Universal Sees the Future of Music Promotion... Taxi Cabs.
Apparently, Universal has discovered how to thrive in the digital music age: Taxi Cabs..
For the months of September and October, London Taxi Cab commuters have the option of rocking out to Mozart, while traveling in Universal's brand new yellow taxi cab. The album being promoted is Welsh bass-bariton Bryn Terfel's Tutto Mozarti. Classical fans should be on the hunt for this black cab, painted yellow and emblazoned with cover art on the doors.
Included in the cost of trip, riders will be subjected to arias from "The Magic Flute," "Don Giovanni," and "The Marriage of Figaro." For those who like their classical music gang-banged down their ears, Terfel joins up with soprano Miah Person and mezzo-soprano Christine Rice to hit you with trio "Soave sia il vento" from "Cosi Fan Tutte."
Terfel thinks the cab driver will be down with the whole hijacking of his stereo thing:
"It's good to challenge stereotypes of cabbies," the singer said. "They need something to get away from the heavy traffic, so a high percentage listen to classical music."
Yeah, right. Cabbies are gonna love listening to the same fucking disc for two months.
Obviously, this Taxi Cab idea is some serious forward thinking on Universal's part. I had my doubts when they decided to threaten lawsuits against promotion giants Youtube, and Myspace, but now I see how rash I was in assuming that was a mistake. Here, not only are they promoting their catalogue, but making some nice money on top of it.
Brilliant!
