Music Inc. Recap: Advertise yourself best with Music and Brand Integration

A panel discussion on Advertising yourself best with music was held at the recently concluded Music Inc 2018. The topic of discussion aimed to educated people more on the do's and dont's for a successful integration between Brands and music properties. Speaking on the panel were Rohit Sobti (CEO Brand Monk Licensing) who moderated the event, Lloyd Mathias (Former Sr. Director HP Asia-Pacific), Jovan Martins (Partner Kwan Entertainment), Salim Merchant (Music Producer) and Bhuvan Bham (Youtuber). The panel started with Salim Merchant addressing the audience about the positive change that he has seen through the years and how the community has come together from the artist sides, the artist representative sides and the brand sides and all working together as one. Salim also pointed out that Musicians are getting their creative freedom when collaborating with brands instead of keeping it brand specific only. Llyod Mathias spoke on two iconic aspects of music Integration first being Brands that have a strong music score or have a long term music property have benefited immensely and the other aspect being that small tactical associations don't always work. Lloyd made a point on Marketing getting experiential and also Bollywood Music being under leveraged and still being a great tapestry of Music built over 50-60 years. On being asked what advice he would like to give out to the music industry which is missing today, he said that there should be an urgency to market music and have dialogue with brand custodians and agencies to create music around brand properties. Lloyd also suggested syncing of old music to make communication come alive.

A properly used music score enhances brand connect, brings nostalgia. When you can build music to a brand property then you are really speaking to the brand custodian. - Lloyd Mathias

Jovan Martins spoke from the Music Industry's perspective and on being asked to give out recommendations to brand agencies on things they do not get about the music scene, he said that it is important to understand the impact of music on their brand, secondly whether the brand identifies with the artist. He made an interesting point that artists today are developing properties. Jovan also said that it is crucial to educate brand agencies, media agencies on current trends and what is really happening in the music industry.

Today brands are looking at Music more like an ecosystem and Music has become a culture itself. People who have started to create their own music and make that popular - Brands are noticing that change. - Jovan Martins

Salim Merchant had a interesting counter question for the entire panel - "Why is there a huge gap in investment from brands when it comes to television and digital". Rohit Sobti addressed that question by saying that Television still has mass reach (about 500 million) when it comes to main events and also the lack of education on currents trends of brand agencies. In spite of digital growing every year it is still not on par with television. He also advised that instead of choosing between television and digital, big properties should always opt for Omni-channel integration. Bhuvan Bham insisted on not making comparisons between Television and Digital as the former is a tried and tested process and Digital is still a budding market which will blow up exponentially in the next five years. He also made a great point of Bollywood Stars not giving the same reach as internet sensations like himself on platforms like Youtube. Rohit asked Bhuvan at what stage he gets involved when it comes to influencer marketing to which he replied that after all financial deals are completed and when it comes to the creative space he has his say. Bhuvan recently collaborated with three different brands for his new track 'Safar'.

Its a give and take relationship, if the brands are giving you your creative freedom and you give them a brilliant creative idea it works both ways and the end product is always great - Bhuvan Bham

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zqv5CBWt9yA