Information found on Artists House Music : Music & Corporate Advertising: New Perspectives

Atkinson, B. T. (2007, June 27). New perspectives. Retrieved December 5, 2014, from Artists House   Music website: http://www.artistshousemusic.org/articles/

music+corporate+advertising+new+perspectives

 

Artists House Music is a website that provides informational media pieces in order to help musicians and music entrepreneurs create sustainable careers.  The website provides various media pieces from short videos to articles that provide information all about music involving advertising, retail/ distribution, touring, etc. In this particular article perspectives of music advertising is shared.

Important Quotes:

“As long as I’m not doing something for a cause that I don’t believe in or expressing a viewpoint that I don’t believe in, I don’t think it’s selling out,” folk-rocker Citizen Cope says.”

** Speaking on the aspects of doing music not only for you and for you to make money, but also with the goal to help others. This is a good advertising and imaging method.

“It’s actually kind of corny to be on radio now.”

** Being an article from 2007, some aspects have changed. Now, having even one song on the radio can make someone world-renowned.

Music advertising focuses on many different aspects of the music industry. This step in the industry brings together the distribution and production process and adds the marketing strategies to it. In order to distribute music, it must first be produced, obviously. Same goes for the relationship between distribution and marketing.

If someone were to just begin to sell a song on iTunes without any advertising, it would be very easy to conclude that the song would not sell too many copies. However, when a song is posted on iTunes with much hype brought up about it before, and the artists uses various forms of advertising leading up to the songs release date, many more copies will sell.

Some things you can do in order to create a larger grouping of people who are willing and able to buy your music are:

1. Build a fan-base of at least 100 people: Building a fan-base all has to do with marketing and advertising yourself. With a larger fan-base more people are waiting for new material and will be excited and willing to jump on the opportunity to get new music of yours.
2. Create a fan page on Facebook and interact with your fans: Many artists create a fan page but don’t do anything with it. The trick is to interact with your fans and share photos from performances, music release dates, and performance videos to keep them constantly interested and interacting.
3. Create promotional material: Also carry business cards or postcards that show who you are and where you can be found on social media so that you can constantly be making new fans.

Information found on HowStuffWorks : Introduction to How Music Distributors Work

Dannenfeldt, D. (n.d.). How music distributors work. Retrieved November 24, 2014, from 

HowStuffWorks

   

website: http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/music-distributor2.htm

HowStuffWorks is a website that can explain how, pretty much, everything works. HowStuffWorks compiles collected information from reliable sources and puts it in one place. This site can explain stuff about subjects from adventure all the way to technology. There is a large section focused primarily on technology, and the information provided within this blog comes from the sub-section ‘Music.’ The particular article being focused on is one that goes into the different types of distribution and the process of distribution.

Important Quotes:

“A music distributor links a record label or independent musical group to consumers.”

** Basically, a music distributor is just one step of the line to get the music out to the listeners. It also travels through a record label before getting to the hands of a consumer.

“The goal is to sell recordings and to increase the group's visibility and popularity by convincing stores to stock and promote its recordings.”

** Music is not only produced to entertain, but it is also produced to make money and gain popularity so that again, more money can be made.

“One way to think of a music distributor is as a wholesaler. That's because the distributor buys CDs from a record label or the band itself, either directly with a purchase order or on consignment, and then sells them to retailers, who offer the CDs to consumers.”

** The music distributor sells to retailers like F.Y.E and Best Buy on a daily basis.

Music distribution is the process of getting the music from the hands of the distributors to the hands of the consumers. Music is distributed through multiple outlets; retailers, such as F.Y.E and Best Buy, and also through digital sources such as iTunes and Amazon Music Store. A music distributor connects a record label to independent music groups, and furthermore, to consumers. If the record label chooses to sign the group, then they are in charge of overseeing the recording sessions, marketing, promotion, and distribution of the CD’s to retail stores. Essentially, if a music distributor goes through a record label, they are handing off a majority of their work to another party.

Music distributors are also in charge of promotion of the products created by the record labels. Promotion incorporates all, but not limited to, displays within a store to attract consumers, media advertising (such as radio promotion), and creating in-store listening stations to give people a preview of what they would be purchasing. 

The distributors have sales reps who work to build strong relationships with the chains and independent stores selling their products. The stores buy with a purchase order. This means that they only pay the distributors for the CD’s when they are sold. 

 Lastly, Music distributors are characterized in six different ways:

1. Major label vs. independent- Some examples of major record labels are: Sony/BMG Distribution, Capitol/EMI Distribution (Time Warner), and WEA Distribution (Warner Music Group). Independent companies can be national or regional. The largest one is Curb Distribution.
2. Sub-distributors- Between large distributors and retailers are sub-distributors. They are either one-stops who sell from a number of different distributors, or rack-jobbers who actually own and run the department within a larger department or multipurpose store.
3. International, National, and Regional- Major distributors operate on a national basis, while area distributors are not as large and they focus on a specific region of the US. Then, self-explanatory, international distributors handle one or more oversea markets.
4. Online, Internet, or Digital Distributors- These distributors work to supply digital companies such as iTunes, YouTube, Rhapsody, and other web stores. Sometimes, these distributors also offer physical CD’s.
5. Niche- These are distributors that focus and specialize on a specific type of music.
6. Printed or Sheet Music- These type of distributors only account for a small share of the market. However, some distributors are actually publishers to sell musical scores, band music, pop songs, and other “on paper” works.

Stay tuned for my next blog post where I will talk extensively about the marketing aspects of music!

Information found on MusicTech : Beginner’s Guide to Music Production

Beginner's guide to music. (2013, June 26). Retrieved November 24, 2014, from MusicTech

website: http://www.musictech.net/2013/06/beginners-guide/

MusicTech is a magazine/website that brings information about music to individuals who would like to learn more about it without spending hundreds of dollars. In this particular article, published last year, the viewer is introduced to the beginning steps in the production of music. The basics are brought into focus. It also provides trustworthy information on what programs are good to use, and the programs that are not so good to use when trying to put together a musical production without going into an actual studio.

Important Quotes:

“When we talk about ‘recording’ these days what we generally mean is the process of getting external sounds – vocals and instruments – into a computer.”

**This is a very general description of recording. To really get into the definition of recording, the concept needs to be broken into many more parts.

“This virtual instrument technology has opened up different worlds of music making to whole new audiences so even if you can’t play a note on a ‘proper’ instrument, virtual instruments allow you to strum, pick, hit, tap and play, all within the safety of your virtual studio.”

**Virtual instrument technology allows people to play more “perfect” notes, rather than trying to strum, hit, or play every note on the dot.

“Arranging is simply the process of how your song develops over time, usually with an intro followed by verses and choruses.”

**Arranging involves the placement of the sounds or voices you have recorded.

Within the production of music a lot more is involved than a normal individual would guess. Many people would believe that a singer goes to a studio, records their voice, leaves, and the song is done. This is not true. Being a singer myself, I know a little bit more about the production of music. Much more is involved than just recording a singer’s voice and placing it on a track.

Within the production of a song, sounds are first recorded externally (using a real instrument; including a voice) and or internally (using an instrument created on a computer). From there the song is mixed. Within mixing the process, the arranging technique is used. Tracks are placed in order, and sometimes layered on top of each other. Generally, a song is ordered using an intro followed by a few verses and choruses. From here, the song is then mastered. Perhaps the most tedious of processes within the production, the mastering process begins as the mixing process ends. This is the process that takes the mix that was created and delivers the final “master” of the track to the end user. When mastering you should be subtle. You should never master a production just to make it louder.

This is just the basics. Each section of music production can be broken down further. Within my next blog I will delve into the basics of the distribution process and the different means of which a production is distributed.