With the music industry in free fall, musicians turn to corporate advertising and product placement to promote their work.
In the music video for Lady Gaga's hit single “Bad Romance, the pop diva vamps across several nightmarish tableaux wearing a variety of barely there lingerie get-ups. The flashy clip caused a sensation when it debuted in November and has racked up 85 million views on YouTube.
But perhaps its most striking aspect is the unabashed product placement -- conspicuous visual shout-outs to Nemiroff vodka, Nintendo Wii, Burberry and other brands.
Back in the proverbial day -- say, the Woodstock era, punk rock's '70s heyday, the slacker-era '90s -- a song was a song and a jingle was a jingle and rarely the twain did meet. But now, with CD sales in free fall and opportunities for radio or television airplay increasingly rare, the rules governing the interplay between pop music and advertising are being rewritten.
It's no longer possible to “sell out" -- at least, not within a certain time-cherished understanding of the term. Rockers, rappers and up-and-coming pop titans of all stripes are licensing music and image as an integral part of brand-building, which largely has usurped selling music and concert tickets as many musicians' professional end goal.
“Using entertainment assets to introduce products is a platform that needed to get exploited," said Stoute, a former executive vice president of Interscope Records. “The lines needed to be blurred. When done correctly, there's consumer acceptance."
Stoute said his marketing company gets several calls a week from “major artists" in pursuit of their own “Forever." It's not selling out, he argues, if there's an authentic relationship between the music and the product being hawked. “Marketing isn't successful if the consumer feels he or she is being sold something," Stoute said.
“People's views on endorsements, doing magazine stuff -- any way to reach fans -- it's all changed. It's not taboo anymore," Lipps said.
In the music video for Lady Gaga's hit single “Bad Romance, the pop diva vamps across several nightmarish tableaux wearing a variety of barely there lingerie get-ups. The flashy clip caused a sensation when it debuted in November and has racked up 85 million views on YouTube.
But perhaps its most striking aspect is the unabashed product placement -- conspicuous visual shout-outs to Nemiroff vodka, Nintendo Wii, Burberry and other brands.
Back in the proverbial day -- say, the Woodstock era, punk rock's '70s heyday, the slacker-era '90s -- a song was a song and a jingle was a jingle and rarely the twain did meet. But now, with CD sales in free fall and opportunities for radio or television airplay increasingly rare, the rules governing the interplay between pop music and advertising are being rewritten.
It's no longer possible to “sell out" -- at least, not within a certain time-cherished understanding of the term. Rockers, rappers and up-and-coming pop titans of all stripes are licensing music and image as an integral part of brand-building, which largely has usurped selling music and concert tickets as many musicians' professional end goal.
“Using entertainment assets to introduce products is a platform that needed to get exploited," said Stoute, a former executive vice president of Interscope Records. “The lines needed to be blurred. When done correctly, there's consumer acceptance."
Stoute said his marketing company gets several calls a week from “major artists" in pursuit of their own “Forever." It's not selling out, he argues, if there's an authentic relationship between the music and the product being hawked. “Marketing isn't successful if the consumer feels he or she is being sold something," Stoute said.
“People's views on endorsements, doing magazine stuff -- any way to reach fans -- it's all changed. It's not taboo anymore," Lipps said.
