As one of the premier Big Beat groups, Groove Armada have conquered not just the charts but also the media.
You may not be that familiar with them, but you'll know their work from frequent plays on Top Gear, as well as commercials for Marks Spencer Food UK (the husky female voice in that one belongs to Irish actress Dervla Kirwan with a head cold) and Renault Mégane, which used their I See You Baby (Shakin' That Ass).
Groove Armada are only too happy to have their music spread through whatever medium comes a calling, but as Tom Findlay cautions: “You have to be careful about where it ends up. The US Navy wanted to use one of our songs for a recruitment advert but we wouldn’t allow it. We don’t regret doing the Marks Spencer ad, but you have to realise that whenever we play it we hear a voice talking about some tuna dish – so god knows what the audience make of it. Sometimes an ad can work so well that the original intent of the song is lost.”
When their five-year deal with Sony ended last year, Groove Armada took the unusual but innovative step of signing with Bacardi. The band have already played a number of Bacardi’s “B-Live” shows and now are poised to release their first EP with the drinks company using a new method of delivery called the “shared mechanic”.
This week at the Midem music bash in Cannes, Bacardi and the band explained the process. Those who register on either the Bacardi or Groove Armada website (or add a special application to their MySpace or Facebook pages) receive the first new song free. In a sort of musical pyramid scheme, they then have to pass the song on to 20 more people, after which they receive the second song free. Pass that on to 200 people and they get the third song free, pass that on to 2,000 people and they get the fourth and final song free.
The top sharers in each European country will receive their own platinum, gold or silver discs for their efforts. There are other prizes from Bacardi to other enthusiastic sharers, and the overall winner will get a free Bacardi party in their house – with the “possibility” of a band appearance.
The way Bacardi and Groove Armada see it, that music is shared for free all the time, so why not make a bit of a game of it? A whole set of “league tables” will be set up with top sharers prominently displayed.
“The Bacardi experience has been great for us so far” says Findlay. “When this was suggested, we jumped at it. It seems like it’s embracing the idea of people sharing music rather than fighting it. As far as I know, this offer of free music goes for about two months and after that the EP tracks will go up on iTunes and be sold in an orthodox way.”
Findlay does not see his deal with Bacardi as a nail in the coffin of the record labels. “We’re a performance-based group, so signing a deal which was primarily about the gigs, like Madonna’s with Live Nation, simply made sense to us. The fact that we can also release music in a new and different way is a great thing also. There’s still, though, a lot to be said for the expertise of a record company when it comes to getting a record released.”
It is perhaps also worth noting that both Radiohead and Groove Armada can afford to give away free music thanks to the profile and sales they’ve built up over years of record label support. Name bands will always fare well when it comes to new methods of releasing music, which is why this link-up with Bacardi is unlikely to be the last.
With a lot of bands looking again at their label contracts and plenty of commercial companies out there looking for a big-name act to get into bed with, expect many more drinks/fashion enterprises to build up their music wing. Proctor Gamble and Red Bull are both believed to be inking deals shortly with medium-to-big names.
Brands are the new labels.
bboyd@irishtimes.com
