I have been enjoying the BBC programme Q: The many lives of Quincy Jones. I came across his name on albums back in the 80s, but then came across his name on some great jazz recordings and on film scores. True music legend. Part 1 can still be found on the BBC iPlayer for a few more days…part two coming soon…

Q: The Many Lives of Quincy Jones

As I write this post, I am thinking about the tagging of the post. How do I tag Q?

The problem is that he is not constrained by genre (Jazz, pop, classical, hip hop). He himself says in the programme that he hates being categorised.

A side benefit of this first part was an introduction to a fascinating character by the name of the influential French composer and music educator Nadia Boulanger

Whilst in Dubai, I met up with Nisha Varman of the BBC. Fascinating chat which led to talking about her father Ajit Varman.

A well respected musician/music director, Ajit Varman has created some stunning soundtracks for film.

I was led to this fabulous blog that highlights his work on a famous Bollywood film Vijeta. Nisha also pointed me in the direction of this youtube clip of the film, featuring one of his songs, sung by Asha Bhosle.

We will be featuring an interview with Ajit Varman very soon to find his views on the power of sound.

.A well-placed TV sync can provide a great deal of exposure for an artist’s music, and they get paid for the privilege! So why do so many of these opportunities go unrealised?

Could it be that brands don’t fully appreciate the impact that music can have on their brands?

Or is it that the labels can’t work out how to sync their short-term priorities with the brand’s longer-term needs?

After all, wouldn’t a hit record benefit both brand and label?

It’s certainly true to say that too few brands realise the importance of music in their brand strategy. In such a cluttered visual environment a sonic strategy would help them differentiate their brands from their competition. However, most advertising is steadfastly visual. Music is too often often seen as adjunct to an ad campaign, rather than a key part of the communication. But brands are learning fast, and are showing an increased willingness to experiment, IF the right opportunities come along.

For the record business, sync deals offer up not only a significant promotional opportunity if worked correctly, it also provides an increasingly important revenue stream for labels, music publishers and artists alike. And a good sync deal can not only help break a new act, it can also revitalise an artist or a labels back catalogue. I’m sure Phil Collins was as surprised as the rest of us to see “In The Air Tonight” go back into the Top 20, some 26 years after its first release. All off the back of a Cadbury’s advert.

Many of the best sync companies have become ‘crate-diggers’, seeking out new artists, independent music and esoteric oldies, rather than pushing household names like Phil. And it’s not just because his music isn’t very cool these days! This trend look sets to continue as brands marketing budgets continue to come under fire. As much as brands would love to have access to household names to promote their products, few have the budgets to compete, especially with procurement folk trying to drive down the cost of everything, including the cost of syncs. And as the music industry continues to favour short term wins over long-term gains, things are unlikely to change. The use of the Rolling Stones “She’s A Rainbow” by Sony Bravia could become an increasingly rare example of a brand spending big bucks on a sync deal, unless it is part of a far broader deal with the brand.

The advent of hundreds of new cable and satellite TV channels had offered up new opportunities for sync, with many small brands (and programme makers) entering the TV advertising marketplace for the first time. And many of them will need music. But these new entrants into the marketplace simply can’t afford top dollar, playing into the hands of anyone that can be more creative than the major labels and their publishers.

citizensound says:

For the music industry to really take advantage of the sync opportunities on offer they need a real shift in their mindset, and find new ways to do business with brands. They need to think more long-term and be more strategic, they need to understand that brands planning cycles are very different from their own, and learn to compensate for that. And they also need to able to turnkey their offerings to deliver real partnerships that work for both themselves and their new brand partners. And as we’ve seen brands will find another way to source music if the big boys wont play ball.

Came across this recently. Anyone who has an interest in the UK reggae scene from the 1970s, must watch this programme. Interviews with people such as Lloyd Coxson, Roy Shirley and Joe Mansano, along with clips of Matumbi amongst others. I have found two clips, and am hunting down the rest.

The Delroy Washington performance at Notting Hill in part 1 (above) is special…

My local underground (metro) stations in London are Clapham Common and Brixton. In the ticket areas people are treated to the sounds of Mozart and Mahler as they head to and from work. It immediately helps to create an atmosphere that would not otherwise exist in such a space.

Brilliantly thought through. As you pass through the music, a little bit of the stress of your day seeps away. Masterful.

So have Starbucks given up on music or are they just refocusing their attention?

When it was announced this week that they were to pull out of their record label Hear Music and hand over this business to their partners the Concord Music Group, an obvious reaction was ‘So what went wrong?’

This news was further compounded when it was announced that the entertainment division was to be put under control of the Chief Technology Officer Chris Bruzzo…geeks in charge of creative development? Surely this means that the whole Hear Music exercise has been a failure?

Well, it hasn’t been a failure in my view. For many of the classic artists, it has worked. First Ray Charles sells over 5million units. Paul McCartney sold more than he could have imagined. Meanwhile, Hear Music tempted Joni Mitchell to record again - which in my book is worth the whole exercise in itself. It also started to offer an alternative distribution and marketing solution for many other artists like the immensely talented and underrated Sia.

Has it been a success for Starbucks customers? Well, from a sonic retail perspective, Starbucks can teach many other retailers how to think about the effect of sound on a consumer’s experience in-store (See posts passim).

Starbucks have a head start on other brands in terms of understanding the power of music in the consumer’s connection with their business. Yet, the news clearly suggests that all is not well at Starbucks. So what can we make of the changes?

Shifting away from CD to digital is good business sense, though making the assumption that the CD is completely dead for the Starbucks consumer is a huge one. There are over 6000 options of coffee in Starbucks, so having a choice of formats for the music - “CD or download madam?” - is not a bad idea.

The bigger challenge for the new head of the entertainment division is how to ensure that the experience in-store is not undermined by this move. The danger is that a shift to digital entertainment will leave the coffee-house experience somewhat muted.

One hopes that Starbucks does not retreat, turn it’s music commitment into yet another music download site and forget that sonic branding is felt most of all by their customers in-store. They may be right to consider promoting books in-store (in fact this makes immense sense), yet the power of music could be better harnessed by brands, Starbucks included.

A thought for Starbucks:
Ever thought about getting local artists to play in-store, so supporting local art, giving something fresh to the customers and positioning yourself as the ‘local coffee house’ at the same time? It means acting small, not acting big.

Just came across an interesting article in Business Week It reiterates that, in the face of the online shopping onslaught, bricks and mortar music retailers are suffering. However, it also highlights the green shoots of online success that some smaller independent music retailers are experiencing.  I’m with them on this.

Sites such as Piccadilly Records, Boomkat (both Manchester UK) and Dusty Groove (U.S.) are fantastic. These are quality retailers of music…small is really beautiful

After the fascinating Sex Pistols documentary, I also watched a brilliant documentary on Joy Division and their music, called simply Joy Division. It is shot with such love and beauty, right down to the closing credits.

I spent a lot of my youth listening to Closer, Atmosphere, She’s Lost Control and Unknown Pleasures, Transmission and more so I should be pretty familiar with the songs. Yet this documentary really made me think again about the lyrics.

Don’t make the mistake that this is some cheap effort to cash in on the recent Control film by Anton Corbijn. This documentary, written by Jon Savage and directed by Grant Gee, stands up by itself and for me gave more of an insight into Ian Curtis than Control did. Truly beautiful and very moving. This is documentary-making at it’s best.

Well, you just cannot get away from the letter P right now. Every music mag in the UK is carrying that letter. The marketing budget behind the new Portishead album Third must be pretty significant.

Tonight, Channel 4 in the UK is showing Portishead playing tracks from their new album whilst in a studio in Portishead. Even the break bumpers show that P!

Joy Division yesterday, Portishead today…breathtaking stuff for my soul.

Might not be the most cheerful music for April, but there is always another day for happy clappy stuff…

Caught up with Graham Duff, the CEO of Universal McCann EMEA. Now Graham loves his music. He still finds time to go to gigs from the massive events at O2 to the small smelly dives of London. So when we caught up with each other at the Venice Festival of Media, I had to ask him for his recommendations

1. Favourite album at the moment?

Could have gone for The Clash and London Calling, but at the moment it is Razorlight

2. A song that always makes you smile?

Alive - Pearl Jam

3. Favourite recent gig?

Led Zeppelin at O2. (Well if you managed to get a ticket for that gig, wouldn’t you say it was your favourite recent gig too!?)

4. Song you couldn’t resist singing or humming along to loudly, even though you’re wearing your headphones?

Train in Vain - The Clash

5. Greatest party record of all time?

Mamma Weer All Crazee Now - Slade

What a great last choice from Graham.

Have you noticed that The Clash is very popular with senior media industry figures? I wonder if it is the same with the creative agency side, or are they all into ‘art-rock’?

I’m off to ask.

Thanks again Graham…