The music biz is goin’ through them changes

There’s no genius in saying the music business today is far and away different from what it was a generation ago, a decade ago and even 20 minutes ago. What Napster brought, simplistically, the iPod wrought asunder. When a UK newspaper slips a CD inside and its one-day circulation explodes little doubt remains.

The Mail on Sunday bought the rights to distribute the new Prince CD and last Sunday gave it away with the purchase of the newspaper. In itself the marketing ploy fails the originality test. UK newspapers are always attaching CDs and DVDs  to hype copy sales. Within reason – and Rupert Murdoch’s condemnation notwithstanding – it works reasonably well.

The difference between this joint marketing effort and others is simply scale. Prince is a major artist, though slightly in retro. A 21 date London concert series begins August 1st. Howls from CD retailers went unheeded.

You’ll notice that nobody is giving away Prince concert tickets. The day after the UK CD promotion Prince played to a sold-out hall at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. Do we notice a sea-change in the artists perceived best revenue stream?

We also have a very clear price point for music. Apple set a US$0.99 and €0.99 iTunes price (slightly higher in the UK) knowing very well the limit of customer interest. The new Prince CD was free for the price of a newspaper. With every £31.21 (€46.50 US$64.00) ticket to the London concerts there’s a free CD. Prince may be virtually alone in this campaign but far from unnoticed.

The music business has been struggling to find its bearing in the intertwined and changing behaviors of consumers and technical innovators. The latest analysis from Informa’s Music & Copyright shows music companies with a greater footprint in tours and merchandising pulling ahead of the pack. And it’s a small pack. (Read Music & Copyright release)

“I would say it (the CD) is in terminal decline according to 1Q07 figures all over the world,” said Informa’s principal music analyst Simon Dyson.”I think it was very clever marketing for Prince. He sold 80,000 copies of his last album in the UK and sales of his older stuff was drying up. It will be interesting to see if any of his old albums chart this weekend.

“Although he is the first major artist to give his album away it's nothing new. Crimea did it a few months ago and Supervinyls did it about a month ago. They reckon they make more from gigs, licensing and synch than sales. Retailers weren't happy but they never are.” - July 19, 2007

Keywords:music business,brand marketing

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