Marketing Analysis Polyphonic HMI Essay

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

The music industry is made of companies which produce and sell music. The music industry as we know it was solidified in the mid-twentieth century, where records succeeded sheet music as the primary product in the music business. Record companies were established, but did not last very long until the late 1980s when the “Big Six”, a group of multinational corporations consisting of Sony, MCA, WEA, Polygram, EMI, and BMG controlled most of the market. Initially there were five corporations (CBS and RCA (both now belonging to Sony), WEA, EMI, and Polygram) that had emerged in 1978 to own 60 per cent of the market. (Wallis and Malm, 1984, p. 81)

By following the same format as the previous survey, the VSO gained no new knowledge as to what will increase ticket sales. Lowering price may help, but other factors such as music that people would like to hear but the VSO doesn’t offer, wasn’t collected. The VSO again wasted their money conducting a convenience sample where results are biased and questionable.

When creating music, there must be something that appeals to the audience. Music in this age must now be more original than ever. New genres of music are being born at a rapid pace, which makes being original a difficult task. “Re-Tuning the Music Industry—Can They Re-Attain Business Resonance?” by Sudip Bhattacharjee, et al, writers for Communication of the ACM, makes the following statement: “Each song is unique. Artists strive to be distinctive and constantly adapt and innovate their offering. Consequently, music consumers face non-trivial search and evaluation tasks prior to each music purchase.” (Bhattacharjee 136). The willingness for consumers to buy music, whether it is an album or just one single song, increases when the music is something they have never heard of before. A band such as Nirvana was able to do just that. In the

4. She must be determining to expand the channels and able to supply to all distributor who are willing to pay for the commodity depends on the quality requirements paid for. And no single entity

Discuss what is meant by the term “customer orientation”. Illustrate with examples how companies demonstrate their customer orientation by reference to at least two elements of the marketing mix.

The popular music industry in the late 1990s was dominated by a small number of integrated corporations with headquarters in Europe, the United States and Japan. This music market starts simply with an artist and moves along through many steps to the consumer. Everything has its start when a musician presents his music to a music manager, and if he/she finds the music promising, a contract is signed between the two, recordings are made and a marketing plan is drafted for the

“Before the days of YouTube and the Internet, a band 's chances of striking it big depended on record companies. If a band was lucky enough to get a record deal, it gained access to a label 's vast resources and connections. The company paid for the band 's studio time, … and got its music played on the radio, reaching millions of record buying Americans” (Majerol, 1). Now, anyone with talent can post a video of themselves and become an internet sensation, only to then receive a deal with a label to continue growing their career. The issue is, with the Internet came digital downloading, and with the growing popularity of digital downloading came illegal downloading, known as Digital Piracy, which has affected the music industry greatly. This issue affects everyone involved in the Music Industry. From the small CD store owner to the Artist on stage, everyone has and continues to be affected by the growing popularity of digital downloading services. Artists, producers, and songwriters lose an estimated 12.5 Billion USD every year to illegal digital music services. Further, the economic impact from [digital downloading] is an estimated loss of 2+ Billion USD (Storrs, 1). This money affects the “little guys” in the industry and the average worker within the industry.

The music industry is an oligopoly. Since the late 1800’s people like Thomas Edison have been buying up patents in communication technology, forming monopolies, leading to a non-competitive entertainment industry. With only a handful of corporations controlling all aspects of acquisition, distribution and marketing of music, harsh business principles create an exploitative industry that takes the best of what artists have to offer and leaves many of them unable to support themselves. Beginning in the 1950’s with payola and white cover music and ultimately evolving into iTunes and Spotify, the music industry has grown into a billion dollar industry with far-reaching influence and control. Contracts rarely serve the artists’ best interest and many are left out to dry when their usefulness has expired.

What value does Hit Song Science create? If you were Mike McCready, CEO of Polyphonic, which target market – unsigned artists, producers, or record companies would you pursue?

Over the past decade, the use of CDs has been replaced with online streaming and retailing. This has eliminated much of the record companies revenues as they were used to making most of their profit off of distribution and promotion of physical copies of artists albums (Niemen). This has caused for a major shift and remodeling of major players in the music industries business models. Companies such Sony, Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group have started to completely rethink the way they conduct business (Forbes). In the past record labels were not only responsible for production, distribution and promotion of an artist and his/her music, but they also acted as a bank (Forbes), funding the artists tours and recording sessions. Recently, these music giants have been moving towards becoming more of a modular network organization. What this means is that they are less occupied with the nitty gritty, and more focused on what they do best which is distribution and promotion. This also allows for more freedom of creativity for the artist as well as fairer split of profits (Forbes). This adaption of new business models clearly shows the versatility of the music industry in adapting to new times and technologies.

Introduction: Setting the trend for the future, the distribution and consumption of recorded music transformed dramatically with the launching of Apple’s iTunes in 2001. The proliferation of online music subscription services and other music sharing services exerted a great pressure on the conventional music distribution business model. Combined with this transformation, piracy of digital music had a profound impact on the whole industry. These worsening conditions in the market place for recorded music forced both established and upcoming new artists to experiment with new ways of selling their music.

Polyphonic HMI is preparing to launch Hit Song Science, which analyzes the mathematical characteristics of music compared to past music hits, making it possible to determine a song’s hit potential. Music characteristics can be analyzed by math such as melody, tempo, pitch, rhythm, etc. because hit songs have common mathematical properties. Polyphonic’s Hit Song Science could be valuable for three target markets: record labels, producers, and unsigned artists. There are benefits to marketing HSS to all

Recommendation: Target the record labels for promotion of HSS reports. Start with the initial enthusiasts like Ken Bunt of Hollywood Records and use their testimonials to win other record labels. Make use of the business connections of the advisory board at Polyphonic to get better reach to decision makers at record labels. Offer free trial reports to convince record labels and an initial lower cost for buyers along with discounts for high volumes ordered over a fiscal year.

Recommendation: Target the record labels for promotion of HSS reports. Start with the initial enthusiasts like Ken Bunt of Hollywood Records and use their testimonials to win other record labels. Make use of the business connections of the advisory board at Polyphonic to get better reach to decision makers at record labels. Offer free trial reports to convince record labels and an initial lower cost for buyers along with discounts for high volumes ordered over a fiscal year.