The Music Issue

While cleaning out the old, overflowing mess of a publication library at work in order to make room for the new overflowing mess of a publication library that will, no doubt, begin to populate itself as soon as many subscriptions are renewed, I stumbled across the July 2007 issue of Creativity, The Music Issue.

And while the publication saw it's prime a good 18 months or so ago, the opening POV from Josh Rabinowitz, SVP-director of music at Grey Worldwide whose website tells of his goal to "produce a hit record through an ad" still seems to ring true in today's ad world.

Rabinowitz brings up a multitude of questions regarding music in advertising, and I thought I'd share a handful of my favorites.

#3: Advertisers continue to utilize well-known songs in their ads, but curiously many of them opt to use the same song.

I find it amusing that in an industry full of people who take pride in their creativity, so many revert back to using a dime-a-dozen song that could be linked to any product, by any brand, in any commercial. Is this the fault of the ad guys or the suit-wearing business men in the client office, I wonder. Do companies and brands rely too heavily on catching the attention of a viewer who simply recognizes the song in their ad? And if so, will the viewer actually remember the ad or the brand, or just that it featured "Baba O'Riley"?

#4: Isn't it even more effective to find a great, not so famous, not so expensive track to license for your ad, where the narrative of the song perfectly enhances the ethos of the visuals and concept?

Who draws the line on the trade off between cost and effect? How does a company decide they would rather pay 100 times the licensing fee to get the well known artist's song featured in an ad whose product has virtually no connection to the song, than pay a fraction of the cost to license a song by a virtually unknown artist whose song has everything to do with the product featured in the ad? Does the well known song actually increase ROI? I think the same applies to television shows and movies as well. Does the more well known song add anything to the scene? I think you could argue that putting a well known song in the middle of a scene could in fact detract from the scene rather than adding to it, simply due to shifting the attention of the viewer.

#7: Is advertising the best outlet for a talented indie band to get their music to consumers in a way that a record label can't?

I think this showcases both the problem that new artists face with today's music industry as well as the solution to the economic issues facing virtually every brand in America. Where do music consumers go to find new music? Is it the radio? Itunes? Do you go to a store to browse CDs, pick one out and just see what songs you might find on it? Or do you stumble across new music unintentionally, say while you're laying around watching your favorite shows? What songs do you get stuck in your head? Is it the last one you had playing on your ipod, or is it the short clip of a song that you last heard when a commercial came on TV? Again, ROI. I'd be interested in seeing if paying more for an established artist's music actually has enough effect on ROI to warrant the higher costs.