Case Study : Sony Music Entertainment Essay

People listen to music for a variety of reasons. Some listen to music to relax in which it serves as a sort of escape from everyday life, some because they are a fan and follow a certain artist, and others because they can relate the lyrics to their own personal experiences. Whichever the case may be, music has and continues to serve an important role in people’s lives.

Entertainmentnow.com is an international Internet retail Website offering an array of books, music, videos, DVDs, toys, and small electronics. The company has historically marketed and sold to individual consumers, but has recently expanded their market to serve corporate and institutional customers as well. The company purchases products from vendors, holds the products in inventory, and then fulfills customer orders directly. This business model is similar to Amazon.com’s, making them one of the company’s main competitors.

It’s not news that Sony is a global company or that (25%) of all Play Station profits’ for the past seven years came from Sony to Japan. After all that’s what international marketing and the global economy are all about, companies like Sega, Nintendo, Microsoft, X-Box doing business around the world. The global economy now reaches every corner of the United States. Current interest in international marketing can be explained by changing competitive structures coupled with shifts in demand characteristics in markets throughout the world. With the increasing globalization of markets, companies find they are unavoidably enmeshed with foreign customers, competitors and suppliers. A significant portion of all products made in the United

I propose that all unsigned rising artist should target the business side of the music industry to be successful in the entertainment business because it allows the artist to be taken seriously and make solid connections that can further his/her career. Learning the works of the music industry also enables a new artist to be further successful and profitable. Recent studies show that most new artists without professional representation and a business mindset have a slimmer chance in getting signed to major or independent labels (Lowry, 2011). Overall, the specific change needed is that unsigned artists should be concentrating on their careers as professionals and not amateurs, thus focusing on the ins and outs of the music business and

Many people have dreams of being a part of the music industry and becoming successful musicians, but do not seem to do the research necessary to make the dream come true. The music industry is a branch of the entertainment industry and is where music, whether it is recordings or performances, is distributed and sold to the public. One of the problems is that people do not realize the risks that come with being a part of the music industry and being a musician. There are many factors that come into play when deciding to pursue a career in the music industry. Factors would include having noteworthy knowledge of music, originality, publicity, and business entitlement.

The digital sampling existed since the 1960s, sampling was originally improved by musicians who made an experiment and physically operate tape loops on a phonograph. Later on the late 1960s, revolution of sampling impact the development of rock and jazz music. However, in the 1970s, hip hop music industry was the first well know music genre to test and try the ability of the sampler in purpose of reuse the primary works, mix and then relocated them into completely new context. Many musician use a portion of prior sound recording, replaying unique and noticeable famous grooves or cutting up breaks to produce new song as same as many producers that simply use sample of popular and favourites parts of song and then mix or cut those in new attractive ways.

Before there was Spotify or iTunes, artist made their money through sales of physical records and CDs. Now, artists have it harder, they make deals with corporations or record deals. Hoping to bring more fans and obviously more money. Back in the day it would a sin for artist to advertise their music, but now it is the way of the music industry. Artist should advertise their music, because solo artist and bands can bring in bigger audiences which leads to more money.

When musicians produce albums, they want people to listen to the albums. There is not one specific way for a band or single musician to gain an audience and promote their music. Musicians use many different kinds of media to promote their music. They use visual media as well as strictly listening media. The radio, television, and the internet are all different types of media musicians use to promote their music.

Back in 2002, Sony geared themselves toward a vertical strategy as reported by Rob Weisenthal, VP and CFO of Sony Corp. of America, “Under the USA umbrella, we undertook a number of vertical initiatives for each operating division. These have already produced significant operational streamlining and financial performance improvements.” As discussed in his release, Weisenthal talked about Sony Pictures Entertainment and their strategy to restructure television operations, where core programming competencies were focused on. Film and television digitalization efforts have been expanded and have engineered a significant reduction in their corporate overhead. In addition, he mentionted that Sony Music has made long

The creation of musical works has always been culminated by several different processes and usually involves many people. The process takes a lot of time delaying the release of music. Advancement in technology has played a significant role in the music production by lowering the length of time it takes to produce recorded material. Artists usually sign a contract with a recording company that markets their music products. The internet and low-cost recording technologies have created a “do-it-yourself” music movement. New artists have gained worldwide recognition without landing a recording contract with a major record label.

In 2111, Prof. Sethi and colleagues disclosed that Mattel Inc. had played a part in, what many would consider, unacceptable business practices (p. 483). Although Mattel took actions to investigate the level to which practices were truly occurring, they had also promised to remediate all noted unacceptable practices. One of the unacceptable business practices that was uncovered was the mandating of certain employee groups required to live in company dormitories and were not permitted to utilize any other options for housing. Was this practice a form of discrimination? In order to decide if the business practice and any alternatives are fair and ethical for all, resulting in the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people, the scenario will be run through the EthicsOps.com’s Utility Test.

The evolution of the music industry follows the familiar pattern of digitization. Innovation began with the introduction of the vinyl record, transitioned from the cassette tape to the compact disc and landed us in an era of digital downloads. The emergence of music streaming services like Spotify has progressed the industry even further, giving consumers the ability to access music on demand using download-free online platforms. Spotify faces criticism from artists as a result of the overlap of creativity and commerce. They argue that business activities corrupt creativity, transforming it into a tool for profitability rather than an outlet for expression. Artists insist that Spotify deters album sales, favors established artists and fails to support them financially. However, Spotify was created for consumers. It delivers an accessible alternative to purchasing and downloading music. The interplay between creativity and commerce is changing the nature of the music industry. Spotify has adapted to this change, providing a platform that supports both artists and consumers. Through analysis of the market, artist’s revenue, record labels and consumers, I will argue that artists should accept the evolution of the industry and support Spotify.

Apple Inc. has launched its iPhone in January 2007 (telegraph) as a new product in the market with latest technology and it was the first multi touch smartphone adding the feature of iPod and received an overwhelmed response by selling 270000 units. It had created a new record for a new company like apple, iPhone had laid a stepping stone for the success of Apple and till this time iPhone is the best seller product of Apple Inc. during first quarter of 2016 apple has sold over 74 million iPhones worldwide. (statista, 2016).

It was key for ORC to sign Sony to a licensing agreement. Agreeing to Sony’s terms was a strategic move which not only solidified a revenue stream but also paved the way for other firms to follow suit.

The Sony Ericsson joint venture is a case study that can be used to explore key international business strategies and concepts.