Over the years, automotive brands have gone to great lengths to sell their models to a broad range of consumers. The typical demographics come to mind: families, commuters, off-roaders—the common folk you’d find on the road. But what about tattooed battle-jacket-wearing metalheads? Do you think they’d enjoy a sensible compact sedan like the Nissan Sentra or perhaps go for a spacious minivan like the Honda Odyssey? If this seems like a bizarre audience to target, the geniuses in the marketing department at Toyota would probably tell you otherwise (or probably try to change the subject).
Toyota’s ill-fated marketing ploy to metal fans came out of the manufacturer’s Scion brand, a lineup of mediocre compact vehicles that were presented as being hip, stylish, and perfect for younger drivers. So how do you get the word out that Toyota Scion is the must-have vehicle lineup for cool twenty-somethings? You turn the brand into a record label, of course.
Wait, what?
Is It a Car or a Record Label?
The Scion brand launched in 2003, and while the lineup’s initial debut certainly grabbed the attention of the car-buying public, it wasn’t exactly lighting the automotive world on fire with huge sales. Clearly, Toyota thought some unconventional marketing was needed to grab the short attention span of millennial drivers—and thus, Scion A/V was born. While labeled as a “lifestyle marketing” division of the Scion nameplate, its main focus was being a record label, as well as putting on music festivals across the country.
On paper, Scion A/V’s modus operandi was an artist’s dream: they would essentially pay for all production, licensing, and distribution costs, allowing bands to essentially give their music away at no cost to them, whether it was physical copies at a show or putting them up as a free download. Sounds great, right? There was just one catch: the album cover artwork typically had to prominently display the Scion logo, which presented a moral dilemma for many bands who were approached. This sort of blatant corporate sponsorship could never make its way into niche genres like extreme metal, right? Um, yeah, about that…
Toyota Says Hello to Underground Metal
Scion A/V’s label worked with a wide range of genres during its short-lived existence, from hip-hop to electronic to indie rock, but for some reason, there was a heavy focus on extreme metal and all of its subgenres (like death metal, black metal, doom, and grindcore). No, they weren’t exactly working with Metallica; they were digging deep into the underground and working with bands that were truly non-commercial in every conceivable way. My guess is that someone on Toyota’s marketing team was a fan of this music and somehow convinced the higher-ups to fund their passion project.
For many, including myself, my first introduction to the Scion A/V brand was the inaugural Scion Rock Fest that was held in Atlanta in 2009. The 30-plus band lineup was truly stacked, featuring underground heavy-hitters like Mastodon, Neurosis, and Converge. Best of all, the festival was free to anyone who RSVP’d. Looking back into the metal blogosphere and pulling up old pieces on the fest, the reviews were actually glowing; the lineup was killer, it was well organized, and, of course, it was free. There was very minimal pushback regarding Scion’s involvement—probably because the audience ignored the subtle advertising and concentrated on enjoying a free show. Was this a win for Toyota? Probably not.
The fest continued every year until 2014, showcasing even more of the metal underground, like death metal legends Cannibal Corpse, noise artist Merzbow, and Singaporean grindcore unit Wormrot. Too commercial for you? Scion had you covered: The final festival featured long-running death metallers Exhumed, who, during their early years, used to vomit on stage as part of their performance—all brought to you by your friends at Toyota! The shows were just Phase One in Scion’s infiltration into extreme music; the next was releasing records.
If It’s Free, Is it Selling Out?
While the brand was successful at putting together metal festivals, its main objective was releasing music under the Scion A/V title. They put out over 200 releases during their existence, with many of the early records coming from a variety of electronic/hip-hop artists I’ve never heard of. Like myself and many others, the Scion record label came onto “extreme music” listeners’ radar with the release of Magrudergrind’s “Crusher” EP in 2010. I had been a fan of the DC powerviolence band for a few years, and I was perplexed by this team-up. The EP was released as both a CD and a 10-inch vinyl, which was initially given away for free at their shows. I ended up receiving a free copy with an order I placed with an online distro.
As expected, the music was great, but the cover was jarring: At the top of the bright purple cover, depicting a picture of a tank and the album’s title, were the words “Scion Audio Visual Presents,” followed by a glaring Scion logo at the bottom. It was the collision of two worlds that really had no business being together. Of course, this release was met with controversy, sparking many debates on message boards as to whether the band had sold out. The blowback also came from other bands who called them out for getting in bed with Toyota.
Ultimately, Magrudergrind’s decision to partner with Scion was for the ability to give away free music to their fans. Shortly after the release, the band put out a statement regarding the controversy. “We decided to take up this offer in order to give out a 100% FREE, high-quality record to everyone, at the expense of Scion. Scion have covered all the costs for studio, manufacturing, etc,” they explained. “If Scion covers the expenses of this record and says no one buys their product, who really gains? Us and every single person who got a Magrudergrind record for free.”
The Magrudergrind release was just the beginning. The label continued to work with a variety of metal bands, putting out notable works from bands like the Melvins, Immolation, Meshuggah, the aforementioned Wormrot, and even Slayer. Was this selling out? The bands that partnered with them didn’t seem to think so. Toyota covered the bands’ expenses, and fans got free music. It all looked like a win-win situation. Scion must have been rolling in metalhead cash, right? Right?
The Demise of Scion A/V
Did this unique, out-of-the-box marketing strategy help Scion dominate the automotive world? Well, when was the last time you saw a commercial for the Toyota Scion? Short answer: hell no. Scion A/V closed its doors in 2016, followed by the Scion brand ending in 2017. Ultimately, sales dwindled and models slowly began being discontinued.
It’s clear that the relationship between Scion A/V and consumers was a one-sided transaction. Toyota gave them free music and concerts with the hope that they would at the very least pay a sliver of attention to their marketing pitch, and the public took that “generosity” and gave them the finger. This was especially true when it came to the metal community. So what was the lesson in all of this? Don’t dump millions of dollars trying to get headbangers to buy your subpar sedans.
