UMG hopes to make music profitable again with Havas

Over at Adage comes the earth shattering news that Havas is partnering (how I love that smarmy buzzword) with Universal Music Group to launch something called the Global Music Data Alliance. This new super company is purporting to create new revenue streams for UMG. How? Through data mining and monitoring consumer behavior.

Yannick Bolloré, chairman and CEO of Havas said this in a statement: "This Global Music Data Alliance will allow our clients and other brands to further expand their common passion for music with fans, and create deeper experiences for them." And then further: "We want to continue to find new revenue and marketing opportunities for all of our artists by …supercharging our efforts to realize previously untapped revenues from consumer brands and other new business partners"

Okay so if we read between the marketing speak, this new venture will use consumer behavior to try and figure out which artist should be paired with which brand. As in "Our research shows Diet Coke fans are also fans of Taylor Swift. So let's put Taylor Swift in a Diet Coke ad." This is the big idea? Data mining and algorithms?

Before I start my slow clap for this idea, let me just say Really, UMG? iTunes sales were down at least 13%, while the royalty pittance monster known as streaming is up, and your answer is to "partner" with an ad agency to make it easier for your bullet proof money makers like Taylor Swift to make more money. This doesn't solve anything so much as squeeze blood from a hit making stone. What happens when people sour on Taylor Swift?

This idea is so stupid it's like the movie industry saying "We can't get people to see the majority of our movies any more because of streaming and other competition, so instead of solving the problem we'll just compensate by making another Pirates Of The Caribbean, as that has always made a lot of money for us." Surely they wouldn't be that out of touch and bereft of ideas, would they? *Checks today's headlines.*
Oh.

I guess they would.