Copies of Mariah Carey’s newest album will be bundled with a 34-page booklet that will feature advertisements from major luxury brands along with CD liner notes.

The album, titled Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, is more transparent than Chris Brown’s chewing gum product placement. However, this definitely marks a trend in the industry.

The Island Def Jam Music Group will be observing the performance of the program. If they like what they see, they might initiate bigger brand deals for booklets of CDs by Rihanna, Bon Jovi, and Kanye West.

The booklet that comes with Carey’s latest album will bring lots of product placement to the CD—an emerging trend. Why is that? Well, according to Def Jam chairman Antonio Reid, “we don't have music retailers any more.”    

Who listens to CDs? Nowadays, kids download songs through the internet, using their iPod. That’s why musicians and producers need alternative ways to generate revenue.

 

Adam Kluger, CEO and founder of the Kluger Agency, sees great prospects in the music product placement industry. He recently sat down with Minyanville’s Tal Pinchevsky to discuss the business.  

“Brands are tripling their revenue because of a mention in a Jay-Z song,” says Kluger. “So we go after the companies and partner them with the demographic. If you hear an artist talking about his new Fila sneakers, you’re going to think about it when you go shopping.”

This week Kluger is handling a new music video for Atlantic Records featuring the artist Flo Rida. The music video will work around the product placement of a dating site.

“We worked with the director and wrote the entire video around the product. So the video has Flo going online, looking for a love interest in the video,” described Kluger. “This song was not going to be a radio single, but it’s so perfect for a video that we were able to get the brand to pay enough that we could make the song into a single.”

Musicians have been referencing to their favorite products since time immemorial. Janice Joplin mentioned “Mercedes Benz” and the Beach Boys’ “T-Bird.”

However, one of the most obvious partnerships came in 2003, when hip-hop artist Busta Rhymes released the song “Pass the Courvoisier”. The mention gave the cognac company a major spike in sales that led to another contract with Rhymes.

It is slowly becoming clear that brands have a place in the music industry. They have been there before but, nowadays, companies get to pay artists to get better exposure. Whether its product placements in music videos or product mentions in song lyrics, this is a partnership that can last because it can benefit both sides.

As described by Pinchevsky: “With a greater variety of artists engaging in this kind of branding, and fears over artistic integrity subsiding, labels couldn’t be happier. A recording industry in decline for almost a decade is now using branding to offset production costs for albums, videos, and tours.”

“It will get to the point where the brand is paying for the entire production of an album,” explains Kluger. “The labels and artists will not have to put up any money. So everything is profit. That’s 2 years away, not 10.”

When Aerosmith heads on their summer tour, fans in selected states will have a chance to win backstage passes through a band-branded series of lottery games.

According to reports, Primary Wave Music (Steven Tyler’s publisher) arranged a deal with GTECH, a gaming technology company, to launch the band-branded series of lottery games, which are based on different Aerosmith songs.

GTECH creates lottery games for several state and private gaming operations. The company has created products featuring entertainment properties, like the Three Stooges and the World Series of Poker. Its partnership with Aerosmith will include an extensive campaign of games, prizes, and marketing materials. The central theme of the campaign will be Aerosmith’s song: “Dream On.”

“Aerosmith is the ideal band to try this with,” said Adam Lowenberg, chief marketing officer at Primary Wave Music. “The band is very much interested in establishing new precedents, whether it's ‘Guitar Hero’ or the Rock & Roll Roller Coaster or even, going back in history, to mixing rock and rap. They really get off on being first, and GTECH shares that desire to innovate.”

GTECH says that Aerosmith hits the perfect lottery demographic—skews male, middle-aged, and lower middle class.

“Beyond Aerosmith’s iconic position in the music industry and the recognizability of their brand and knowing what they are planning to do relative to current and future tours and album releases, we really thought we could plug into the band,” commented Ross Dalton, GTECH senior VP of printed products and licensed content. “Whether you're 70 or 20, you know a handful of Aerosmith songs and have a connection to the band. You could probably count on one hand the number of bands that would be both palatable in government-sponsored gaming and recognizable to a broad demographic. That's why we got very excited about Aerosmith.”

Sources: Billboard.com
 

Nestle’s Wonka candy brand will be a presenting sponsor of The Bamboozle, a 22-market music festival featuring No Doubt, Fall Out Boy, and other pop-punk bands. The five-year festival is produced by Live Nation, the company that secured the Wonka sponsorship.

Wonka decided to participate in the branded entertainment venture to position itself in the market. The festival will link artists and fans and Wonka will be an integral part of the presentation.

The candy brand will provide backstage interviews and fan experiences that will be featured on the company Website and its new SKUs by sampling candy site. On the site, browsers will be able to use interactive technology to manipulate photos found in the website.

During the festival, fans will be able to sample Wonka Kazooles, licorice ropes with candy filling touted by the company as “delickoricious chewy candy to feed the imagination.” The other flavors (Cherry Punch and Pink Lemonade) will be launched in June.

Wonka is even throwing in a raffle. A few concertgoers will be able to get golden tickets, which will allow them to gain access to special seats, free tickets, and an elite Gold Card that entitles them to a six-month candy supply.