Mountain Dew recently launched an online music label called Green Label Sound that features singles of up-and-coming artists. The first single on the label is “Delivery Man” from the Chicago duo The Cool Kids and is available on the label site for free. According to Mountain Dew, all songs featured on the label will be for free and will also be supported by a nation-wide tour.
Chuck Inglish of The Cool Kids states “We entered into the Green Label Sound program because we saw it as an opportunity to put a song out to the whole world with the backing of something that everyone grew up on. Mountain Dew is not trying to push their product through music like everyone else; they just wanna support music. … And with us tying to set up our new record without a record company, Mountain Dew gives us an unexpected helping hand to get up those steps.”
Mountain Dew, part of the Pepsi Co. family, launched the Green Label Sound due to the overwhelming positive response their sister company Pepsi has received from the Pepsi DJ Division campaign. Mountain Dew has always positioned itself as a “brash and irreverent” brand and hopes to emphasize this through the music and artists that represent the Green Label Sound. Even brand marketing trade magazine Ad Age has taken notice of the label and had the following review of Mountain Dew and the launch of the new label:
- No strings attached. To grab the track, you don’t have to divulge your e-mail address, something that’s become acceptable these days even for free downloads not sponsored by marketers.
- It’s portable. The embeddable widget (below) will play the song or let you download it without any fuss, and there’s even size options to fit it on your blog.
- It’s free. Duh! It’s hard justifying to a consumer why he or she should pay for sponsored music. MD is positioning this as a label (somewhat like RCRD LBL), but (smartly) not counting on it as a source of revenue itself.
- It’s natural. Mountain Dew is an irreverent brand — hell, it’s named after moonshine and was initially marketed as a drink chaser for hillbillies — and through past art, film and games, Pepsi has built it into a company that’s entirely comfortable digging its fingers into popular culture.
Just like the trend of partnerships between hip-hop artists and consumer product companies, expect to see more beverage industry players becoming more aggressive in the music space as well. Word in marketing world is that Red Bull is the next one to announce a major upcoming partnership. Of course WoooHa, Inc. will have it all covered.
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[...] If you remember a couple years back, Mountain Dew launched a “virtual” record label highlighting some of the newest and brightest talent across all genres. The Cool Kids were part of this promotion including and will now kick off Mountain Dew’s 2010 “Green Label Tour” starting in Boston this Thursday (see “Insider look at The Cool Kids deal with Mountain Dew“). [...]