From Connections to Community
In our last article, we argued that the music industry must reconfigure marketing to focus on building life-long relationships with consumers, rather than facilitating transactional interactions. While this case provides the basis for considerations on the micro level, we believe it’s also essential to focus on the macro of how music shifts culture– how can we move from connections, toward solidifying lasting communities around catalog artists and labels? And in doing so, what are the most cost-effective ways to monetize facilitating and engaging with digital/virtual/in-person communities?
Research
Rather than focusing straight-away on strategy, we advocate for investing time in research to understand who has connected with the music, why were people connecting with the music, and who is currently discovering it today. This research is inclusive of analytics and specific data points, but must also be mindful to incorporate qualitative information such as cultural nuances and trends. This research around identifying the potential audience(s) then forms the foundation for developing a targeted strategy based on this data.
Legendary institution and brand Fania provides an example through La Lupe’s single “Besito Pa Ti,” released on Tico Records in 1977. In the 1950s, La Lupe was performing with Tito Puente and his orchestra. At one point, they had a disagreement and Puente decided to invite a drag impersonator to perform instead. This intersection of cultures formed a basis (in addition to her talents) for the LGBTQIA+ community to embrace her, spawning later drag impersonations, seen most recently/prominently in Puerto Rican drag queen Nina Flowers’ performance on the inaugural season of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Given the LGBTQIA+ community’s love for La Lupe, it’s no surprise that the 2008 uptempo, house remix of “Besito Pa Ti” by Rosabel went on to chart at number 3 on the dance charts.
Listening closely to these trends and organically-forming communities will provide the information needed to understand how and where connections are forming. By taking the time to understand these intricacies, labels and artists will be better positioned to identify additional potential audiences, and then to develop tailored strategies.
Storytelling
Traditionally, the value of artists and releases has been determined by looking at past sales, without recognizing the true value of these assets in the digital world. By not analyzing potential value in the digital space, how much money is being left on the table? This space of possibility in the digital world is exactly where future opportunity resides for us.
This opportunity can be leveraged through storytelling that hones in not only on the narrative surrounding an artist, song, or album, but also on the relationship story that’s developed between artists/releases and consumers– and the magic that exists when these two are put together.
As tech professionals continue to grapple with defining the term “metaverse,” what’s clear is that this space, previously defined in Forbes as a “collective virtual shared space, created by the convergence of virtually enhanced physical reality and physically persistent virtual space” has already become a territory of expansive monetization and community engagement. As detailed by Promoting British Music’s 10x10 Trends for Music’s Next Decade, in this metaverse realm of “collective games, virtual worlds, and augmented reality content,” the publication muses. “Artists and fans are not bound by the laws of physics. They can be 60-foot avatars stomping around a city, then rocket into space and/or plunge back into the ocean, taking fans along.”
An expression of the metaverse arrived with Buddy Holly, Whitney Houston, and Michael Jackson all returning to the road recently in hologram renditions, exemplifying a proof of concept that “Old Musicians Never Die. They Just Become Holograms” (New York Times). According to Deborah Speer, a features editor at Pollstar, “obviously, there is a market” for hologram shows. In the case of Roy Orbison and Frank Zappa’s hologram tours, the former grossed nearly $1.7 million over 16 shows, while Zappa sold an average of 973 seats per show.
Welcoming in emerging technology and creating campaigns around these new techniques provide an inway to increasing the total value of an artist and release. For copyright owners of these entities as well as brand/labels alike, this is also an opportunity to consider the comprehensive value, ultimately increasing the value of the assets now and in the future.
Content
While the saying “content is king” may now guide many in music marketing, what’s considered content is consistently a category that can be expanded to more considerably include user-generated content, sampling, remixes, covers, sync/licensing, brand partnerships, and original content that may need to be edited, remastered, or reissued.
Content can also be a site of collaboration, as seen for example in Levi’s Pioneer Sessions which curated videos of “exclusive remakes of iconic songs.” Whether it was Ryan Bingham’s cover of Otis Redding’s “That’s How Strong My Love Is,” or Passion Pit’s rendition of Smashing Pumpkin’s “Tonight Tonight,” content provides a method for engaging in cross-generational collaboration that celebrates legacies of storytelling, rewritten for the cross-section of consumer tastes.
While Levi’’s Pioneer Sessions provide a case study of a brand-produced content series, it’s also worth noting instances where content emerges out of fandom and other artists’ admiration of original releases. As documented by Billboard, Tracy Chapman’s iconic single “Fast Car” continues to organically generate remix renditions, including the uplifting take by Jonas Blue feat. Dakota that peaked at 98 in the Billboard Hot 100, or the rendition recorded with new vocals by Tobtok feat. River.
Collaboration
The blending of virtual, digital, and physical revenue models also holds potential for direct collaborations with artists and labels. In 2020, Peloton launched a new series of workouts called the “Artist Series,” showcasing “direct collaborations and partnerships with artists, where the workouts will see the entire soundtrack featuring the tunes of an artist.” In comparison to past special rides that featured the discography of a particular artist, the “Artist Series” is geared more specifically toward collaboration.
While the influencer model through TikTok or YouTube vlogging provides tech-friendly models for expanding fanbases and engagement, there are persistent lessons that can be drawn from models that date back a bit further to peer-to-peer community building. As investigated by Uproxx in the profile Why Do So Many People Love the Grateful Dead Now?, the band continues to build a new fan base every day across demographics, despite not performing.
While the original Dead Head fan base engaged by collecting and sharing Maxell cassettes of live recordings, following the band on the road, or tapping into dorm-room networks, now fans have it as easy as downloading the Relisten app for an extensive archive of live recordings. As Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend marked in the article, “This is a broad-stroke, reductive view, but there is something about the jam-band ethos that feels pleasantly removed from the hard-core branding-and-marketing side of almost every other genre of music.”
In Closing
Taking content and combining it with what technology such as DSPs and social media engagement offer today holds the potential to foster accessible, ongoing connections to create a future community that can last a lifetime. Staying open and engaged with what the future holds for building community around catalogs in blended digital, virtual, and physical models ultimately set the stage for lasting, dynamic growth in monetization.
Written by Sara Skolnick and Michael Rucker.
Skolnick is a creative strategist with more than 10 years of experience at the intersection of music and technology. She manages label operations at Ok Fine Music, and is the founder of the record label APOCALIPSIS.
Rucker is a Managing Partner at Pinal Group and was the former Chief Marketing Officer at Fania Records. He has more than 15 years of experience in the marketing of music catalogs.
