Why Brands Matter to Bands - A Super Bowl Success Story

#TBT

It’s reported that 50% of the music industry might eventually be supported by ad revenue from brands. Farfetched you say? Take a look at Billboard’s list of the most powerful people in music and at No. 16 you’ll find Coca-Cola’s head of global entertainment marketing (after the heads of labels and ahead of artists), which spent upwards of $200 million globally on music in 2012.

Music placement in advertising has become more important in recent years for established artists as money from record sales have decreased. Ever since Moby licensed every song from his 1999 album, Play, (doing so out of necessity) causing it to rise in awareness & popularity and eventually climb to No 1, artists have become more open to the idea of letting advertisers use their songs.

Commercials and ad campaigns have even become a new way of breaking hits and building awareness for emerging artists before radio play. Case in point, let’s take a look at the band Fun (who we had play an intimate set at our Chicago office in April, 2010 after hearing their music for the first time) and their five-times platinum record “We Are Young.” The song was released in September, 2011 receiving generally positive reviews from music critics, but little radio play and mainstream success. Then in February, 2012 Chevrolet chose the song as the soundtrack to its Chevy Sonic “Stunt Anthem” Super Bowl spot which propelled the song into a crossover hit. Fast- forward a few weeks after the Super Bowl spot and the song peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (it was No. 63 before the spot aired) through airplay on contemporary hit stations and became the first song to log seven weeks of 300,000 or more digital sales.

This example has become the rule and not the exception in recent years. So if you’re a fan of new artists & new music, make sure to include brands in your lists of go-to resources for new releases.