Intentional | Audio Identity Blog

I’m not Canadian. But I do likes my hockey (go Sabres) and I grew up near Lake Ontario, which makes me almost one-quarter Canadian.

So I get it when people refer to the “Hockey Night in Canada” theme (formerly used in CBC hockey broadcasts) as Canada’s second national anthem…after 40 years in use, it’s more than the signal for the start of a show. It’s Pavlov’s dog on ice — for an entire country.

A few weeks back CBC blew its licensing negotiations with the theme’s composer; lo and behold the competing network CTV came in with a sweeter offer and swooped it away from the CBC.

In nabbing the rights to the theme, CTV removed decades of identity and authenticity from CBC. Just like that.

CBC will have a new theme in place this fall, but the Ottawa Citizen calls this a New-Coke move that’s bound for mediocrity at best…not because of what the new one is or isn’t musically speaking, but because of what the old one represents.

The Ottawa Citizen doesn’t stop there: “CBC committed a litany of business mistakes from surrendering a valuable asset, to tampering with an established brand, to trampling all over the customer experience.”

To-may-to, to-mah-to: you say it’s a song, I say it’s a valuable brand asset. What I’m wondering is why on earth the NHL didn’t jump into the negotiations; they’re the product. They should manage control of the emotions associated with the product — not leave it to the highest bidder who can do with it whatever they wish.

Take it away, YouTube:

– Noel Franus

The Singing Revolution looks like a hit — this is the story of 30,000 Estonians who quite literally sang their way to freedom. Matt Zoller Seitz of the The New York Times sums it up best:

“Imagine the scene in ‘Casablanca’ in which the French patrons sing ‘La Marseillaise’ in defiance of the Germans, then multiply its power by a factor of thousands, and you’ve only begun to imagine the force of ‘The Singing Revolution’.”

Coming soon to a theater near you…

What happens when a law firm commissions its own anthem, only to rescind it later? A tale of corporate devotionals and brand management gone awry.

Elias Arts recently composed music for the Challenged Athletes Foundation. Great stuff! And, interestingly, very much related to the growing connection between bands and brands, says the LA Times. For better or worse:

That connection is a “mixed blessing that can introduce underground artists to a wider fan base (as a current Motorola phone spot has, creating a minor ring-tone hit out of glitch-hop artist Dabrye’s “Hyped-Up Plus Tax”). But just as often, ad pop adulterates musical chestnuts (such as EMF’s 1991 hit “Unbelievable,” repurposed as the jingle “Crumbelievable” in the service of Kraft cheese) and can distort a song’s original intent, as a 1995 Mercedes-Benz commercial did by using Janis Joplin’s lampoon of consumer culture “Mercedes Benz” as a straight-ahead product endorsement.”

The NY Times writes that only “one sad conclusion” can come from their search for a “song of the summer.”

Which seems silly to me, really — this idea of a sound for the summer. Who needs it, methinks, until I realize that yes, a good handful of songs serve as mental filters for my memories of every single one of my teenage summers. (I refuse to reveal which songs for the sake of pretending to retain your respect.) These songs are part of me, and I just can’t shake ‘em.

Fortunately the good folks at Weekend America aren’t as dour on all this. They’ve asked WFMU’s Liz Berg, CMJ Music Editor Kenny Rose, and XXL Music Editor Leah Rose for their predictions on the songs of the summer. Follow the link to listen. (Props to Metafilter for the pointers.)

– Noel Franus

“Writing about music is like dancing about architecture,” or so it’s been said. And I’ve been doing more than my fair share of this over at the day job. So let’s take a break from the semi-heady stuff and get down to some ear-bending goodness:

• Fast Company’s The Sound of Brands slideshow provides a sample of short-form audio logos. (Thanks Stephen.)
• The Association of International Glaucoma Societies’ Glaucoma Hymn is great gambling material: I’ll bet you a dollar you can’t listen to the whole thing through.
• Ernst & Young’s corporate anthem is a classic. (No more wondering where American Idol rejects go once they’re booted from the audition.)

• KPMG has something to tell you — no doubt, it’s straight from the heart. Grab a tissue.

And last but not least, the ultimate in corporate anthems from our pals Devo.

Happy weekend…