Music Brands, Music Marketers Sacrifice

“Today, the music industry is very song driven,” says Lake. “People may connect with a particular song, but they often don’t know who sings it, let alone the names of the front men of the group, which is different from bands of the past.” Rather than focus on which bands have the talent to impact the music world in the long run and build large fan bases into the future, the industry focuses on the songs that can hit number one today. If the artist behind the song can release several hits over a few years, that’s icing on the proverbial cake.

What is missing from the formula is a focus on emotional connection and the long term goal of cultural adoption. Since marketers hold tight rein on who will actually break into the music industry, they often market artists who fit the mold rather than break it. As a result, seemingly less than stellar artists achieve success, albeit contrived and most likely short lived. In an effort to find the next hit and to sell the most records this year, music marketers sacrifice the longterm investment in music brands that generate long term revenue and profits, as has been the case for Elton John, U2, Dave Matthews, and Billy Joel. If today’s rock and roll darlings have disappointing sales on their second go rounds, marketing and PR dollars disappear, new stars are created, and the process repeats itself. And after a decade of hits by flash in the pan artists, who sang what becomes a blur-band loyalty as known in previous decades is rare, and so is the sense of relationship of music to personal life events.

On the other hand, once bands and their music are adopted as part of a culture, the role of advertising, promotion, and other branding activities take on different dimensions and goals. Rather than selling the band or creating awareness, branding activities can focus on evolving the band to maintain its emotional and cognitive connections to the culture. For example, the Rolling Stones and Neil Diamond know that when they announce a tour, they can count on a large proportion of their fans to buy tickets and concert garb. And many of their fans are of the generation that still buys music, opting to pay for CDs rather than invest the time to learn how to download music and then actually do it.