I just read an interesting article from Time about the ties between pop music and tv advertisements. Remember back in the day when many musicians said that they would never sell out by either being in a commercial or having their music used in a commercial??? Well it seems that these days many musicians are lending their music to various companies, featured in their ad or have become a company spokesperson.
The most famous examples are Apple and L’Oreal. The current L’Oreal campaign for their various products feature Jennifer Lopez, Gwen Stefani, and Beyonce. Both Gwen and Beyonce’s music has been featured in a few of the ads that they have starred in.
Beyonce L’Oreal Feria Ad
Apple helped to boost the names of the likes of Feist and Cansei De Ser Sexy (CSS) by having their music featured in Apple iPod ads.
Feist Apple iPod Nano Ad
I think the video and the ad went hand in hand. The video had dancers in various coloured outfits and the iPod Nanos kept changing colours to show that they were available in different colours. Would anybody otherwise become aware of this song if it was not for this commercial??
I think that having music featured in ads is a way for musicians to get their music out their to audiences who may not necessarily be familiar with their music. People develop a curiosity when they hear a catchy song from a commercial and will ask friends if they have heard it of before or look it up on the internet. This is good marketing because: 1) You have someone talking about the commercial to other people and 2) the artist whose music was featured in the ad probably just got a new fan who will end up buying their album(s) or song(s). These days albums sales have dropped significantly since music downloading services became available and now musicians have to market themselves harder than ever before. TV appearances and tours are more frequent now but some musicians also have so much star power that they can cash in on their name to boost their appeal even more.
It is far better to use a song instead of having an ad agency come up with a jingle that is similar to a famous song like it used to be done in the 1980s and 1990s. Too many lawsuits were coming up because a jingle was ripped off from a song and the musician wanted fees paid for using their song without permission. Although now musicians are fighting with each other because one person copied a similar style lyric or music beats from another song.
Musicians are not only being featured in tv advertisements but they are frequently appearing more on magazine covers were reserved for actors and models. Vogue Magazine has featured more musicians recently than models. Although, featuring celebs on magazines can complement each other. Readers want to see people who are popular therefore magazine editors will feature certain people on their covers to help boost sales but on the flip side, being featured on a magazine helps to boost a celebrity with what they are promoting. Adele has been the biggest music sensation of 2011 and fresh off of her 6 Grammys win the March 2012 Vogue issue was just released in the past week. With her success, Vogue may expect to have a sales boost with this issue. Although I am sure by now every single person on the planet owns 21, but they should definitely check out her first album 19, because it is just as good as 21!! Lana Del Rey’s case fits the bill more with the complementary effect. Lana just released her debut album in January and has been the talk of the music industry for the past few months. This cover alone has had some controversy because some people feel that she is not front cover material yet because she is so new to the music industry, although this was said about her appearance on Saturday Night Live, she was not ready for SNL because she was not a veteran on the live circuit yet. Controversy helps to sell magazines and it helps to push album sales, so Lana just ends up being the big winner anyways. People are going to talk about her, not everyone is going to know who she is and will end up discovering who she is.
The February 2012 cover of Vogue had Taylor Swift and now the March 2012 cover features Adele. The UK edition of Vogue saw Florence and the Machine on the February 2012 cover and Lana Del Rey now glances the cover of the March 2012 edition.
Taylor Swift – US Vogue February 2012
Lana Del Rey – UK Vogue March 2012
To conclude, has the changing technology of how consumers buy their music impacted the way musicians need to market themselves? In my opinion, yes they have as in the case of some of the examples I have provided in this blog. Has it been for the greater good? Sales numbers tell us how much of an impact where the music was featured has made on the public.
Words and Thoughts 