Hilltop Hoods, Sia and Bliss n Eso feature on Porsche playlist to celebrate new car model

Hilltop Hoods, Sia and Bliss n Eso are featured on an Apple Music playlist that German luxury carmaker Porsche is using to promote the February 27 Australian release of its battery-powered 2021 Taycan model.

The Sunset Drive playlist was created in collaboration with Melbourne producer, instrumentalist and DJ Gene Shill, who has previously worked with Kanye West, Simply Red, Katy Perry and Cirque Du Soleil.

The playlist also includes an instrumental created by Shill which samples the drive unit of the all-electric sports car. He began turning the deep-throated sounds of the Porsche into dancefloor bangers after watching the Carrera Cup Asia races at the 2010 Singapore Grand Prix.

He revealed: “Craig Baird was racing Carrera Cup Asia and from where I was sitting, the sound of the cars was reverberating off the walls and the water.

“That’s when I started to capture the sounds on my phone and then put them into the digital audio work station to cut into samples.”

The sounds also incorporate those from the pit lane and the crowd to add to the track’s sense of urgency.

“If you nail the lap and listen to it on repeat, then I believe this kind of repetition may be a new way of thinking about how we can use the sound as a musical tool. It may contribute to reshaping our approach by using more audio-based resources to achieve successful and consistent results. I think that’s an interesting concept.

“For me there is no other car, no other manufacturer with a sound like that. I’ve tried and sampled others, but they can’t compare.”

Sunset Drive is Porsche’s first Australian playlist with Apple Music, and 10th overall, following 911: The Timeless Machine, Highway Cruise and Porsche Through the Years.

The Apple Music deal also allows subscribing Taycan drivers to listen to podcasts in 100 languages, stream 70 million songs, access time-synched lyrics, create their own custom station while listening to broadcast radio in their car, and all the benefits from Apple CarPlay including traffic directions and phone messages.

Selected Taycan owners can get up to six months free of Apple Music, and new Taycan customers will receive three years of complimentary in-car streaming data.

Car manufacturers have long partnered with audio streaming services at model launches, using music to leverage interest and build consumer loyalty by subtly becoming a part of the content itself. These include BMW (Spotify), Hyundai Motor America (Spotify), Toyota (radio station on Pandora), Mini (Spotify) and Honda (Spotify). Additionally, Lexus hired will.i.am and Volkswagen used Robbie Williams for several campaigns.

Spotify’s Music Streaming Brand Impact Study noted that cars are the second most popular places where streaming takes place (63%), after the home (85%) and before browsing the internet (41%) and at work/school (33%). The study also found that 61% of music streamers are more likely to recommend a brand to a friend and twice as likely to be strong brand advocates.