Music Fail

While this is not technically a fail in the classic sense, I shall classify it that way anyway:
Music is not the ONLY way to connect to a younger, cool audience. Just because you have free (or pay) music downloads on your site does not mean that youth will flock to your site in droves, nor does it fit with the personality of your brand. Here is a sample of some recent offenders:

Pizza Hut: Initially, I thought this sounded like a pretty good deal. If you order on pizzahut.com between 11/5 and 12/27 you will get a link to eMusic where you get 75 free music downloads: 25 from a Pizza Hut playlist and 50 from eMusic's giant catalog. However, this includes a 14-day trial to eMusic. This means entering credit card information, and that if you don't to cancel you will be charged thereafter. Fail. Maybe I am being to sensitive to this, I had a long ordeal trying to cancel a "free" magazine subscription (alright ma'am, but before we officially cancel, would you like us to throw in 3 month at half price?) and my roommate tends to forget about these things and loses money on it. And Pizza Hut's justification of using music? They use music in their marketing. Gee, when was the last time you saw a commercial that used music?

Tic Tac: Tic Tac launched a new microsite called Tic Tac Chill where a visitor can download four free "chill" songs. And the first 1,000 visitors get a free sample of Tic Tac Chill Mints. Personally, I'd just rather get the free mints.

Who did it right:

Radiohead: Yes, they are a band so their "brand" is defined by their music, but by allowing users to pay whatever they want, even nothing, for their new album In Rainbows. “Radiohead made more money before In Rainbows was physically released than they made in total on the previous album Hail To the Thief.” It was a unique way to use their music. It got media attention. Also, fans who loved their music would pay more, and people who had never heard of them got to sample them for free becoming potential lifelong fans.

Music may be easy, but it is not the only way. Teens still hang out with friends, go on vacation, and go to the movies. Life offline and unplugged still exists. Sure, there are 5 billion iTunes music downloads per day. And radio listening for young people is back on the rise. It's no secret that people like music, but just because you slap a free download on a mediocre site does not mean you are going to be the next big thing. Like the viral video or the user-generated content contest, it's been done. Find the next big thing rather than jumping on the band wagon.

Radiohead: Rainbows and Remixes (and Vote for a Friend of Yaybia!)

Last year, Radiohead shook up the music industry by releasing In Rainbows as a pay-what-you-want digital download. Less established artists had already tried this format with some success, but it was the first time a band with a household name had bucked the distribution system. Though the financial success was debated, they definitely scored points for their brand. Loyal fans "donated," if you will, more than they would have paid in a store; first-time listeners skipped payment and sampled a new band, and Radiohead came off as a band that cared more about getting music to their fans than raking in profits.

Radiohead continued their fan-centric approach by asking fans to submit remixes of two of their songs, Nude and Reckoner. They've even made individual tracks of each instrument available to download on iTunes (for $1 each with Nude, $1 total with Reckoner) so that those without mixing experience can still fire up Garage Band and get in the game.

Loyal Yaybia reader t1dogg1 was personally contacted by Radiohead to remix Reckoner before the competition was made public. Please head over to the website and vote up his mix...and a big thanks to him for pointing Yaybia in the direction of this promotion!