Hasta La Creative!

The influential music website next month will publish a print magazine with long-form features and selections from the website.

Madison Gate Records, a little-known unit of Sony Pictures, signed Pentatonix after the five-member group won the television talent show “The Sing-Off.”

Yes, that’s right, a dog raps in the two-minute “We Could Be Heroes” music video meant to raise awareness and money for animal cancer. The video for Pet Trust comes from Toronto-based Red Urban and appears to be a sort of “We Are the World” spin-off with dogs and cats. The opening over-the-should shot of a paw pressing against a keyboard tells you all you need to know. If you love animals, you’ll probably find this cute. If you don’t, you’ll probably find this cringingly corny.

Regardless of your position, I’m sure we all want to find a cure for animal cancer, so this campaign can always block any creative criticisms behind a shield of philanthropy. But even though the animal-personified-as-human motif  lacks substance, it’s hard to navigate this kind of project without resorting to Sarah McLachlan territory. And by comparison, Red Urban took a more positive approach that doesn’t make you want to immediately change the channel or start weeping. Points for that, and credits after the jump.

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A new push by the National Music Publishers Association will challenge websites that publish lyrics without licenses.

Onion Design Associates ont imaginé cette identité visuelle pour le concert Music Unlimited VI – « Void » en jouant avec intelligence sur l’esprit Zen avec le caractère chinois signifiant le vide. Une déclinaison sur plusieurs supports à découvrir en détails et en visuels dans la suite de l’article.

The company reported $43.8 million in net income for the three months that ended in September, down 24 percent from the same period last year.

Immensely popular/boring band Walk Off The Earth play the same bland song in three different styles for Red Urban’s new interactive VW spot, directed by Wendy Morgan.

Users can select to hear the song “Gang of Rhythm” in three different versions, each shot at a different location and paired with a different Beetle, and even switch back and forth while the song plays out. They can choose ”Playful” mode for the Beetle Convertible, “Soulful” mode for the Super Beetle, or “Powerful” mode for the Beetle GSR. The song sounds like it was written for a car commercial, so I guess it’s appropriate enough. That doesn’t make it any more listenable, though. Gimmicky attempts to use the Beetle in the music abound: In one version, it’s the sound of the car’s engine, while in another it’s one of the Walk Off The Earth dudes drumming on the car.

According to Christina Yu, ECDof Red Urban Canada, the collaboration was the band’s idea. “Volkswagen got a call from the band one day,” she says, “apparently they are big Volkswagen fans and wanted to collaborate…We thought it was a great idea, so immediately started developing the ideas for the video.”

One thing we can take from this is that interactive seems to be in at the moment, especially in work for car companies. WCRS had their virtual test drive for the BMWi3, and Campfire had that “Deja View” spot for Infiniti. This particular spot’s interactive element (or gimmick, depending on your stance) is a pretty sound one, and the fluidity with which you can switch between the different styles in the video is well-executed. If I had been able to stomach the music, I could have even enjoyed it. Credits after the jump. continued…

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From B-Reel and AMV BBDO, Mercedes-Benz’s Sound with Power experiential campaign brings music and video together by letting users create mash-ups that incorporate, among other things, the roar of a Mercedes engine. The project is an interesting way to bring creativity to a brand that can always fall back on a Jon Hamm voiceover, but since the best mashups will be used in upcoming commercials, the real kicker is that Mercedes will be able to crowdsource some of their future advertisements. Tinie Tempah and Sub Focus also provided samples that can be customized for the audio portion.

We last covered Mercedes at the end of September, when the South African branch put out a moody black-and-white downhill skateboarding video that just seemed too obscure to make any sort of publicity dent. But Sound with Power feels much more accessible. Mashups can be posted and shared on Twitter, and everyone from potential customers to aspiring DJs can take part. And best of all, the products are actually featured in the campaign, which doesn’t happen as frequently as it should. Jon Hamm should be proud.

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The company plans to introduce the subscription service by the end of the year, perhaps as early as next month, according to people briefed on YouTube’s plans.

Total digital sales are down almost 1 percent so far this year, and some in the industry cite the rise of streaming music services like Spotify and Pandora.