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Marketing Music and Theater. Chapter 8.3. Today’s Music. The media used for recording and playing back music and the channels of distribution continue to evolve as technology changes.
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Marketing Music and Theater Chapter 8.3
Today’s Music • The media used for recording and playing back music and the channels of distribution continue to evolve as technology changes. • Methods of applying the marketing functions to the music industry are rapidly changing, and the industry is grappling with the speed of the changes. • The production and distribution functions now include digitally recorded and transmitted music, music networks, and satellite radio. • The consolidation of the distribution channels through the merger of media ownership has also impacted how today’s music is marketed.
Digital Music Marketing • Digital music is delivered to TVs through both cable and satellite providers. • Traditional music retailers such as Wherehouse Music and Hastings Entertainment are joining together to effectively compete in the digital music marketplace. • The retailers have formed a partnership called Echo to legally sell digital music online • While the music industry has offered consumers restrictive access to downloadable music, the retailers are offering a more consumer-friendly product.
One Tune for All • According to Bear Stearns, a Wall Street investment firm, the radio business is growing fast, second only to the cable TV business. • The growth has occurred at the same time that individual, local ownership of radio stations has become a thing of the past. • Lifting the rules regulating the monopoly ownership of media in a single location has raised concerns about control of content by some people. • When the FCC deregulated media ownership, a few large companies purchased many local stations.
ClearChannel Communications dominates the radio industry with more than 105 million listeners each week on over 1,200 stations in over 190 markets. • The closest competitor has about 260 stations in 50 markets. • Since the nature and quality of democracy depend upon allowing diverse opinions to be heard, many feel that complete deregulation and consolidation of media ownership bring about a lack of diversity in programming, news, and opinions.
Distributing Music • Concert bookings and music distribution channels are transforming the ways that music reaches consumers. • Concert booking as well as distribution channels for music are in a state of change.
Concerts • Prior to 1994, booking concert tours for rock groups was handled in one of two ways. • In the traditional way, major concerts involved a three-part deal that included the agent, the promoter, and the artist’s manager. • In the nontraditional way, there were “wildcat tours” that cut out the agent and combined the promoter and manager jobs. • Concerts are a major source of revenue for musical artists. • Ticket sales drive the concert revenue stream.
While fans have traditionally stood in line to buy tickets to major concerts, the Internet offers a fast and convenient alternative for purchasing tickets. • Often fans can buy tickets through e-commerce pre-sales. • Pre-sales take place at web sites affiliated with the concert artist, such as fan club web sites, before the tickets are available to the general public. • Pre-sale of tickets can help assure a sold-out show and cover the huge costs of concert production. • Pre-sales are also convenient for the consumer and offer the top choice of concert seats.
MP3 • Marketing music to paying customers now competes with quality music copied for free – but often illegally – from the Internet. • The $12-billion-a-year music industry is taking a hard line and filing lawsuits against online music swappers. • The packaging of music, whether on a CD or over the Internet, is a changing method of marketing. • Many musicians are bypassing record companies to market directly to their fans through the Internet. • The practice has been for musicians to release CDs every year or so with a group of songs. • On the Internet, musicians can release one song at a time.
Promoting Theater • Broadway has long used the traditional promotional strategies of advertising on billboards, radio, and television, and in upscale or theater magazines and other publications. • Two more unusual avenues also are helpful in marketing fine arts: • Word-of-mouth – talking about the event with other people • Course offerings at colleges – encouraging no-fine arts majors to think about the arts.
