Executive Cover Memo
Subject: Polyphonic HMI: Mixing Math and Music
This is to recommend that Hit Song Science should market its product and services to record labels attempting to catch a larger share of the market.
BACKGROUND
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
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The advisory board and top managers are highly educated in physics, mathematics, and music.
When they all work together they come up with knowledgeable business ideas.
Customers:
Establishing the target market is the focus of the case. There are different avenues they can venture down. The key is to figure out which will be generate sales more quickly and prove to be the most beneficial to the company. Polyphonic’s options are to market to the record labels, producers, or the unsigned artists.
Collaborators: Polyphonic’s first idea was to market their technology of the HSS to retailers. The retailers would have stations in their stores so that people can rate songs. The problem was that they could not find a software company to work with.
Competition:
There are no other forms of technology that predict the successfulness of songs in the music industry. The current method used is producer’s gut feelings.
Context:
The music industry is rapidly changing. New hits and duds are released everyday. If record companies can better predict the successes of songs, they could save a lot of money from releasing songs that will not be charted.
Defining Problem / Decision Area
Polyphonic has several decisions to make before getting this project off the ground. The first decision that has to be made is who to target Hit Song Science toward.
Imagine the number one song of the year with the most downloads, streaming numbers and views on Youtube could not be nominated for a Grammy. Up until June 2014, artists could not be nominated for such an award unless the song was completely their own, meaning there was no sampling of past music. This may not sound like a big deal until songs like “SOS” by Rihanna or “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice became chart topping tracks, and are both derived from older songs. Mark Ronson, music producer and DJ, speaks about how sampled music has changed the way generations discover music, as well as how creative ideas flourish from sampling other artist’s music. In this TED talk “How sampling transformed music,” Ronson gives his opinion on how artists transform
First, the company will have to study the current state of the music industry and the economy as well. A struggling economy will bring record sales down, because people are budgeting their income a lot tighter and music will not be among one of the items they need to purchase. If people do not have enough money to purchase the music, chances are they will find other ways to get the audio through illegal links or burning compact discs. A struggling music industry can be caused by a bad economy, but another key factor is poor music quality. If the music is not good, then chances are the songs will not get purchased. Sales have been on the decline in recent years due to technology advances and lack of artist development is the main problems to this epidemic. The labels have been putting out manufactured music for the past few years and the consumers are unhappy. The next step is for the label to use its assets, such as an artist and labels to attract fans. More than likely, each big label company has a fair share of stars that can generate sales, so these releases need to be timed properly. Thirdly, the strategy must be selected for these stars to succeed. The final step would be for upper management of the record label, to use their highest selling acts to increase profit potential and create new trends. Universal Music Group has to come up with
"Modern music is people who can 't think signing artists who can 't write songs to make records for people who can 't hear." Frank Zappa
The ever-changing landscape of music distribution, due to constant advancements in technology, is sometimes hard to keep up with for artist, producer, and consumer alike. New editions of textbooks in Music Business classes are issued each year, and changes are made in the industry before the semester is even over. Because of this, it is vital for the industry to not only not only be aware of what is currently going happening, but also be able to foresee the direction that the music business is heading in. In this aspect, it seems that we are at a turning point where consumers and artists are taking
Questioning the correlation of commercial success and true artistry began in the light of mainstream music. Mainstream music has been given a negative connotation due to the supposed lack of originality of the artists. Repetitive chord progressions and meaningless lyrics compose the majority of “mainstream music,” making each song sound like the next . Despite these patterns in music, artists still ventured outside of what was societally normal and created music that was unheard of. Despite the potential risks in being an individual in the music industry, several groups achieved high success and maintain the popularity in the present. Creativity and commercial success can definitely exist alongside one another, and this paper will prove that through the music of the Beatles, the performance styles of David Bowie, and the grunge movement in Seattle which was fueled by Nirvana.
In recent years, three firms have taken control of over 75 percent of the music industry: Universal Music Group, Sony Music, and Warner Music Group (McIntosh & Pavlik, 2004, p. 99). Because these record labels do not profit from music styles that lacks strong mass market appeal, styles tend to fit well-established genres. This results in formulaic and homogeneous music.
Before we analyze the value Hit Song Science creates, we should be clearly aware of the substance of Hit Song Science. Hit Song Science refers to comparing the mathematical characteristics of music with characteristics of past music hits to determine a song’s hit potential. From my point of view, the value Hit Song Science creates can be classified into two aspects — technology and business. On the technological level, Hit Song Science is an advanced technology in that it mixes music and math which cannot be perceived as relevant in a daily life. It is a
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
Looking at the available information [2] Polyphonic should have seen that the market trend for sales from big box stores over previous decade had been in a sharp decline (Figure 1) and considered targeting a different market segment from the beginning. Polyphonic’s either didn’t see the trend or thought that it wouldn’t affect the release of the new technology. Because of the late discovery the
In the long run, promote Human Music Interface as a complement for Hit Song Science to maximize the revenue earning capability of a song (by ensuring better listener penetration) that is marked as a winner by HSS.
Nothing is more enjoyable than listening to your favorite song. All over the world, people listen to music on a daily basis. Music plays a major part in a tremendous number of people’s lives. While they are enjoying the music, they do not think about how the song came about. Music is not just the sound you hear or the voices in the background. People do not think about what is behind the scenes of where music comes from. Before the song is completed, someone has to make it happen. In music, there are different careers which are the song writer, the manager, the marketing executive, and the produced. Each of these careers play a huge role in how music is brought to the public.
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
Social media is a technology that is utilized by almost every in not only America, but all over the world. It has changed the way we lead our lives, the way we communicate, and the way information is distributed. Additionally, this technology has had a prominent influence on individuals’ opinions and how they perceive the world around them. The presence and accessibility of social media has revolutionized many industries, and the music industry is no exception. Social media is reshaping the way we consume and interact with music has changed over the years as social media technologies have evolved. Furthermore, social media has gone on to changing the way music is produced and publicized. Music lovers are not the only ones to avidly depend on social media, but the dependence is present from the sides of music creators, producers, and marketers as well.
Peterson and Berger decided to focus on the singles that reached the Top Ten on the weekly Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart from 1948 to 1973. The music industry’s control of the production and consumption was measured. They measured innovation and diversity in various ways; they used
In the long run, promote Human Music Interface as a complement for Hit Song Science to maximize the revenue earning capability of a song (by ensuring better listener penetration) that is marked as a winner by HSS.