Don't Hold It Against Me - But Product Placement Won't Save the music industry!

The brand new Britney Spears video for 'Hold It Against Me' got me thinking about product placement and monetization possibilities for the music business.

The recording has overt references to Britney's fragrance Radiance, Makeup Forever, Sony, and the online dating service PlentyOfFish. I've no idea* just how much it is to get into a video that will most likely garner millions of views over time, but I can imagine it is not insignificant. Britney Spears isn't alone to include product placement in videos either-Lady Gaga didn't shy away from video advertising in Telephone and even some rock musicians are starting to choose the trend to create up for lackluster CD sales.

Clearly it's becoming a staple from the music business just as it has been in television for a long period. I always enjoy a good product placement bit on 30 Rock.

As Youtube increases video traffic increasingly more each day, you can expect product placement being more prevalent in the music business and also to get money from all those eyeballs that never seem to look down at their own wallets to fork over the dough. While advertising and product placement will help some obtain a few extra dollars for the stars, it won't save the rest of the music business from starvation.

Unlike Let's consider google adsense or other advertising opportunities agreed to individuals with merely a few hits on the videos, product placement requires a calculated inclusion of the object in a video-something clear enough to find the message across without seeming too obtrusive towards the actual content (the degree to which that's possible is susceptible to argument). Small artists who won't have the ability to negotiate product placements with a brand's sales team simply won't have the ability to incorporate products within their videos for small quantities of money. A competent industry for product placement in music videos just isn't feasible at this time (note: if such a marketplace exists and I'm just ignorant, please comment below and and I will eat my words).

Even when product placement was possible for the more middle-class artists, that doesn't mean it actually is sensible inside a video's context. Some artists would consider product placement to become selling-out yet others would not be able to incorporate it into the type of video they produce. Would you imagine something video with product placement?

No matter how much celebrate me cringe, I will cope with product placement in pop music videos towards the extent I will cope with pop music itself-just a little bit. However, it's not right for everyone and certainly won't save the background music industry. For now it's just one small tool within the arsenal of big artists. It will not save the background music industry or the record labels.

Editor's Note: Britney made $500,000 in the product placements.

Mynority
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