Last year the music publisher I worked at got lucky.
We landed the new Daft Punk album.
EVERYONE wanted “Get Lucky.” We had so many requests pouring in for this song, so many brands and agencies went after this thing (or something that sounds like it) you just wouldn’t believe it.
All of them were turned down.
You see here’s the thing that a lot of brands do – they try to piggy back on the next new musical thing. They’ll throw obscene amounts of money at it (or sometimes laughable amounts of money if they don’t have much music licensing experience). But they can’t get it.
By the time the latest hit is a hit, it’s got too much clout. It’s too popular. They can’t afford it.
Why not try to FIND the next new thing?
Every label, every publisher, every indie artist that’s clamoring to get their song somewhere, ANYWHERE, is willing to let you listen.
Why not do the hard, low-risky work of curating the music as a brand project?
Some brands do this (or outsource it at least) – Mt. Dew (Green Label) and Red Bull are two obvious examples – and have seen some pretty cool results.
The problem with transactional music licensing is you often end up not getting what you pay for…what is it you’re paying for anyway?
Like anything, the more real effort you put into something the more positively it will reflect on the brand.
You don’t even have to do it with in-house employees or your agency – you can hire tastemakers to do this on your behalf (ahem, the contact me form on my blog is real easy to fill out by the way).
Let’s not forget to mention the service you’re doing for artists and for music in general. A whole new outlet for music.
What a great thing for everyone.
I like your idea Andy. With more than a decade of Artist Development experience at major labels and brands, I thought Music Licensing would be a slam dunk. But it isn’t, for exactly the reasons you’ve laid out. In addition the advertising ecosystem is in the midst of an earthquake. In this environment the price agencies want to allocate for music gets smaller, as does bandwidth a VP of Music has for accepting new music contacts.
That said, the right song in the right campaign creates lightning in a bottle (or crack)and keeps all of us trying to make it happen again.
Thanks Dawn – though I think we need to worry less about the amount of money we get for a license, and more about the amount of value we can actually provide. More value = a more interested client and cooler projects.
And yes – always reaching for that one lightning strike!
I agree with you regarding providing value to the client/agency. It has to be measured though as music artists also need to feel their work is being respected and valued. It can be delicate.