Melody the new mixer for brands like Bacardi, Coca Cola

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From hip hop to reggae, electronic and soul, melody is poised to be the new mixer in advertising as the cash-strapped music business seeks fresh sources of income and artists novel ways to boost careers.

Giant drinks brands Bacardi and Coca Cola both injected some much-needed spirit into the beleaguered music world by separately unveiling plans to collaborate more closely with both up-and-coming and established music groups at the MIDEM music market that closes its doors on Wednesday.

Bacardi, the world's top-selling rum, announced the launch of a new website where music fans can download a mini-album from British big beat duo, Groove Armada, for free and share it with friends.

"Sharing music has always gone on. It's giving music away that's the problem. We wanted to come up with a 21st century version of what we used to do with cassette tapes. When you give away music for free it's disposable. When you share it, it's done with love," one of the London-based duo, Andy Cato, told a press conference.

The duo this time isn't giving away music for free but will be rewarded financially though all parties declined details on the deal.

The band, formed in 1995, has already released five top-10 selling albums and multiple singles, including Grammy-nominated "Superstylin" and "Easy".

Groove Armada's decision earlier last year to split with major record label SonyBMG and join forces with Bacardi highlights the closer relationships that many artists are forging with advertising brands around the world.

With over 90 percent of all music digitally downloaded for free, it is harder than ever for musicians to make a living.

Some, including US singer-songwriter Tom Waits, are more hesitant about getting into bed with brands and refuse to have their music used in adverts. But many musicians attending MIDEM seemed ready to look at new ways of pumping music out to the public and getting paid for it.

And despite the global economic crisis, MIDEM attracted a bumper number of major players this week from advertising, video games and music synchronization, which selects music used in ads, films, TV shows and video games.

The Bacardi mini-album, available via www.bliveshare.com, features four new tracks recorded by Groove Armada with their band, and rewards users who share the tracks with their online social communities such as Facebook, with additional exclusive tracks,

But the service will be available only to fans who fill in an online form confirming they are above the legal drinking age.

Coca Cola also chose MIDEM to premier its brand new upbeat song "Happiness", which will accompany it's new worldwide advertising campaign launched on Tuesday to coincide with the inauguration of US President Barack Obama.

The lyrics, higlighting that "a brand new day has begun", aim to inject new optimism into the world, Coca Cola senior executive Umut Ozaydinli said at MIDEM.

Ozaydinli described the song as a great single from five fantastic musicians who "are not household names yet but I feel as a brand that we might be able to help them to the next level."

The Coca Cola campaign is innovative firstly for choosing relatively unknown musicians to head up a multi-million campaign and secondly, and more importantly for the music industry, for offering the artists a 50/50 share of the tune's success.

The musicians featuring on the new Coca Cola track are all from the US and include hip-hop, funk musician, Cee-Lo Green; urban/alternative singer performer Janelle Monae; "Fall Out Boy" frontman Patrick Stump; and Gym Class Heroes's Matt McGinley.

Manager Jonathon Daniel of Crush Management said the deal was groundbreaking and would put the names of the artists on 20 billion cans of coke.

"I've never seen billions figure in a proposal before so that was what sealed it for me," he commented.

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