The acclaimed artist and producer (and former MidemNet speaker!) is decidedly bullish about brand-music partnerships, judging by his energetic participation in a panel with ad agency Digitas, music video platform Vevo and Universal Music Group at advertising festival Cannes Lions today.
Caraeff agreed that it often comes back to the “age-old debate in our industries, of content versus distribution. I wanted to get content companies into distribution so they could understand how that works.” The result is 63 million viewers and 400 brands on Vevo, just 18 months after its launch.
The session then closed with two videos: one listing successful music+brand partnerships such as Lady Gaga+Starbucks+Polaroid; Justin Bieber & WalMart; Pepsi & Britney Spears; The Black Eyed Peas+everyone; Pharrell+McDonalds+Reebok; and, in TV, Microsoft+Jerry Seinfeld and Eva Longoria.
The second video presented “Unstaged,” last year’s music initiative organised by Digitas for American Express, which notably saw Terry Gilliam direct Arcade Fire live in concert.
When Pharrel opines that “Brands are necessary for today’s acts” he is correct.
However, his argument does not hold for the vast majority of musicians who will never hit the big time. We need to hear and work at methods for those smaller acts (who are the majority). How can they create and attach themselves to other brands?
The focus on the “big name” act is a limited solution to a huge story. We need organizations like MIDEM to encourage productivity and revenue earnings for the majority of MIDEM’s attendees. Pharrel’s speech is a piped dream and shows his limited understanding of the make up of this industry.