I just found out that People magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive has bought real estate in my zip code and my wife is all a twitter about it.

“Pirates of the Caribbean” star Johnny Depp has reportedly purchased a house for his parents in the same NH town in which I live.  Depp had been seen scouting the state recently looking for homes.  While Depp won’t be the primary resident of the house, it’s safe to assume that the box office star and 3-time Academy Award nominee will be visiting from time to time.

The idea of a chance meeting with Depp at the corner market or public library has Rebecca, my wife, excited beyond comfortable measure.  She’s fully declared that if she and Johnny hit it off, that I’ll be returning our recent wedding gifts to Crate and Barrel.

Of course, having to choose between the world’s two sexiest men (who? Me, of course.  Who else would I be talking about?) is a difficult decision for any woman.  But I have no doubt that while she would swoon at the sight of Edward Scissorhands at the fresh fruit stand, she will always be mine.

We know competition can be a good thing for our businesses: it makes us refocus on what we do well.  But can competition be good for our customers too (aside from the price question)?  In other words, does “shop elsewhere first, come to us last” work if you have faith in your product or service?

In the meantime, I’ll be busy locking my doors and watching out for men dressed like pirates, mad hatters, or demon barbers.

The art of music marketing these days is a fascinating one, isn’t it? From how people sell music to how the performers generate new revenue to everything in between, the past five years and the next five years have been a revolutionary period in how to package, sell and perform the tunes that get in our heads on a daily basis.

Amidst it all, there were two techniques that caught my eyes and ears recently – one that I didn’t particularly care for and the other being a concept so simple, it’s a shame others didn’t catch on years ago to start trying.

(Side note: this would be a great time to check out the two latest editions of the GYK podcast, one which centered on pop music in advertising and another which looked at the music and life of Michael Jackson.)

First, the bad.

I got an email a few weeks ago that featured an ad/contest revolving around the reunion of alt-ska-pop rock band No Doubt. While it was the usual ‘enter to win’ contest fare, what threw me was the sponsor of their latest tour, State Farm insurance, and the tag-line ‘Proudly Sponsored By…’

At first blush, State Farm and rock music don’t go hand-in-hand. Granted they are a company that offers a service – insurance – that everyone needs at some point, but I’m having a hard time connecting the two. Ideally, the sponsor would have booths and some sort of influence throughout the various tour stops, but if you’re going to a concert, do you really want to be thinking about the real world and insurance?

Companies sponsoring tours is certainly not anything new, but some of the most effective team-ups are those in which the brand involved makes obvious sense when connected with the music.

The one that comes to mind first is the Honda Civic Tour which features traditionally younger alternative bands that are favorites of the core age group Honda targets with the Civic: young adults just graduating college or a few years removed.

Another tie-in that makes sense is Corona and new country heartthrob Kenny Chesney. Chesney appears in Corona TV spots, fitting in with the subtle, relaxing beach theme that they’ve cornered the marketplace on. While it can be assumed country fans aren’t big Corona drinkers, a large percentage of Chesney lovers are women and what beer do you see most often drank by females during the summer? Corona! What a fit.

Also, the ‘Proudly Sponsored By’ threw me because it seemed so disingenuous. If I asked 10 executives there what they thought about No Doubt, I’m guessing I’d get blank stares and people asking me what I was talking about. Again, if the brand made sense, maybe this wouldn’t have thrown me so much but an alternative band and an insurance company aren’t a match and in this case, very awkward.

Now to something I really liked, getting free music that actually doesn’t suck.

In the July issue of Spin, Jack White’s new band The Dead Weather were featured on the cover. On that same cover and prominently placed along the top in black and white, “Free Song Download From The Dead Weather” – perfect symmetry and an enticement to immediately sample something from the band.

While the download was free for anyone (a simple Google search would have led you to the download page, so there was no extra incentive for buying the issue), giving away a free song from the featured band is such a simple and effective marketing tool that I’m surprised more magazines and bands don’t do this more often and didn’t start this years ago.

You could even take it a step further with other forms of entertainment. Say a new movie is coming out and the star is on the cover of Entertainment Weekly. How about an exclusive 5-minute clip of the movie that’s available to subscribers by entering in a unique code? Or maybe for a bridal magazine, you get a free download/access to some exclusive video content specific to that month’s main subject? The possibilities are endless.

Another band who is looking to get attention with some free music is the reformed Alice In Chains. The mega-popular 90s grunge rockers are back with a new frontman and to help push the release of their new album in September, they gave fans the opportunity to get the download of the first single with no strings attached. All you had to do was go to their site, enter in your email and zip code and you got a link.

Both methods are completely counter-intuitive to what the industry has pushed for years which is to make the audience pay for everything. By both groups giving away a free song and not making you go through hell and high water to get it, they open themselves up to people liking what they hear and then, buying more of their product.

The music industry doesn’t have to be greedy to make more money. Rather, they just need to be smarter.

Josh Nason works for the interactive department at Griffin York & Krause, a marketing innovation company in Manchester, NH. He can be reached at josh [at] griffinyorkkrause [dot-com].