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Last week the music-themed tween world Planet Cazmo and legendary record exec Tommy Mottola announced a partnership to collaborate on the site’s Virtual Concert Series. I spoke briefly with Planet Cazmo founder and CEO Michael Levine to find out more.

For teen and tween users, Levine promised that the music industry connection would mean big things in terms of acts (further helped by adding Sony and UMG to the list of their record label partners) and the scale of the shows, even hinting that something along the lines of a virtual music festival may be in the pipeline. Of course, this also led to talk about the prospect of the type of brand integration you’d expect at a concert or festival show, to which Levine said, “We see a huge opportunity for brand integration here… We’re not going to put a Coke bottle in the town square, but these concerts are the perfect experience for brands to sponsor.”

While we learned from Fuse at the Youth Marketing Mashup that most teens don’t believe advertisements in a game make it more realistic, the contextual fit here does seem like it has the potential to be an exception. Just like the action sports brands incorporated into a snowboarding game that Fuse’s Bill Carter mentioned,  the concert or festival setting is a natural environment for brands to appear (at least, to those who have been to shows). Granted, there are limitations when you translate the concert experience from physical to virtual (for instance, concession stands obviously don’t have the same appeal, nor do cooling or recharging stations a la Coachella), but as far as the visual value of music merchandise for your avatar and the digital aspect of the tunes themselves (you’re only click away from owning a track!) there are some definite advantages that have already gained traction in the world and might be given an extra boost by the bells and whistles that the “Mottola touch” might bring. Ypulse readers, what do you think?

For more coverage of the tween space, check out the Ypulse Tweens Channel, sponsored by the Tween Tribune.

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Categorized under: Movies & Music, Tweens

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