fanatic.fm is a music sponsorship platform where brands and bands can find each other in a new way. Instead of paying for advertising spots on music destination sites, brands set up a pool of funds for a branding campaign and “invite” musicians that they feel best portray their brand values and image. Then it’s up to the invited musicians to accept or refuse the invitation (yep, you’re right! It works just like a friendship request on Facebook). A band and brand relationship is formed only when mutual consent is reached. Pretty cool! Don’t you think?
But, what’s in it for the artists?
The branding fund is allocated among the invited musicians based on the number of plays. Both parts have the incentive to engage their social media network to drive traffic to the newly formed relationship, creating a win-win scenario for both the band and the brand. Musicians take 70% of the total sponsorship revenue and fanatic.fm takes 30%. And then musicians and fanatic.fm donate 2.5% each to charities that musicians select to help them change the world.
Yesterday Samsung started its first campaign on fanatic.fm, sponsoring Sydney Wayser’s album. This however doesn’t close the opportunity of other musicians to upload their songs and suggest sponsorship to Samsung as well.
Ian Kwon, co-founder of fanatic.fm, comments on the service, “More and more brands are playing the role of content curators and music is great content to express a brand identity. We wanted to create a platform for those needs. The platform also provides a good way for bands to monetize their music streaming.”
The international version of Sounds like Branding is licensed by publishing company A & C Black Publishers in UK, and Acorn Publishing in South Korea. In South Korea it will most likely be released in June, in Europe, US and the Commonwealth in July.
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The Swedish version of Sounds like Branding is available for purchase here.
Bob Dylan’s latest release “Stick With Mono” proves a propensity in the market for brands that stir up memories. The tendency most likely stems from a society where consumers want idealisations from the past, projecting their feelings on a more secure and stable ground compared to the uncertainty of the present and future.
Music defines a generation. In regards to baby boomers, who could better represent or influence them like Bob Dylan, iconic and himself a baby boomer?
With his music, Dylan successfully captured an important part of the baby boomer generation. His efforts to update himself is thus not so much about attracting new fans as it is about staying relevant to the baby boomer market. Rather than embarking on the continual search of youth, looking only at what’s new and novel, Dylan has been focusing on his loyal fans; the ones who grew up with him since he played with a electric guitar in Newport Folk Festival in 1963. A lot of brands would benefit from using the same strategy as Dylan, and stir up some good old memories. Like a Bob Dylan fan once said; “One Sound, One Brain… One Bob!”
Verena Dauerer, who is a member of the Heartbeats Movement, divides her time between Tokyo and Berlin. She works as an editor at the intersection of technology with design/art/fashion/film. She is also freelancing for the Japan Times and BBC Radio. Read about the latest marketing trends in Tokyo, the Japanese ‘keitai’, innovative and memorable campaigns from 2010, and much more.
On November 27 last year, Smirnoff set out to show how people from different cultures party, through its Nightlife Exchange Project. 14 countries were engaged in the swap project, and Smirnoff Facebook fans from all over the world contributed with their ideas on the specifics of their country’s nightlife. Together they created a great buzz and a memorable cross-cultural brand experience.
The Nightlife Exchange Project kicked off with one week of TV advertising, calling on consumers around the world to visit a Smirnoff Facebook page and engage themselves in the project, by submitting their ideas about the best party night out in their country.
14 countries; Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Ireland, Lebanon, Poland, South Africa, Thailand, Venezuela, UK and United States, took part in the project. Each country was given a special curator who helped out in sorting and selecting the absolutely best party ideas among the most highly-rated Facebook submissions. Submissions could be anything across fashion, food, music and more. A blogger outreach programme was also launched, and Smirnoff tapped into mobiles with its own channel Smirnoff.mob. MTV, Smirnoff’s global tie-up partner, delivered on-air and online coverage of each stage of the project.
There was a great buzz both before the party swap, as well as after. You don’t have to search the web for long to find comments such as “Definitely looking for the next party if there will be a second nightlife exchange!” and “Looking forward to the next and even bigger Smirnoff Event.”
As Benjamin Hill, youth writer for MTV Sticky, puts it, “There is something priceless in what Smirnoff did in the sense that they didn’t just create events, they created an experience.” We can’t agree more. By creating an experience, Smirnoff has successfully tapped into the hearts of their consumers. The Nightlife Exchange Project was however not solely about experiences, but emotions, engagement and exclusivity as well.
Many consumers probably wonder if Smirnoff is going to make a new party swap this year.
A recent Nielsen report shows that innovative channels such as mobile music apps and streaming services are very much appreciated by consumers all over the world.
During September 2010, Nielsen conducted a survey of 26,644 online consumers in 53 markets. The survey, done exclusively for Midem, covered questions about music purchasing and listening habits.
The results?
Globally, artist apps, music-discovery apps and streaming apps are doing best. In the US, music apps are the second most popular apps, and the best performing apps in Europe are artist apps.
As for online, the survey shows that free ad-funded and daily or monthly subscription models are the most popular, and more than half of online consumers say they would use a free service in exchange for listening to and watching ads.
So, where do you put your online and app development money?
Walt Disney’s reproduction of legendary TRON features electronic and symphonic elements from the French techno duo Daft Punk, uniquely blended with futuristic sound effects. SoundWorks Collection is a platform and website that takes you behind the scenes, for a look into the audio post-production of films, video game sound design and original soundtrack composition. This video takes you into the sound design and creation of TRON LEGACY.
