Apparently there is this thing called “popular music”. Yeah I know I’m shocked too. I know I know, Led Zeppelin IV was the epitome of rock and roll and nothing else even remotely good has come out since the greatest song in the world hit in late 1971. I can’t say there was a last time I was even aware of a song cracking the top anything of any music chart, I just listen to my favorite radio station or what others recommend to me and that is that. Then of course there is the music used in advertising. Quite frankly Apple hasn’t had an iPod commercial that I paid any attention to since they got rid of those goddamned annoying silhouette dancers. Their newer ad campaigns are entertaining, easy on the eyes and, have some catchy tunes attached to them. While I’m still of the opinion that the finest ads that Apple as a company have produced are a three-way heat between the flaming bunnies, (Anyone else noticed how Intel has pretty much stopped advertising on TV?) the first line of “Think Different”, and the current “Get A Mac” advertisements.
Still the iPod ads do what they are supposed to, and if any product should be using music it’s an iPod. Or an ultra-thin laptop. I was unaware of Yael Naim or of the recent sucess that she had been afforded by a certain commercial. Artists like Feist and Jet have also realized significant benefits from having their songs on Apple products. Given the simplistic and straightforward methods that Apple uses for advertising, there are plenty of songs, classic rock ones even, that would be fantastic for creating the image of a music player that the average TV watching public would be interested in buying.
It’s not as if Apple is exactly new at having critically acclaimed commercials to advertise their products. In fact they are often sited as having an influence in creating the “Greatest Commercial in History”. What is new about this wave of marketing is the existence of a new media and a connectivity that has never been there before. If there is a commercial with a catchy tune that you like, all you have to do is head over to your computer and fire up your favorite search engine and punch in some search terms. In a few minutes you’ll probably have the artist, name of the song, and a detailed biography of the lead singer if you want it. Taking it one step further, in Apple’s ads when you watch them on the internet, there is a link at the bottom of the ad where you can click and launch the iTunes Store to buy that song right then and there. So the bottom line is if you see a song that has an ad that you like, you’re only a few clicks away from having that song.
Take this into account as well. Note the increased traffic that artists like Fiest have gotten on their music video posts on YouTube. Like I blogged about last week, it’s all about increasing mindshare. The beautiful thing about something as viral as an ad campaign with catchy tunes, is that not only is a company selling their product in a way more likely to ring with the demographic they have been trying to sell to, but they get a good word in edgewise for the artist that they used for the ad. Just a week before the airing of the “New Soul” ad Yael Naïm’s song had just been played a handful of times on radio stations across the United States; afterwords she was a bona fide success, with most of those sales coming through the iTunes conduit.
There is no reason not to call iTunes a kingmaker. Like its historical predecessor, Apple has been choosing artists that then go on to have incredible successes with their music. While it may be more like the Wars of the Roses, in that one family never held sway for long, it is undeniable that the short-term success can be crucially hinged upon the link between Apple and its products.
