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What The Ad Industry Thinks Of The Music Industry

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Is this what the adverting industry thinks of the music industry?

"Music is sort of like a municipality, like water from a faucet: free, of acceptable quality. If you want a more savory experience, there is always the bottled variety. In fact, this paradigm shift is already behind us."

Ouch! The solution?

"Our answer to how the cycle of life keeps on giving and evolving is the pairing of the appropriate music with the appropriate brand. Musical artists now have another avenue to access financial resources, infrastructure, and distribution, because brands can extend their commitment on what they bring to their consumers." 

– Ko Kawashima in Advertising Age

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6 Comments

  1. Harsh…
    It’s easy for them to say that, though. Advertising will always offer a paid gig somewhere. Worst thing that’s happening to them is people fast forwarding through commercials w/ a dvr.

  2. It’s easy for them to say because they benefit any way you look at it. “Music is like water when these companies pay us ad companies to give you music for free.”–is another way to look at it. I think they’re right however. The game has changed so to speak. And people need to get real or get out.

  3. Yeah…that is a pretty brutal sentiment, but I would expect nothing else to come from the advertising industry.

  4. That’s exactly what’s wrong with the music business. It’s now defined by Madison Avenue, and Madison Avenue treats it with no regard. I’ve written about this phenomena extensively in my upcoming book, “Music 3.0 – A Survival Guide To Making Music In The Internet Age.”

  5. In bygone eras, the best artists available, among them almost all classical composers still well known today, were hired by nobility and clergy to praise and promote their good deeds and their heroics, their power and to contribute to their fame. Sociologically, it is a given that those with power seek to promote their stature. With the clients of the advertising world being “those with power” today, and regarding this historical perspective, it is absolutely no surprise that these clients are interested in getting the best musicians of our era to write and perform their theme tunes.
    Still, I find it somewhat bewildering when I watch a movie on TV and it is so blatantly obvious from things like the CGI effects that the clips screened in the commercial breaks must have had so much higher production costs than the actual movie I switched the TV on in the first place.

  6. I’m a big fan of sponsorship. I was involved with sports marketing before I got into music marketing; athletes in many sports make their living from sponsorships. The arrangement is not only a given in most sports, it’s a mark of prestige. You’re not a “professional” unless you have sponsors. Every little skateboarder or snowboarder knows that as soon as you see a camera you flash your sponsor’s logo.
    So I have no problem at all with partnerships between corporations and musicians. But I see a lot of bad examples of music being used to promote products. It’s no wonder fans may take a cynical view of such deals. If the pairing between the music and the product is glaringly wrong, it stands out.

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