The Blue Van's music is used in Apple-commercials and TV shows.

The SPOT-current band’s music is used in Apple-commercials, TV shows, games, and more. As much as 70 percent of the quartet’s revenue comes from so-called “synch”-deals, that today constitutes an indispensible part of their economy.

Champagne corks were popping in the Silkeborg region on the first Friday of March. At noon, even.
The reason was that, the previous night, the e-mail that The Blue Vans record label Iceberg Records, have hoped to receive for weeks – no, months – had entered the head of the record company Manfred Zähringer’s inbox:
Apple had finally decided to use The Blue Vans number “There Goes My Love” in the World advertising campaign to launch the new iPad.

What has that got to do with rock’n’roll? Actually quite a lot: Just the payment from Apple for them to be able to use the song in the campaign is enough to finance a substantial part of the recording of the rock-quartet’s next album. Added to that is the income from the download-sale of the song, that will follow the “Meet The iPad” commercial, that is initiated worldwide from April, and then becomes a part of a tremendous hype that already declared the product temporarily sold out before its launch...

- Last year, when we sold the rights to use the title track from The Blue Van’s previous album, “Man Up,” for a month to a Samsung/T-Mobile-advertisement in the US, it resulted in 10.000 downloads. We have already reached that amount with “There Goes My Love” – after only three TV previews in connection with the March 7th Academy Awards show, Manfred Zähringer explains, who is reluctant to guess what the year-long campaign can result in, now that it has been seriously launched:

- Of course, sales are greater in the beginning. But 50,000 downloads? 100,000? Who knows, Zähringer wonders – without even taking into account the contagious effect it will no doubt also have on the international marketing of the album “Man Up” itself, on which the track “There Goes My Love” is. There are especially high expectations for the American market, where The Blue Van’s previous record label TVT went bankrupt, in 2008.

Synch – an indispensable addition
The marketing of music to movies, TV, commercials, game industry, etc. is called synchronization – in professional circles: “synch”. In a time with continuously failing CD sales, it has become an indispensible addition to the economy of groups such as The Blue Van. Actually, synching constitutes now as much as 70 per cent of the group’s income, Manfred Zähringer says, and without it the band’s financial situation would truly be strained.

- We are definitely doing it both for the sake of money and exposure, the organist and guitarist Søren Oakes Christensen from München during The Blue Van’s European spring tour:

- First time we got a synch offer in 2005, we were very blue-eyed and said no. Our attitude was, that our music should not be associated with products that did not have anything to do with our music. Yet, especially last year, we noticed what thrust it has when Samsung used our music in one of their commercials:

- Our MySpace page grew from 500 to 10,000 hits - each day. We discovered that people, through the use of search engines, asked who the band was, whereupon we started to look for them online and answered their questions. It was really an eye-opener for us, and today we count synch as one of the main marketing opportunities for our music – and one of the best ways of creating exposure. As it is now, we cannot economically function as a band without it, says Søren Oakes Christensen.

Head of Iceberg Records Manfred Zähringer. (Foto: Henrik Friis)

Not blind
Still, the band has not become a 100 per cent uncritical. There are definitely things the group never would sell their music to, Søren Oakes Christensen emphasizes.

- You need to be aware that your name is added to the product. For instance, we would, without doubt, say no to army recruitment campaigns. And in our case, using our music for a Tena Lady-commercial would probably not be a good idea either... as well as we try to pay special attention to avoid companies with a dubious reputation, he says and continues:

- But overall, synch is not anything we pursue – it is something our record label and management, Iceberg take care of. And they know our opinions. We are considering it more as an experience than anything else, the organist/guitarist says.

At Iceberg, synching has become an increasing part of the work. The first synch-deal in the history of the company dates back to 1996 – at the time, Manfred Zähringer had no idea what it was, and it took quite a while for the field to develop for him. As late as three-five years ago, 80 percent of his visits to Los Angeles would be spent on record labels and management.

In contrast, last time the head of Iceberg was in L.A., 70 percent of meetings dealt with synching – something of an explosion. Disney, Warner, ABC, Paramount and all the large TV- and film companies are there. As well as the game industry. Although you cannot just barge into their offices:

- It has taken me five years, and a lot of communication, to get the foot in the door of only a couple of those that counts. It is a circuit that is closed around itself, Manfred Zähringer says, while still realizing that it is worth all the hassle:

Big difference in demand
-In a time of declining record sales all over the world – now even in the last bastion, Japan – working with synch has become a very important addition to artists’ income. Many small brooks...you know.

- Although there is a big difference in demand. Where The Blue Van generates about 70 per cent of their income from synch, Duné only get a couple percent, he says about the other big name in the Iceberg fold that is greatly earning its money through an international record contract:

- I do not know why The Blue Van are particularly suited for synch compared to so many other bands – maybe it is because their raw indie-retro sound. I do not quite know. But there is a demand for their style.

The mighty Apple is also interested in their sound. Moreover, Søren Oakes Christensen is convinced that other artists HAVE had a breakthrough after being involved in Apple commercials just like Apple, according to Oakes Christensen, pride themselves in using young bands:

- We knew that we were among the final contestants for the iPad commercial – but we have been ahead several times competing for synch jobs earlier and gotten disappointed. Nevertheless, this is the main prize. And it bodes well – already during this tour abroad (before the launch of the iPad, red.) radio- and TV-stations have started to want to interview us, exactly because of the commercial from the Academy Award show. So what happens when the campaign begins...?