Krywosa, IMC

Indeed: my feed reader is, in fact, blowin’ up. The past 24 hours have been intense. The one thing I personally didnt see coming was the proliferation of music: buying, gifting, searching. Its all over the place.

Today, MySpace unveiled enhancements meant to appeal to consumers and content providers alike. Funny since we’ve all been reading articles that announce the continued sickly state of the MySpace platform.

Also announced yesterday, Facebook has launched a music gifting service which allows users to purchase and gift music to other users.

On top of all this, Google is rumored to have a music service of their own, allowing searches to yield downloadable purchased tracks. Tuesday, Apple began Tweeting about iTunes.

Although the music industry has been deemed dead for a very long time, it appears that by adding social and searchable attributes, music is now becoming integrated into everyday digital interactions a bit more easily. But, what does this mean for the industry itself? Will this help struggling companies or will it open up a whole new mess of problems between artists, rights owners and labels?

For a second there I thought, ‘Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe the Music Industry is ok.’. Well, thank you Advertising Age for continuing to prove I’m not insane.

But, what really worries me is the Branding issue. Branding oneself alongside another brand. In my mind, music is meant to free a soul or shed some light. Not to get more people buying the BlackBerry Curve because John Mayer approves of it.

And, please, whats up with the free Dr. Pepper for All Guns N Rosesscam? Are you serious? If this were to happen when I was in sixth grade, and obsessed with Dr P and GNR, I’d still be like ‘What?!’.

I’m really starting to wonder about people’s motives and consumer’s brains.

Notice, I did not give an end number to the ways in which Trent rules or use the word ‘Survive’. In order for the music industry to stay relevant, it needs to morph. And morph fast.

I recently received an email from NIN letting me know that their previously free release via the web ‘The Slip’will be available not only in special CD format but in vinyl. This following the same stint done by Radiohead with ‘In Rainbows’. (Which, FYI, is no longer available for free DL.) NIN also did this with Ghosts – a series of instrumental Trent specialties.

With The Slip, Trent even went so far as to ask people to remix and share it through any means possible, and it is even licensed under creative commons. This type of open use is what music should be all about. It not only builds NIN’s cred, but it allows users to interact with the music, make it their own, and take part in the creative process. We’ve also witnessed that recently with McDonalds asking people to submit their own version of their Big Mac jingle.

What if everyone exercised this type of interactivity with their products? What a great way to identify and celebrate brand loyalty and highlight new talent. Not to mention the PR.

Most people give me flack about my love of country music. I grew up in a very small town and if you’re from a small town then you know that country music and classic rock seem to be staples. Enter country duo Big & Rich.

They’ve taken this genre by storm. They’ve integrated current events, hip hop culture and common vernacular into their funked up country. Along with Gretchen Wilson, Toby Keith and the onslaught of young country stars, they’ve brought back the idea of music as a mouth piece for whats actually going on in regular people’s lives – not just the common celebrity troubles (really?) of being rich and driving expensive cars to expensive places with expensive people. Its to the point where I don’t even bother listening to pop or rock stations anymore because nothing speaks to me. With the exception of Timbaland trying to single-handedly save these boring genres, I’m content with my country music.

Remember when music spoke for something? In country radio, its still does. What a way to market a genre that used to get a bad rap. No pun intended.