Music Mill launches sync scheme to encourage advertisers to use Aussie music in campaigns

Pictured: Chet Faker

Music supervision firm Music Mill has detailed a new initiative to encourage Australian brands to use songs from local artists in their advertising campaigns.

The Sydney-based firm will select three Australian tracks to promote to a pool of advertising industry personnel each month, encouraging them to utilise the songs for syncs and support Australian artists throughout the pandemic.

Music Mill will receive submissions from its network of publisher and record label suppliers to select its three favourite songs of the month, with the team then pitching each track to creative teams for sync consideration.

One track will be from an established artist, another from one who is emerging, while the third will be an underrepresented track from the past, with this month’s picks including Chet Faker’s ‘Feel Good’, Barcadero’s This Could Be The Moment’ and Russell Morris’ 1969 single ‘The Real Thing’.

Music Mill’s managing director, Bruce Tweedie, said that the initiative would serve as a practical means of continuing industry conversations around the use of Australian music in advertising, making note of Jack River’s campaign during Australia’s Olympics coverage earlier this year.

“I recently had an article published in The Australian commenting on Melbourne artist Jack River’s censure of Channel 7’s lack of Aussie music choices during the Olympics, and her request that more local songs be used in ad campaigns,” Tweedie explained.

“In essence, I said that it isn’t simple to force-feed Australian music through the complex process that advertising agencies go through when they look for a song to complement their creative idea.

“Highlighting it on social media might have a short-term impact, but in the long run, I doubted that it would have a big impact, which got me thinking about how we could leverage our position as a broker of sync licences for songs to do something that might actually make a difference for Australian artists.”

BMG Australia and New Zealand managing director, Heath Johns, praised Music Mill for launching the program, noting the need for brands to get on board to support Australian artists.

“This is an incredible initiative from Music Mill,” Johns said.

“Homegrown music needs this support from the broader sync community now more than ever. I love that Bruce, Clare and the team are putting their money and time where their mouths are.”

Since River’s call out, a number of incremental changes have happened across the industry.

DAB+ station Coles Radio committed to adding more local music to its rotation, Qsic created local playlists for stores including 7-Eleven, and Channel 7 also heeded the call during its coverage of the Olympics.

Licensing platform Melodie launched its own #LicenseLocally campaign to educate Australian content producers on where to find genuinely Australian-made tunes.

Meanwhile, two petitions were launched, one calling on Australian radio to play more local music, and another for big businesses to play Aussie music to consumers who are stuck ‘on hold’.

Last month, the music industry united for ‘Our Soundtrack Our Stories’, to push for businesses to shake-up their playlists and play local artists.