Brand New Second Hand: How Big Brands Help A Flailing Music Industry

The music industry in the UK is flailing. UK album sales were down 11% last year and major, established artists are now finding that album sales are not their main source of revenue.

Enter Harvest Entertainment, management services for the entertainment industry. Harvest have put their clever marketing skills to good use and have controversially found a new path in which bands and pop stars alike can increase revenue from record sales.

Placebo, McFly and Madness are just three bands linked to the company who are now looking for appropriate brands to support them.

The entertainment company was launched at the end of 2007 and is run by Ric Salmon, a man in know when it comes to the music industry. Former vice president of Warner Music International, Salmon is well aware of the transformation the music industry is currently going through.

Since the introduction of the world wide web, illegal downloads have gone through the roof, thus reducing actual sales in the shops. Bands and labels alike have been hit hard, and as a result, have turned to merchandising and tours as greater revenue earners.

Yes, the traditional music model remains intact, but artists are more open to venturing down new avenues. Take Prince, for example; mega star with a back catalogue that would humble any X Factor or American Idol winner, yet he still opted for the alternative route when releasing his latest works, Planet Earth. Instead of traditional sales, he decided to give it away free with copies of The Mail on Sunday.

Then there is Radiohead, who successfully released their latest album, In Rainbows, purely via download for the first few months before later releasing it proper. An instant success, the album reached the top spot in both the UK and US from downloads alone.

Harvest Entertainment is not alone in their adventures in the world of music. International coffee giants, Starbucks have also got in on the act, with the release of Paul McCartney's first studio album in more than two years.

Selling out? Dear God, no. Macca claims "It's a new world now and people are thinking of new ways to reach the people and that's always been my aim." If the coffee drinking population of the world don't already know who the legend is, then something is very much awry.

Starbucks added: "This demonstrates how Hear Music can present even the most successful recording artists of all time with unique opportunities to reach existing fans, as well as a new audience of listeners."

Similarly, dance duo Groove Armada have recently come out of a five year deal with Jive Records, one of the many arms of the Sony BMG machine. They have since opted for a one year deal with drinks maker, Bacardi, which will see the brand funding a four track EP. In exchange, Groove Armada have agreed to play at various Bacardi sponsored events across the globe.

So, you scratch my back and i'll scratch yours, in effect. The bands are benefiting immensely from backing of large brands. They [the brands] have the money to fund studio time, tours and parties whilst they get the added kudos of 'owning' a band.

Whilst this may seem like the next logical step in the evolution of music distribution, die hard fans of the more underground bands such as Kings of Leon or LCD Soundsystem may have a harder time of accepting this new found love with the big brands. Selling out is definitely a term that will spring to the mouths of thousands of pubescent teenagers across the globe. And we all know what happens when somebody is believed to have sold out: Interests cease and sales decline.

So only time will tell whether or not brands and bands will live in harmony or whether consumers realise that they are being hung out to dry by the proverbial scrotum.