Expert discusses the importance of recognizing and promoting national artists in advertising.
Last Saturday (13) was Rock Day, a date dedicated to celebrating this musical genre that spans generations through its connection with the feelings of young people. Despite its strong association with rebellion and escaping social norms, rock shows need to follow certain considerations and steps so that the creators of the music are duly respected and remunerated for their work.
In this article, a direct sequel to the special “Rock Day”, in which we talk about the festival Street Rock and its new documentary series, ADNews reached out to Mary Barbosa, who is responsible for licensing all of the music played at the festival, and Mary Nunez, VP SYNC Latin at Warner Chappell Music, to bring information, debates and propose questions on the topic. Let’s go!
Licensing
This term, well known in the legal field for being closely linked to the copyright of intellectual works, is just the starting point of our journey that will reach the theme of the “valuation (or better said, devaluation) of Brazilian rock”.
For the production of large events, such as Street Rock, which launched bands such as NX Zero and Dead Fish, this process involves obtaining a public performance license, allowing a certain song to be played live. To do this, the event organizer contacts the Central Office for Collection and Distribution (ECAD) and music associations in Brazil.
From this, there are several factors that need to be analyzed: the professional responsible for licensing must understand the client’s demand, how they want to use a certain song, whether they intend to re-record or change the lyrics, among other variables. In the case of Street Rock, a stage for several independent artists, there is a meeting between the ambitious desires of the event’s production and the consulting work of the specialist in Copyright Licensing, Mary Barbosa.
“Dealing with independent bands is great, I love it. They don’t have anyone’s support, but that doesn’t stop them from investing money, taking risks and always trying to go further,” says the expert, excited about being able to be close to indie musicians.
Even when exposed to music, bands and the entire artistic universe that delights the ears, the work of licensing specialists is not without its challenges.
“This is an investigative and artisanal work. For example, a work by a completely independent band with few views can have six, seven or more composers. So a phonogram of their music video was used, where someone only registered four music producers. Since all parties need to agree on that use in order to fix the work in the audiovisual, this becomes an extremely challenging task”, reveals Mary Barbosa.
Despite the obstacles and the high demand in the sector, Mary finds her work at Go Sugar Music, her licensing consultancy, fascinating. For her, audiovisual is a way to introduce the public to new sounds in an organic way.
“Human beings have a habit, often unconsciously, of listening to a song or soundtrack and directly associating it with a film or other product. This makes people aware of new musical genres,” shares the expert.
Still in the audiovisual field, but now focused on advertising campaigns, Mary Nunez, VP SYNC Latin at Warner Chappell Music, explains that in music licensing work, big brands and agencies send a script or storyboard of the campaign, along with a reference work. From there, it is up to her and her team to find a song that fits perfectly with the tone that the brand’s message wants to convey. According to the executive, Rock has also been a great draw in advertising.
“In Latin America, it is common for us to be asked to produce songs from the Rock, Pop and Alternative genres. Telecommunications and automotive brands generally prefer rock music. Currently, it is very popular to synchronize Latin urban music, not necessarily reggaeton, for campaigns aimed at a young audience,” reveals Mary Nunez.
She notes that the brand’s criteria also depends heavily on budgets and whether they want to use the rock band’s original work.
“Many authors prefer to use the original work and not a cover. It depends a lot on the song, the budget and the flexibility of the author”, concludes the VP SYNC Latin of Warner Chappell Music.
To non-audiovisual music
Street Rock’s proposal to promote independent music is extremely relevant when it comes to promoting national productions. Taking this theme to the advertising market, which is increasingly using Rock, a question arises: why do big brands continue to use the same international music in their campaigns?
In a country with a musical repertoire as vast and diverse as Brazil, which includes names such as Rita Lee, Cazuza and Raul Seixas, why do several campaigns insist on using ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ or ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ by the band Queen?
Despite admiring this band and its great successes, the constant use of these international hits generates two problems: the lack of brand recognition through music and the devaluation of the Brazilian musical collection.
It may be that the intention of big companies when using international music is to reach as many people as possible. It is no wonder that, when mentioning the song ‘Glad You Came’ by the group The Wanted, you probably already remember a campaign, launched ten years ago, by a famous restaurant chain. fast food. The song, popular among young people at the time, became a hit among people of all ages, making it almost impossible to disassociate the sound from the restaurant. Another recent, national example is the KitKat for Rock in Rio 2022 and the first edition of The Town last year, which created a song in partnership with singer Jão to promote Rock and capture the desire of young people to enjoy such an energetic festival after the period of seclusion due to the Covid19 pandemic.
Likewise, what prevents other big brands from making this move with emerging bands in Brazil to boost their careers and, consequently, gain immediate recognition whenever someone hears a song by a certain group? By creating an easily recognizable identity through music, which is more easily disseminated through the media, in other words, a true “win-win” relationship.
“Why is the Brazilian advertising market so afraid of using national music? We have musical geniuses who, due to lack of knowledge, are not heard. This is an opportunity to tell a story with a different musical narrative,” asks Mary Barbosa.
On the other hand, the more brands use the same popular songs over and over again as a way of “playing it safe,” the less memorable their campaigns become. I propose a challenge: name the brand and product advertised in the last campaign that used a hit by the band Queen. If you don’t remember, don’t worry, because memory loss is more common than you might think.
When many companies invest in the same content, its ability to impact the public in an organic, unique and memorable way declines, becoming just “another one on the shelf”. The “originality” factor directly affects human perception when searching for or consuming content, and something that does not bring anything new may end up going unnoticed (which is far from what any brand wants).
Therefore, Brazilian Rock, with its essence of authenticity and genuine connection with its listeners, can offer a range of content for the advertising market to create campaigns that stand out from the rest.
Investing in a space that is just waiting to be discovered and valued, something that Street Rock has been doing for over 20 years and that the licensing specialist promotes in her professional life, can revitalize advertising that, currently, enters a vicious cycle of ordinary campaigns that do not explore this gold called “national music”.
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