Armada & Bacardi

'Brand meets band' deal has been signed

27 March 08 - In a move that may well encourage closer relationships between bands and brands, Groove Armada and Bacardi have signed a deal.

It involves a one year marketing agreement where the band will record and release new material and play shows throughout 2008 exclusively through the drinks brand.

Tom Findlay from the band: “I think we need to still be convinced about what a record label can bring to live performances 'cos we’ve done it perfectly credibly for the last 10 years and that’s been our bread and butter.

“So I think before you sort of suddenly take that plunge and sign it over, this seemed like a perfect sort of relationship.”

"It gives us total creative control of what we do and we get a brand that I think has had a long association with music so it doesn’t feel too sort of weird"
Tom Findlay

Tom had more positive things to say about the 'brand meets band' deal.

“It gives us total creative control of what we do and we get a brand that I think has had a long association with music, so it doesn’t feel too sort of weird – it’s a bit of a no brainer really.”

He reckons that deals like this are going to become more common.

“For us it sort of made sense as there was a kind of a void in our lives in terms of having, y’know, financial backing and that sort of support.

“But also….the whole kind of network of pluggers and things that we can tap into here…I don’t see why other bands wouldn’t go down this route.”

You can hear the whole of that interview on the Music Week show this Sunday 30 March from 1pm on BBC 6 Music.



Kelly Stooke