Guest Commentary: Focus On Selling Your Artists, Not Records

While few would argue that marketing plays a key role in the success of any business segment, there is a vital distinction between "product" marketing and "brand" marketing that the music industry would be wise to consider.
Ultimately, success is not about product marketing but brand marketing. Selling a record is product marketing; selling an artist is brand marketing. Product marketing is but a small tactic of the brand marketing strategy. Unfortunately, most labels have been focused on the tactic, not the strategy. In plain terms, they have been selling records rather than selling artists.
One has only to look at the album charts to see that this is true. Of the top 50 albums on The Billboard 200 in a recent issue, 10 were soundtracks.
Some executives may question why this is negative. The answer is simple: Although a soundtrack may sell well, it doesn't build long-term revenue and doesn't let a company develop a constant and predictable revenue stream.
Every soundtrack must be marketed as a new product. New product marketing is far more expensive than marketing an existing product or brand. You cannot build a brand around one product‹especially a soundtrack. A soundtrack is here today, gone tomorrow. There is no franchise being built. It is safe to assume that catalog sales of soundtracks are not going to be something upon which to build a foundation.
However, because executives' tenures are so dependent on immediate results, they will continue to favor this way of doing business. How can you argue with albums that sell millions? They translate into immediate cash flow, big bonuses, and big promotions. But the truth is, they do nothing for tomorrow. If you want to build a successful enterprise, build on a brand, not products.
Building on a brand translates into what many label "creative types" (as opposed to the "business types") have been calling for, and it's what labels used to do. While the development of an artist may mean "creative development" to the creatives, to the business person it should be seen as building a brand.
Marketing music in terms of marketing a brand is important because it will generate larger and more constant revenues. Equally important, it reduces costs. If a label goes all out to market an artist's first album but doesn't spend time building the brand, it may see great sales of that album. However, it will need to spend a large amount of money marketing the same artist's next album, because it has not built an allegiance to the brand‹the artist‹but to the product, which in most cases is not even an album but a song.
Over the long run, the better way is to build the artist as a brand. It will cost less to market the next product that comes from that artist if fans have developed an allegiance.
This is true in all business segments. Consumers know what Lexus stands for ("the relentless pursuit of perfection") and what NBC's Must See TV stands for‹quality sitcoms. Interestingly enough, the backbone of recent seasons of Must See TV was not "Seinfeld." "Seinfeld" was Must See TV for the masses‹it was the equivalent of a hit song. But the durable brand was built on the success of that show and all of the other shows on the network.
Equally noteworthy, NBC stuck with several of these shows through tough times; "Seinfeld's" ratings were horrendous in its first two seasons. This is something a young artist might wish for from a label.
Sarah McLachlan knows, or should know, who her customers are. Her customers know full well what to expect from her. If one of her songs becomes a "Seinfeld," it will take her to the masses. Indeed, this is what has happened. But the masses will build upon her core fan base, which already exists. When the hit, like "Seinfeld," goes away, there will still be a base of consumers who identify with the brand. The base may be larger as a result of the hit, but a label cannot build its core market from a hit. Rather, hits have to be built from the brand.
Barenaked Ladies are another prime example of a brand built over time. Because their brand has been developed, their just-released fourth U.S. album will require less marketing money than any of their other albums to attain the same level of sales. Barenaked Ladies consumers were cultivated over time, and they like the Barenaked Ladies, not a Barenaked Ladies song or a Barenaked Ladies album.
Sound logical? Most people will probably say that they know this‹we're all too aware of one-hit wonders. But then why do many still use one-hit-wonder marketing tools rather than brand-building tools?
How does one market a brand, then? Here are just a few points.
€ Touring. Nothing helps like getting the product in front of people; it's like getting supermarket shelf space. And don't just concentrate on fancy, large tours‹a brand is built at the core grass-roots level.
€ Relationship marketing. This is rarely done by record labels. Reprise Records recently included a bounce-back coupon in the first album of a new artist. Of the first 2,000 units sold, the label received 600 coupons back in the mail. A 33% return rate is unheard of in any business! How, then, did it happen?
Simple. In general, music fans are just that: fanatics. They are loyal and energetic about music they like. Take advantage of that. Knowing your customer is one of the most important tenets of any business. Knowing who your consumers are lets you market to them the next time and, most important, use them as your sales and marketing force. There is no better salesperson for a Lexus than a current Lexus owner.
There are many other marketing vehicles through which to develop a brand, and these are areas labels should explore and target.
Labels can make a choice. They can reinvent the marketing wheel on every album, or they can do what those famous for nurturing talent did years ago: build brands.
If the suits in the executive offices want predictability and accountability, they will do just that. Otherwise, they will continue to churn out one-album wonders and soundtracks. Although they may see nice spikes on the sales charts from these, they will see them at the expense of significant product marketing costs and long-term revenue stability.
Do you want to bet the store on that kind of business model? I wouldn't.