More Details Emerge About Multiple Brand Tie-Ins From Forthcoming Album
Posted by Mike Tunnicliffe in Ad Age Songs For Soap on 03.31.08 @ 02:54 PM
According to a feature this morning in leading U.K. national newspaper The Telegraph, Madonna's "Hard Candy" album, which was pre-launched last week as part of a global Unilever Sunsilk campaign, is set to earn millions from other brand tie-ins.
The newspaper reports that she has signed other lucrative contracts with major companies, including Vodafone and Fuji, and over half of the tracks on the album have been licensed to advertisers. This will ensure that she not only gets pots of money, but also more global exposure for the album launch.
The deal with Vodafone means the network's customers will be able to listen to seven of the tracks a week before the album's worldwide release on April 28. Though the paper claims that this is the first time that an album has been launched on a mobile phone, hip-hop artist Timbaland announced an exclusive deal with Verizon back in February to become an "artist in residence" for the phone carrier, releasing a track a month exclusively for Verizon V-cast customers. As we also pointed out recently, mobile could become a major life raft for the music industry, so it's good to see two such high-profile artists embracing the platform in such an innovative way.
Madonna has also licensed "Miles Away," expected to be the album's second single, as the theme for a drama called "Change" on Japan's Fuji TV. John Reid, the president of Warner Music Europe and vice-chairman of Warner Music International, Madonna's label, said: "If it all goes to plan then there is no reason why other acts shouldn't strike similar deals."
Given that Madonna is leaving Warners to join Live Nation for a "360 contract," they should indeed be looking at their roster to strike more of these types of innovative deals.
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