History
Music producer and founder Billy Straus created one of the first for-sale branded CD compilations for Pottery Barn in 1995. The collection of holiday music entitled A Cool Christmas sold all 15,000 units within two weeks. Rock River has continued to produce branded CD compilations for Pottery Barn, with over 100 titles released in over a decade. At least three compilations have sold in excess of 100,000 copies.
In 2001, Rock River provided Volkswagen with "RadioVW", an early example of brand-sponsored internet radio. RadioVW offered listeners multiple channels of music, including tracks from Volkswagen television ads.
With the continued rise of digital music in recent years, Rock River has negotiated innovative licensing deals with record labels for client-branded online promotions. For example, in early 2007, Rock River began producing music-based video and audio podcasts for clients such as Chrysler and Ford. According to the Wall Street Journal, Rock River "struck some of the first deals to license major-label content for podcasts."
Rock River's services have also expanded to include original music production. For the 2007-8 Major League Soccer season, Adidas tapped Rock River to select well-known artists from every city with an MLS team to create song "anthems" for their hometown teams. Artists featured included Mike Jones (Houston), The Rapture (New York), OK Go (Chicago), Bad Brains (Washington, D.C.), E-40 (San Jose), Barenaked Ladies (Toronto) and The Polyphonic Spree (Dallas). After the Houston Dynamo won the MLS Cup, the team asked Mike Jones to perform his anthem "Houston Dynamo (Don't Play)" during their celebration at Houston's city hall.
In 2009, Banana Republic tapped Rock River to help coordinate their “City Stories” advertising campaign in North America and internationally for Banana Republic's overseas and franchise-owned stores. The campaign featured nine established and developing artists including Sara Bareilles, Chris Carrabba (Dashboard Confessional), Liz Phair, OK Go and others. The “City Stories” media campaign included print ads, banners and billboards with the featured artists, an online microsite with video interviews, live performances and free music downloads, as well as the first ever branded video channel on Virgin America's RED in-flight entertainment system.
Additionally, Banana Republic distributed download cards for 9 free songs as a gift-with-purchase. Rock River also worked with each of the artists to write and produce a set of original songs written about Banana Republic's overarching "City Stories" theme for download in the second phase of the campaign. Other Rock River produced tools for the campaign include video podcasts, a YouTube channel and in-store performances by several of the artists.
Read more about this topic: Rock River Music
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
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“I am not a literary man.... I am a man of science, and I am interested in that branch of Anthropology which deals with the history of human speech.”
—J.A.H. (James Augustus Henry)