Published on Billboard.biz on January 06, 2012 by Andrew Hampp
As pop, dance and hip-hop dominates the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 and modern rock radio stations switch formats, what does a rock band need to do to get heard these days? It starts with a good commercial synch.
Foster the People, 2011′s breakout rock act, knows the importance of having songs placed in ads firsthand-lead singer Mark Foster got his start writing jingles for Los Angeles’ Mophonics before lending his gift for melody to mega-hit “Pumped Up Kicks.” That song’s slow burn at pop and modern rock radio eventually paved the way for other high-profile synchs, like the band’s “Color on the Walls (Don’t Stop)” appearing in Nissan’s Versa campaign. The result? Strong sales for Foster the People’s debut album, Torches, which ranked at No. 55 on the Top Billboard 200 Albums year-end list.
But after Foster the People and other rock bands’ synch-happy strategy, the commercial-licensing opportunities have been spotty at best for most rock acts. That’s why many rock acts raised their hands when the NFL teamed up with sports-music firm Banshee Music and GMR Marketing to pair original rock tracks with individual leagues for localized anthems and touchdown songs.
Universal Republic hard-rock act Hinder, for example, jumped at the opportunity to record the song “The Fight’s About to Begin” for free in exchange for exposure during NFL events and telecasts throughout the 2011-12 season. After two top 10 albums and a top five single (“Lips of an Angel”) on the Billboard charts, the band has struggled in recent years to get its music out to the same mass audiences.
“We’re getting less label support than we’ve ever gotten, so we’re pretty much out there on our own right now,” Hinder drummer Cody Hanson says, noting the band’s existing relationship with Banshee Music. “It’s tough to do, so we have to use the relationships we’ve made over the years and have to take advantage of the Internet as much as we can. We hope we can reach people any way we can but it’s getting tough.”
Other acts like Chickenfoot and “American Idol” alum James Durbin also came onboard last summer, despite the NFL’s season remaining in limbo until late July. Banshee VP of sports marketing John Canaday says the agency might have been able to lure even more rock acts to record or compose original songs for the current season had the timing been more concrete.
“On the one hand, it was frustrating we couldn’t start,” Canaday says. “On the other, it’s pretty impressive we had songs, deals and music created in about a two-month period that would require league approvals, artist approvals, label approvals and a number of steps that would typically take much longer.”
For the NFL, the Banshee deal gives each league an ownable song that fans can instantly identify when they show up at games or watch their telecasts. But NFL VP of entertainment marketing and promotion Tracy Perlman insists the artists are the biggest benefactors.
“Sometimes they get to reach a fan base they don’t necessarily have,” Perlman says. “Whether you’re dealing with country artists in a specific marketplace or rock bands in a specific marketplace, you’ve got a captive audience of over 60,000 people every week in a stadium. There’s also the ancillary benefit of being picked up on TV, being licensed, and the opportunity to get that reach also shows them as football fans.”
