Tuesday 16 March 2010

NOT Sonic branding

Today a client asked me if I thought that the Amy Winehouse/Fred Perry tie-up constitutes good sonic branding? Though the answer to this question is easy (the association may be many things but it is not sonic branding) the fact that the question was posed in the first place is more interesting.

What is the real relationship between an artist, their music and a brand? How can we separate an artist 's individual brand from the music they create and which is of greatest value when aligning with a 'corporate' brand?

Though so many music choices are made according to their popularity, artists are the least important component in the sonic branding mix.

At the top of the hierarchy is the corporate brand - they monetize the whole transaction through their clients, they pay the bills. Understanding the business of the brand - how it makes profits from its customer transactions - is the primary task in sonic branding.

Next in line comes the music. The definition of the notes on the page - and the ownership of them - defines how successful the exercise will be...this is a hits business same as any other in entertainment (a nuance for another day).

Last in line is the artist. They are cheap(ish), largely expendable and (usually) only of short term value - can you name a long term artist/brand association?

Where artists work well in a sonic branding sense are launches and PR - reference Justin Timberlake for McDs or U2 for iTunes - but don't look for long term dividends from artist involvement...they probably won't materialise.

So unless Amy starts writing music for Fred Perry (and why not?), as well as designing clothes, we can all dismiss this as just another celeb / fashion tie up with a short shelf life and nothing whatsoever to do with sonic branding. Sorry for wasting your time.



Thursday 11 March 2010

Free music anyone?

So maybe I shouldn't blog twice in a day - but what can I do? I have just had an interesting thought...

At Cutting Edge, we have been grappling with our client's desires to have 'free' music for their websites. What are the options? How do we keep our clients happy but still honor the fact that we work in a world of licensing, royalties and ownership? We are PRS members, after all.

It is pretty easy to go down the unsigned route. Grab the music of some youngster - ready to be exploited (in the nicest way) but is there another way?


There has to be an amazing opportunity right now in music that is going public domain. I haven't done all the homework yet - how long is copyright of masters and publishing? - but I do know that some of the recordings on this site are pretty usable (in terms of audio quality and musicality). And every passing year brings a greater volume of works into public domain.

Food for thought...or is this just a can of worms?

Rage Against The Machine

I spent the last ten years building a sample library, buying more and more powerful computers and selling my clients on the idea that you can make music more easily, more cheaply and more creatively with one man and his machines rather than with live musicians.

Now I think I was wrong.

I have just seen the creative director of Cutting Edge hold a sonic branding session with three musicians in a studio + a client. What came out of the session was an organically created piece of work that everyone contributed to, has a vested interest in and has more soul than anything we have every come up with using the machines.

Having espoused a mechanised approach to music creation I am now firmly flip-flopping into the camp of those who believe the real magic happens when talented people get together in a room and play their instruments, use their ears to judge what they hear and develop iteratively.

I am sure there are some parallels to be drawn from the world of software development; SCRUM methodologies versus Waterfall and all that but I'll leave that for another day (and another book?)

For now, I just wanted to say that musicians are not the enemy of sonic branding - just the opposite. Time for the people to rise up against the machines!