Case studies in brand/music marketing

By tids

By Simon van Wyk

We recently discussed the merger between art and commerce represented by brand music marketing with Peer Group Media’s strategy and research head Andrew Reid. Here’s a bit more information on a couple of Peer Group’s projects:

  • The UncharTED program for Lion Nathan’s Tooheys Extra Dry: This program, now in its fourth year, has moved from origins as a talent quest to uncover new Australian artists, to a full-scale mentoring program. Recent winners, along with a cash prize and the chance to play at concerts including Big Day Out and Splendour in the Grass, also win a trip to a New York recording studio and assistance in producing music to be used on a TED commercial. A documentary is also being filmed. Nearly 5,000 bands applied for UncharTED’s two competitions in 2009.

    extradry

There is also an increasing use of brand/music marketing internationally. Here are summaries and links a few notable examples:

  • Dympol: Dympol stands for Discounting Your Music Purchases On-Line. Working with sponsors that believe in the value of music, this US-based startup offers discounts on music downloads while at the same time providing some income for recording artists and other creators. Dympol’s personalized micro-sponsorship platform, powered by algorithms that simultaneously and randomly allocate variable discounts to users, allows any brand or content owner to create a campaign on- the- fly and and start offering purchases discounted with instant cash-back rebates.

    dympol

  • Orange RockCorps: RockCorps is a ‘pro-social production company’ based in the US that uses music to inspire people to volunteer and get involved in their community. In 2009, they teamed up with Orange and Sony Ericcson in the UK to produce a series of concerts at London’s Royal Albert Hall where fans needed to do four hours of volunteer work to get a ticket – no tickets were sold. Overall, the company claims that more than 45,000 volunteers have attended more than 20 live events “and an audience of millions has heard the message that volunteering is cool”.

    orangerockcorps

  • Red Bull Music Academy: Visiting London this month, The Red Bull Music Academy is travelling music workshop that has been using top musicians and producers to teach a select group of music students the secrets of the music business. Operating for more than 10 years, the Academy visits a different city each year. For two weeks, the participants get to work in up to twelve specially set-up studios. The Academy also publishes a yearly double-CD compilation of music produced at the respective last sessions. During its application phase, the Academy hosts local workshop session in about 50 countries every year. In 2005, the Red Bull Music Academy launched an Internet radio station that broadcasts interviews, live recordings and DJ mixes from more than 50 countries, and is syndicated to terrestrial radio stations in more than 30 countries.

    redbullmusic

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