Past Paper - Music Insudtry

"In the Music Industry, the power of marketing online is the most useful asset in the promotion of music products." To what extent do you agree with the statement? (50 marks)

I strongly agree with this statement. I feel that now-a-days social media is one of the most powerful strategies the industry has to use these days. Social media has millions upon millions of users and this creates a massive population of people to appeal to and who can witness things you post and promote. 

The Music Industry relies heavily on promotion of music products due to the high demand and use of the internet. The internet has a broad range of pages and website where merchandise can be bought whether its for a clean fortune on eBay or on the branded website. Tour merchandise is a way that bands can make money and promote their new album or tour and it can also be made exclusive. For example, Odd Future change the whole experience of getting merchandise online and make it exclusive to the concert and therefore not forcing their fans to pay unbelievable prices but offering them merchandise that is one-of-a-kind and therefore reinventing the phrase "exclusive".

The Music Industry relies heavily on promotion through online marketing whether its ads on Spotify or adverstisements on Youtube but this costs the artists and companies a lot of money to do so. Bandcamp put together a free, bi-annual compilation that they offer on their page in return for their email addresses. It gives music lovers a reason beyond the music to feature it as its free and helps introduce newly signed artists to a new audience potentially giving them more fans. It also helps artists reach a wider audience as it is free to consumers and they might not have heard the artists older releases. 

One Direction, for example, have mastered the art of marketing online as most of their audience is young people who use the internet and social media on a daily basis. The band decided to release 55 tickets promising a once-in-a-lifetime experience with the boys but it had a twist. The band decided to make this a social media trend and thats how they selected their winners. The trend 'Bring me to 1D' spread around social media and millions of fans took part. One Directions site achieved its biggest ever volume of traffic. Facebook and Twitter blew up and in the first week of release their album Take Me Home, went straight to Number 1 in 32 of the 40 participating countries therefore flying the flag for British music all over the world.

Another genius way of marketing is by Beyonce for her most recent album called Lemonade. Beyonce hadn't released an album since December 2014 but at the SuperBowl in 2016 made a shocking revelation. Beyonce started to hint towards a release of something by photos on Social Media but never revealed any information until the SuperBowl where she announced a single right before her performance. At the end of her performance she announced that there was to be a tour - "Formation World Tour." This was clever as the SuperBowl is one of the most highly viewed TV events in history. With a whopping 111.9 million viewers across the world, Beyonce's tour had sold out all over the world within 2 weeks of being announced on the world stage. Her marketing team decided to release a 5 second taster clip of "Lemonade" but nobody knew what it was. The release date was set for April but the public where left in the lurch for a long time while receiving no information about the clip. When the it was finally released it was only available on Tidal and is still the only place it can be listened to for now therefore making the app shoot to the top of the Apple Store rankings. 

I think that marketing online can be a genius way to gain popularity and acknowledgement. Its minimal cost with maximum gain and thats the best way to get your audiences attentiom. Targeting places that your audience with be the most is often one of the smartest moves that an artist can make as it can blow them out of the water with fame and widen their audience. By using sites like Spotify and Youtube you can target anyone and everyone and therefore heightening who is open to listen to your music. With the discovery page on Spotify any 'under the radar' artist can be found and therefore can gain popularity and personally I think this is an amazing way for artists to grow.