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.