Day #6

As the week comes to a close, more and more people are leaving the festival heading back to their busy lives all over the world. The auditoriums are beginning to look like ghost towns. There were slim pickings today with regards to which speakers I wanted to see. Today was music day at the festival. Many of the seminars were music themed, whether it was the top 10 commercials with best music or executives from Pandora.

The first session I went to was The Top 10 Greatest Music Moments in the History of Advertising. Co-founders of Synkio gave the seminar: Ben Perreau and Vince Lynch.  It was an interesting look at how we as consumers subconsciously associate the music in the background of commercials with the product being advertised. When we here the song like a rock, by Bob Dylan, many people immediately think about Chevy trucks. The song is coupled so well with the product that consumer’s automatically assume it was written specifically for the commercial when in reality it wasn’t.  The number one spot went to Run DMC’s song My Addidas in the Addidas sneaker commercial. I didn’t entirely agree with this selection. I thought that there were several other music moments that should have made the list.  Some better examples could have been:

1.  Chryslers “Born of Fire”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3guZ7dMAkc&feature=kp

2.  Beats by Dre “Hear What You Want”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yUj0Ta44DI

3. Budweiser’s “Clydesdales”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTbLBL2P6YA

The main seminar I wanted to talk about was Brands, Brands and Fans- How Collaboration Is Driving Music Creation and Brand Storytelling.  Anthony Reeves, Chief Officer at Moxie, Chester See, Artist and YouTube sensation as well as Michael Gross, Head of Music Worldwide, Allsaints, presented this forum. The main reason I wanted to talk about this forum was because I didn’t agree with some of the things Chester See was saying. For those of you that don’t know, Chester See became famous for his cover of All Of Me, originally written and performed by John Legend.  You can listen to both versions here:

John Legend's original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=450p7goxZqg

Chester See's cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P45PPDXN5wg

One point See was trying to make was that, if you make a cover of a song and it becomes more popular than the original song, then it can be argued that the version that is more popular then it becomes “your” song in a way. I do not agree with this statement. Just because you do a great cover does not mean that you put the same amount of time and effort that the original artist put in creating the work. In this case, All Of Me is a love song John Legend wrote about a woman HE loves. Chester See may have someone in mind when he performs the song, but he shouldn’t be able to take credit for the time, effort and heart John Legend original put into the song. That being said, I think many of the points See made were valid. YouTube has become a medium in which people don’t need to be signed by record labels for their music to be noticed. Another point he made was that collaboration is one of the best ways for your work to be noticed. I believe that this can be applied to marketing, advertising, or anything else in the entertainment industry. 90% of the time you are better off collaborating with others whether its musicians or brands, that have a larger consumer fan base than you do.

Tomorrow is the last day of the festival. The beach cabanas, forums, tech talks, and workshops will close up shop. Only one theater will be open to view the last day of seminars. Bono and Jonathan Ive are the two main speakers I’m looking forward too...