What if there were no bird songs in the world? What if there were no birds? In North America alone, the bird population has declined by over 3 billion over the past 50 years. That’s almost a third of the total number of individual birds. Scientists have long suspected that the planet’s ecosystem is in a critical condition, but no one had thought it was so calamitous.
BBDO Moscow, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and local audio streaming platform, Yandex.Music, are working to save bird songs – and birds – with Birds Records, the first non-profit label that saves birdsong.
The tracks from Birds Records use samples of birdsong, and all the money received from listening to them and selling merchandise will be sent to the WWF Russia, to boost bird numbers and protect the habitat of endangered species.
The thought leader and first signed artist of the label is Ivan Dorn. His track, Wild, combines bird songs and rap in a very cool, animated music video. The video was created by BBDO Moscow in collaboration with Petrick Animation Studio and is divided into 9 short stories, animated by 12 illustrators using a range of styles, from gouache to anime.
“Our name in the red book has been sketched in a black blot. Well, thank you, dear saviour, you have reduced our number,” he stated on behalf of the world’s birds.
The song was recorded and mastered in Masterskaya, Kiev, by sound producer, Suren Tomasyan. The track uses the sounds of the Pin-tailed Snipe, Willow Ptarmigan, Yellow-breasted Bunting, Wood Owls, Cuckoos, Radde’s Warbler and many others.
Everyone can help the birds and there are three ways to do so – listen to the Birds Records tracks on Yandex.Music, buy the merchandise and make donations.
But anyone can also actually become a part of Birds Records. To do this, all you need to do is to record your own track using bird samples. Some samples are available on the label website. The best of the sent tracks will go to the playlist on Yandex.Music and will also earn money for the WWF. And the best of the best will be released on vinyl.
BBDO Moscow has developed a limited collection of merchandise for Birds Records designed especially for birdwatching. The money from all sales will be transferred to WWF Russia. The hoodies have a specially designed pocket for seeds, and the bags have been made extra large, so that everything that is needed for a walk in the forest can be comfortably taken: thermos, picnic and binoculars.
The label will be distributed worldwide by Universal Music Group.
Find out more about this project here.
Credits:
Agency: BBDO Moscow
Executive Creative Director: Alexey Fedorov
Copywriter: Petr Martyuk
Art-director: Alexey Litovka
Digital Creator: Denis Bykov
Managing Director: Natalia Tsyganova
Business Director: Alexandr Kuznetsov
Account Director: Anastasia Vikulina
Account Manager: Valentina Zubareva
TV Production Director: Irina Noruzi
Producer: Meri Asatiani
Head of Production: Yuriy Marin
Digital Producer: Elena Novoseltseva
Digital Art Director: Andrey Krusanov
Digital Designer: Sofia Baeva
Animation: Petrick Animation Studio
Client: WWF Russia
Partners: Yandex.Music & Universal Music Group
