Charles Wesley Godwin Gets Random Pub via Spotify ‘Car Thing’
A little random, but still cool nonetheless, reigning Saving Country Music Album of the Year winner Charles Wesley Godwin got some inadvertent, unexpected, but deserved national recognition on Tuesday (2-22) from an unlikely place: a Spotify publicity campaign.
Spotify rolled out a big ad campaign and media blitz for their new hardware device call simply the “Car Thing” that went on sale Tuesday. The $90 device is about the size of a credit card, with a touch screen and dial, and is meant to work with your phone for folks that don’t have a fancy display in their cars to more easily interface with the streaming service.
Perhaps the device is a little redundant since even if you have an older car, you should still be able to plug your phone into an aux port directly, but it probably makes the experience a bit easier. It reminds one a little of the old Sirius/XM consoles before the service came integrated into vehicles. Demand for the device has been brisk. When the company first announced Car Thing, some 2 million folks immediately signed up for the waiting list.
Anyway, front in center on many of the ads and a lot of the images the media is using in their articles on the device feature the Car Thing playing the song “”Lyin’ Low” by Charles Wesley Godwin. The song also plays briefly during the 60-second commercial for the new device (see below).
“Lyin’ Low” comes from Godwin’s 2021 album How The Mighty Fall, and according to Spotify, it is the album’s most popular track. Unsigned aside from with the management company True Grit, Godwin is kind of a random artist for Spotify to choose to feature in their campaign, except for the fact that people who know Godwin’s music would swear by it.
Charles Wesley Godwin is one of the fastest-growing artists in independent country at the moment, thanks to the strength and positive reception for How The Mighty Fall. He’s also been piggy backing off the surging popularity of Zach Bryan, who Godwin has been on tour with recently.
From when we initially heard Godwin though his band Union Sound Treaty, to his solo debut album Seneca in 2019 that put his West Virginia experience into song, Charles Wesley Godwin has proved himself to be one of the preeminent members of the new resurgence of authentic voices from the Appalachian region.
But of course, you won’t hear Charles Wesley Godwin on mainstream country radio. That is why more and more consumers are ditching their conventional radio, and using services like Spotify for their driving entertainment, and why many independent artist rely on random mentions and placements to help goose their name recognition.
So maybe Spotify featuring Godwin in their ad campaign for a device to replace your car’s radio isn’t random at all. Come to think of it, it’s actually just about perfect.
February 23, 2022 @ 9:44 am
Another cool story. Townes Van Zandt had his song Ill Be Here in the Morning featured on the really popular show Euphoria, and it is now in the top spot on his Apple Music and Spotify, surpassing even Pancho & Lefty and Waiting Around to Die.
Very cool to see such an underrated artist getting some attention from that show. Also, John Prince’s How Lucky was featured in Netflix’s popular show Outer Banks this past summer.
February 23, 2022 @ 3:33 pm
I will not waste money on something I have no need for. It is like people paying money for an egg cracker to Crack eggs, when all you have to do is Crack it on side of your counter. If people want to buy it fine, but I can think of alot better things to spend my money on.
February 24, 2022 @ 7:26 am
Darn. I was about to buy an egg cracker.
February 23, 2022 @ 3:38 pm
Interesting. First, who’s the market for this product? I think roughly 85% of Americans now own smartphones, and I’d wager 100% of Spotify subscribers own a smartphone with the Spotify app already on it. Second, I assumed this ad *only* featured CWG (not the case), and the product was designed to appeal to a rural market who drive old trucks or don’t own smart phones or something – but a digital streaming device is less likely to work in rural areas with limited data coverage anyway, so I dunno. Weird product.
Either way, pretty cool. I hope CWG got paid for this ad, though I know a lot of these big brands don’t pay for placements like this, knowing that artists will waive fees in exchange for “exposure”. Either way, hope this does well for CWG. He deserves it.
February 23, 2022 @ 3:45 pm
The image with Charles Wesley Godwin on the player seems to have been the primary image Spotify sent out to promote the product through media articles. But yes, other artists are also featured in the 60-second video/commercial.
I can see how the player would make it easier to navigate through Spotify compared to a smartphone. But I’m kind of with you. It feels a little redundant to me.