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THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGING
Track 1
Introduction
Why music?
Music holds a special place in my heart. For as long as I can remember I woke up to a house filled with the soulful voice of Aretha or smooth trumpet solos from Louis Armstrong blasting from my dad’s record player. I remember my dad teaching me how to drop a needle on a record and years later buying my very own first vinyl. I cherish the time I sat in bed listening to Al Green whilst crying about my first heartbreak and embrace the nostalgic feelings of singing along to Queen while on a road trip through the Canadian Rockies.
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Music is an integral part of society. It is a way to communicate what words alone struggle with. It is a universal language that everyone understands. We go to concerts and dance and sing together because it connects us at a deeper level - something we have desperately yearned for during the pandemic.
Because of its power to tap into our emotions, it is incredibly important in the world of branding, as it drives collaboration and relatedness. This is why we are here together going on this journey to discover the role of music in the world of brands and how these partnerships can be improved while holding fast to those feelings music evokes.
Research Problem
The 21st century. Some call it the digital revolution, others label it the death of the music industry. Indeed, the industry consists of mad optimists and those with pure hopelessness. No matter what group you belong to, there is no doubt that technology and the pandemic have entirely changed the music industry (Topham, 2021), for better and for worse (but mostly for worse).
Besides unethical business practices and the streaming boom, COVID-19 was the latest event that has put the music industry in a crisis (Hissong, 2020) and musicians are being screwed over right, left and center by business labels and brands (Meier, 2017; Berman, 2010). Brands are in a crisis because they are seriously lacking in everything creative and authentic. Hell, we are all living in a crisis right now.
And partnerships are one of the solutions that could solve a lot of problems. Musicians get additional revenue streams and brands can gain additional target markets and positive brand association. But frankly, partnerships nowadays are often lacking in creative executions, and especially in a crowded market these collaborations mostly fail to stand out and be memorable.
Research Question
Can’t we do better? Big artists can reportedly get paid a six-figure sum for product placements in their music videos (Jones 2020). Especially the company Beats by Dre has been known for dozens of product placements in music videos for big artists such as Coldplay, Miley Cyrus, and Ariana Grande, amongst others (Alexandra, 2017). However, all that is involved in such a deal is the artist holding up the product for a few seconds.
I want to explore more innovative and engaging ways brands and artists can push collaboration into something bigger. Because without any creativity or innovation, partnerships risk becoming repetitive and ineffective.
The current standard practices in such “partnerships” are questionable, as the brand profits significantly more than the artist (Meier, 2017). Therefore, I want to research whether we can make brand and band partnerships better. Specifically, I want to investigate if we can create more innovative and engaging partnerships by giving the artist more creative leverage while delivering more value for the artist and the listeners. Further, I want to explore what dimensions could be used for better collaboration, what channels such partnerships can exist on, and how the fan could be involved.
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In the following chapter, I will dive deeper into the Archives and explore everything about the state of the music industry, the sociology of branding, and partnerships. This will help to map out what has already been researched so I can identify gaps that need further attention.
The methodology will help you understand what kinds of methods I used in this project and why. Continuing with the analysis, I will explore the research findings, talk more about my prototype and discuss the main themes of my findings.
Next up
FROM THE
ARCHIVES
Track 2
Literature Review
The Digital Revolution
Back in 2009, Billboard predicted the collapse of the music retail system and the industry’s failure to adapt to new digital platforms (Billboard, 2009). Indeed, according to Paul McCartney’s producer,“ the major labels these days are like the dinosaurs sitting around the table discussing the asteroid” (Kozinn, 2007).
It has been over 10 years since the streaming boom (aka the asteroid), changed how we consume music. So, how well has the music industry adapted to these changes?
Streaming
Since the late 2000s, streaming platforms have been taking over the world. Especially when the pandemic locked us into our homes and the world went quiet, the attention turned to streaming, which accounted for over 80% of music consumption in the UK in 2020 (Topham, 2021).
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However, streaming platforms have been attracting a ton of criticism (Jean, 2020). Some say that the nature of streaming is impersonal. Benjamin Groff, a business music executive, criticized the digital shift saying that streaming is “context-free music which goes into one ear and out the other” and therefore fails to provide a rich musical experience” (Groff, 2021). Others criticize the artist’s remuneration. In the “good ol’ days” the artists earned a lot of money from the records we bought. However, with the shift to streaming, artists have been earning less, since millions of clicks on their songs only turn into a few dollars for them (Ovide, 2021). Spotify’s figures show that only 13,000 of 7 million artists earned $50,000 or more in payments last year (Ingham, 2021). That’s 0.2%.
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Who is responsible for this? Right, the labels.
Worrisome business strategies, such as ownership equity deals or 360 deals, have allowed streaming giants and recording companies to retain a tremendously powerful position of dominance in the industry (Meier, 2017, pp.50-51).
To be clear, these record labels have not become evil overnight, this has always been standard practice. As journalist Shira Ovide points out, “the music industry does not have a great track record of paying artists fairly” (Ovide, 2021). Indeed, streaming exploitation is just another stage in a long process of questionable business practices in the industry.
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Restrictive label deals and poor remuneration are a few reasons artists are seeking out alternatives, such as partnerships. So let’s take a further look at the musicians’ role in this industry to better understand what challenges they are facing today.
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Not only has it changed our cultural understanding of music, it has changed the way we consume it and revolutionized the global music industry (Robinson, 2021)
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Read here to learn more about the criticism of the streaming boom
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This lack of rich musical experiences is exactly why I want to discover creative brand and band partnerships that move away from standardized streaming experiences and offer better experiences for the listener .
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Read more here to learn more about how the artist’s remuneration was calculated before the streaming boom
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Record labels get into ownership equity deals with streaming platforms and agree to very low rates for the artists’ music and eventually when Spotify & Co get higher equity positions the labels benefit (Ingham, 2020). Record labels make deals with streaming platforms that benefit themselves rather than the artists. Musician Billy Corgan describes this as the labels “pimping out their artists” (JRE Clips, 2017).
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In further attempts to save the labels’ revenue streams, 360 deals between artists and major labels have become standard. Such multiple rights recording deals are contracts where the artist is obligated to hand over a percentage of their earnings (5-50%) from ALL the band’s activities to the label (Marshall, 2013; Meier 2017 p.75). Billy Corgan describes these deals where labels “own a piece of your whole world”. (JRE Clips, 2017)
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SUBTRACK 1: The Music Industry
Welcome To The Machine
Those who were born before the rise of the streaming era remember music as something we bought and owned. The frustrations of trying to listen to a scratched CD or looking for a pen to wind a cassette tape are struggles that no longer plague the generations born after Spotify & Co. paved their way to success. They don’t see the advantages of owning a record and don’t necessarily expect to save up and pay for the music they listen to either (Kramer, 2014). Why would they? We have everything readily available just one click away for free. But it comes with a cost - paid by artists.
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Partnerships are also affected by sameness due to risk-aversion. That is why they are in dire need of more creative approaches.
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Sameness: less variation in the melody and sound, uniform sounding instrumentation, and loud and flat dynamics. Learn more about it here
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meaning happy and cheerful
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They offer the consumer more intimate access to the artist's life and include social media, branded products, and brand partnerships, something I will be focusing on.
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We will get into the topic of branding in the next chapter, however, in this section, I refer to the artist brand as the shift of focus from the music as the commodity to the artist itself and how the artist has to brand him or herself to stand out from the crowd.
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Brands have used popular music as a commodity since the 19th century. It started with Jingles, Endorsements, Advertisements or branded merchandise.
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From a business side, Jordan Schur, CEO of Suretone Records confirms that he is “ (...) not interested in selling a song. I'm interested only in selling an artist (...)” (Jordan Schur, CEO Suretone Records, quoted in Meier 2016).
Challenges for the Musician
The digital revolution has been a blessing and a curse for the artist.
With advanced technological opportunities, a studio that would have cost half a million back in the day can now exist on your computer for as little as $500 (Groff, 2021). However, if anyone can create music, the quality of the music suffers. Listeners are at a disadvantage too, because there is a wealth of music available on multiple platforms (Meier, 2017 p.54). Mark Mulligan from Music Industry Blog characterizes this as “The Tyranny of Choice” (Mulligan, 2013).
With such low barriers to entry and the abundance of new music, the competition for audiences increases. At the same time compensation for musicians is declining, which means that more artists are chasing after less money. Therefore artists need to broaden their artist portfolio to more than just music. Indeed, the modern-day artist portfolio includes various revenue streams such as concerts, sponsorships, endorsements, and the artist-brand.
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The Latest in a Series of Unfortunate Events
The streaming boom, the tension between capitalism and creativity, and Brexit have all put the music industry in crisis. Covid-19 has been the latest in a series of events devastating an industry already on its knees.The pandemic is one of the largest economic challenges of the decade as the music industry could lose up to 5 billion dollars (Hissong, 2020). The hardest hit has been the live music sector, which recorded its most successful year to date in 2019 (Sweney, 2020).
Because artists don’t earn enough with streaming and COVID has disrupted live gigs, artists have no choice but to focus on their artist-brand (Meier, 2017, p.75).
The Artist-Brand
So what does the artist-brand entail?
In his book Rockonomics, Alan Krueger refers to the “Bowie Theory” which states that artists need to have something unique to sell in addition to their music, something called complementarities (Krueger, 2019).
Artists seem to be dissatisfied with the current state of the industry. OK Go’s Damian Kulash feels that “Making a living in music isn’t just about selling recordings anymore. It is about selling the whole package: themselves” (Kulash, 2010). Similarly, Beyonce feels that “People don’t make albums anymore,(...), people care about the personal lives of artists, not the voice, back in the day you just listened to the voice, that was their instrument” (Knowles, 2013).
A shock to some, obvious for others: musicians aren’t just signed anymore because of their musical capabilities.
In an attempt to build their artist-brand and revenue streams, artists have turned to partnerships.
However, in order to appeal to brands, artists are often encouraged to write sync-friendly songs that can be used in commercials. This has led people to say that everything in the music industry is starting to be affected with sameness (Meier, 2017, pp. 120-21). According to guitarist Lee Fang, such homogenization is the result of risk aversion in the industry (StereoMono Sunday, 2021), something that also negatively affects partnerships.
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Conclusion
Brand and band partnerships are not a new phenomenon in the music business.
However, because one crisis after another makes it hard for musicians to earn a living, they are actively seeking out partnerships. Indeed, artists no longer have to be restricted to the financing of record labels, they could just move on and make deals with brands instead. Artist Michael Penn said, "That's not easy to find in a corporate world, somebody who cares about music." Indeed, music seems to be in the background while big corporations chase their business goals. However, this project seeks to explore how we can create partnerships that show that brands care about music.
Now that we know more about the current state of the music industry, we will move on to the topic of branding to understand what drives brands towards partnerships with musicians.
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SUBTRACK 2: Sociology of Branding
It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
Having learned why musicians are seeking out partnerships, we will now discover what drives brands to collaborate with musicians. But first, it is essential to understand how the idea of a brand has been theorized.
Modern Brands
The term “brand” is not framed by one definition and people have different ideas of what it means.
The process of browsing the web is mind-numbing since it’s crowded with dull definitions. Investopedia defines a brand as “a marketing concept that helps people identify a particular company, product, or individual (Kenton, 2021). Meier uses the definition “full personality of a company” (Meier, 2017, p.7). Better than describing a brand as a marketing concept, but still not good enough.
The understanding of what a brand is has grown into something bigger and includes the public’s perception of it, both factually and emotionally (McLaughlin, 2011). Instead of looking at the traditional supply and demand relationship between brand and consumer, we look at the brand as a new dimension. Arvidson suggests that: “The brand resides at the “social” and even “spiritual” level; it embraces the whole relationship between a product and consumer” (Arvidsson, 2006, p. 81). Therefore, brands need to find a way to evolve and communicate meaningfully to establish a deeper connection with the consumer, something achievable through branding.
The Authenticity Extinction
How does branding work? It’s one of the big questions that cannot simply be answered by a quick type search. The advice is endless and the research is extensive, yet so many brands still fail to position themselves and communicate their brand values (Ritson, 2004).
With digital platforms popping up everywhere, brands feel the need to be omnipresent. However, consumers have become more desensitized to brand messages (Meier, 2017, 87). Desperate to appeal to more consumers, brands are trying to be part of viral cultural moments (Groff, 2021). While attempting to shift the brand image from being commercial to an authentic lifestyle brand, a lot of brands fail. Why? Because the desperate hunt for authenticity ends up being what Holt describes as “authenticity distinction” (Holt, 2002, p.86, as cited by Meier, 2017, p.103). Inauthenticity speaks louder than we think. The abundance of brand messages confuses people and therefore it becomes background noise and creates a less favourable brand image (Meier, 2017).
There is no right answer as to how to brand a company the right way, yet there is one thing a lot of experts agree on: it all boils down to creativity (Wood, 2019; Meier, 2017).
So let’s explore why.
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As we will soon discover in the next part of the literature this is also a massive pitfall in brand and band partnership, as inauthenticity has been one of the main reasons why so many partnerships are ineffective
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Music Branding
Music is one of the most stimulating components, as it arouses an emotional state and makes the consumer more receptive to the brand message. This is one of the main reasons why brands have become increasingly interested in using popular music to tap into cultural moments, especially with partnerships.
And it’s working - we all know brands with distinctive melodies or song associations. This is because, according to Meier, music can “overcome audience distraction and signify cultural authenticity while establishing an emotional connection (Meier, 2017, p. 6). This is why sound identities and sonic branding are so incredibly powerful and why partnerships with musicians have the potential to be great. Especially because in such partnerships, brands don’t only use the music, but they partner with a musician, who comes with his own artist-brand and culture, as we have established previously.
Sounds quite promising. Indeed, music has tremendous power that brands want to tap into. However, good music alone isn’t enough. You could be collaborating with the most amazing artist, yet without creativity, it still won’t be effective.
After learning how branding works, why brands are so interested in popular music, and understanding what causes the creativity crisis in advertising, it becomes easier to understand the energy and ideas which are driving brand and band partnerships.
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This ties back to what we discussed previously with the demand for sync-friendly songs to please corporate interests in partnerships.
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Indeed, creatively awarded campaigns which employ emotional strategies are much likely to succeed and create long term effects. (Wood, 2019)
The Divided Brain
In his book Lemon (2019), Orlando Wood suggests that creativity is crucial for a brand to be effective, however, he goes on to say that creativity is in crisis. Advertising and branding effectiveness is diminishing, there is a lack of connection with the audience, and brand messages are more repetitive. These consequences can also be seen in partnerships. The creativity factor is missing, which is why they can quickly turn into irrelevant clutter.
So why is this happening and what can we do about it?
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Our brain is divided into two halves: right and left. Even though they have different takes on the world, they work best in tandem. While the right brain values relationships, emotions, and humour, the left brain is goal-focused, prefers standardization and repetition and becomes culturally flat (Wood, 2019).
Together they balance each other out, however, if the equilibrium shifts to one side that would cause a problem, such as a creativity crisis.
Advertising is experiencing a loss of right-brain features such as the sense of connection, storytelling, and music with a distinguishable melody and a rise of left brain features which includes rhythmic soundtracks, unilateral communication, and a lack of empathy. That explains why the public has such an unfavourable view of advertising. Therefore we need to appeal to the right half of the population's brain to elicit emotions and establish a connection.
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So how does this apply to partnerships? Well, partnerships seem to be struggling under left-brain domination - there is a lack of connection, emotion, and creativity. However, this can be reversed by using emotional tools. What comes into play here is the concept of affective economics, created by media scholar Henry Jenkins (2006). It seeks to understand how emotions affect the consumer's decision-making and attempts to create a deeper emotional connection between the brand and the consumer (pp. 61-62). With this theory, brands can adapt their branding and campaigns to employ more emotional strategies and make the product more desirable.
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And what is one of the best tools to cut through emotions? Exactly, it is music.
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SUBTRACK 3: Band & Brand Partnerships
R - E - S - P - E - C - T
In the past decades, there has always been hesitancy to collaborate with brands. Musicians were fearful of being viewed as sellouts or “corporate whores”, as Bill Hicks so nicely worded it (Hicks, 2012). Back in the 90s when such partnerships were negatively stigmatized, the number of collaborations with brands was low and therefore well paid (Meier, 2017, p.160).
Nowadays, the opinion has shifted to a more favourable view of partnerships. Because of the outrageous conditions that labels impose on musicians, many welcome and even seek out branding opportunities instead of signing restrictive label deals (Meier, 2017, p.80).
So, musicians need brands, brands need musicians and there is no associated shame with partnerships anymore. Seems a bit too good to be true.
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That is because partnerships are more generally of a shorter duration with fewer strings attached, which makes them fairer and therefore more favourable (Sisario, 2010).
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Colonization of Popular Music
As previously mentioned, music branding yields many benefits for brands. Not only does music evoke emotions and positive perceptions for the brand, but it serves as an “instrument of brand differentiation” (Barnard, 2009, as cited in Meier, 2007, p.85).
However, it has got out of hand. Because more artists are chasing after partnerships, this puts brands in a tremendous power position. This has led to what Meier describes as the “popular music’s colonization by brands” (Meier, 2017, p. 86). Because artists are desperate for new revenue streams, they are resources for brands to rent to achieve corporate goals.
Unfortunately, with music becoming such a massive part of our capitalist society, it can no longer be valued as an art form itself. Instead, it serves as a tool to drive consumption and is being “valued more for the ways in which it is consumed” (Leyson et al., 2005, pp. 182-3, as cited in Meier, 2017, p. 163)
Indeed, in a podcast with Kai Reysson from Marketplace (2015), talent manager Troy Carter claimed that music can sell everything but itself and goes on to explain that, even though the music industry keeps growing exponentially, the industry has massively failed to capture the actual value of music.
The colonization of popular music has led to a severe imbalance of power in partnerships. This is one of the main reasons why partnerships have been less effective, as the collaboration aspect seems to be missing.
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The Imbalance of Power
Before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s look at what a partnership even is.
“Partnership” is a term that allows quite a limited list of definitions. The name itself suggests that two parties, with shared interests, work together to achieve mutual goals. And indeed, executives portray these partnerships as arrangements with mutual benefits (Knight 2015, as cited in Meier, 2017 p. 85).
Yet, in this context, the term partnership is quite misleading. Why? Because brand and band partnerships are often completely dominated by the brand side. Not only is music inferior to the corporate interest, but brands can often dominate the terms of the deal (Meier, 2017, 155).
This again brings us back to the research problem of seeing an abundance of boring and ineffective partnerships. Not surprising, considering the artist's lack of authority and the sole focus of corporate goals. Therefore, the pursuit of brand partnerships yields yet another massive set of challenges for the artist, one of them being the artist's remuneration.
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For the Love of Money
Due to the brands' dominance and the artists' growing demand for brand deals, brands find themselves in a position where they can control the terms of partnership agreements, including the artists' fees.
So now we ask ourselves: what is worse than poor payment? Right, no payment.
Numerous brands offer bands the “privilege” of having their song played in an advertisement (Meier, 2017, p.114). It’s not rare that artists are offered nothing more than exposure for their music. Yet, unfortunately, we still do not live in a society where we can pay our rent with exposure.
This exploitation of struggling artists has raised a lot of concerns. Berman stressed that such unethical business practices are scary, as they could be adopted as an industry standard (Berman, 2010, as cited in Meier, 2017, p. 115).
Not only do artists accept the worst possible remuneration for their work, they often tailor their music to specific brand messages, something that Paul Nagi describes as selling their souls to the devil. Others describe it as sync-friendliness, which we already addressed, which seems to reflect the new industry reality (Nagi, 2010).
Indeed, this dominance of brands is frightening. The remuneration for artists is poor, if not non-existent, the creative process is restricted by guidelines set by the brand (hello left brain) and this leads to the problem we addressed before: Everything is affected with sameness, which creates boring and ineffective partnerships.
Well, this was all quite depressing, so let's look at how partnerships can be effective. There have been various successful partnerships, ones where the artist was just as involved in the creative process.
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I do want to note that we are talking about non-star music artists, contrary to musicians like Ed Sheeran who is on the answering part of the phone call. When referring to artists, I speak of the 99.8% of artists who are unfortunate enough to find themselves in a business where fair pay is hard to come by these days.
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However, because of the worrying state of the music industry, artists, who have little to no bargaining power to begin with, take anything offered to them (Meier, 2017).
Brian Harding, frontman of Ex Cops, was invited to play at a festival by McDonalds, a stinking rich corporation. Yet, the selling point was” (Harding., 2015). After being confronted about their business enquiry they defended themselves saying such offers were standard protocol (Grow 2015). Worrying, to say the least.
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Part of the corporate-friendly image is censorship, where the brand removes content of the song that doesn’t fit their image. Generally, political or any critical content is muted (Meier, 2017).
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Learn more about the partnership between Jeep and Faith Hill and Tim McCraw, where the values perfectly align and it becomes clear that Faith and Tim are passionate about the product they are endorsing
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Some brands are already front-runners when it comes to being weird, as more unusual sounds are being played over ads (Owen, 1998) For example, Sigur Ros is known for weird instrumentation (Meier, 2017). Other brands have even licensed the music of a yodeller and a throat singer intending to differentiate themselves (Hayman 2009).
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Frukt has identified a total of 5 key trends: Inner Space, where brands showcase their values, Size, meaning that brands should go big and go weird to stand out, Maker Statement, where fans get involved, Road-Trip, which emphasizes the importance of pre-event build-up, and lastly: Photobomb – provide consumers with photo opportunities (FRUKT, 2016).
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Meier (2017) pointed out a few opportunities to change the current situation. The first one being to create fairer systems to pay artists and give them a role in creative direction.
Next, fans should start acknowledging how much change has happened since streaming and what a negative impact it can have. And lastly, transparency. If more artists told their fans about the current state of the industry, there would be more awareness regarding worrisome business practices.
Effective Partnerships
In theory, the idea of partnerships is great. Brands can help make entertainment better by funding shows and enabling creativity. That in turn can build brand character and positive association, which enhances authenticity (FRUKT, 2018).
According to Steve Stoute, CEO of advertising agency translation, brands should integrate their brand into the musicians' culture instead of the other way around (Steve Stoute, CEO of advertising agency translation, as cited in High 2013, n.p). So instead of dominating the partnership, the brand can find a genuine role to play in music instead of hijacking it.
Further, the goal shouldn’t just be monetary. The main goal should be to find a partnership that can shape culture for the better and tap into consumers' emotional moments. Hereby, the most important thing is authenticity (Peoples, 2009, as cited in Meier, 2017, p.103).
And how do we create authenticity? Through value-alignment and artist involvement. The brand needs to build a credible and meaningful relationship with the consumer to “slip behind the consumer's firewall” (Tunnicliffe, 2008). Furthermore, positivity and inclusivity can create more trust in brands, especially when there is an important cause at the core. To break through the clutter, FRUKT, a London-based entertainment agency has found that it is important for brands to go big and weird as a way to attract attention (FRUKT, 2016).
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Conclusion
It is possible to create amazing partnerships, it has been done before.
The key ingredients for a successful partnership include authenticity, emotional activation, and standing out. However, with advancing technology and ever-changing trends it is important to keep an eye on the future and a finger on the pulse of trends in order to utilize all platforms (Meier, 2017).
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Final Words
The artist’s ability to make a living is challenged not only by the streaming boom and label deals but also by the exploitation from brands. Furthermore, the partnerships all seem to be boring and pretty much the same, since there is a lack of creativity and authenticity.
Yet, all of this is still reversible and this project is a quest to find answers on how to create more effective partnerships. After all, the industry is in dire need of creative partnerships (McCracken, 2011, as cited in Meier, 2017, p.143). If listeners, brands, and artists want to benefit from partnerships it is necessary to creatively involve the artist in all aspects of the partnership (Meier, 2017).
Additionally, I have also explored how technology has disrupted the music industry and challenged artists to make a living. However, we have yet to discover how technology can be used to create better brand and band experiences. But, although technological advances can be quite beneficial we should also consider the consumer’s demand for real experiences and events, especially after COVID (Topham, 2021).
Musician Michael Franti feels that even though the music industry has been damaged by corporate interests, the way music affects people has not changed.
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So let’s move on and explore people’s feelings about music and partnerships.
I'VE GOT TO USE MY IMAGINATION
Track 3
Methodology
What did I do?
The first phase of my research consisted of eight unstructured interviews to collect thick data needed to scope the extent and shape of the research problem.
I interviewed six people who identify as “music lovers”, meaning that they often listen to and feel passionate about music, follow new music trends, and feel that music is a priority in their lives. The participants were a mix of three males and three females, between the ages of 20 and 57.
The first half of the interview was focused on learning about their feelings towards music, where I asked questions about what feelings music evokes and what part music plays in their lives. The second part explored what opinions they have about brand and band partnerships including questions such as “What makes a brand partnership believable?” and “When do brand and band partnerships feel forced?”
To get an industry perspective from both the brand and the band side, I talked to a female brand partnership expert, who is responsible for matching brands to artists, and a rock guitarist, who can reflect the artists' view on partnerships.
Why did I do it?
There is no doubt that music can evoke an emotional response. However, I wanted to conduct in-depth interviews to understand exactly what people feel when listening to music and what specific role it plays in their life. Furthermore, I wanted to ask them about their feelings towards partnerships to understand their worries, wants, and needs.
I chose to conduct unstructured interviews, as it allowed me to collect qualitative data with open-ended questions. This topic is too complex for simple yes-or-no questions and I wanted the respondents to talk freely about their feelings. Not only could I tailor each question individually, but it allowed me to dig deeper when needed, which revealed new insights and ideas. Further, the nature of the unstructured interview made the respondent more relaxed and comfortable which allowed me to get more personal insights.
Some of the interviews were conducted in pairs, which allowed for a wider discussion and deeper insights. However, it was also important to me to talk to people individually for them to be more comfortable expressing personal feelings.
I was eager to also get a view of industry experts from both the brand and the band side to see if there are any commonalities or differences between their perception of brand and band partnerships
To understand how we can innovate brand and band partnerships, I used three research methods: Scoping, Experimenting, and Testing.
In the Scoping phase, I conducted unstructured interviews with my respondents to gather my initial set of thick data about their feelings towards music and brand partnerships. With that data, I created a prototype for a brand and band partnership in the experimental phase and presented it to my respondents in the testing phase to gain further insights.
Unstructured Interviews
Phase 1
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Phase 2
Prototype
What did I do?
With the research in mind and the interview insights as a guidebook, I created a new prototype. For my project specifically, I chose to develop a new, creative and innovative brand and band partnership between Mahogany Sessions and Airbnb. How did I do it? Check it out here.
Why did I do it?
The reason why I created a prototype was to experiment with the thick data given by my respondents to come up with an idea that pushed the boundaries of creativity within the industry.
With these insights, I aim to create a prototype that will hopefully help understand what is needed for better brand and band partnerships that are creative, authentic, and can tap into consumers' emotions and lifestyles.
Furthermore, I wanted to create something to take back to my respondents and show them to get more insights.
What did I do?
After experimenting and creating a prototype, I took it back to my respondents from phase one in order to gain more insights into their feelings towards music and partnerships.
Why did I do it?
Even though I gained a lot of valuable insights from the first phase I wanted to see if the respondents could provide even more thick data by being presented with a prototype as a stimulus.
Testing
Phase 3
Limitations & Adaptions
Despite the many advantages of unstructured interviews, there are also some downsides to be aware of.
For one, it is quite hard to compare the individual data of the respondents. The interview insights are deeply personal and therefore cannot be projected onto every music lover. Also, since I am only interviewing very few people, I will be addressing a limited number of feelings, which are also entirely subjective.
Furthermore, I would have preferred my findings to be more inclusive and representative regarding different age groups and ethnicities. Even though I have managed to interview an equal number of males and females, I only had one respondent over the age of 35 and all of them had a similar taste in music.
With the time given to me, I have managed to get a comprehensive picture of the current state of the industry, as well as people’s feelings towards music. I have managed to interview a brand partnership expert, as well as a musician, yet I would have liked to interview more people in the industry to understand their perspectives a bit better. Currently, the project is more focused on data given by music fans and less so on data provided by musicians and brand representatives.