Making a mint out of the toothbrush: money for music in the bathroom

Top South African trend-watcher Dion Chang has a remarkable talent for spotting quirky, but lucrative, business opportunities. The singing toothbrush is set to become a serious money-spinner, predicts Dion.

In his latest piece, published here on Biznews.com, Dion explains how the entertainment industry has identified a healthy revenue stream in the bathroom. This follows a successful testing with Justin Bieber hits Baby and U Smile – one option for the evening brush and the other for the morning freshen-up. Other stars, like boy band One Direction, have reportedly signed up with, you guessed it, appropriately named songs, too.

Just in case you think this is all cynical money-making, bear in mind that there's a good health reason for gritting your teeth through What makes you beautiful. These tunes are set to play for the optimum brushing time, which is apparently 2 minutes. If you object to your children cleaning their teeth Gangnam Style, you can opt for The Jungle Book classic: Bare Necessities.- JC

By Dion Chang

2012 was a good year for Korean "rapper" PSY. The now iconic Gangnam Style video became the first video on YouTube to receive 1 billion views. The song, unfortunately, has now joined the ranks of "must-play" wedding reception dance floor staples like "Hey Macarena". Both are equally irritating, but Gangnam Style has proved to be much more than a catchy tune with silly dance moves.

In terms of business trends PSY inadvertently became an industry game changer whilst prancing on his imaginary horse. Billboard magazine's traditional measure of a song or artist's popularity has always been record (aka CD) sales, but after the YouTube record was broken they were forced to alter their method of assessment to include, not only digital sales, but also online digital streaming in addition to radio airplay.

He also made a pretty packet out of that video. By the time he smashed the YouTube record, he was able to claim half of the US$8 million Google advertising revenue, as well as half of the revenue from the 2.7 million mp3 digital downloads, which at the time was worth approximately US$2.4million: not bad for a kitsch video.

But if YouTube can become a music industry game changer, I'm putting my money on oral care as the next unexpected source of music royalties: a decidedly odd combination, but one that is already proving profitable, and one that I believe will further alter the music industry's dynamics.

While PSY might have knocked Justin Bieber off the YouTube throne, Bieber's management was already negotiating an interesting merchandising deal – with a toothbrush manufacturer.

Brush Buddies is a California based company that deals in "entertaining and educational oral care products for people of all ages". What eventually emerged from the collaboration was "the singing toothbrush". This electric toothbrush contains two of Justin Bieber's hit songs, Baby and U Smile. The toothbrush also features two separate buttons so that the user can assign a song for either a morning or evening brush.

While many of you reading this will be rolling your eyes at how vacuous this all seems, consider the fact that these embedded tunes play for exactly two minutes – the amount of brushing time recommended by all dentists as the optimal time necessary to maintain good oral health. So for parents who have been struggling to get their young children to brush properly, this innovation will be a Godsend.

After the initial success of the Bieber singing toothbrush, Brush Buddies have subsequently made deals with Lady Gaga, boy band One Direction and LMFAO, the American electro hop duo. In January this year they signed a deal with PSY to use Gangnam Style in their latest singing toothbrush range. But the company has also adopted the trend of crowd sourcing, allowing the public and artist's fans to decide whose tunes should be used next. The Brush Buddies Worldwide Music Search received 60 000 entries from as far afield as the Philippines, Macedonia and even South Africa. The contest has also brought fans and their favorite artists closer together by hosting Twitter parties and worldwide live broadcasts featuring performances by the artists, one-on-one tweet chats. Game changing indeed.

In the near future, Billboard magazine might just be forced to add toothbrush royalties into their measure of an artist's popularity. In our digital world anything is possible but it seems increasingly that the odd – and therefore unexpected – collaborations is where the real business opportunities lie.

Dion Chang is the founder of Flux Trends. For more business trends visit: www.fluxtrends.com 

This article was first published in Sawubona, SAA's award winning in-flight magazine.