Spring 2018
Music Business Trends & Strategies
Assignment 4: Marketing Options
David Aldred, Danny Barros, Joseph Bess
& Marcus Clark
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When I think of SPNDA’s existing presence, there is almost little-to-none, other than within his
hometown of Boston. That in itself is of value but, as it’s already been a 3-year long work-inprogress, it would be in the best interests of the brand to penetrate new markets to help
broaden his audience. SPNDA has been consistently active in the Boston hip hop scene. He
has performed hundreds of shows, hosted many others and has many active collaborative
projects with like artists. His two consecutive summer tours in Europe certainly helped
established awareness and visibility in other markets. While on one hand I am caught in the
middle of which territory to focus on first, I feel inclined to continue establishing visibility and
presence in the US territories - with a focus on a piece of major markets such as New York (the
birthplace of hip-hop) and Los Angeles.
That being said, and understanding the psychographic traits of SPNDA’s target market, it would
fill a huge void in marketing to place one of SPNDA’s recent albums in Amoeba Records store
in Los Angeles. This would be a one-off tryout based on a simple consignment deal. If it works,
it would self-perpetuate ideally, and then can be replicated in other cities such as New York,
Atlanta, and Boston. The aim here is to reach new markets by raising awareness and having
visibility in the records store that his listener may shop at.
Why Amoeba? I actually decided to learn about the consumer by discussing with the consumer
directly. I spoke with a hip-hop artist who is signed to a subsidiary label of Capitol Records after
having been independent for a few years. He also started in Boston, and is heavily involved in
the hip-hop circuit as a fan and an artist. As a fan, we discussed how he discovers the music he
purchases and his buying habits and what entices his purchases. He comments that hip-hop
lovers, do in fact still shop at physical retail stores such as underground shops, and Amoeba
Records. Zing!! A small and simple consignment deal “approach” to Amoeba would work to our
favor and advantage. It is known that they are open to consignment deals with new artists. In
addition, this would help us to establish sales history with a reputable retail outlet, without the
need of a major distributor or label backing.
Amoeba Records is a large venue for physical formats. The store sits in the heart of Hollywood
and receives a lot of visibility. If successful, there would be a need for something visual to
supplement its existence in the particular store. The simple use of a few album-cover posters in
and around the hip-hop section of the store, for example, would make the consumer aware of
the existence and availability of the album. Other options would be to place posters outside of
the shop where it’s legal to do so on public property. ​(- MC)
As SPNDA is well suited for search engine optimization, with a unique name and a first Google
search page filled with his links, acquiring contact information and general interests from his
fans should be a logical next step. He’s already generating a decent awareness with a popular
media brand like Mass Appeal writing about one of his videos, having several visuals up on
Youtube with over 1k views, and a Twitter following nearing the 1k mark so a couple changes
on his platforms could be very beneficial for generating more interest and engagement with
fans.
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One of the first tweaks I would recommend to him would be to have more information on his
website about him (a bio/story/photos) and a widget or form somewhere directly visible to fans
for them to enter their email address, and maybe some general interests, in order to receive all
the newest information about releases, merch, etc. He should also have links in the descriptions
of his Youtube videos linking them to a download page for his latest releases, all his social
media pages, and his website.
Because his biggest following seems to be through Twitter and that is his most active platform, I
would advise him to populate his feed with more links to his other social media accounts and
bandcamp page. Also, if not done already, he has the option to have download gates for all
bandcamp purchases requiring users to enter their email address before purchasing content.
This could be a voluntary option if he decides he doesn’t want it to be required. His Soundcloud
releases, mostly on the City Yard Music account, should include links to a download page for
each album/single, all his social media accounts, and his website in the descriptions. In addition,
at each of his shows there could be some sort of form for fans to fill in their email and contact
info at a merch table when making a purchase or a physical handout with all his social links and
website on it. ​(- JB)
Once SPNDA completes the acquisition portion of the marketing campaign, he will move on to
the third phase- Engagement. Managing interactions with fans appears to be the future of the
music business and for an artist like SPNDA, it could be the key to monetization. There are a
number of tactics that SPNDA will employ to make his direct-to-fan engagement as effective as
possible.
Once his fans subscribe to his newsletter and he can collect their e-mails, SPNDA will plan to
release a bi-weekly or monthly newsletter. The newsletter will include all updates on SPNDA’s
current or upcoming projects, shows and events. He will also send exclusive discount codes for
his music or merch to the fans that subscribe. In terms of metadata, he can use the e-mails to
trace the IPs of his fans to see which city they reside. When he begins to tour in those cities, he
can reach out to the fans directly and offer tickets or a meet and greet to connect with his
supporters. Most people tend to keep the same
email address for a long period of time, so
this will create a long-lasting relationship for SPNDA and his fans.
Direct-to-fan engagement is also an effective way to promote and sell SPNDA’s music and
merchandise. Bandcamp is great resource for artist to sell directly to their fans. For those who
can’t commit to a set price, Bandcamp allows fans to donate in return for music. When touring
begins, SPNDA can plan on spending time at his merch booth to connect with fans and
personally sell his physical recordings. SPNDA can also consider personally delivering online
merchandise sales to his fans. If a local fan orders a t-shirt online, there’s no better way to thank
them for their support than by personally handing them their items.
Another effective form of engagement is, of course, social media. SPNDA will keep his fans
updated about what he has going on and bring them behind the scenes of his next visual or
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recording in order to generate a good buzz for an upcoming release or event. Using apps like
HootSuite will make it easier to update Twitter, Instagram and Facebook with just one click.
From there, SPNDA will constantly reach out to his fans on those platforms and also interactive
platforms like BandsinTown, where he can directly message his fans. Creating compelling
content will be a necessity for this phase of the marketing campaign. Going live and answering
questions from followers, or even giving an exclusive “freestyle” to those who tune in, will be a
great way to have a personal engagement and potentially create “super-fans”.
To his benefit, SPNDA is located in Boston, which has one of the liveliest hip-hop scenes
around. A great way to personally connect with fans or potential fans is to attend cyphers or
shows. A prominent sneaker store called “Laced” constantly hosts open cyphers which are often
attended by legendary rappers and producers. SPNDA could encourage fans to meet him there
and give them a taste of his performance.
The primary objective of the engagement phase is to turn a passive listener into an active fan.
Utilizing some of the resources in this initiative will give SPNDA’s fans a more pleasurable
experience than just streaming his music or watching his videos. If SPNDA can create
super-fans and remain in constant communication with them, many others will follow. Once he
executes this objective successfully, SPNDA can move onto, perhaps, the most important
phase of the campaign – monetization. ​(- DB)
The final phase of SPNDA’s marketing plan is to monetize his music. This will involve a
three-part series of integrated measures specifically calculated to maximize his local presence,
not only generating revenue but also laying the groundwork for broadening his fan base into
regional, national, and international markets. Moreover, these initiatives will serve as vehicles
for reinforcing his concurrent efforts to increase fan awareness, acquisition, and engagement.
The first initiative is leveraging SPNDA’s current popularity and live performance experience by
staging shows regularly in and around Boston. Although he already enjoys a level of awareness
in this geographic area, he will need to solidify this foundation in order to maximize the
“word-of-mouth” benefit a vibrant local fan base can generate. Potential venues include Royale,
the Downstairs room at Middle East, and Berklee’s own Red Room.
As his popularity in the Boston area grows, SPNDA can utilize fan contacts acquired through the
collection of emails and engaged with his newsletter to begin touring in the surrounding
Northeastern states of Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and most importantly, New
York. Because his music has received little exposure in the western United States, SPNDA will
methodically develop his base locally and regionally, cultivating a buzz along the way to create
fan awareness and interest, setting the stage for expanded marketing efforts in major markets,
such as Seattle, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Houston, Detroit, and others.
The second initiative involves exploiting every potential opportunity for increasing album sales.
SPNDA’s music is currently available for purchase through Bandcamp and his former label, AR
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Classic. However, this doesn’t take advantage of impulse purchase opportunities during and
after live performances; consequently, SPNDA will offer cassettes, vinyl, and CDs for sale at a
merch table at every show. SPNDA can again utilize the engagement established with his
newsletter to offer special autographed versions of his albums to fans to further reinforce that
relationship.
Additionally, he will seek consignment opportunities with independent music retailers, first
locally with stores such as Deep Thoughts, then regionally and nationally in conjunction with
expanded touring. As a precursor to future touring outside of the Boston area, SPNDA will sell
his music online through websites devoted to the hip-hop genre like UndergroundHipHop.com.
Although making his songs available through a streaming service is another viable option,
SPNDA will seek to first capitalize on full album sales given the painfully low royalty rate offered
by those services.
The final initiative will be strengthening the emotional connection his fans experience by offering
a series of merchandise items for sale. These will be a mixture of the standard products
(t-shirts, pins, bumper-stickers, etc.) and more unique items of an artistic nature (limited editions
of album-cover artwork, autographed posters incorporating the universal themes lyrically
expressed in SPNDA’s music that appeal to his fans), all of which will be offered for sale at
venue merch tables, indie music stores, and on genre-specific websites. As with his live
performances and album sales, SPNDA can again leverage the relationships developed during
the engagement phase to market products directly to his most devoted fans. ​(- DA)
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