"This Business of Music Marketing and Promotion," Revised and Updated Edition |
|
This book was originally published in 1999. This current version has been updated to address world-shattering advances in the music promotion and marketing areas, including the web and other technological areas. The book is written for entrepreneurs, managers, small label marketers, as well as independent musicians. Chapter 1 is a basic overview of the “current music marketplace and the forces that are shaping it.” Chapter 2 chronicles a label’s release of a major recording. The chapter goes through how each individual department roadmaps the release, creates a marketing plan, and promotes the CD. Packaging, design, web design, video production, radio promotion, and other conceptual ideas are covered. Subsequent chapters give specifics of each marketing and promotion avenue and how they are exploited and implemented. Chapter 3 gives an in depth account of how the marketing program is mapped out and previewed. Things like target audience, selling points, packaging, and branding are introduced. Chapter 4 goes deeper into how to identify the core audience and utilizes some good techniques on how to survey and single out the particular audience for a product and how to estimate the size of the audience. Several tips on how to communicate with your audience are also given. Chapter 5 is titled “Packaging the Product” and gives some excellent examples. Product design terms and ideas get through exposure and every type of design style and concept are looked at. Chapter 6 goes into pricing and how it is done. The baseline numbers and how to calculate your price get some good, common sense explanations. There are also a couple of good worksheets here that show how total price is calculated. Chapter 7 covers distribution and the many obstacles it entails. All types of distribution and distributors are covered from do it yourself to one stop and majors. Also here are some good tips on one-sheet creation and how to approach and hire a distributor, as well as how to make yourself more attractive for distribution. This is an excellent primer for music distribution concepts and covers the entire topic very well. Other non-store and direct distribution methods are covered in Chapter 8 and the reader can learn concepts behind the many ways we get all those post cards, tear outs, newsletters, etc., from distributors. Chapter 9 begins the re-write of the original book with techniques and methods for marketing over the Internet. This chapter doesn’t just tell how to have a website but gives really good information of subscription sites, building storefronts, and on-line retailing. Chapter 10 is on promoting your product and the basics of publicity. There are some good tips and examples here on how to build your press kit, where and why to promote, and when to hire a publicist to take over for you. Chapter 11 goes deeper into promoting on the Internet. Several types of emailing campaigns and ideas are covered here. Let’s face it; you can basically have it all on-line at one place for fans as well as other potential marketing purposes, which is what the Internet is all about. Chapter 12 gives good examples and explanations on promotions in video, radio, and television. Of particular interest are the sections on radio markets and programming formats. Excellent definitions are given for each genre and how they tie into radio and other promotions. The best part of the updated version of this book is Chapter 20, the interviews. Lathrop talks to a great variety of professionals for marketing and publicity tips and trends advice. Consults are with an independent, local performer; an independent label marketer and CEO; and a publicist discusses getting coverage. They all give excellent insight into their professions, what they do, and how they do it. The book concludes with a large listing or resources and their contact information. Everything from copyright, marketing, publicity, broadcast, and several others are listed. This Business of Music Marketing and Promotion is an excellent book, while it is not an easy read, it is an excellent reference manual that can be used again, and again.The book is bursting with behind the scene techniques and examples from professionals. |
Book Review |