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Business News Digital Marketing & PR
Gaming firm pitches music quiz app as new marketing channel
By Chris Cooke | Published on Thursday 11 April 2019
Games publisher PlayStack is reaching out to the music industry reckoning that the latest iteration of the ‘Beat The Intro’ game franchise doubles up as a new promotional channel for artists and labels.
‘Beat The Intro’ began life as a DVD-based game but has been appified in recent years (appified definitely being a word). In the new version of the game – where you are played a track and must identify what it is from a list of three – users are subsequently encouraged to download the track from iTunes or play it on Apple Music.
Users pick themes to play along to and – I don’t want to brag – but when I picked the 1980s theme, I spotted Europe’s ‘The Final Countdown’ from the one second of silence at the start. Result for me! Though I didn’t subsequently download or stream it. So not for them.
Each theme is called a ‘pack’ within the app, and while many of those are themed around decades and genres, artist specific packs are also an option, which is where the promo potential possibly kicks in.
Says PlayStack CMO Harriet Hughes: “We have developed a fantastic product which presents a unique opportunity for the music industry to utilise as part of the overall music ecosystem. With the ability to reach a global audience, artists will be able to reap the rewards of music fans either falling back in love with the tracks they once listened to or discover new ones. We are sure this innovative experience will complement the overall communication and marketing mix for the music industry”.
PlayStack is working with a company called Musicplode Media, which originally created ‘Beat The Intro’, and its CEO Kevin Deakin said of the latest version this week: “We are absolutely delighted to be teaming up with PlayStack to launch our new app. The game has evolved from DVD to digital over the last fifteen years and having secured the music licences from the major record labels and publishers, this new iteration of the brand is very exciting. It is the perfect opportunity for artists to accrue important incremental revenue”.
The incremental revenue comes from the royalties the game itself pays through its licensing deals and – perhaps more importantly – any subsequent downloading or streaming the game may or may not prompt.
