Here is Gary McClarnan, of Sparklestreet, on the left and my co-citizen Nick Watt enjoying a quiet drink in Venice.

Gary took time out to join citizensound and Pete Jenner at the Venice Festival of Media. His entrepreneurial flair, deep understanding of artist psyche and finding a balance between Brands and Bands was a huge benefit for all those who sat in on the session at the Festival.

Much appreciated Gary…

Turn on the video game.

Select Super Mario Brothers.

Escape into the wonderful world of plumbing.

Have fun.

Yet without those catchy tunes, this game will be somewhat lessened.

Koji Kondo is the man behind the music. He clearly knows how to create the sonic complement to the visual, a lesson that many brands could learn from. The theme from Super Mario Brothers is number 9 on the Billboard Ringtone charts and has been there for 129 weeks!

Post Script: What is the sound of your brand?

Once the UK daily newspaper The Daily Telegraph was famed for grumpy letters (that’s User Generated Content for all you youngsters) about the state of the nation from disgruntled retired military types. Well, I might be drawing a little from the picture painted by the wonderful satirical magazine Private Eye.

In recent years it has been aiming to get down with the privately educated 20 and 30 somethings, otherwise known as Chloe and Charlie. It might even claim that it helped to create the demand for the political character known as Dave Cameron (leader of the Conservative Party).

Earlier this month, telegraph.co.uk took one step further to shed it’s dusty image by launching its own download service (found here). Powered by TuneTribe, it features music from the indies as well as the majors.

Sensible move, though it’s role in introducing their older readers to the delights of downloading the likes of Dylan, Ella Fitzgerald or Elgar will be interesting to track.

Following on from the Shining post earlier, I found this wonderful collection of other film trailers with the music changed. A number make the point about the importance of sonic branding. Have look at the 10 things I Hate or the horror film West Side Story…genius.

Here is a brilliant clip that you must all watch and hear. It simply shows how music (and great editing) can confuse your emotions. Get your brand sound wrong and who knows what consumers will think of your brand… Thanks to Rachel at Woodwork Music for this…

Is music merely a sonic experience?

Are there no other senses affected by the makers of sound?

Of course there is. Let’s start with the Visual.

The artists themselves, the live gig experience, the visual feast at a club, music videos, video blogs of unsigned acts, TV music shows and more.

For many of a certain age, the most regular visual reference for them would have been the album cover.

For some, the cover was the closest they got to the love of their life. It helped to create the dream. Hugging David Cassidy, kissing Marvin Gaye, holding Debbie Harry, drooling over Clare Grogan of Altered Images.

For others, it would be to gaze upon their heroes, their idols, those who speak up for them.
The Hendrix pose, the Coltrane nobility, Patti Smith’s strength, Morrisey’s poetry, Marley rightousness, Bowie otherness and many more…

Sometimes it was a chance to escape into the realms of a sci-fi dream world, or a confirmation of their own life.

The album cover could provide a continual reminder to many budding musicians that ‘these people look like me…I could be them’.

Now that we have moved on from the analogue past, where does the Visual component of music rest in the digital present?

The CD art work is too small, too flimsy and too easily thrown away to warrant any comparison to the visual power of the album cover. So many great covers of the CD generation have been undervalued due to the materials it was showcased in.

Online, we have images on iTunes (if you are lucky), that can hide behind your thumb.

From 12 inches to 12mm…has the initial Visual Impact of music come to this?

Or have we now replaced the visual experience of music with a social one?

Been contemplating this little blog for a while. Rather than pontificate about why, let’s just get on with it.

This is a blog about sound, about music, about my personal pet sonic loves and hates, and about the business contribution that sound makes to brands.

So there will be pieces about sonic brand strategies, about why there is a focus on the visual rather than the sonic by most companies.

We will also natter about about the power of music to strengthen consumer trust, stuff on music & the digital arena, as well as sound in the retail space.

There will inevitably be bits on favourite tunes and sonic masters.

After all, someone once wrote “If music be the food of love, play on”.

And Gary Bartz once sang “Music is my Santuary, Music is my Life”…