Marketing in the music industry

As the music industry becomes increasingly creative, marketing methods also become increasingly imaginative and diverse. Here are some of the examples of marketing methods that we thought of in our marketing lesson:

• Social media marketing (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Myspace, Soundcloud and Spotify being the most popular).
• Websites and blogs for existing fans
• Radio broadcasting
• TV appearances (eg. as guests on chat shows)
• Publications - articles, reviews, advertorials, interviews
• Competitions/ giveaways
• Live performances - concerts, tours, charity concerts, secret concerts, TV performances
• The release of their own films/ documentaries and accompanying press events, such as premieres and conferences.
• Cameo appearances in other films
• The release of an annual or an autobiography
• Advertising - TV advertising slots, radio time, billboards
• Featuring tracks on compilation albums
• Featuring tracks on film and TV soundtracks
• Merchandise - posters, clothing, stationary, calenders etc
• The album, including the cover, the album art and collectible versions
• Music videos for singles
• Playing music videos on music channels such as MTV, Kiss, Kerrang 
• iTunes and Amazon 
• Youtube and providing promotional content to famous Youtubers 
• Vevo channels - promo clips, trailers, behind-the-scenes footage
• Celebrity endorsement
• Viral marketing campaigns
• Free downloads - ringtones, wallpapers, promo clips
• Tie-ins with other brands to widen audience
• Album and book signings
• Free apps for smartphones
• Appearances in music charts
• Appearances at award shows, either as presenters, performers or award winners
• Launch parties
• Festivals

These marketing methods could be categorised in various ways:

• Online marketing
• Above and below the line marketing - above-the-line marketing requires direct payment, whereas below-the-line is, arguably, 'free' publicity through various media platforms.
• By media platform or industry
• Singular marketing or alongside other artists
• Purchasing opportunities for audience members
• Marketing that targets existing fans vs that which targets potential new fans
• Interactive, immersive marketing in which the audience is given power
• Teaser campaigns

We also discussed what the aim of a marketing campaign would be in the music industry:

• Ultimately what has to sell is the music - therefore, the music video works to promote the single that promotes an album. This cyclical, or step-by-step promotion can be applied to various different forms of marketing in the music industry.
• Marketing can also be used to freshen or to protect the brand identity of a certain artist, but also to ensure longevity. 
• Evidently, the music targets a certain audience, and marketing the artist and their music raises awareness to potential audience members. This also gives audience members the chance to buy into a certain brand image or style. 
• Marketing has the primary objective to persuade people to spend money on products, in this case, music.
• Marketing in the music industry can also be used to convey a certain message or ideology, especially if the artist feels strongly about certain issues in society.

Marketing in the music industry is primary funded by the record label, who invest money into an artist based on projected album and ticket sales. The amount invested is expected to be 'reimbursed' by the artist in sales. The artist's salary and other living expenses are also taken out of this investment, as well as any studio time and tour expenses required to produce and promote the music. Record labels therefore have to strongly consider what is commercially viable rather than taking risks with who they sign. A record label would therefore maximise profit potential by providing audience members with multiple opportunities to spend their money on various products, primarily through the website, which acts as a hub to promote both the artist and the record label. They also tend to avoid niche audiences, and sign artists that have cross-gender appeal, global appeal and who would be attractive to a wide age range.

We studied One Direction's website as a case study, looking particularly at interactivity, style and design and purchasing power. 

In terms of interactivity, visitors had the opportunity to read the One Direction Story, choose their home language (which shows their global appeal), engage in One Direction's day challenge and vote for various award shows, including the BBC2 Teen Awards. The style and design of the website had a consistent theme of travel and international appeal, as their background was of a scrapbook style, with a dotted map route around the world, passport stamps and graphics of boarding passes. The colours were fairly feminine and soft, and the easy navigation/ colloquial writing style is particularly tailored to their primary audience of young girls. Audience members were given purchasing power at various points on the website, whether through the chance to preorder the album, buy concert tickets, buy merchandise or the music. We found this website to be a great example of how brand identity and marketing material is tailored firstly as the band itself develops and secondly as the audience extends globally. 

One thing I found particularly interesting was the way in which marketing teams for certain artists would have symbiotic relationships with a wide variety of media platforms, such as magazines and radio stations, who are looking for content. This media partnership would be one that is mutually beneficial, since it would be relevant to the target audiences, both primary and secondary of the artist and of the media platform. Another aspect of music marketing I was fascinated by was the notion that all publicity isn't necessarily good publicity. The press works to expose the façade of the brand identity concocted by record labels, because the press generally has the right to believe that the public has the right to know that they are buying into a parallel universe. This may or may not undermine the brand image of the artist, and since record labels lose control to the press, the press now has infinite control of the image of the band that is projected to the public.

 

Album Art

In order to study album art and the conventions of album art, we analysed a range of CD covers and digipaks from various genres and with various styles.

Some of the conventions of album art that appeared across the field were:

• The album title
• A picture of the band/ artist OR abstract art
• A visual motif/ synergy with other media products, such as a piece of iconography that appears in a music video.
• The artist's name in a particular typeface that is repeated throughout promotional products
• Logos (of artist or institution)
• Barcode or QR code
• Parental advisory, if required
• Website and social media links
• Promo stickers on the front cover
• A product code on the spine of the case
• Copyright material
• Credits
• Place of manufacture
• Booklets and sleeves
• Track listing on the back cover
• Consistency of colour scheme and style - synergistic with other parts of the campaign.
• Year of release

We discovered that the albums we were analysing could also be grouped certain ways. Some of the ways we could categorise the albums were:

• By genre
• By format
• By colour scheme/ style/ design
• By concept - artist promotion or abstract art?
• By Solo artist vs band identity (consideration of framing)
• By gender of the artist or core target audience
• By style of photography
• By mise-en-scene
• By release decade or year
• By record label
• By target audience - niche or wide?

We also examined the purpose of album art and what it's aim would be in terms of an entire marketing campaign. Here are some of the reasons we came up with:

• The album art is a way of branding and creating an artist identity, and thus is a way of selling a unique selling point.
• It is also a means of visual marketing - it is a form of advertising whereby the power to choose is given to the consumer
• Album art could be appealing to both new fans and existing fans; it could even be a way to strategically widen a fan base
• The genre signifiers on the album art provide an insight into the flavour and the mood of the album
• The album art could also be an artistic expression
• The album art is most likely to be part of a wider marketing campaign, and would therefore be in synergy with other media such as films and music videos, providing an immersive experience for the audience. Making it part of a marketing campaign also gives it the aim, by definition, of making money.
• Audience members, specifically those who are existing fans, would be able to consume the media through recognition and repetition.
• Remarketing and rebranding can also be done through album art and other media products.
• The album art is a physical product that an audience member can own and play, as opposed to the musical tracks. This means that the CD or digipak could become part of a growing collection.
• Album art is also a visual representation of the music that the artist is primarily known for. 
• It also gives the audience information, which is specifically the job of the back cover. The front cover works primarily to establish a brand identity and connote a unique selling point, whilst the inside covers provide further immersion into the artist identity.
• Uniqueness and creativity in album art can be a means of entertaining certain audience members, who may find pleasure from the imagery and lyric booklets.

I decided that the High School Musical album would be appropriate to discuss, since it is a product of a divergence of multiple media formats - film, television and music. Disney, as an institution, is known for its expertise in children's entertainment, and also for the way in which it strategically combines multiple forms of media to market and promote its products, HSM  being no different. 

The target audience is likely to be fairly young, between the ages of 6 and 15, and the album art caters for this audience in terms of giving them something to relate to. Each of the six characters has something unique about them; for example, Taylor is the intellectual, Troy the popular basketball player and Sharpay is into fashion. This perhaps corresponds to the fact that this is a product made for the mainstream music industry which would have universal appeal. Furthermore, the typeface/ logo and the use of the red curtain very much signify the musical theatre genre - they in fact reflect the style of a musical theatre poster, which gives the audience a rough insight into the style of music in the album.

What I learnt in particular from studying album art was the way in which various media products from one musical artist work in synergy to promote the music. Usually this is either through a piece of iconography that appears across promotional material, or through a consistency of colour scheme.This is something that I would personally like to incorporate into our music video project, and thus have a consistent brand image across all marketing materials.