We’re not naïve: Music has been used as a marketing tool for, oh, a few centuries now; and artists ranging from The Beatles to Madonna have, at one time or another, been shills for the latest must-have product.
The notion of “selling out” has ramped up a notch these days: Company marketers, no longer content with buying songs, are launching entire record labels—with the understanding their stable of artists will help move product.
Tag Records, an upstart label owned by Procter & Gamble, is the newest company to be spawned through this philosophy, joining the likes of new music moguls Bacardi, Red Bull and Nike. “I’ve never seen someone wanting to devote this much money to breaking new artists,” said Jermaine Dupri, new president of Tag Records. “Nobody in the music business has the marketing budget I have.”
(New York Times)
