The Sound of the Future

By Chris Collins, Head of Campaign Marketing, Audio Network

The age of the re-record is coming to an end. Heralded into the mainstream consciousness by Lowe and Partners with their 2008 John Lewis Christmas campaign, “Clues’’. The then second of said campaigns, featured a cover of the Beatles’, “From Me to You” which was trilled by a group of ‘unnamed’ John Lewis employees. Since then, the brand has taken the passions of the holidays to new heights, presenting covers of Elton John, The Smiths, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Keane, John Lennon, Oasis and Randy Crawford until once more landing on the ever, dependable Beatles.

What marks the initial success of the re-record lies in the nostalgic element on which it’s founded. Indeed, rock steady emotional touch points in an ever-shifting consumer landscape have always seemed the easiest decision a brand can make. However, is this brand strategy simply becoming over-worn? If we are constantly looking back in music, what does that suggest for the future of sound?

Perhaps a new method of wayfinding is required to guide an ever-savvier consumer in the right direction. Music after all should be more than a functional tool. Greater and more deserving of being relegated to a flashing neon sign exclaiming, ‘laugh’, ‘cry’, ‘love’ or ‘want’. In the words of Stevie Wonder;

“Music is a world within itself, it is a language we all understand.”

However, this intrinsic world of music is not steady and invariable or devoid of external influence. As our consumer culture has developed, this has inevitably affected the world of music in which we live. Look no further than the impact Spotify has had on song writing over the last few years. Skip rates are now a huge indicator of success which in turn has demanded structural change at a composition level, leading to an increased desire for fast-food hooks delivered up front and loud.

If we are to consider Leonard Cohen’s claim that ‘music is the emotional life of most people’, this may lead us to the worrisome conclusion that this new form of music has created a detachment of emotion by its instantaneousness. And while that is not to say this isn’t a threat, it could also be perceived that we do still crave that emotional connection — we’re just demanding to reach that emotive connection point faster.

The future of sound then is a complex issue, especially for brands striving to cast away the nostalgia safety net in search of something fresh, captivating, yet still emotive. How to achieve this? If Spotify can teach us anything, it is that the future of sound lies in the now. What the present offers is a different emotional field to be tapped into than that of the pull-on-the-heartstrings nostalgia of the re-record.

Look at the reasons why Grime re-gained such traction in recent years. The genre offers real music that not only speaks to its audience but with them too. An almost perfect example of how this relevance and relatability has worked to success is with one of the most highly-acclaimed campaigns of 2018, ‘Nothing beats a Londoner’. The campaign successfully curated a cohesion between real music (grime) and real life which is what marked it an effective campaign and a projection of where we are headed.

So, if the future of sound and vision is authenticity, found in the likes of Nike or McCain’s 2017 ‘We are family’ adverts, then perhaps we truly are standing at the grave of the re-record. For how can the re-record speak the truth the nation is craving when it’s nothing but a second-hand notion? The sound of the future is raw, unpolished, brave, and perhaps a little unnerving; and while “We didn’t start the fire” of this conversation, we’re damn happy it’s burning brighter and brighter.

We are honoured to have Audio Network, as our partner on the forthcoming Creative Stories .. from Cannes event on 18th July.