THE SOUND OF SELLING
Art and commerce often make very strange and uncomfortable bedfellows. Few issues in the creative industries provoke such a split reaction as the thorny and divisive subject of whether to allow art to be used in advertising.
Ethical decisions like this are enough to give even the most level-headed creatives a headache. Are you selling out for the corporate shilling or legitimately furthering exposure of your work? Bill Hicks, the late, great stand-up comedian and all-round firebrand, once said that if you get involved in advertising, you're "off the artistic roll call for life." But are we a bit more flexible on such issues now?
"Physical sales of music media are only one part of the mix for a label that's acting more as a 'reference point' than a marketing machine, like the larger corporate labels," explains Stef Lewandowski. "We've always tried to find the balance between being experimental and boundary-pushing with the commercial pressures of making money from the music."
Stef is co-founder of Type Records, a small independent record label based in Birmingham. Type has enjoyed considerable exposure after one of their releases - Ba by composer Keith Kenniff, aka Goldmund - was used in a recent advertising campaign for Honda, featuring ASIMO the robot.
Having set up Type around three years ago, as "an output for exciting, urgent experimental music", Stef and label co-owner John Xela were fascinated by the ways in which they could combine genres and bring an interesting edge to the concept of an independent record label.
Even since then, the music industry has changed remarkably, meaning that artists and labels need to take a more considered approach to ensure that their music reaches as wide an audience as possible, and investigate the different methods of achieving this.
"Starting a record label at a time when the record industry was reinventing itself to cater for different buying habits - downloads, ringtones, etc - we were very interested in how experimental music could survive and exist."
"Just in that short period of time, we've seen many real-world outlets for independent music close down, and a few of the big distributors have also been forced to shut down. It seems that independent, experimental music is quite sensitive to the huge changes in business models that downloading has caused."
"Bearing all of this in mind, we had to look at our potential sources of income. After speaking to some of our artists about how they would feel with their music being licensed for commercial purposes, we decided to test the water with one or two of our releases, but not the whole catalogue."
When Stef and John were approached by a publishing company interested in the Goldmund track, the next stage was for the company to pitch the song to an advertising agency responsible for a suitable campaign. They were understandably delighted at the news that the pitch was successful.
"An independent publishing company approached us with interest in one particular record of ours - Goldmund's Corduroy Road. A small publishing company like this will seek to represent a number of artists or releases on an exclusive basis. Then when they are invited to pitch for a particular ad by an ad agency, they put together some of the music that they represent as potential tracks to be used.
"Some time went by and we heard that the publishing company had successfully pitched one of Goldmund's tracks to Honda for their latest TV ads. We signed what's called a synchronisation license for a 30-second piece of music, which means that Honda had the right to use the music in their ad, for a limited time and for a particular territory - in this case, the UK."
"For this license, the publishing company receives a fixed fee payment, out of which they take a percentage - which varies from company to company - and then we divide the remaining fund between the artist and the label. In our case we have an ethical approach to business, because we're an independent label, and we split the payment fifty-fifty with the artist."
"We're looking to license more of our music in this way; we've found the whole process to be positive and beneficial for all concerned. I think that use of music in advertising is a great way for alternative or avant garde musicians to make genuine revenue. Look at the track record Levis have - most of that music would've remained unheard."
Nonetheless, the concept of allowing music to appear in advertisements - especially when it features the work of musicians who strongly advocate the independent ethos - presents something of a minefield when it comes to principles and conscience. It's a tricky area to navigate, and Stef believes that the merits of each ad suggestion should be measured carefully.
"We try to run an ethical company, and don't want to have our music used on something we don't support, but we also appreciate that the monetary aspect is important for us as a creative business and for the artists."
"In the end we have to weigh it up and see how it will help all of us to move forward, which is what advertising is really good for. With income like this, it can allow a smaller label to really grow and do things previously unavailable to them."
But what did they think when they saw the finished advertisement? "I was very proud and excited when I saw it; really amazed that we have this music used on such a great and important part of advertising," enthuses Stef. "People have been really supportive too; everyone's really enjoyed seeing it."
With two Goldmund tracks due to be used in the forthcoming Harmony Korine film, Mr Lonely, Type look set to continue licensing music for use in different media formats after their positive experiences with the Honda ad campaign.
"Goldmund has received some UK-wide exposure," he grins, "which has led to more sales of the EP, and Type received a payment which will enable us to release more high-quality experimental music. It's positive all-round."
Geoff Dolman, head honcho of Static Caravan, is fond of the small-scale record label ethos. With a particular penchant for releasing ultra-limited edition seven-inch singles - often limited to as few as 100 highly sought-after copies - Geoff has a singular vision, ploughing his own furrow to release music that he feels deserves to be heard.
"We are here to eke out all that is grand and unheard or under-appreciated," he declares. "We want to match the music to a package that looks, smells and feels like someone gave a damn, and hopefully all this brings some focus to the artist."
"We will release the music in whatever antique format we think is right, from CD-R to wax cylinder to seven inches of wax, especially the seven-inch single - a format which concentrates on a few tracks of quality, not filling a 70-minute silver disc to the max."
For someone with such a defiant stance on the ethics of a small label, the notion of linking up with advertisers is a complicated issue. But with changes in the way we buy and consume music, all avenues for added exposure now need to be considered if smaller labels and artists are to succeed, or even stay afloat, in such a bustling and competitive marketplace.
Like Type, Geoff has found success through the use of music in these prestigious projects. This has come via working closely with Woodwork Music, an organisation that represents independent labels and artists with a view to synchronisation licensing, whereby music is pitched for use in television, film and commercials.
"These things change," says Geoff. "Five years ago I would have been against it, unless it was the right product and the right situation. The reality nowadays with downloads versus vinyl is that even the smallest label or band must consider all exposure. Is it still possible to just make a living from sales of records a la Pink Floyd? I wish it was."
The use of Out the Window With the Window, by digital folk combo Tunng, in House of Fraser's Christmas 2006 campaign ensured that this was a successful venture for Static Caravan, coming after the band's cover of Bloc Party's Pioneers was licensed to appear in taste-making US drama series The OC. Geoff is candid about the effects it can have on small independent labels.
"It's all about awareness. From the label's point of view it helps, as other musicians can see that we're getting music out into the public domain, and that attracts new artists to the label. It helps to give overall solidity to the label as well."
"For a large advertisement deal it can be more money than any other deal, and it's possible that the artist's profile is raised to a level that is unexpected. This can be a thousand-fold increase in sales. Take the Jose González track (Heartbeats, used on the iconic Balls ad for the Sony Bravia) compared with any nu-folk artist who released a record at the same time, like Tunng or Micah P Hinson."
"It's a present reality that if you want to survive as a label, and keep and help artists then you have to be open to any type of synchronicity, as the rewards can outweigh any sales. This isn't a bad thing, but that isn't to say there aren't things that we wouldn't do, like be used as a theme for the Sun newspaper. Things may well change as we take greater control of the digital future."
Darren Durham has recorded under various pseudonyms, including the now-defunct FortDax. With numerous releases on Static Caravan under his belt, Darren has crafted cinematic melodies which seem to lend themselves perfectly to use in television and film, although his own viewpoint on the subject is a little more complex.
"I think that moral and ethical judgements are all very well if you're in the position where you can afford to make them," he argues. "I get angry when I hear songs in adverts that belong to people who patently do not need the extra income, and I suppose at heart I do believe there's an element of selling out involved."
"On a pragmatic level, it is of course a great way of getting wider exposure, though perhaps it can be an audience that you're not really intent on courting in the first place."
One of Darren's songs, These Quills - the closing track from 2003 album Folly - was used during Derren Brown's live seance show on Channel 4, while Senior Prom in Indigo (For Ole Risom) was incorporated into Sky's Angry Britain, which came about via a synchronisation licensing deal.
But, as Darren admits, the ways in which these projects come about is often down to sheer luck, and being in the right place at the right time - if someone hears a piece of music and decides that it would work well with the visuals of a campaign or film, it can be a more natural process than if pitched the other way around.
"I'd love to soundtrack a film or compose an original score, but it's not necessarily about the right project coming along; I don't feel as if I have any choice in the matter, so will have to rely on chance and circumstance. Consider the way Piano Magic got to soundtrack the Bigas Luna film, Son De Mar, a few years ago. The director himself walked into a Spanish record store where one of their albums was playing; he decided their sound would complement his images and got in touch with the band."
For an artist with an inherent 'independent' streak, it's surely odd to see your contemporaries or heroes have their music used in advertising or similar circumstances, even if they're reaching a justifiably wider audience in doing so.
"I'm never glad when my favourites get extra exposure. I don't crave other people finding out too much about my dark secret pleasures," he deadpans. "But that's just me - I'm a musical snob."
LINKS
www.typerecords.com
www.staticcaravan.org
www.tunng.co.uk
www.myspace.com/fortdax
Text: Simon Harper
Photography: Katja Ogrin
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