Nearly two years after launching in the U.S. primarily via word-of-mouth, Spotify will air its first in a series of U.S. TV ad commercials on NBC’s “The Voice” Monday night as part of a larger branding campaign valued at over $10 million in media spend. The campaign, titled “For Music,” will feature digital and social media ads, with additional TV spots to air on NBC’s “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” as well as Viacom’s MTV, MTV2, VH1 and other networks in the coming weeks.

A trio of spots released online Monday afternoon, created by ad agency Droga5, take a more existential approach to the streaming music service, focusing more on the feelings that music evokes rather than any specific product offerings. It’s an interesting tactic for a company that recently touted its 6 million paid worldwide subscribers at South By Southwest earlier this month.

One spot, which airs tonight on “The Voice,” features a crowdsurfer sailing across a sea of packed fans at a concert, with a voiceover posing the question, “Why can a song change the world?” The speaker then offers a list of answers, including, “Because we were all conceived to a 4/4 beat. Because music can’t be stopped. Can’t be contained. It’s never finished.” Read more

Buzz Track: Tied Up

RadioDriveBy is a Rock quintet from Tempe, AZ inspired by bands such as Third Eye Blind, Jimmy Eat World, and Maroon 5. Since their formation in 2010, RadioDriveBy has created a large international network of dedicated fans and have released two EP’s. The latest release was produced in Los Angeles by Will McCoy (Boys Like Girls, All Time Low, New Found Glory)
Contact: radiodrivebymusic@gmail.com

Justin Timberlake could sell a million records in The 20/20 Experience’s first week of release, making it his second No. 1 album and his highest sales debut ever. No easy feat, especially in this unpredictable musical climate, but the business-savvy singer understood you have to do more than just promote the music if you want to break records.

Timberlake managed to saturate the news cycle leading up to his album’s release with TV commercials, late night comedy stints and a very smart Target sponsorship, which managed to bump up his sale predictions from an initial figure of 500,000 copies to Billboard reporting it was looking like he had sold 950-975,000 copies by the end of the week. (The final sales stats for The 20/20 Experience are expected, at the latest, Wednesday morning.) Even more impressively, he accomplished all this without making you feel sick of him.

Timberlake seemed to be everywhere leading up to his third album’s release on March 19. His latest release marked his return to music seven years after releasing 2006’s FutureSex/LoveSounds, a record that sold 684,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Timberlake took over your television, from those Bud Light Platinum commercials that featured the brand’s Creative Director performing “Suit & Tie” alongside some very thirsty fans to his fifth time hosting SNL, which gave the NBC show its highest-rated episode in 14 months. Not to mention JT joined Jimmy Fallon for a week-long Late Night residency that had him not only previewing songs off the album, but showing how funny he really is with skits that ranged from a barbershop quartet rendition of “Sexy Back” to a Michael McDonald impression that featured McDonald himself. Read more

Buzz Track: Fight

Kings favorite Cara Quici has released her song Fight on iTunes today. Her remake of the Beastie Boy hit was licensed by both Sony ATV and Universal Music Group. ”Fight” was personally approved by Rick Rubin and The Beastie Boys. Cara is currently working on a EP.
Contact: do@darwinworldmedia.com

Buzz Track: Sky And The Dark Night

Kings favorite Monks of Mellonwah released a new EP.  The Sydney band won the  ‘International Rock Artist Of The Year’ at the Los Angeles Music Awards, 2012 and ‘Best Indie Rock Band’ at the Artists In Music Awards. Check back for upcoming tour dates.
Contact: cdelahoyde@yahoo.com