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On the MiC with FUSE's Adrian Capobianco: I'm with the brand!

So far, 2008 hasn't been good to the music industry - not that the year before was, or even the year before that.

Copyright law reform and anti-piracy issues are being debated by Canadian politicians and music industry leaders. Just days into 2008, Nielsen SoundScan Canada confirmed that modest digital music sales in Canada (1.98 million out of a total 44.4 million albums sold last year) won't likely make up for the long-term decline of the CD. Piracy aside, there are more options than ever for consumers looking to get their music for free, and eat it too.

But in the spirit of a sponsor-packed Canadian Music Week (March 5-8, www.cmw.net), MiC is staying positive on the issue. Websites are appearing that let fans act as investors for their favourite bands (slicethepie.com) or download music for free - with advertising attached (Airtist and Spiralfrog). Amid the gloomy industry headlines and talk about how music industry sellers could compete in a marketplace dominated by Apple's iTunes, there was an interesting ad that aired during the Super Bowl. Amazon.com promo'd its relatively new MP3 service by offering a billion free downloads, courtesy of Justin Timberlake and Pepsi.

Adrian Capobianco, VP interactive marketing for Toronto's FUSE Marketing Group, is one of many marketers planning to attend Canadian Music Week events with ideas on how brands can save the day. Capobianco brought a marketer's perspective to Vancouver's invite-only music industry conference, Transmission (www.transmitnow.com), in December. This week, he will moderate a panel at the Millennials Conference on Wednesday. Then he'll sit on a Canadian Music Week panel called "I'm with the Brand: Building Audiences Through Sponsorships" on Friday. Here we are on Tuesday with Capobianco - On the MiC.

Why should brand marketers and advertisers care about the music industry's woes?

"The music industry is in a world of pain right now. Everybody knows that. Six or eight years ago, I think it was a $40-billion industry in North America; in terms of revenue, I think it's now projected to be a $20-billion industry. But music consumption is at an all-time high. There are far more places for consumers to get far more music. The problem is that a lot of people aren't paying for it.

"From a marketing perspective, what we've found over the last couple of years is a lot of opportunity to use branded entertainment. Music has kind of led in youth entertainment. We've worked with some pretty progressive labels in Canada and North America to get access to content under different models."

How is the model changing for music labels, and how can marketers save the day?

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