News

Money (That’s What Songs Cost)  

February 3, 2025 | General

I Can Hear Music (Can I Hear Music?)

Big brands often build advertising campaigns around well-known songs

as a way to increase recall of their product or service, to increase consumer engagement, and to cut through.

It’s usually the biggest brands, with BIG budgets, because its big business

(the potential to make money through licensing music for ads was one of the drivers for companies buying entire artist catalogues a few years ago).

 

So it’s brands like Apple, who despite current marketing woes, have come up with campaigns like this previously.   Or Sony, with this for Bravia TVs (a sensational combination of audio and vision) and this for the PlayStation 2 console.

Weirdly, Foxtel have taken that concept virtually wholesale and erm, borrowed it, for their Kayo sports streaming platform this year.

If you’re not one of those corporate behemoths, can you compete when it comes to leveraging music consumers already know?

 

Let’s Get Classical

A more budget-friendly approach is to look at Classical Music, which is largely out of copyright.

It’s amazing how many classical pieces most of us know, even if we don’t know we know them. Due to the way copyright is structured (essentially for artistic works, the lifetime of the creator plus 70 years) the classics are ripe for picking.

And if you’re running a campaign on commercial radio, you can be pretty sure it will stand out from the format, and from commercials with more generic retail music beds.

 

 

Is Nothing Sacred?

 

The real beauty of being able to use some of the classics is that no-one can tell you how to do it. Remember, you should be aiming for brand or product recall. Which can mean taking a loved piece of classical music and having some fun.

Want a hip hop version of some of the classics? Too easy. But there’s no reason you can’t look to get inspired yourself

Is The Blue Danube by Strauss still beautiful if played on kazoo? Probably not, but it would definitely cut through.

As would Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik hummed by a bunch of tradies.

You could recreate Beethoven’s Fifth with bins, brooms and a balloon. Or here’s a ready-made ska version, because why not?

 

Rock Me Amadeus, Not Rock Me Amadeus

 Familiar music can allow your campaign to create a mental shortcut to your brand for consumers. Add even a small twist and you can create something memorable.

So despite the money involved in using popular music, you can still find music people love – or will at least recognise – in the classics.

How you use it is up to you, but it’s one way to even the playing field a little bit.

 

Article by Wade Howland