ‘voice’ within music – instead act as a ‘facilitator’ for genuine creative voices
3. Make a commitment and build your role over time – brief, noisy activations are quickly forgotten and viewed sceptically by music fans

If, however, you think that ‘credibility’ died with shellac and Carl Barat’s work has opened exciting new vistas for brands in the music space, let us have it. Add your comments to the thread and we’ll battle it out. Finally, some footage of our Topman CTRL project in action to put these ideas into context:

Know your rights

“Music & Brands”. It’s everywhere. Every pundit is commenting on it. The demise of the music industry. Fans taking control. Access not ownership. All aboard the bandwagon. But for those behind the scenes brokering the deals between bands & brands, how does the landscape look this year? Is everyone embracing the “New Music Industry”? And what commercial strategies can brands adopt to take advantage of the opportunities?

Of-course “Music & Brands” encompasses many campaign types & several different, though related, industries. How do the old guard of ATL (both within creative agencies and music rights owners’ synch licensing teams) engage with the newer BTL challenges of Experiential, Mobile, In-store & Digital activations? Often they don’t. The people and companies who create or license music into TV spots are usually separate from those who develop strategy and execute activations for brand-driven festivals or music-driven digital platforms. These are different businesses operating in separate markets, with sometimes little understanding of each other.

However, what links all plays in the old & new world is the discipline of music rights – and this is where so many brands & agencies come unstuck. Clients, Strategists, Planners, Creatives, Producers – everyone – all rush headlong into projects with wonderful ideas, and treat the music rights piece as an afterthought – often with adverse financial implications. In the mid-noughties years of plenty, few clients cared – there was usually further budget available to solve music clearance problems. Brand Procurement teams barely had a voice amongst their high-spending Marketing colleagues, and overpaying for music rights was not seen as a big enough problem to engage with.

In the lean times of 2009, all this has changed. Marketers turn to Procurement to help squeeze the last drop of value from diminishing budgets. Finding potential savings of £20K - £30K on a music deal now gets Marketers’ attention. Now is the time think more carefully about rights management to maximise cost efficiency & minimise risk and wastage. The tips set out below apply across the board, whether the campaign is an ATL TV spot or BTL Experiential. Mobile or Digital platform.

START EARLY

Build music rights management & clearance into the concept planning stage. However wonderful your idea is, you can’t share it with the world unless you’ve secured the necessary music rights. As a general rule, the later you start, the less options you have, and the more you’ll pay. This applies whether you’re booking a band for a corporate event, embedding ringback tones on a mobile handset, or placing a track in a TV spot. Don’t let anyone tell you that it’s better to wait until you have a finished piece of work, idea, research test findings etc. It’s not. Start now.

WHO’S WHO?

Music rights are a complex bundle, held by many parties. When you buy (assuming you still do!) a download from iTunes, you’re consuming music in which the following stakeholders may have an interest:

Recording artist

Artist Manager

Record label 

Session Musicians

Performers’ Unions

Record Producer

Songwriter

Music Publisher

Collection Societies (PRS for Music, PPL)

Who do you speak to? That depends on the type of project you’re developing and type of rights you need (live performance, synchronisation, mechanical, performing, brand endorsement, name & likeness etc.) – sadly there’s no one-stop-shop that can license all the rights. For anything synch-related, you always need to speak to the label & publisher (assuming the act is “signed”). For anything related to live performance, you may need to speak to a booking agent or the artist manager. For brand endorsements, again the artist manager is essential and possibly the artist’s lawyer. For anything on-line, you’ll need appropriate licences from collection societies. When all these elements are combined, where do you begin when each party has their own agenda? It’s not easy.

KNOW WHAT YOU WANT & STICK TO IT

You need total clarity on your project objectives before you approach music stakeholders. If it’s a live event, are you filming it? How is the content to be exploited? By whom? To whom? Where? When? How? For how long? All these issues need to be considered, researched, agreed and documented up-front. This can be challenging on a multi-discipline project where several agencies are independently activating different elements of the same campaign. When approaching stakeholders, you need to present an organised front – and stick to the plan. Moving the goalposts later down the line increases risk & costs.

CUT YOUR CLOTH

When budgets are shrinking, look beyond famous tracks by established artists. It’s worth remembering that the big music companies are suffering too, and are looking to licensing fees from brands to make up the shortfall in ever-diminishing sales of recorded music. To this end, there’s upward pressure on licensing fees, especially when brands start negotiations late and have few options. To avoid getting caught out, have options on the table from lesser known or unsigned artists or create something bespoke. The more options you have, the better your bargaining position.  

KNOW WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW

You have your own area of expertise – you know it inside out – you are respected for that. But, be wise enough to know what you don’t know and where appropriate, use experienced specialists to help navigate your path through the sometimes opaque world of music rights. With the music industry shrinking rapidly, you’ll come across many ex. Record Label & Music Publisher types who will seek to hold your hand and tell you they can help. Examine their credentials, speak to their existing brand clients, critique their case studies – ensure they really understand your market and your needs. Be certain that they will serve you first and not their own agenda. It’s essential you choose an experienced and established player with legal support and professional indemnity insurance to guide you.

So, hopefully these tips will help. Know your music rights – and in this year of “Do More With Less”, you’ll be better placed to leverage your brand through & with music at lower cost and risk.