Music for a cause

On March 12 hundreds of bands and thousands of fans will descend on tiny Elkton Florida for a 3 day music festival to raise funds for the Harvest of Hope Foundation. The second annual HOH Fest, will feature over 150 bands, art, camping, and support from local businesses. The festival was premiered last year at the St. Johns Fairgrounds for the sole purpose of supporting and raising awareness for the Harvest of Hope Foundation, which raises money to aid the families of migrant farmworkers, by providing educational and medical funding.

Obviously these guys aren't the first to use music to bring attention to a cause. The new "We are the world" song, the celebrity and community support for Haiti, and the relatively recent Live 8 concerts exemplify how musicians can use their access to their fanbase to convey a message. Thousands of people were exposed to the HoH foundation last year alone because of the bands, and millions of dollars were brought in to the community because of the supports of the musical community. I think it's great when people/musicians who have access to a large audience use it for a larger cause, and their fans definately took notice of the foundation. I think continuing the festival will keep drawing in support for Harvest of Hope as a charity.

Up to the fans?

Experimental indie music darlings Portugal. The Man recently announced the imminent release of their sixth studio album American Ghetto , and also announced a shocking and possibly risky decision to leave it's promotion solely in the hands of the fans. Lead singer John Gourley blogs on the band's website, "we will not be soliciting reviews, airplay, or any support from the industry...it is up to you to tweet about #americanghetto or to share or to send friends to buy."
This move is reflective of the radically changing music industry, in particular the choice of some more popular bands and artists like Radiohead, who initially released their last album as a digital download where listeners could set their own price. With the advent of digital music and popular programs like iTunes, artists are having the get creative in order to maintain interest in their albums, and make any type of profit off of their music, often relying on loyal fans.

I don't think this will hurt P.TM just because they have a loyal fanbase, and frankly never had much of a chance to be on the cover of Rolling Stone to begin with. Sometimes I think more popular artists overlook the power of their fanbase and word of mouth marketing. Recently the fact that music is sold more in a single format rather than as a whole album makes their product less substantial for their audience and less lucrative for the artist. Hopefully musicians and labels will take a step in getting more creative with using modern technologies like twitter and facebook to reach their audience, and will become more resourceful with their marketing strategies.

Music Television?

MTV has updated it's logo in order to showcase it's recently popular reality TV shows.This is the first change to the logo is almost 30 years. The move,which dropped the "music television" subline and slightly changed the dimensions to the iconic logo is seemingly minor but more symbolic than anything. Over the next few weeks MTV will roll out new images of the logo imposed over pictures of it's stars, rather than involving the musicians of the past.
Over the past decade or so MTV has garnered criticism for the large decrease in actual music it plays and also for the radical and sometimes risky reality and scripted television shows it broadcasts. The recent attention to shows like "Jersey Shore" and "Teen Mom" have drawn a huge increase in viewership, but has cost some revenue from sponsors. The channel has had issues with brand recognition in recent years, and the move to change the logo brings hope that it will become a simple reference point for viewers.
I honestly don't think this will work very well. MTV as a name is synonymous with music, but has quickly been losing steam over the last 5-10 years and is no longer musically relevant. In my opinion if they're going to focus on a completely different subject matter and put a priority to reality shows they should completely recreate their image and the logo.

Pepsi Refresh

Pepsi recently announced a surprising move to forgo advertising in the Superbowl, and instead use the funds to initiate it's "Pepsi Refresh" campaign. The campaign will focus on promoting social change, and will thus promote the Pepsi brand through that change rather than through traditional advertisements. Advertisements will go in to promoting the move however, and Pepsi's goal is to reach high school and college age women, and women from the ages of 18-54. The project will use several multimedia outlets like Hulu, Yahoo, and Facebook, along with the traditional TV and print; and will use the alternative marketing to feature the recently popular pro-social marketing movement, which aims to put a positive action behind the traditional marketing campaign. A similar, but smaller, campaign has also been announced by Pepsi's rival, Coca-Cola.
I really like this idea, and think it has a relatively good chance of working out for them. The fact that viewers/users have the opportunity to submit and then vote on the causes will probably create a greater effect for the company and cause a greater response.