Archive
Musical Branding Effects in Our Economy.
By Stephen Hoshaw
Neither, please.
While music has many jobs in the media landscape, one may fly under your radar.
Muzak is most commonly known as elevator music, it plays in the background of many department stores and is meant to give us something to listen to while we shop.
Right?
Wrong.
Branding
In this EST article, muzak is described as “scientifically engineered sound – functional music rather than entertainment.” This “functional” element of muzak is the aspect that leads to its psychological effect on people.
A piece from the blog History is made at night details the real subconscious effects as motivational to office workers, relaxing for patients and delivering a “less hurried” shopping experience for customers.
However, these effects do not only apply to the inside of a store, office or restaurant. The practice of engineering sound to produce a desired effect has become a popular marketing practice in our media culture.
Many corporations have used “audio identifiers” in tandem with a product. This could be the jingle that plays with the 20th Century Fox logo at the beginning of a film, or the McDonald’s tune heard on all of their television advertisements.
Why does your brand need a sound?
Corporations have found new ways to turn what was once thought of as a secondary element (to visual portions), into a more powerful marketing tool.
An article from Post Magazine reported many techniques that corporations use to maximize the effect of this tool. Most businesses focus on the structure of the song to create a stronger emotional connection with the consumer, while simultaneously concern themselves with the context of the advertisement the tune will appear in.
When used in this way, the “music” that is created is referred to as a Sonic Brand.
Corporate Use
Most businesses that run advertisement campaigns utilize Sonic Branding, however, not all of them use nameless instrumentals, as many jingles appear.
The WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) is a great illustration of this.
In 2008, the WWE was pushing hard for artists to start looking to them for a branding experience. Wrestlers came out to specific
Well this looks like a wholesome image the teenage American shopaholic, right?
songs, thus promoting the artist and spreading awareness. Usually, the WWE would try to time this kind of promotion with the release of the album said song was on.
Other companies use musical branding to sell the image of the artist to consumers.
Iconix is a brand group dedicated to getting the brands it owns into retailers and department stores nationwide.
More importantly, they are the firm behind the recent Britney Spears endorsed Candies sponsorship (available in the Kohls store near you).
This is a perfect example of how most corporations view a musical celebrity. Iconix is using Britney Spears’ appeal to the youthful women to sell Candies clothes to that very demographic.
Their video shows the direct partnerships they share with some of America’s biggest corporate department stores, displaying the depth they can achieve with through this kind of branding.
Artist Use
While the popularity of musical branding is growing in the corporate world, both through the audio that corporations employ in advertisments/in store and through the images they sell, artists have also picked up on the power behind branding.
In an article by Constantine Roussos (of musicmusic.com), he describes the changing brand environment the musical world faces.
In his view the amount of time and money big labels are spending on branding isn’t working, “Spending thousands of dollars does not buy you as much attention and the reality is, the major labels have to work harder and more transparently to gain the exposure they once enjoyed.”
While this may spell trouble for the big time record labels, this ultimately leads to an increase of power in the hands of the
Apparently these guys are really into this musical branding thing.
independent artist. Artists now have the opportunity to make an image of their own and gain a following of fans who can support them.
Some artists have recognized the power of branding, and have seen how its use has hurt their own brand. Case and point, Nine Inch Nails.
Apparently, our government likes to use Nine Inch Nails’ powerful sound to improve the effectiveness of interrogations at Guantanamo Bay. In this article, the government’s tactics are outlined and described in detail regarding this use of music to cause a psychotic feeling in the victims of the interrogations they conduct at Guantanamo.
While branding becomes more and more important for artists, it is clear that selling power may lie in correctly branding the artists sound.
Branding is and always will be an important element in our culture’s use of music. Whether its creating a song that will sell a product, using an artist’s image to sell a commodity or to sell an album, musical branding will be in full effect.
Sources:
Apple: A Corporate Profile
By Stephen Hoshaw
Background/History
If one was to look at the war between the personal computer and Macintosh ten years ago, it would look completely different than the battle waged today.
Apple's early attempt at catering toward the business crowd.
The Apple Computer Incorporation was founded by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs in 1976. After creating the Apple I in Jobs’ garage, the two entrepreneurs sold 200 units to hobbyists in the San Fransisco Bay area.
Sales from these early Apple computers prompted the creation of two more generations of the Apple concept computer as well as the Apple Lisa.
In 1984 Apple unveiled Macintosh. Jobs hoped for this technology to spread to in-home use, expanding on the market for the company.
The sale of the Macintosh proved to be successful, at least at its beginning. Apple’s Macintosh sales dropped sharply after a small period during the Macintosh’s birth forcing Apple to re-think its business plan.
Steve Jobs makes his return to CEO of Apple in 1998.
Steve Jobs was later forced out of the CEO position at Apple by former president of PepsiCo John Sculley.
After a period of rough sales, Apple’s board of directors voted John Sculley to be replaced with Michael Spindler as the CEO of Apple. However, Spindler over
saw some of Apples largest failures. These include the Macintosh Portable and the Aquarius.
These mistakes caused the board to appoint Gil Amelio to overtake Spindler as CEO in 1996. As Amelio oversaw many of Apple’s changes to its graphical user interface, he wanted to merge with Jobs’ new company NeXT.
This merger eventually led to the creation of the OS system Macintosh computers employ now, as well as Jobs’ return to the CEO position at Apple.
Jobs’ return brought new vitality to Apple, along with a new vision for the future of the company.
Financial Information/Board of Directors
Today, it is clear that Jobs’ vision has been realized.
How much is Apple worth?
Last month, CNET stated, “Apple on Tuesday reported revenue of $13.5 billion and profits of $3.07 billion, or $3.33 earnings per share. That’s a 49-percent increase from the $9.08 billion in revenue reported in the same quarter a year ago.”
The release of the iPad has only shown how much of a media powerhouse Apple truly is. They proved that they havn’t lost their kick-ass product launch ability by selling over one million units over the first month of the iPads launch.
As we have seen, Apple has had many changes in the history of its corporate leadership. However, the return of Steve Jobs seems to have brought the companies top executives together.
A Wall Street Journal article reports, “Investors have long urged Apple’s directors to be more independent of the company’s
Apple's diverse board of directors.
powerful CEO, even as Apple has continued posting strong financial results. An independent board represents the interests of shareholders and can challenge the CEO when necessary, said David Nadler, a corporate governance expert and senior partner at consultants Oliver Wyman Group.”
One can clearly see how Apple’s board of directors could want to follow a CEO with such a distinct plan as Jobs’.
With most of the corporate leadership changes in their past, Jobs and Apple seem to focus on the future of our culture’s grasp of the computer and of media as a whole.
Product Placement/Synergy
In doing this, Apple has created an unstoppable brand image in our media landscape. Today, the Apple logo is used in many shows and movies.
Jim just loves his Macbook Pro!
In this press release by TV by The Numbers states, “Apple and Pontiac each received over $250,000 in Media Value from the season premiere of 24. According to Front Row Analytics, Apple received $292,800 in exposure by 12 total sequences.”
Apple advertises through more than just its television product placements, if you’ve seen a movie recently, you have probably seen an Apple product.
In the top blockbusters of last year, Apple products appeared in nearly 41 percent of the 44 films. This list includes Drag Me To Hell, Orphan, Crank 2: High Voltage and even the Oscar winning best picture of last year Hurt Locker.
He's got every avenue of media consumption covered thanks to Apple!
Clearly, Apple is aiming for the top spot in the pop culture spotlight for a corporation based on technology.
Not only do they lock down this spot literally IN the media we consume, but also through our consumption of media.
Apple does this brilliantly by providing us with devices such as the iPod, iPad and even the Macintosh home computer. It is in the combination of these technologies that the synergy Apple creates for itself shines.
Perhaps the most obvious example of the synergy between their own products is given by iTunes.
An article from CNET reported that, in 2009, a song bought from the itunes store accounted for 25 percent of the overall music market.
Last month, Fortune stated that Apple had sold around ten million (estimation) iPod units in just the second quarter of this year.
When combining the uses of these two technologies, Apple not only profits from the unit you are listening to your music through, but also from the music that is piped in to the mp3 player.
On top of this, the iPad adds another market for Apple to harness.
The iPad creates a market for applications. These are managed through the App Store and provide Apple with additional revenue through no output on their behalf.
The creation of the iPad device gives Apple an opportunity to return to vertical integration. Through the use of the A4 chip (in place of the intel chips they have been using in all of their Macintosh units) Apple is able to create the processors its computers run.
In studying this corporation, it is clear that Apple has utilized the media landscape of today to generate profit. This commodification of information is clearly the leverage that Apple will continue to use and integrate into their business plan.
Sources:
A brief history of Apple Computer Inc.
The first Macintosh advertisement.
John Sculley on Macintosh issues.
Apple sells one million iPads.
Wall Street Journal reports on the board of directors at Apple.
Numbers for Apple on television.
The Digital Release
By Stephen Hoshaw
How long will we be using these?
Buying an album today means something completely different than if you were to pick one up ten years ago. With the rise of the digital age comes a growing interest in a new format of music.
It is widely known that the music industry, much like the field of journalism, is facing a digital change. One could argue that the drop in 7.2 percent (down to $17 billion) for recordings last year is the result of their acclimation to their new environment. However, the opportunity that the digital switch provides for the music industry is extremely evident.
There are three distribution companies at the forefront of the digital music front currently striving to figure this out; Amazon, iTunes, and eMusic.
Amazon's trademarked smirk carries on to its music division
Amazon created a music division of its store in 2007, hoping to find its place in the digital music industry. Most of the songs they offer are priced between $0.89 and $0.99 individually. They use this to combat the newly instituted iTunes standard price of $1.29 a song. This is not the only maneuver they made to curb their rival.
In a move they denoted as the “daily deal,” Amazon MP3 offerred heavy promotion on albums release dates. This included slashing the prices on the selected album and in some cases, a one-day early exclusive on the release. This move was not well accepted by Amazon MP3’s most powerful rival, iTunes.
Apple responded to the record labels participating in this by threatening to take away marketing privileges on iTunes. This is what Scott Reilly, stated was one of his best accomplishments as the former manager of digital music at Amazon.
iTunes: a great gateway to music or a restraint on our musical interaction?
In an effort to provide the user with restriction-free mp3 music files, eMusic provides another avenue of competition in digital music market. eMusic works on a package-based subscription for the user. This allows a set number of downloads for a concrete price, saving the buyer more than if they were to use iTunes.
Where will netlabels such as PublicSpaces Lab fit in to the music industry?
While these digital music distribution services struggle to find the best way to meet their profit margins, record labels have started looking into the digital market as well.
Under Creative Commons, PublicSpaces Lab has been digitally releasing tracks since 2007. Netlabels such as PublicSpaces Lab distribute their artists content through both digital download and online radio. As one of their newest releases, The Containment Sessions proves to be an interesting digital release experiment.
Through progressive technologies such as the DRM-free download and the solely digital album release, it will be interesting to see where digital music will bring the music industry holistically.
Sources:
360 Degrees of Pain: What the Rest of the Business Is Looking Like.
Amazon MP3 Takes on the iTunes Store.
Is Apple Finally Worried About Amazon’s Music Store.
Amazon exec slams some in music sector.
iTunes Store a greater cash crop than Apple implies?
Music Inc. 