January is a weird month. So grey, so many opportunities to drop your ill fated resolutions, so little time to maintain the space in your life. Thankfully we have Twitter in our world now - so much easier to just maintain a status of 140 characters.
Spotted on the cover of last weeks Marketing mag was a report of Barcadi's plans for their new signing - Groove Armada. They intend to encourage fans to spread Groove Armada's EP virally - with a reward of additional material for those that share the most.
This is interesting on two levels:
1. Encouraging viral marketing through reward based on involvement. Other digital media uses the same premise - for example, news groups and fan sites will often give enhanced status for those who contribute the most on forums, wikis etc. But will this work with the true sneezers - those trusted tastemakers who spread the word? Will they really spam others just to get more music?
2. Barcardi using Groove Armada to build brand value. They want music fans to draw a connection between dance music and a big rum party. What better way to get that level of endorsement, but to effectively buy the band itself.
Groove Armada wanted out of their arrangements with Sony BMG. But by getting in bed with Barcardi have they gotten a better deal? Did this give them cash stability at a time of industry uncertainty, but at the expense of their integrity?
No comments:
Post a Comment