7 Songs Made To Promote Products
You may have noticed a bunch of crazy promotions for the email marketing platform MailChimp lately, and don’t worry you’re not going crazy. Things like MailShrimp and JailBlimp are all part of a new, very much real rhyme-based marketing campaign for MailChimp. But did you know that VeilHymn, Dev Hynes‘ new duo with Bryndon Cook of Starchild & The New Romantic, is also included in this little marketing plan? Pitchfork reported that a MailChimp press release lists VeilHymn as one of the campaign’s many “strategically created executions targeting digital subculture.” Stereogum adds, “Although a representative for Hynes says that he and Cook have been collaborating on music for years, he also confirms that they were asked by the company to give their project a name that rhymed with MailChimp.”
So while you thought you were enjoying VeilHymn’s excellent debut single, “Hymn,” you were actually listening to a song that was created exclusively for MailChimp. This is coming from who I personally think is one of the most authentic, indie artists out there right now. If I were to think of someone who’d be likely to have an entire promotion behind their song and artist name I would guess Katy Perry or The Weeknd. But Dev Hynes? And for MailChimp? What’s next, Real Estate‘s forthcoming album is actually going to turn out to be one big ad for eBay?
A musician writing a song purely for promo purposes is not entirely uncommon – in fact, there’s a ton of them out there. Although it can be deceiving to the listeners…