What does the Greater Outdoors sound like? Rumblefish’s sonic branding team worked with Columbia to define their unique sound and develop a custom retail music program that evokes the pleasure, invigoration and inspiration of a life lived passionatelyâ??in the Greater Outdoors. It’s all part of Columbia’s mission to get people outside and keep them comfortable so they can enjoy it more.

Along with the live-music elements, the hand-built overhead music program launched with the grand opening of Columbia’s new store in Chicago. And it’s a smash: one store employee reported that the new overhead music program was “the best music he has ever heard in a retail store.”

Four local bands are playing on the second floor overlooking Michigan Avenue on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon. They include David Vandervelde (now based in Nashville but originally from Chicago), Canasta, Majors Junction, and Rumblefish artists Death Ships.

Rumblefish worked with Chicago Street Musicians, a non-profit advocacy group for Chicago’s rich street-musician community, to book five acts and deploy them in the area surrounding the new store. Ranging from a soulful a cappella group to solo singer-songwriters to an acoustic jazz trio, the performers are paired with Columbia’s street teams to alert passers by to the store opening and all the cool giveaways (Mobex backpacks!) they can receive.

Portland artist Alex “The Unfazed” James (leader of Portland’s acclaimed Dolorean) is manning the turntables the entire weekend, spinning a collection of songs curated specially for Columbia based on their newly defined “sonic identity.” (Apparently, he has already received five requests to DJ at people’s weddings. Guess they’ve never heard this kind of DJ-ing before.)

Grand opening festivities kicked off last night with a VIP bash that included a visit from Chicago’s very popular mayor, Richard M. Daley. Part of the proceeds from the grand opening weekend will go to the Active Transportation Alliance (formerly the Chicago Bicycle Federation), another local non-profit that shares Columbiaâ??s commitment to helping active consumers get outside.

What’s next? Look for another music-fueled grand opening at Columbia’s new Minneapolis store in April. And be sure to check out the new sound of Columbia at one of their other brand stores. The program will roll out to ALL stores in the coming weeks.

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On Saturday July 26th, I got to be a guest on an awesome radio show called LiveWire! Other guests included Michael Ian Black – Writer, Actor (“The State”, “Stella”); Curt Ellis – Director (“King Corn” and his new doc “The Greening of Southie”); Willy Vlautin – Author; Richmond Fontaine- gritty Americana music and Derby - awesome indie pop. For those of you that listened in or were there, thanks! I hope that you enjoyed the show. Here are the links that I mentioned (Sonic Branding / Music Brain Books):

• This is Your Brain on Music by Daniel Levitin
• Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks
• Sound Business by Julian Treasure

Here is a link to the US Patent and Trademark office that has links to sonic logos for brands:

• USPTO Trademark SoundEx

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I love the no-nonsense packaging delivering fresh, clean, bold graphics along with the medicinal tone and cheeky, prescription-like advice dispensed on the labels. The fun colors combined with those workhorse ingredients, the nature/science balance, and the fun for me/good for me duality; all those contrasts work brilliantly together. I love it that the fit, happy field reps show up and pass out free bottles of this stuff at public events. You care! You really do. And I love that about you guys.

That said, Iâ??d like to spike my serenade with one nagging question: What does the Vitamin Water brand sound like?
Whoâ??s minding the store when it comes to making your overarching sonic decisions? Whatâ??s the sonic strategy?
With such meticulous insight into your other messaging tools, why the apparent hiccup here? For example, why is the Vitamin Water van in my neighborhood rocking the same Michael Jackson jam thatâ??s in the competitionâ??s commercial? This uncharacteristic inconsistency just doesnâ??t feel like the keen, clean focus Iâ??ve come to expect from Vitamin Water. How do you want your customers to feel, what do you want them to experience on the most visceral level when your van passes by? Circling back to your mission statement, what does science-meet-nature sound like? Does it even sound like music at all?

We all know this sonic stuff works in an off-the-charts way. Just think back to the simple droning ice cream truck tune that turned kids into Pavlovian zombies, tearing through suburban streets. I still have the urge to bolt from the house and empty my momâ??s wallet when I hear that sound.

So Vitamin Water, youâ??re exhibiting big-digit growth. Youâ??re well on your way to achieving cult brand status (if you havenâ??t already). Youâ??ve obviously been drinking your own medicine. Hereâ??s a friendly nudge toward being more authentic, consistent and purposeful about your sonic expressions as well. And you wonâ??t just have us drinking â??weâ??ll be walking on â??Vitamin Water. â?º

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NARM/ Digital NARM :: San Francisco, CA :: May 7, 2008

Corey Denis, Director of Marketing (that’s me) is attending Digital NARM in San Francisco May 6- 7, 2008

San Fran Music Tech Summit II – May 8, 2008

Paul Anthony, Big Fish (Rumblefish CEO & Founder) is scheduled to give a presentation about Sonic Branding & Music Licensing

Corey Denis, Director of Marketing is moderating a panel at the San Fran Music Tech Summit

In addition, Rumblefish is excited to provide music for the San Fran Music Tech Summit. Join us for a day of phenomenal speakers hailing from imeem, Warner Brothers Records, Pandora, A2IM, INgrooves, IODA, Rhapsody, Sony BMG, CD Baby, Electronic Frontier Foundation, YouTube, Future of Music Coalition, Rumblefish (yay!) and many more…

The Cable Show :: New Orleans :: May 18 – 20, 2008

Paul Anthony, CEO, Richard Jankovich, Director of Licensing & Dan Holmes, Licensing Rep will be at Booth #545 at The Cable Show May 18 – 20 in New Orleans.

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While attending SXSW, Paul Anthony, CEO, and I, Corey Denis, Director of Marketing, had the opportunity to see up close how the little-industry-that-could (that is, the music licensing industry) was on everyoneâ??s mind. Room 15 at the Austin Convention Center on March 14 unleashed the SxSW 2008 â??killer appâ? for the music portion of Austinâ??s yearly conference. The room was packed to standing room only – and the reason was clear: with an industry losing money faster than Apple can ingest new content from lesser known bands, the financial prospects of music licensing are finally appealing in such a way that this opportunity to build the New Music Economy has emerged to the forefront of a financially viable music business strategy.

Journalists from the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Wired Magazine, most recently the Chicago Tribune, bloggers, new and old media (…and don’t forget Moby) found reason to comment or write their post-SXSW articles about the state of the New Music Economy and what it means as the new Tipping Point for music as a business and creative entity. The big takeaway from SxSW this year was more than a margarita and a really really heavy SWAG bag; finally an industry collectively reached a better understanding of how to monetize music and increase artist visibility all at once.

This very model is the core business of Rumblefish, and our business just grew. Weâ??re turning heads, and building our stamina for another 20+ years of business. Starting in 1996 from the depths of CEO & Founder Paul Anthonyâ??s college dorm (and car) came the Rumblefish ethos. Anthony, a Music Composition major at the University of Oregon, licensed his homework successfully to filmmakers to make ends meet. The music school got angry, but the business school took notice, and Anthony went from majoring in Music Composition to Business – and has lead a growing music licensing company ever since.

For 12 full years, Rumblefish has been quietly licensing music to HBO, IFC, Adidas, Red Bull, Video Games, Extreme Sports and brands from around the world and now weâ??re ready to make some noise. Our business model is â??the twitter of â??08â? for the SxSW Music Conference. Yep, that’s what i said: licensing music for commercials and brands is the killer app of sxsw music. For smaller projects who need music quickly and legally, we have a Music Licensing Store , singing the praises of pre-cleared tracks which are made available in our store to thousands of music supervisors searching the Music Licensing Store for emotive search terms like “humble” – or (this is true) “love at first sight.”

Rumblefish works with such great success because our company is two-fold. We are not a music library. We urge Music Supervisors to kick the canned music. We are a high level high quality music boutique, and we own our own Sonic Branding agency. We are a company of artists, regularly curating the best music from around the planet while our world-leaders in sonic branding accrue branding clients for specialized holistic sonic branding campaigns. Meanwhile, our Licensing team is regularly talking with the best film, video game, advertising and television music supervisors to assist them with their music choices, all the while pointing our partners and clients toward the Rumblefish Music Licensing Store, where any music supervisor can search our curated catalog for the perfectly emotive music, and pay for the license. Right then. Right there. Itâ??s done. Itâ??s legal. Even Vloggers have an outlet for music now â?? totally hassle free, a vlogger can use our store to legally obtain the license to sync music with their video.

One single music license takes an (underestimated) average of 30 person-hours to acquire. Licensing a track from the Rumblefish catalog takes a music supervisor approximately 3 minutes. Naturally, when the killer music app (licensing) became apparent, and apparently profitable, at SXSW 2008â??s more academic moments, Rumblefish took pride in a business model that works. We are a company of musicians growing a business that works for music. We ask our branding clients What does your brand sound like? (sm) and we seek out the highest quality music with enough confidence to offer a non exclusive agreement to artists & labels. Which means, if they think they can find a better agency to Sync their Music â?? we think they should try! (but we know they wonâ??t!) We cut checks for artists, and we forge interesting licenses (posted on our blog). It makes us proud. Businesses who use our music make more money. It makes us proud. We arenâ??t a library. Which also makes us proud.

Most common question from audiences when we do presentations: â??What about artists selling out?”

Personally, thatâ??s my favorite question. Selling Out was a viable concept for artists and labels to cling to when music sales were the basis of a viable music business. But with sales dwindling and consumption sky rocketing, it seems that the concept of â??Sell Outâ? was possibly concocted by sales & marketing departments in the old music economy, because the very concept increased the value of their product. Unless an artist â??sold outâ? you couldnâ??t consume their music in any way other than to purchase it. You had to buy it. You simply had to. But not anymore. Now, music is consumed globally in multiple formats, whether the industry as a whole is happy about it or not. Why not get paid for that consumption? Does that make you a â??sell outâ? â?? or is it just irony that the only band to name their album â??sell outâ? has licensed music to competing automobile makers? I draw my own personal conclusion: the terminology â??sell outâ? worked in the old music economy but doesnâ??t make sense in the new music economy. Things change. Even Zeppelin has a song in a Cadillac ad. Artists deserve to work at their craft and get paid to do it. Rumblefish artists will never have their music associated with Porn, politics or illegal activities. But they will get checks and exposure to new fans. Rumblefish branding clients and music supervisory clients rely on us for quality music, and regularly come back to us for more. The “killer app” in the new music economy is enabling artists to be artists. even for their day job.

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2007 was a great year for our catalog. We added thousands of songs by new artists, and lot of new material from Rumblefish veterans as well. With that in mind, we’d like to turn your attention to our 15 favorite Rumblefish albums released in 2007:

Copperpot “WYLA?”

Smart, bright beats by an edgy, creative producer with guest spots by KRS-One and the guys from Tortoise.

Stars Of The Lid “And Their Refinement of the Decline”

Released to critical acclaim, these sleepy yet emotional pieces are ideal for score â?? particularly as ambient soundscapes and melodically charged white noise.

Track A Tiger “We Moved Like Ghosts”

Originally a solo project, the band’s sound has filled out gracefully to create beautifully textured, harmony-filled original indie pop gems.

Night Kills The Day “The Study Of Man”

Think Interpol meets the Promise Ring, with the right amount of style and pretension and topped off with lyrics about running terrified around NYC.

Strider “Tiger Stomp”

Classy, massive electro house with squelchy synths, pounding robot beats and fluid basslines, this 2007 breakout techno star is one to keep your eyes on.

Free Diamonds “By The Sword“

Perfect for scoring that scene where high school sweethearts either fall in love at a kegger or go and fight the jocks from a rival school. Yes, it is THAT good.

500 Miles To Memphis “Sunshine In A Shot Glass”

Fusing country guitar riffs and saloon style piano with punk rock attitude, they deliver twang-ridden lyrics about booze, heartache, and regret.

Seahorse “I’ll Be New”

Acoustic guitars, piano tinkering, and tin drums combine to create a rustic yet contemporary look at love and loss. Reminiscent of Paul Westerberg’s solo work.

Up The Empire “Light Rides The Super Major”

Pounding drumbeats that keep you dancing, and hypnotically-driving guitar hooks soaked in distortion. Similar to Superchunk, Sonic Youth, and Idlewild.

Glenn Mercer “Wheels In Motion”

After a self-imposed retirement, Feelies’ frontman Glenn Mercer is back with a solo album full of jangley pop rock gems.

Shane Newville “Formless”

Intricate and soulful combination of instrumental break beat, hip hop, and left-field electronica. This late night soundtrack album calls to mind the best works of DJ Shadow, Aphex Twin, and Four Tet.

MathClub “Mathclub”

Falls into line beside contemporary rock acts like Editors and the Killers with powerful hooks, self-reflecting lyrics, and danceable rhythms.

La Fleur Fatale “Night Generation”

Swedish psychedelic indie rock with sweeping guitars, cute organ leads, and memories of the coolest party none of us were invited to.

Jasmine Ash “Shine“

Breathy, intimate, eternally young vocals over shruggingly catchy pop music.

The Dimes “The Silent Generation“

Their combination of quirky sounds, unique instrumentation, and catchy lyrics lays the groundwork for great indie pop vignettes.

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AMC PROMO “HITCHCOCK WEEKEND”
Featuring “Like Murder” by Twilight Sleep

AMC churns out a lot of film promos every week that are in need of the right music to make their classic programming appeal to TV audiences with modern cinematic tastes. Eric Ruhalter, AMC producer, is the brain behind this spot, which is a great example of how the right music can actually help create the messaging and visual content for a project.

“With a spot like ‘Hitchcock Weekend’ you find the song first, then match the visuals to it,” explained Eric. He began by using Rumblefish’s trusty search engine to find a song which would fit the mood he had in mind for the promo. In this case, Twilight Sleep’s “Like Murder” fit the bill.

“I listened to a lot of different songs but that one just jumped out at me,” explains Eric, “it had a Hitchcock-ian tension with a nice building feel to it in a contemporary style.” He then worked with his editors to find visuals that matched the lyrics resulting in one of the coolest and creepiest clips we’ve seen in a while.

The band was appreciative of the prominent use of their song. “Of course, we enjoyed hearing our music in the Hitchcock spot, as his films are thematically aligned with our sound,” explained Twilight Sleep’s producer, Raj. The spot has helped raised the band’s profile by driving new fans to their site.

Stream the promo here.

MATCHSTICK PRODUCTIONS “7 SUNNY DAYS”
Featuring “Speak 13″ by Trystero

There’s nothing quite like stepping onto a piece of plastic and barreling down the side of a snow-covered mountain with that one perfect song blaring in your earphones. Our long-time client Matchstick Productions is one of the most creative and innovative action/snow sport film companies around. Matchstick’s 7 Sunny Days features a particularly cool use of a Rumblefish piece. Executive Producer Murray Wais chose Trystero’s “Speak 13″ as the background track in rich photographic scenes that needed the right song to help convey an awe-inspiring, dreamlike feel.

Murray explained that this song was perfect for a series of surreal, point-of-view shots. “It’s like you are in a dream, it’s very ethereal and abstract,” says Wais, “and the lyrics worked really well with what is happening on screen.” Murray went on to add that music selection is a vital part of their film production process and more often than not, the chosen song actually drives their edits.

Anything else to add, Murray?

“Check out our sick teaser for 7 Sunny Daysâ?? it features another great Rumblefish track, John Richardson’s â??Thunder Drums’”

MEN IN TREES â?? Episode 202
Featuring “Grip” by Brett Phillips

ABC’s Men In Trees is a great TV program that has made a name for itself by showcasing cool bands and rising talent. Music is such a vital element to the show that they even created a music guide as a resource for viewers to find out which songs were used in each episode.

Men In Trees has turned to Rumblefish a number of times asking for cool, unique music. We especially love the use of “Grip” by Brett Phillips in the second episode from last season. The song was used prominently during transitions between scenes, and worked perfectly with its blend of natural energy and the right amount of tension.

Susan Dolan, from Men In Trees, told us that the lyrics were an important reason they chose the song. “The words, â??waiting for a sign’, were relevant to one of our characters and what they were experiencing in that particular scene,” she emphasized.

All in all, we think Men In Trees uses killer songs to a terrific effect. Watch clips from the show here.

ADIDAS IN-STORE
Featuring hundreds of songs from the Rumblefish catalog.

Sonic branding client adidas was looking for more than just radio-tunes when they asked us to help them curate their in-store music program. They wanted to create a unique experience for their customers.

adidas “Originals” stores are stocked with eclectic vintage clothing that is meant to appeal to a very hip, fashion-conscious audience. The environmental music in their locations needed to bolster the customer experience by exhibiting both a purposeful and unique feel. Rumblefish also recognized adidas’ need for recognizable “major label” music that its customers could identify. So we hooked them up with an established background music provider and worked with its music programmers to curate a mix that complemented adidas’ brand persona.

Of course, adidas loves truly original music. So in addition to the major label tunes we incorporated Rumblefish catalog music in the program as well. Walk into any adidas Originals store and you’ll hear banging cuts from Rumblefish artists like: The Procussions, Free Diamonds, Two Sheds & Night Kills The Day alongside contemporary hit bands like Architecture in Helsinki, the Verve Remixed Series, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Devendra Banhart and more.

Check out adidas Originals here.

RENEWABLE NRG â?? TV and WEB CAMPAIGN
Featuring “Can’t Stand Me” by Brightwings

We know a good environmental cause when we see it (we do live in the 3rd “greenest” city in America, after all) so when Renewable NRG approached us for music through their agency Leopold Ketel, we were excited. We found the perfect song to use both for background music on their website and in a series of TV commercials promoting their solar energy products.

Russ Wright, CEO of Renewable NRG, is a musician himself so he had some ideas for music and the Brightwings “Can’t Stand Me” provided exactly the right match. The band was delighted to be affiliated with such an environmentally friendly ad campaign and there is even talk of a continuing their association with a series of live shows in 2008.

Check out the song on their website and see/hear the synergy in real-time.

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Most people would agree that music is intrinsic to a high quality of life. Some would also argue that same point for their daily cup of coffee, but what if you could get the same physiological effect from an audio track that you get from 1 cup of coffee? Would you dump your small contribution to Starbucks bottom line and go for a sonic cup of joe?

The natural internal rhythms of the brain (brainwaves), react to rhythmic stimulus like the beat of a drum. When the sounds you hear are consistent, steady and fast enough, your brain can synchronize its brainwaves to music and sound. This is called Entrainment and was first identified in 1934.

Stefanos Karagos of anabubula.com, a 16 year veteran of the Media industry, created an audio track entitled Coffee Replacement to provide himself with a sonic alternative to a caffeine energy boost.

Coffee Replacement is a fascinating audio track. I’ve listened to it several times and it definitely has an energizing effect on me. It makes me slightly anxious but I can’t say I don’t feel that way after too much coffee. In my experience on different days at different times, the last 5 minutes or so always have the greatest impact on my state of mind.

Working in the Sonic Branding space everyday, it’s amazing to see the connections that music and sound make with our minds and body that the general public and average marketer aren’t aware of. It’s exciting to dream about the positive applications and demonstrations that take advantage of this type of physiological response to sound and open all of our minds a bit. If you have an idea or a discovery in this arena, we want to hear about it. Until then, put on some headphones and enjoy a sonic cup of coffee.

Listen here

WARNING! – The following people should not listen to the audio track Coffee Replacement:
- People subject to any forms of seizures or epilepsy
- People using pacemakers
- People suffering from cardiac arrhythmia or other heart disorders
- People taking stimulants, psychoactive drugs or tranquilizers

Some more links on this:
Brainwave Overview
Sonic Entrainment
Stefanos Karagos original Coffee Replacement post

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This is genius on a couple of levels. First, they’ve created tremendous buzz by having the guts to circumvent the labels by selling directly from their website. Second, they are opening themselves up to new audiences – risk free. Finally, they’re betting on their rabid base of existing fans to gobble up the boxed set. Radiohead is the first notable band to recognize that in the digital age, they can take control over when and how their music is distributed; and that ultimately, the consumer is in charge. By putting the cost of the download purely in the hands of the consumer, they are recognizing – confidently – that those who might otherwise have simply stolen the tracks are now given the option to pay as little as they’d like. They also have the confidence to recognize that their real fans will spend more than “retail value” for the download in addition to buying the boxed set. They’ve cut out the middle man, and they have nothing to lose. In fact, they actually stand to make more money on the deal than if they were distributing through a label. We applaud Radiohead for continuing to challenge the system that built them while still rewarding the fans who continue to drive their success.

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Their triumphant slow-motion moment came to a sobering halt when the song was leaked by a disgruntled individual and quikly became a hit, for the wrong reasons, on You Tube (see link below, it will likely be taken down soon).

Why didn’t this commissioned song embody the same emotional overtones that Queen so successfuly captured? That very emotion that Peabody was attemting to harness is much easier for an artist, band or songwriter to communicate than a brand, especially law firms who’s core “brand” is the lack of emotion.This scenario highlights the benefit of a strategic approach to sonic branding and obviously, the results when there isn’t one. What might have happened if Nixon played along with this song’s success and poked fun at themselves “letting lose” a bit. Would they then be seen as professional yet approachable and received a huge PR hit? It’s definitely a different tactic that threatening legal action due to the lack of a proper music license.

Regardless, the song was powerful enough for people who have never heard of Nixon Peabody to notice, talk and blog about them despite their best efforts to quiet the chatter. A good reminder that sonic branding tactics are memorable, whether you like it or not.

NYT Article Here

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