Page 38 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report

38Amplify VR is a virtual platform that allows bands, artists and musicians to generate perfor- mances in impressive, spectacular environments where the audience takes part actively.And we also nd 360-degree video clipssuch as those of The Weeknd or U2, among others, which have embraced this new form of storytelling.How can music bring the cultural act closer?: the role of brandsIt is evident that sponsorship in general, and that of music in particular, is increasingly evolving to- wards a value model in which sticker sponsorship no longer makes sense and what really mattersis for brands to tell stories, support real projects and become actual patrons of real people’s projects. Meaningless mass sponsorship is giving way to customisation, which is increasingly engaging with the people we so want to connect with through brand building strategies.For many years music has been sponsorship territory. This means that many brands usedit to reach a speci c artist’s fans or audiencesat music festivals and little else. However, the shortcomings of this territory compared to other well-established elds such as sport have been huge from the point of view of brand strategy and value building for the audience, the brand itself or the proprietor (artist, festival...) in question. These considerable limitations stemmed from a variety of factors, of which we will mention only a few:• Support for artist X or festival Z based purely on the personal tastes of the profes- sionals responsible for the brands.• For the record company, the brand in question had nothing to o er the artist – a gross mistake – and all it did was pay a few accounts whose gures plummeted owing to the unstoppable fall in album sales.• They never worked together to build, even though today there is no better means of communication for an artist than a brand, and no better ideas person for a brand than an artist. This is the problem of the business of intermediaries on which the relationship between brands and music has always been based.• Brand X chooses artist Y because the latter has lots – no, thousands! – of followers on the social media and brand X knows that digital is an increasingly important channel. mistake! Digital is a work ethic, a processof transformation (many people pay lip service to “digital transformation” but few know how to manage it or have professional experience of it, and it certainly doesn’t involve being the best Twitter or Facebook user). It is not so much a case of doing as of understanding and building from an honest position based on fans’ behaviour.Music is not a territory (nor are other culture and creative industries: they are not sport); rather, it has become an excellent language for telling brand stories. And also a language that is especially e ective at engaging with audiences.Music is not a territory (nor are other culture and creative industries: they are not sport); rather,it has become an excellent language for telling brand stories. And also a language that is espe- cially e ective at engaging with the audienceall brands hanker after: the “millennials”. Few things move millennials except for those that are capable of exciting them and empathising with them: not a car but a sophisticated mobile phone; not a train journey but an experience in Uber or Blablacar...For there is no better way of reaching people’s hearts than through their ears. And because music is truly transmedia: people listen to it on their smartphones, view it on YouTube, synchro- nise it on my PC or my Mac, enjoy it live, cry,THE MUSIC MARKET GOES DIGITAL · ROBERTO CARRERASSmart culture. Analysis of digital trends