When we say that we help brands and organisations with their sonic brand identity, we cover everything…even parties!

Those lovely people at the IAA UK chapter (and Michael ‘Prince fan’ Toedman particularly) asked us to deliver some great music for the 80s themed Summer Ball.

We had Nelly, Nuno and our very own citizen Paul Martin playing the sounds covering lots of great sounds (cool ones and simply ones that you have to dance to). Talking of which here is a little clip…

Not sure what I can say about some of the dance moves going on…

A selection of some of the faces there…

Mariana loved this look…

Is that Meike and a dayglo friend?

Meanwhile citizen Mariana shares the spotlight with Kate Williams of Columbus Media

And the suave sophisticated folks from Publieurope prepare for the dancefloor

More photos found here

Here’s our latest sync for Rubicon’s Watermelon ad campaign produced by Ed Chilcott and Tim Clyde at the Minimart. The track ‘Watermelon On The Vine’ is by the Delta Rhythm Boys and dates back to the 1920s. We hope you like it…

Many artists seem to have taken to Twitter like ducks to water. While some musicians found the idea of keeping a blog going too daunting, Twitter provided an easy way to connect with their fans. Even Nine Inch Nails Trent Reznor, who recently claimed he was giving up on social media, just couldn’t stay away and is happily tweeting away again.

But Twitter’s staggering success (it grow by a staggering 752% last year) has meant that the marketing world has pricked up it ears and started to work out how to use it market products. But like any form of social media it’s so easy to get it very very wrong. Spam no matter what form it takes is unlikely to gain you friends. And the worst form of spam in the Twitterverse is using #hashtags, which allows you to post to all users who are interested in a specific topic. It may seem to some marketers that this is a great way to get to a large number of people quickly, but it is likely to have the opposite effect.

Before you start using Twitter to promote your latest releases I suggest you check out this case study on what not to do, which highlights how Habitat got it so so wrong with there recent Twitter campaign…

Music these days is seen as highly personal, focused on the individual: my iPod, my selection, my taste, my choice in my time.

Yet, at it’s best, music is a communal experience - the live show, sharing favourite songs, artist and fan getting closer together.

In my view, there is a clear return to the communal experience of music.

From iCulture to communalCulture.

A friend of citizensound, Steve Lawson, aka solobasssteve, plays gigs around the UK in people’s living rooms. With the extortionate prices demanded to see the big names at cavernous venues, people who wish to enjoy the intimacy of the live music experience are finding an increased number of alternatives.

This isn’t unique to the UK. Music around the world plays a role in communalCulture, be it a punjabi wedding, a Maasai Eunoto ceremony or singlong in a local pub in County Wexford, Ireland.

And it is definitely not anything new. Folk singers in smoky bars in the 1950s. My son’s great-great-grandfather travelled the Auvergne region with his sons entertaining the villages with banjo, mandolin and violin. Minstrels entertained the European courts in the middle-ages.

Thanks to my wife’s inspired idea, we enjoyed the vocal talents of Rebecca Rudge, accompanied by excellent pianist Charles Economou. Along with 23 guests, we enjoyed an operatic evening in our living room. People entered into the whole spirit of the evening and came wonderfully dressed. Rebecca and Charles chatted with everyone after and also explained the story behind each piece.

A number of people at our little evening had not experienced Opera live. This is not unusual. Opera is stunning storytelling. Yet, all too often, Opera is promoted by those who wish to keep it elitist and accessible for only a few. Rebecca and Charles play at concert halls and old people homes, ensuring that Opera reaches everyone. Just like Steve Lawson, they should be congratulated and championed as standard bearers for communalCulture

A few months ago we posted up a picture of the anatomy of a modern musician/music manager that showed how complex their role has become. Tom Williams (a New York based online marketer and publicist) has tried to map out the complex role that social media plays in a bands overall business strategy. What is interesting is not just the range of social media tools that you need to able to manage these days (and his diagram is by no means complete), but also how many roles each tool plays in delivering the strategy…

Tom states that the SIX goals of a social media campaign should be:

1. reach more people
2. keep the fans informed
3. allow people to sample the music
4. sell their music and merchandise
5. provide content that people can pass-along to their friends
6. engage the fans to keep them coming back for more

or… join us at the ball, in English.

O Baile represents the best of underground Portuguese music happening in London right now.

From Bands to Djs and spanning many other art forms, O Baile is a new platform to explore exciting cultural manifestations. Although mainly showcasing emerging talent from Portugal it will also incorporate diverse multi-national artists. Portuguese Fado and the success of more traditional artists like Marisa and Madredeus have exported Portuguese musical traditions with a contemporary twist.

The breakthrough across the world of Buraka Som Sistema (one of citizens´favorites bands) has given us a glimpse of what other talent is hiding in the underground scene in Lisbon and across the country.

O Baile will provide a platform to present talent from Portugal to a London audience. Live Music and Djs from Kuduro, Hip Hop, Fado, Electronica, House, Dubstep, Deconstructed Fado, Rock, Pop and anything else they fancy.  Mixed with Food, Fashion, Art, Design, Grafitti and all things Portuguese.

O Baile his brought to you by Mariana (one citizen) and Joana Seguro and if you missed the first one, you don´t want to miss the second. Friday, 3rd April, at Bar Music Hall, free entry and spectacular line up with more beats, fun and dancing.

This time: Octa Push, two brothers from Lisboa. Their style takes influence from all over - Grime, Bashment, Dub, Techno, Portuguese, African, Dubstep, Cut and Glitch..  the list goes on..

For those that didn’t make it, here is the video (filmed and edited by Giorgia Polizzi, soundtrack by Buraka Som Sistema and Stereo Addiction)

Drowned In Sound is the UK’s premier online music zine, and also home to the label that has brought you music from Martha Wainwright, Bat For Lashes and the Kaiser Chiefs.  We met up recently with editor and label-founder Sean Adams, who rather kindly asked us to contribute a regular column for the site. In our first posting we decided to ponder the pitfalls of using the original punk rocker, Iggy Pop, to promote car insurance! It is certainly an arresting ad, (my kids wanted to know who the strange man on the telly was), but left us wondering if he is more memorable than the product that he was supposed to be advertising! You can read the article by clicking on the image (above)…

There must be something in the water as another Punk legend and former Sex Pistol  John Lydon, has also been brought into to help a brand to give their product a bit of an advertsing makeover. And the good news is it seems to have worked The Guardian reported today that Lydon’s appearance in a TV ad for Dairy Crest butter had helped lift sales of the brand by 85% in the most recent quarter.

We wondered what other punk legends could be brought out of semi-retirement to help brands increase their sales and give their ads a bit of an attitudinal make-over? Over to you…

We love sharing music, and as a special early Christmas gift we thought we’d give everyone access to our latest “It All Ad’s Up” podcast, which we put together on a regular basis for our friends who are responsible for music syncs in advertising agencies across the world. The aim of the podcast is to share with them some of the great new music that is tickling our fancies at the moment, but also some to highlight some of the musical treasures that make up our record collections.

We launched soundsearch our bespoke music search and licensing service back in March 2008, and it has been going great guns.

We’d like to think that a lot of our success is down to providing something that is bit different from a lot of the other music search companies out there. Our recommendation are based on over 40 years of hands-on experience in the music business and some truly fanatical record collecting, and not some fancy computerised system. And with our A&R hat on we are always on the look out for new and interesting that is under the radar or yet to be signed to a record label. So some of the tracks included on the podcast are receiving a premier here.

So we hope you enjoy listening to the music of… Fujiya & Miyagi, El Guincho, Jonquil, Dragons, 4 Hero, Lykke Li, She & Him, Richard Swift, Findlay Brown, Marla Hansen, Sia, Erin McKeown, Son Of Dave, V.V. Brown, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Quiet Village, Amon Tobin, Department of Eagles, Tom Middleton, Robert Logan, Buraka Som Sistema, Operator Please, The Mummers, Efterklang, Alison Statton & Spike, Allá, Bellaruche, DJ Day and Locust…

So without further ado here’s the music…

To listen now:

To download the podcast:

Over the last 12 months the wind has changed and managers, like record labels, are looking to develop new revenue streams around their artists to replace the declining revenues from CD sales.

Some of new mantras that you hear being bandied about in the music industry include 360 degree deals, a new DIY ethic, Venture Capital funding, and brand partnerships.

For the last 20 years much of the focus for brands has been on sports sponsorship. And big money has been made on both sides of the table. Global sports brands such as David Beckham or Tiger Woods have attracted vast sums of revenues from brands eager to attach themselves to their success! But sport is loosing its allure. It’s a very expensive game to play in, the audience for sport is getting older, and the majority of women just aren’t interested.

Music, however, offers a new and exciting challenge for brands. Unlike sport music appeals to everyone from 6 to 60 year olds, and is enjoyed by both sexes.

So why aren’t more brands supporting music? Brands have two big problems with dealing with the music business…

The record industry has always worked to tight release schedules. Yet one thing brands do fastidiously is plan ahead. A major brand’s sponsorship budget can be set in stone 12 months before the money gets spent. So it’s no surprise that brands find it hard to work with labels who may only have a slight inkling of what their release schedules will look like in a years time. In comparison the film industry will ensure that the majority of brand deals will have been done well in advance, often before the film has even begun shooting, giving all the brand partners plenty of time to gear up for its release.

The second big issue for brands is the knowledge that labels and managers can provide about artists and their fans, or more importantly the lack of it. The sort of research and insights that are commonplace in the brand world, are sorely lacking in the music world. And without that information brands and their agencies will continue to be tentative when it comes to supporting an individual act. Which goes some way to explaining why festivals are so popular with brands, as they allow them to spread their investment across a wide range of artists and music fans, minimising the risk of backing the wrong act.

citizensound says:

To stand any chance of success you need to start approaching brands well before the new record has even been recorded. And when it comes to providing information and insights about your artists and their fans you need to ensure that what you provide matches up to the brand’s needs and expectations.

Minimalist American artist Georgia O’Keeffe painted “Blue and Green Music” in 1919. We should have got her in to do our branding…

“Making your unknown known

is the important thing”