"Every day, walking through the streets, 41% of our experience is through sound. When an enterprise makes an ad, 99% of the experience is visual. Why? That makes no sense!"
Paul Anthony, age 29, is proud of the values represented by Rumblefish, an internet crossroads where musicians can post their compositions and make themselves understood by web enterprises, creating buzz marketing campaigns. He founded the enterprise in 1996. His goal was to create ties between independent musicians and enterprises who wish to improve their image (or rather their sound) in the realms of non-traditional marketing. He innovated in little-explored territory that today is called "music marketing."
At the time, he was alone in his project. Today, he coordinates a small team of ten employees and serves clients such as JC Penney, The Sopranos, Red Bull, and Adidas Originals.
The concept has increased notably in recent years with similar companies, like Magnatune, which allows artists to keep 50% of the profits made from their music through the site. Contrary to the Itunes model, the site allows listeners to hear the music before downloading it. Like Rumblefish, Magnatune explores new directions to create an equilibrium between the industry, its artists, and the consumers.
"Five years ago, they (the companies) did not understand what we said. Today, international organizations have paid us to deliver results. Only the most innovative marketers work with us," he (Anthony) said from his stand at McGill University during the Future of Music Summit that took place from October 4 through 8, 2006.
But what is there that is so new? Music has always been a part of advertisements on television and enterprises have often returned to artists to attract new target groups.
But Rumblefish probably isn't the right company to recruit the Spice Girls to do the theme song for Pepsi. Their approach is much more alternative and interactive. For Red Bull, which offers energetic drinks in most night clubs, they organized workshops in electronic music for those interested in several cities, and then gave the compiled disk to the performing artists.
For a Midwestern bank called Umpqua, Rumblefish elaborated a project called Discover Local Music. The project consisted of recruiting several local musicians as new "spoken doors" to the bank, with listening stations and even a series of small performances in the branch office. Clients also receive a gift of a CD of forthcoming music with the creation of a new account.
Umpqua, which sought to raise its value in the eyes of an increasingly diverse clientèle, thus transformed its offices into places to relax, listen to music, see friends, and, of course, complete banking transactions. This approach offers at the same time visibility for little or moderately well-known artists.
This does not prevent quite well known artists from being available on the site, such as funk king George Clinton, crooner Mel Torme, and Kool and the Gang.
As the firm's musical director Merida Damewood underlines, "We have music recorded in apartments and in concert halls." Once submitted to the Rumblefish office in Portland, Oregon, the compositions are evaluated for record quality, artistic quality, and the potential in the market Rumblefish serves. On the website, it also affirms that they do not tolerate illegal samples, which is common in electric music and hip-hop.
With any computer with internet access, visitors of rumblefish.com can research titles and even themed listening lists. These include J'ai 14 ans (I am 14 years old), je suis en amour (I am in love), and Quelle est la taille de l'Univers? (How Big is the Universe?). All this is to allow clients to use all the means necessary to find what they are looking for. An efficient search engine is a precious commodity for the contemporary consumer, explains Mr. Anthony. "We're in the era of filtering/screening," he affirms.
After having found his "perfect" song, the user adds it to his virtual shopping basket and uses the license calculator that determines the price according to the use and the user. For example, the instrumental song Big Block Dodge from the funk band Alcajazz costs $5 if used in an Internet podcast [1] while the author has rights. If a commercial production company wants to include one minute of the song in the title of aits film that will be distributed internationally, with a maximum of 1 million copies in ten years, the cost is raised to $11,694. A number is worth a thousand words.
But what slice of this enormous amount is returned to the artists? The company negotiates non-exclusive agreements with the artists and assures them that they keep the totality of their rights. When they are signed under a music company, the business becomes a little more complicated. "We don't work with large music companies. They simply don't understand.... For them, 95% of the money comes from 5% of the music. With us, it's almost the opposite," he says.
"We send the money to the artists, that's what they like!" he says, adding, "We have our hands full with what we do."
Originally from San Fransisco, Paul Anthony is a drummer and producer by profession and recorded his first CD at the age of twelve. At nineteen, he founded Rumblefish. In the meantime, he has worked with several well-known artists, including George Clinton and Sarah McLachlan.
[1] Podcast: File with sound, audio, or video data that is automatically downloaded, through the intervention of a subscription to an RSS connection or equivalent, with the aid of a specialized server. The file is meant to be transferred to [and stored in] a mp3 player for later listening or viewing. Source: OCLF.
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