With the rapid decline in record sales and traditional music sales, there is no shortage of new ideas, business models, and attempts to redefine where the money will come from. It’s no surprise that one of the newest entries into the field, “Branded Music”, is being received with mixed reviews. What some people call innovation, others call a sell-out.
Unlike the typical scenario where a corporation licenses an artist’s song for their advertising, branded music involves corporations bankrolling bands to create songs specific to a company or product.
While not a specific music artist, Banshee Music has become a leader in this category, producing “Defend the Dome” for the Atlanta Falcons, and “Bristol NIghts” for NASCAR’s Bristol Motor Speedway.
A few years ago, Toyota started a music label with the intent to extend the brand of their youth oriented Scion cars by association.
Recently, Converse shoes hired Pharrell Williams, Santogold, and Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas to write “My Drive Thru” for the company’s 100th anniversary. Pepsi is doing something similar to create music to promote Mountain Dew.
While I support an artist’s right to a paycheck, and I don’t judge them for accepting a work for hire, this certainly is not going to save the music industry. It’s just one more option for the artist to consider,…and that’s not a bad thing.
Not everybody company has the ability to go hire a pop start to create an audio identity for their brand. Smaller companies with smaller budgets can use royalty free music or contract out a reputable music library to do exclusive custom work for them. This can be a very affordable option.
