The title of this article sounds redundant doesn’t it? Shouldn’t it be common sense to use music to market music? If music is the product, you would ideally want to use that music to promote it. As catchy as the topic is, I must admit that it is a little click-baity. Although artists and labels may use a single or instrumental from one of their albums to market their brand, it can also be effective to use a sound clip in ads, with the goal of marketing it synonymously with the brand.
Companies in other industries do this all the time. Often called “audio logos”, CreativeBloq.com lists what they believe to be the best 10 audio logos of our time. Most of us can hear the logo as soon as we read the brand, from Gary Vee, MGM Studios, Xbox, NetFlix, Windows 95, Apple, McDonalds, THX to Intel. Some, like Apple, are a two-second sound byte. Others, like McDonalds, include a short jingle. These sound clips have become embedded in our minds, and the association is almost immediate.
The same can be done in the music industry, although not as common a practice, it can be just as effective. The music promotion company, Rapzilla, has accomplished this on a small scale in the Christian Hip Hop subgenre. They use a five-second sound clip, often accompanied by a short animation, in each of their video promotions.
The culture of reaction videos have become viral these days, and many use short clips in the beginning of their videos to associate with their channel. The popular “Teens React” YouTube channel, the independent “Matthew’s Family” videos, as well as hundreds of others, have an introductory sound byte, jingle or saying to distinguish themselves from the rest.
Associating audio clips with podcasts, vlogs, and just about every media outlet that includes sound has become the norm. I believe if musicians, artists, and record labels did the same, it would create a new level of notoriety in the minds of consumers, so that when people hear that sound they automatically associate it with a specific artist.