Chances are good that the soundtrack from the latest Michelob Light ad has been stuck in your head all afternoon, and Brian Reidinger and Darren Drew are glad it is. Their Minneapolis-based music composition and production company, In The Groove Music, creates soundtracks for commercials for BMW, Coca-Cola, and, yes, Michelob Light, to name just a few. In the Groove also produces music for video games, movie trailers, and is credited for the intro music to ESPN’s SportsCenter.
“It’s definitely not like punching the clock,” Drew says. “It’s a hobby and a passion that just happens to be our job.”
Founded in 1995, the company functions as a mini-record label of sorts, scouting for new talent and producing music for the ad agencies that hire it. “We’ve found that the way business has changed has played into our hands,” Reidinger says. The rise of the Internet and the creation of highly specialized computer programs mean that In the Groove doesn’t have to be located near the agency or client. That’s something that would have been close to impossible even just a decade ago.
“Now they’re doing graphics in L.A., ad content in New York, and the music is coming from Minneapolis,” Drew notes.
The company’s big break came several years ago. In the Groove’s partners decided to focus more of their efforts on music for alcoholic-beverage advertising, which they felt would be compatible with their company’s edgy musical style. Following a year of research into St. Louis–based Anheuser-Busch’s Bacardi Silver, a flavored malt beverage, Drew and Reidinger made numerous calls to Momentum, one of Anheuser-Busch’s marketing agencies, sending demos of songs that they believed would fit the brand. In early 2003, the partners happened to place a call to Momentum just as the agency was having trouble securing a track for an ad. In The Groove’s persistence paid off, earning the company its first national campaign.
Like most ad-related firms, In The Groove suffered in the recession of 2001, but it’s had better years since then, growing from $183,000 in revenues in 2002 and $375,000 in 2003 to just around $420,000 for each of the past three years. It recently leased new space for a second fully outfitted studio.
As with most businesses that have a connection to new technologies, In the Groove is keeping an eye on emerging markets. “I’m sure there are new media outlets that we aren’t even thinking about right now,” Drew says. He and Reidinger say it’s the creativity that keeps them attached to the business. Adds Drew, “The idea that you get to create something that goes out over the airwaves.”
