This last week saw TMV attend the latest ‘Bounce night’, a series of London-based music industry events that are seeking to strengthen the connections between music, brands and media. Bounce is the brain child of KLP Entertainment, the music communications agency.

The hosts for this particular night were the Mama Group (UK venue owners, 50% owned by HMV ) and Bacardi (distillers of rum). The live entertainment on the night was delivered in the style of a mini-showcase that featured electro-pop act Nitevisions, French indie outfit Fortune and mash-up knob-twiddlers Cassette Jam. Bounce attendees reflected a cross-section of music and related sectors and agencies, as well some celebs including Duran Duran’s Andy Taylor (see pick below).

Natasha Kizzie, Head Of Entertainment at KLP described the events this way; “Bounce is a intimate soiree where we invite brands to mix with a wide cross-section of opinion formers, from across the entertainment sector. Put simply, Bounce, is about bringing interesting people together and making social connections.”

As well as entertainment-driven nights Bounce is also the format used by KLP as a sort of ‘ideas factory’ for the generation of fresh concepts for music-based marketing. One of the first manifestations of this approach was the partnership they helped forge between Groove Armada and Bacardi. In this deal, Bacardi effectively took over the role of record label in exchange for access to the band’s music and exclusive live performances.

The concept was wrapped around Bacardi’s ‘B-Live’ brand which many observers feel represented a truly new development within music marketing and sponsorship. The relationship also included an innovative social/sharing promotion which enabled fans to obtain MP3s from a Groove Armada EP based on the numbers of shares they generated among their extended digital friends.

But whatever one’s opinion about the increasing link-ups between music, brands and media, there’s little question that events like Bounce reflect a wider trend within the music industry; namely the break-up the old boys club that defined the sector for so many decades and the introduction of new partnerships and marketing approaches.

One could potentially argue that we have file-sharing to thank for this, at least in part. The rapid decline in physical unit shares has been more or less inversely proportional to the rise in illegal downloads (the odd iTunes purchase notwithstanding). And with most governments still struggling to find ways legislate and enforce anti-P2P measures, the music industry has been effectively forced into making new moves in order to survive in a form that even remotely resembles the industry most us know and, erm, love. Music is not alone here by any means. One shudders to think what television will be like in 10 years’ time as product placements and over-the-top sponsorships take the place of the traditional 30 second spot.

Of course music, brands and media buddying up to each other is nothing new but events like Bounce remind us that these connections are now becoming much more formalised, sophisticated and wider in scope than ever before. And while the allure of big brands (and their big marketing budgets) is a key driver behind all of this, another is the sheer creative potential that digital media offers music marketing and distribution. Increasingly, we’re finding ourselves talking about an artist’s social media, SEO and iPhone strategy as much as their label, touring or merchandising plans.

With any luck, the new partnerships will create a more empathetic, interactive and diverse music industry that is vastly more in-tune with the needs of artists and fans. Let’s certainly hope so. The alternative is a confused, multi-headed hydra of conflicting and overlapping interests all chasing the same buck.

Time will tell.

More From The Music Void

Read our original review of the Groove Armada/Bacardi deal here.

Watch our exclusive interview with Gregoire Assemat-Tessandier, Global Head of Digital at Bacardi here.

Watch our exclusive interview with Gary Warren, Commercial Director at HMV UK & Ireland here.