As always, accompanying Apple’s unmatchable marketing strategy—a sparkling product against a blank white background presented to vulnerable prospective customers with a sleek and catchy pitch—is the latest up-and-coming musical act. In seasons’ past, artists like Feist, CSS and Jet have been lucky enough to be chosen for the deal. It’s brought great success to many acts, too. This year, LA-based indie rock group Grouplove was gifted with the good publicity of their careers when their song “Tongue Tied” was chosen for the iPod Touch 4G commercial in the heat of the commercial season.
http://youtu.be/gGrDMVk2isc
“Tongue Tied” is the essential Apple-featured song. It’s bouncy, trendy and on the rise. If the people in the ad are having a good time jamming to the song, then it’s imperative that any consumer will as well.
The tune starts with a quiet guitar hum that quickly escalates into a really good time of a song. Its first words chant as a group’s verse as main singer Christian Zucconi’s voice is accompanied by a couple others for an early-on impact that’s strong and memorable.
What listeners will hear next is a playful charm of a melody that hums in tune with the band’s promisingly happy name. They sing “Take me to your best friend’s house/Go around this roundabout/Oh yeah/Take me to your best friend’s house/I loved you then and I love you now/Oh yeah.” And the track rides a high to its finish. The upbeat energy and confidence that emerges in the beginning doesn’t need an iPod commercial to find its way to the ears of deserving listeners, but it did.
In the song’s second verse, Hannah Hooper’s sings a few lines before vocals are ultimately handed off to Zucconi for the rest of the song. Grouplove keeps listeners bouncing throughout the whole song. While talking about slumber parties and Peter Pan, they manage to create a plateau where they speak in general terms to many groups of listeners who might enjoy their tunes. Where’s there any harm in a good time?
Every business deal between an artist and Apple is a smart one. The combination of music and retail is known to rake in the dollars, but this one especially works: it sells a gadget that plays and distributes music by featuring the latest songs out there, and ultimately available through the gadget. The corporation is assisted by the talented band in selling its product, and the band is granted a bonus by the stimulus driven to its buyers through the commercial.
Nobody loses out, including the consumers who get a cool new addition to their song library. Not to mention their assistance in giving Grouplove some buzz on the charts. It’s a real win-win for everybody, and a rousing success.
