A
Ams
Guest
Reviseing for exams, pretty intresting if your into this kinda stuff, thought id share it.
Genres & Authenticity
A Genre is “a set of musical events (real or possible) whose course is governed by a definite set of socially accepted rules” (Fabbri, F. 1981, p.1) However a genre cannot be understood “by characteristics of musical style alone but also by performance rituals, visual appearance, the types of social and ideological connotations associated with them, and their relationships to the material conditions of production” (Brackett, D in Negus, K and Hesmondhalgh, D. (eds) (2002) p .67) That we socially accept these rules does not mean that the rules are fixed. The definitions of
the rules themselves remains stable but the content that we can analyse with such rules or conventions changes over time. Franco Fabbri even starts his argument with the disclaimer that ‘This is not an attempt to resolve the problem of analysis of genres once and for all, but to indicate its complexity.’ (Fabbri, F in Horn, D. & Tagg, P. , p. 2)
But what are these rules?
Dave Bracket suggests that we start with ‘musical form’ (op cit) Mckay and Fujinaga call them “content based practices” (2006, p.2), Franco Fabbri (1981) and Simon Frith call them the “formal and technical rules” These are the “Rules which refer to performance techniques, to instrumental characteristics, to a musician’s ability” (Fabbri 1981 p.2) and “include playing conventions – what skills the musicians must have; what instruments are used, how they are played, whether they are amplified or acoustic; rhythmic rules; melodic rules; the relationship of voice to instruments.” (Frith, S. 1998, p. 91) Each genre
will have its own way of playing, choice of instruments and levels of skill but these will be stable within the genre world. That Slash plays the guitar that he does in the way that he does is no accident (look back to Jimmy Page among others). Alex Turner’s guitar style similarly has a history that arguably takes in a different set of influences but Ian Curtis would be an obvious starting point.
Dave Bracket then goes on to suggest that there are generic ‘performance rituals’ or what Simon Frith calls ‘behavioural rules’ which “cover performance rituals [they] also concern offstage performance’ (video, interview, photographs)’ but remember that ‘[they] apply to audiences as well’( ibid, p. 92). Each genre has a set of rules regarding acceptable behaviours of artists within the genre world, things that make artists ‘cool’ and ways of behaving at shows (moshing, circle pits, wall of death etc)
Visual appearance is something that Brackett suggests is important and governed by rules in individual genres (think about the generic look, artwork, fonts, style, clothing and language of genre worlds) Frith and Fabbri call these elements the ‘semiotic rules’ which are essentially ‘rules of communication, how music works as rhetoric; such rules refer to the ways in which “meaning” is conveyed […] they determine the significance of the lyrics’. (Ibid p.
91). Fabbri suggests that “codes which create a relation between the expression of a musical event and its content” (Fabbri 1981 p.4) and the way in which “abstract concepts that are communicated” (McKay and Fujinaga 2006 p.2)
What is communicated, can be argued to be the ‘social and ideological’ element of a genre. This forms another rule, one that Frith suggests “cover the social image of the musician regardless of reality […] but also refer to the nature of the musical community and its relationship to the wider world.’ (Ibid, p. 93) What are the politics of the genre? What are the views of artists, the industry and fans about issues of gender and sexuality and ethnicity. All genres have some kind of relationship with the music industry and this relationship constitutes another of Fabbri’s rules and ‘These refer to the means of production of a music genre, to questions of ownership, copyright, financial reward’ (Ibid p. 93) what kind of formats does the music that belongs to a particular genre enter the world on? Vinyl? CD? MP3? Cassette? CDR? Etc. what kind of contracts are prevalent? What are the ‘best’ labels to be on? Does it matter? Where are these ‘records’ sold? – Tesco? Independent shops? Online?
All of these elements come together under the umbrella of the authenticity of the genre. What happens if an act breaks one or any number of the rules? Who can decide who is authentic and who is not? Fans? Other artists? This is one area where fans have some substantial power. This is something that artists and industry are interested in, “Authenticity is an absolute, a goal that can never be fully attained, a quest.” (Barker, H. & Taylor, Y. 2007, p.ii) The ‘authenticity’ […] in this music was defined not by its anchorage in the past, nor by the integrity of its performers, but by its ability to articulate for its listeners a place of belonging, an ability which distinguished it from other cultural forms, particularly those which promised ‘mere entertainment’. (Moore, A. 2002, p.219) Artists and industry play a part in the controlling of the ‘borders’ of authenticity as do the media
‘Journalists and photographers do not invent subcultures, but shape them, mark their core and reify their borders. Media and other cultural industries are integral in the processes by which we create groups through their representation’ (Thornton, S. 1995,p. 160) It is not enough to suggest that ‘Dividing the total audience for popular music into musical taste categories such as ‘hard rock’, ‘alternative’, ‘dance’, ‘teenage pop’, ‘world beat’ etc., enables marketing staff to target consumers through specific publications, radio shows, media routes, retail stores and venues’ (Negus, K. 1992. pp. 67-8) As fans and subcultural groups can be resistant in their tastes and consumer choices. As Barker and Taylor
suggest. “The quest for authenticity, for the “real,” has become a dominant factor in musical taste” (2007, p. ix)
Ethnicity, Feminism & Social Stratification
“ETHNICITY refers to the cultural practices and outlooks of a given community of people that set them apart from others. Members of ethnic groups see themselves as culturally distinct from other groups in a society, and are seen by those other groups to be so in return. Different characteristics may serve to distinguish ethnic groups from one another, but the most usual are language, history or ancestry (real or imagined), religion and styles of dress and adornment. Ethnic differences are wholly learned.” A.Giddens (1997: 210)
“RACISM is prejudice based on socially significant physical distinctions. A racist is someone who believes that some individuals are superior or inferior to others as a result of these racial differences.” A.Giddens (1997: 212)
“BLACK” MUSIC
“that there are no intrinsic music styles that are essential to black music or African-American or European music. This does not imply that we cannot identify particular characteristics in the music performed by black and white people, but it does suggest that these need to be approached far more carefully and in relation to specific social circumstances and cultural factors. In particular we should be wary of simple binary stereotypes that have been used to separate black and white musics and European and African culture.” K.Negus (1996: 105)
Feminism
A holistic theory concerned with the nature of woman’s global oppression and subordination to men.
A socio-political theory and practice which aims to free all women from male supremacy and exploitation.
A social movement encompassing strategic confrontations with the sex class system.
An ideology which stands in dialectical opposition to all misogynous ideologies and practices.
(Jary and Jary)
Rosemary Deem (1995) says that:
“Women are constrained by patriarchal relations of male dominance to a much greater extent than many male researchers realise”
“Rock, as an ideological and cultural form, has a crucial role to play in the process by which its users constitute their sexuality” Simon Frith and Angela McRobbie (1978) Frith and McRobbie say that music is a means of sexual expression and as such is important as a mode of social control. Through sustaining images of romance, domesticity (perceived as particularly ‘female’ traits), ‘teeny bop’ artists are engineered to appeal to female audiences.
This ensures continued male dominance of the music industry.
Social Stratification
Under a Marxist perspective, there are 2 major social groups:
- A ruling class (the ‘bourgeoisie’)
- A subject class (the ‘proletariat’)
These patterns are based on who owns the economic means of production within capitalist society.
The ideological/cultural domination of one class by another, achieved by “engineering consensus” through controlling the content of cultural forms and major institutions.
(Jary & Jary, 1991)
Clarke and Critcher say:
“ in relation to both body and mind, the State has pushed policies aimed at drawing subordinate social groups into “rational recreation” in order to curb the potential dangers of free time.”
Weber argues that classes develop in market economies in which individuals compete for economic gain. He defines a class as a group of individuals who share a similar position in a market economy and by virtue of that fact receive similar economic rewards. Thus in Weber’s terminology, a person’s “class situation” is basically their “market situation”.
Marketing principles
• Customer Needs
Foxal and Goldsmith (1995) proposed the following categories of consumer needs:
Physiological needs:
The needs that products meet by virtue of their primary or inherent functional characteristics then are met by their functional or utilitarian dimensions.
Social needs:
The products that act to represent consumers to other people, expressing membership in a social class or other group, or transmitting some other message about the consumer’s social relations.
Symbolic needs:
Consumers may buy products to express both to other people and to themselves something about themselves; in this way the products act as symbols of their owners’ self-concepts and personality, they seek to convey some of their beliefs or certain aspects of their identity.
Hedonic needs:
Many products are consumed because of their sensory benefits – in short, because they look, taste, smell, feel or sound good to us. These product benefits focus on the sensory quality (pleasure) of products and their consumption.
Cognitive needs:
Products can satisfy ‘the need to know’, the rational motive expressing the curiosity consumers have about their world and their desire to understand it.
Experiential needs:
Many consumer behaviours are primarily undertaken because of the feelings they give consumers. Holbrook and Hirschman (1982) say consumption of this kind may be seen as ‘involving a steady flow of fantasies, feelings, and fun’.
• The Core customer & marketplace concepts:
1. Needs, wants & demands
Needs: A state of felt deprivation- food, clothing, shelter, safety, belonging, esteem, etc…
Wants: Desires for specific satisfiers of those basic deeper needs, shaped by culture &
individual personality
Demands: Wants for specific products that are backed up by an ability and willingness to buy them.
2. Product, offering and brand:
Some combination of products, services, information or experience offered to market to satisfy a need or want.
3. Value, satisfaction and quality:
Customer value: The consumer’s assessment of the product’s overall capacity to satisfy his or her needs.
Customer satisfaction: The extent to which a product’s perceived performance matches a buyer’s expectations. If the product’s performance falls short of expectations, the buyer is dissatisfied. If performance matches or exceeds expectations, the buyer is satisfied or delighted.
4. Exchanges, transactions, and relationships
Exchange: The act of obtaining a desired object from someone by offering something in return.
Transaction: A trade between two parties that involves at least two things of value, agreed upon conditions, a time of agreement and a place of agreement.
Relationship marketing: The process of creating, maintaining and enhancing strong, value laden relationships with customers and other stakeholders.
5. Markets and the marketing system.
Market: The set of all actual and potential buyers of a product or service.
Marketing management: The art and science of choosing target markets, and then building profitable relationships.
• The marketing management orientations/philosophies:
The production concept
The idea that consumers will favour products that is available and highly affordable.
The product concept
The idea that consumers will favour products that offer the most quality, performance, and innovative features and that the organisation should therefore devote its time and effort to making continuous product improvements.
The selling concept
The idea that consumers will not favour buying the organisation’s products, unless the organisation undertakes a large-scale selling and promotion effort.
The marketing concept
The idea that achieving organisational goals depends on determining the needs and wants of the target markets and delivering the desired satisfactions more effectively and efficiently than competitors do.
1. Market focus (You cannot operate in all markets)
2. Customer orientation (Love your customer)
3. Co-ordination (with marketing functions and with outside agencies)
4. Profitability (Sufficient to sustain acceptable profit margins)
• The Anatomy of a product (Brassington and Pettitt, 2006)
Core product: The problem-solving core benefits or services, that, consumers are really buying when they obtain a product. The benefit may be functional or psychological.
The Actual / Tangible product: A product’s parts, quality level, features, design, brand name, packaging, and other attributes that combine to deliver core benefits.
The Augmented product: Additional consumer services and benefits built around the core and actual products.
The Potential product: Kotler (1994) defines the potential product in terms of its possible evolution, for example new ways of differentiating itself from the competition.
• The 4P Music / Entertainment Product (adapted from Lathrop and Pettigrew, 2001)
Performer: The performer appeals to audiences for their personalities, looks, and other characteristics. They represent the core person or people for promotion, while singles, albums, club, TV, film and stage appearances represent the portfolio of ways of generating income and building careers.
Performance: The performance is the presentation of music / entertainment by an individual artist or group. It is the audio / visual expression of the performer’s personality. Consumers pay to hear &/or see a particular performer / actor perform in a particular way. They may like the sound of the voice, the style, the instrumentation, and other distinctive qualities.
Property (Composition/Script/all stakeholders): The music composition/song, the film or stage script etc. This is the intellectual property, where income is derived when it is presented to the public. It also relates to all the stakeholders who have an interest in the said performer (fans, statutory bodies, labels, promoters etc).
Portfolio: This by definition is the range of products and services presented to the consumer and other interested stakeholders. It includes recorded music, live performance, fashion and other lifestyle products that can be consumed by the public.
• The Promotional mix (Marketing communications)
Effective marketing depends on the exchange of goods, services and ideas, and thereby is heavily dependent on effective communications. In marketing, marketing communications is defined as the communication of information which facilities or expedites the exchange process.
The promotional mix is the direct way in which an organisation attempts to communicate with various target audiences. Brassington and Pettitt (2003, p.569) The promotional mix or marketing communications mix consists traditionally of five main
elements:
1. Advertising
A paid form of non-personal communication about a music product, that; is transmitted to a target audience through a mass medium. Adapted from Brassington & Pettitt (2003, p.604)
2. Personal selling: The process of informing, persuading and reminding customers to;
purchase music products, through; interpersonal communication in an exchange situation. Adapted from Dibb & Simpkin (1994, p. 226). Personal selling depends heavily on language: - Verbal, - Kinesic (body language), -Proxemic (distance), Tactile (physical contact) Examples: Pluggers, Sales reps, PA’s, and the whole live music event concept.
3. PR & Publicity: Public relations’ is the planned & sustained effort to establish & maintain goodwill & mutual understanding between the music organisation & its publics. Adapted from Dibb & Simpkin (1994, p.227) Publicity is non-personal communication in news story form, regarding a music product / organisation, which is transmitted through a mass medium at no charge.
4. Sales Promotion: A range of marketing techniques designed within a strategic marketing framework to induce sales through added value or incentives to a music product to resellers & consumers. Adapted from the Institute of Sales promotion’s definition cited in Brassington & Pettitt (2003, p.653)
5. Direct marketing: An interactive system of marketing music products which uses one or more advertising media to affect a measurable response at any location, forming a basis for creating and further developing an ongoing direct relationship between an organisation and its customers. Adapted from Brassington & Pettitt (2003, p.740)
Extended promotional mix:
Corporate ID: Refers to how a corporation, company or organisation expresses itself visually. It is the prime interface between organisation and its key audiences. Being the first contact people have, if used effectively, it can help a company to put across clear messages about who it is, what it does and how it does it. Adapted from Smith (2002, p.603)
Sponsorship: Sponsorship is more than patronage, altruism or benefaction. It can indeed help others while simultaneously achieving defined communications objectives. As sponsorship matures, its diverse range of programmes, objectives, advantages and disadvantages require a relatively sophisticated level of management understanding. Smith (2002, p.252)
Word of mouth (WOM): WOM is the verbal communication that exists between individuals’. WOM is typically a part of the total process of marketing communications in which messages are transmitted from the sender to many receivers. WOM is the conversations held between the receivers, whether or not all members received the original marketing communication. Opinion leaders and other reference group members may have a strong influence on the effectiveness of the original intended message. Pickton & Broderick (2001, p.256)
Packaging: This is the ‘clothing’ the product appears in. It combines functional protection with a medium (the pack) for graphic design and product information.
Packaging is a marketing tool that combines graphic design with marketing concepts to create an identity for the brand. An ideal package is one which brings to the customer’s mind the essence of what the brand is all about whenever and wherever it is seen Lewis (1991) cited in Pickton & Broderick (2001, p.600)
Point of sale (POS)
Marketing communications activities that take place where products are bought and sold. In the US and increasingly in Europe it is also known as ‘Point of purchase’ (POP).
Merchandising activities take place at the POS and, as well as involving visual display, also involve ‘atmospherics’ which have to do with the overall purchase sensory experience. This includes space between aisles, lighting, signage, music/sounds and smells. Pickton & Broderick (2001, p.536)
Merchandising
Range of sales promotion activities intended to ensure that products are easily available, and prominently and attractively displayed at point of sale. It is also used to describe the activity of making promotional products available such as those associated with new film releases, music and sport entertainment products. Merchandising, in this context, originally played a supportive role. It is now a multi-billion pound business in its own right. Adapted from Pickton & Broderick (2001, p. 535)
Buzz marketing
The word of mouth effect, the transfer of information through social networks is known as buzz marketing. It is the scripted use of action to generate buzz.
Viral marketing
These are strategies that encourage individuals to pass on a music marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message’s exposure and influence. Like viruses, such strategies take advantage of rapid multiplication to explode the message to thousands, to millions. Adapted from Kirby & Marsden (2006, p.88)
The marketing mix
The means by which such ideas are turned into reality is the ‘Marketing Mix’
Definition: A range of marketing activities/tools that an organisation combines and implements to generate a response from the target audience. Pickton & Broderick
(2001)
• The 4P marketing mix profile:
The concept of the marketing mix was first developed by Borden in the 1950’s and the mnemonic ‘4Ps’ was coined by McCarthy (1960).
Product: Anything that can be offered to a market for; attention, acquisition, use or consumption, that might satisfy a need or want.
It includes physical objects, services, persons, places, organisations and ideas
Price: The amount of money charged for a product or service, or the sum of the values that consumers exchange for the benefits of having or using the product or service.
Place: All the company activities that make the product or service available to target consumers.
Promotion: Activities that communicate the product or service and its merits to target customers and persuade them to buy.
• The additional 3P marketing mix elements:
These elements were added by Booms and Bitner (1981) to account for service orientated products.
People: All direct & indirect personnel: their roles, responsibilities and overall consideration & contribution to the marketing process.
Physical evidence: All the physical representations which; reinforce the customers’ expectations of consistency and quality, enabling a brand to be built and established.
Process: The business management process by which all products and services are delivered to customers &/or consumers.
• The 4C/7C mix
Lauterborn (1990) suggested that that the marketing mix could be interpreted from a buyer’s (customer orientated) view, instead of the seller’s (company/product orientated) view. This view is created by the mnemonic 4C/7C mix:
7P’s - 7C’s
product - choice
price - cost
place - convenience
promotion - communication
people - consideration/contribution
physical evidence - consistency
process - corporate competence
· The service nature of the music video
A service: ‘Any act or performance that one party can offer to another that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything. Its production may or may not be tied to a physical product.’ (Kotler, 1997)
Service products vs. Products services
1. Service products: those pure services, or major service components, directly offered to customers, such as concert or stage show.
2. Product services: those service elements associated with a physical object such as on-line internet shopping or instrument tuning.
Five key elements of service:
1.Intangibility – cannot be experienced in advance
2.Ownership – no aspect of ownership
3.Inseparability – production & consumption together
4.Perishability – cannot be stored or kept
5.Variability – all service delivery is unique & different
Genres & Authenticity
A Genre is “a set of musical events (real or possible) whose course is governed by a definite set of socially accepted rules” (Fabbri, F. 1981, p.1) However a genre cannot be understood “by characteristics of musical style alone but also by performance rituals, visual appearance, the types of social and ideological connotations associated with them, and their relationships to the material conditions of production” (Brackett, D in Negus, K and Hesmondhalgh, D. (eds) (2002) p .67) That we socially accept these rules does not mean that the rules are fixed. The definitions of
the rules themselves remains stable but the content that we can analyse with such rules or conventions changes over time. Franco Fabbri even starts his argument with the disclaimer that ‘This is not an attempt to resolve the problem of analysis of genres once and for all, but to indicate its complexity.’ (Fabbri, F in Horn, D. & Tagg, P. , p. 2)
But what are these rules?
Dave Bracket suggests that we start with ‘musical form’ (op cit) Mckay and Fujinaga call them “content based practices” (2006, p.2), Franco Fabbri (1981) and Simon Frith call them the “formal and technical rules” These are the “Rules which refer to performance techniques, to instrumental characteristics, to a musician’s ability” (Fabbri 1981 p.2) and “include playing conventions – what skills the musicians must have; what instruments are used, how they are played, whether they are amplified or acoustic; rhythmic rules; melodic rules; the relationship of voice to instruments.” (Frith, S. 1998, p. 91) Each genre
will have its own way of playing, choice of instruments and levels of skill but these will be stable within the genre world. That Slash plays the guitar that he does in the way that he does is no accident (look back to Jimmy Page among others). Alex Turner’s guitar style similarly has a history that arguably takes in a different set of influences but Ian Curtis would be an obvious starting point.
Dave Bracket then goes on to suggest that there are generic ‘performance rituals’ or what Simon Frith calls ‘behavioural rules’ which “cover performance rituals [they] also concern offstage performance’ (video, interview, photographs)’ but remember that ‘[they] apply to audiences as well’( ibid, p. 92). Each genre has a set of rules regarding acceptable behaviours of artists within the genre world, things that make artists ‘cool’ and ways of behaving at shows (moshing, circle pits, wall of death etc)
Visual appearance is something that Brackett suggests is important and governed by rules in individual genres (think about the generic look, artwork, fonts, style, clothing and language of genre worlds) Frith and Fabbri call these elements the ‘semiotic rules’ which are essentially ‘rules of communication, how music works as rhetoric; such rules refer to the ways in which “meaning” is conveyed […] they determine the significance of the lyrics’. (Ibid p.
91). Fabbri suggests that “codes which create a relation between the expression of a musical event and its content” (Fabbri 1981 p.4) and the way in which “abstract concepts that are communicated” (McKay and Fujinaga 2006 p.2)
What is communicated, can be argued to be the ‘social and ideological’ element of a genre. This forms another rule, one that Frith suggests “cover the social image of the musician regardless of reality […] but also refer to the nature of the musical community and its relationship to the wider world.’ (Ibid, p. 93) What are the politics of the genre? What are the views of artists, the industry and fans about issues of gender and sexuality and ethnicity. All genres have some kind of relationship with the music industry and this relationship constitutes another of Fabbri’s rules and ‘These refer to the means of production of a music genre, to questions of ownership, copyright, financial reward’ (Ibid p. 93) what kind of formats does the music that belongs to a particular genre enter the world on? Vinyl? CD? MP3? Cassette? CDR? Etc. what kind of contracts are prevalent? What are the ‘best’ labels to be on? Does it matter? Where are these ‘records’ sold? – Tesco? Independent shops? Online?
All of these elements come together under the umbrella of the authenticity of the genre. What happens if an act breaks one or any number of the rules? Who can decide who is authentic and who is not? Fans? Other artists? This is one area where fans have some substantial power. This is something that artists and industry are interested in, “Authenticity is an absolute, a goal that can never be fully attained, a quest.” (Barker, H. & Taylor, Y. 2007, p.ii) The ‘authenticity’ […] in this music was defined not by its anchorage in the past, nor by the integrity of its performers, but by its ability to articulate for its listeners a place of belonging, an ability which distinguished it from other cultural forms, particularly those which promised ‘mere entertainment’. (Moore, A. 2002, p.219) Artists and industry play a part in the controlling of the ‘borders’ of authenticity as do the media
‘Journalists and photographers do not invent subcultures, but shape them, mark their core and reify their borders. Media and other cultural industries are integral in the processes by which we create groups through their representation’ (Thornton, S. 1995,p. 160) It is not enough to suggest that ‘Dividing the total audience for popular music into musical taste categories such as ‘hard rock’, ‘alternative’, ‘dance’, ‘teenage pop’, ‘world beat’ etc., enables marketing staff to target consumers through specific publications, radio shows, media routes, retail stores and venues’ (Negus, K. 1992. pp. 67-8) As fans and subcultural groups can be resistant in their tastes and consumer choices. As Barker and Taylor
suggest. “The quest for authenticity, for the “real,” has become a dominant factor in musical taste” (2007, p. ix)
Ethnicity, Feminism & Social Stratification
“ETHNICITY refers to the cultural practices and outlooks of a given community of people that set them apart from others. Members of ethnic groups see themselves as culturally distinct from other groups in a society, and are seen by those other groups to be so in return. Different characteristics may serve to distinguish ethnic groups from one another, but the most usual are language, history or ancestry (real or imagined), religion and styles of dress and adornment. Ethnic differences are wholly learned.” A.Giddens (1997: 210)
“RACISM is prejudice based on socially significant physical distinctions. A racist is someone who believes that some individuals are superior or inferior to others as a result of these racial differences.” A.Giddens (1997: 212)
“BLACK” MUSIC
“that there are no intrinsic music styles that are essential to black music or African-American or European music. This does not imply that we cannot identify particular characteristics in the music performed by black and white people, but it does suggest that these need to be approached far more carefully and in relation to specific social circumstances and cultural factors. In particular we should be wary of simple binary stereotypes that have been used to separate black and white musics and European and African culture.” K.Negus (1996: 105)
Feminism
A holistic theory concerned with the nature of woman’s global oppression and subordination to men.
A socio-political theory and practice which aims to free all women from male supremacy and exploitation.
A social movement encompassing strategic confrontations with the sex class system.
An ideology which stands in dialectical opposition to all misogynous ideologies and practices.
(Jary and Jary)
Rosemary Deem (1995) says that:
“Women are constrained by patriarchal relations of male dominance to a much greater extent than many male researchers realise”
“Rock, as an ideological and cultural form, has a crucial role to play in the process by which its users constitute their sexuality” Simon Frith and Angela McRobbie (1978) Frith and McRobbie say that music is a means of sexual expression and as such is important as a mode of social control. Through sustaining images of romance, domesticity (perceived as particularly ‘female’ traits), ‘teeny bop’ artists are engineered to appeal to female audiences.
This ensures continued male dominance of the music industry.
Social Stratification
Under a Marxist perspective, there are 2 major social groups:
- A ruling class (the ‘bourgeoisie’)
- A subject class (the ‘proletariat’)
These patterns are based on who owns the economic means of production within capitalist society.
The ideological/cultural domination of one class by another, achieved by “engineering consensus” through controlling the content of cultural forms and major institutions.
(Jary & Jary, 1991)
Clarke and Critcher say:
“ in relation to both body and mind, the State has pushed policies aimed at drawing subordinate social groups into “rational recreation” in order to curb the potential dangers of free time.”
Weber argues that classes develop in market economies in which individuals compete for economic gain. He defines a class as a group of individuals who share a similar position in a market economy and by virtue of that fact receive similar economic rewards. Thus in Weber’s terminology, a person’s “class situation” is basically their “market situation”.
Marketing principles
• Customer Needs
Foxal and Goldsmith (1995) proposed the following categories of consumer needs:
Physiological needs:
The needs that products meet by virtue of their primary or inherent functional characteristics then are met by their functional or utilitarian dimensions.
Social needs:
The products that act to represent consumers to other people, expressing membership in a social class or other group, or transmitting some other message about the consumer’s social relations.
Symbolic needs:
Consumers may buy products to express both to other people and to themselves something about themselves; in this way the products act as symbols of their owners’ self-concepts and personality, they seek to convey some of their beliefs or certain aspects of their identity.
Hedonic needs:
Many products are consumed because of their sensory benefits – in short, because they look, taste, smell, feel or sound good to us. These product benefits focus on the sensory quality (pleasure) of products and their consumption.
Cognitive needs:
Products can satisfy ‘the need to know’, the rational motive expressing the curiosity consumers have about their world and their desire to understand it.
Experiential needs:
Many consumer behaviours are primarily undertaken because of the feelings they give consumers. Holbrook and Hirschman (1982) say consumption of this kind may be seen as ‘involving a steady flow of fantasies, feelings, and fun’.
• The Core customer & marketplace concepts:
1. Needs, wants & demands
Needs: A state of felt deprivation- food, clothing, shelter, safety, belonging, esteem, etc…
Wants: Desires for specific satisfiers of those basic deeper needs, shaped by culture &
individual personality
Demands: Wants for specific products that are backed up by an ability and willingness to buy them.
2. Product, offering and brand:
Some combination of products, services, information or experience offered to market to satisfy a need or want.
3. Value, satisfaction and quality:
Customer value: The consumer’s assessment of the product’s overall capacity to satisfy his or her needs.
Customer satisfaction: The extent to which a product’s perceived performance matches a buyer’s expectations. If the product’s performance falls short of expectations, the buyer is dissatisfied. If performance matches or exceeds expectations, the buyer is satisfied or delighted.
4. Exchanges, transactions, and relationships
Exchange: The act of obtaining a desired object from someone by offering something in return.
Transaction: A trade between two parties that involves at least two things of value, agreed upon conditions, a time of agreement and a place of agreement.
Relationship marketing: The process of creating, maintaining and enhancing strong, value laden relationships with customers and other stakeholders.
5. Markets and the marketing system.
Market: The set of all actual and potential buyers of a product or service.
Marketing management: The art and science of choosing target markets, and then building profitable relationships.
• The marketing management orientations/philosophies:
The production concept
The idea that consumers will favour products that is available and highly affordable.
The product concept
The idea that consumers will favour products that offer the most quality, performance, and innovative features and that the organisation should therefore devote its time and effort to making continuous product improvements.
The selling concept
The idea that consumers will not favour buying the organisation’s products, unless the organisation undertakes a large-scale selling and promotion effort.
The marketing concept
The idea that achieving organisational goals depends on determining the needs and wants of the target markets and delivering the desired satisfactions more effectively and efficiently than competitors do.
1. Market focus (You cannot operate in all markets)
2. Customer orientation (Love your customer)
3. Co-ordination (with marketing functions and with outside agencies)
4. Profitability (Sufficient to sustain acceptable profit margins)
• The Anatomy of a product (Brassington and Pettitt, 2006)
Core product: The problem-solving core benefits or services, that, consumers are really buying when they obtain a product. The benefit may be functional or psychological.
The Actual / Tangible product: A product’s parts, quality level, features, design, brand name, packaging, and other attributes that combine to deliver core benefits.
The Augmented product: Additional consumer services and benefits built around the core and actual products.
The Potential product: Kotler (1994) defines the potential product in terms of its possible evolution, for example new ways of differentiating itself from the competition.
• The 4P Music / Entertainment Product (adapted from Lathrop and Pettigrew, 2001)
Performer: The performer appeals to audiences for their personalities, looks, and other characteristics. They represent the core person or people for promotion, while singles, albums, club, TV, film and stage appearances represent the portfolio of ways of generating income and building careers.
Performance: The performance is the presentation of music / entertainment by an individual artist or group. It is the audio / visual expression of the performer’s personality. Consumers pay to hear &/or see a particular performer / actor perform in a particular way. They may like the sound of the voice, the style, the instrumentation, and other distinctive qualities.
Property (Composition/Script/all stakeholders): The music composition/song, the film or stage script etc. This is the intellectual property, where income is derived when it is presented to the public. It also relates to all the stakeholders who have an interest in the said performer (fans, statutory bodies, labels, promoters etc).
Portfolio: This by definition is the range of products and services presented to the consumer and other interested stakeholders. It includes recorded music, live performance, fashion and other lifestyle products that can be consumed by the public.
• The Promotional mix (Marketing communications)
Effective marketing depends on the exchange of goods, services and ideas, and thereby is heavily dependent on effective communications. In marketing, marketing communications is defined as the communication of information which facilities or expedites the exchange process.
The promotional mix is the direct way in which an organisation attempts to communicate with various target audiences. Brassington and Pettitt (2003, p.569) The promotional mix or marketing communications mix consists traditionally of five main
elements:
1. Advertising
A paid form of non-personal communication about a music product, that; is transmitted to a target audience through a mass medium. Adapted from Brassington & Pettitt (2003, p.604)
2. Personal selling: The process of informing, persuading and reminding customers to;
purchase music products, through; interpersonal communication in an exchange situation. Adapted from Dibb & Simpkin (1994, p. 226). Personal selling depends heavily on language: - Verbal, - Kinesic (body language), -Proxemic (distance), Tactile (physical contact) Examples: Pluggers, Sales reps, PA’s, and the whole live music event concept.
3. PR & Publicity: Public relations’ is the planned & sustained effort to establish & maintain goodwill & mutual understanding between the music organisation & its publics. Adapted from Dibb & Simpkin (1994, p.227) Publicity is non-personal communication in news story form, regarding a music product / organisation, which is transmitted through a mass medium at no charge.
4. Sales Promotion: A range of marketing techniques designed within a strategic marketing framework to induce sales through added value or incentives to a music product to resellers & consumers. Adapted from the Institute of Sales promotion’s definition cited in Brassington & Pettitt (2003, p.653)
5. Direct marketing: An interactive system of marketing music products which uses one or more advertising media to affect a measurable response at any location, forming a basis for creating and further developing an ongoing direct relationship between an organisation and its customers. Adapted from Brassington & Pettitt (2003, p.740)
Extended promotional mix:
Corporate ID: Refers to how a corporation, company or organisation expresses itself visually. It is the prime interface between organisation and its key audiences. Being the first contact people have, if used effectively, it can help a company to put across clear messages about who it is, what it does and how it does it. Adapted from Smith (2002, p.603)
Sponsorship: Sponsorship is more than patronage, altruism or benefaction. It can indeed help others while simultaneously achieving defined communications objectives. As sponsorship matures, its diverse range of programmes, objectives, advantages and disadvantages require a relatively sophisticated level of management understanding. Smith (2002, p.252)
Word of mouth (WOM): WOM is the verbal communication that exists between individuals’. WOM is typically a part of the total process of marketing communications in which messages are transmitted from the sender to many receivers. WOM is the conversations held between the receivers, whether or not all members received the original marketing communication. Opinion leaders and other reference group members may have a strong influence on the effectiveness of the original intended message. Pickton & Broderick (2001, p.256)
Packaging: This is the ‘clothing’ the product appears in. It combines functional protection with a medium (the pack) for graphic design and product information.
Packaging is a marketing tool that combines graphic design with marketing concepts to create an identity for the brand. An ideal package is one which brings to the customer’s mind the essence of what the brand is all about whenever and wherever it is seen Lewis (1991) cited in Pickton & Broderick (2001, p.600)
Point of sale (POS)
Marketing communications activities that take place where products are bought and sold. In the US and increasingly in Europe it is also known as ‘Point of purchase’ (POP).
Merchandising activities take place at the POS and, as well as involving visual display, also involve ‘atmospherics’ which have to do with the overall purchase sensory experience. This includes space between aisles, lighting, signage, music/sounds and smells. Pickton & Broderick (2001, p.536)
Merchandising
Range of sales promotion activities intended to ensure that products are easily available, and prominently and attractively displayed at point of sale. It is also used to describe the activity of making promotional products available such as those associated with new film releases, music and sport entertainment products. Merchandising, in this context, originally played a supportive role. It is now a multi-billion pound business in its own right. Adapted from Pickton & Broderick (2001, p. 535)
Buzz marketing
The word of mouth effect, the transfer of information through social networks is known as buzz marketing. It is the scripted use of action to generate buzz.
Viral marketing
These are strategies that encourage individuals to pass on a music marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message’s exposure and influence. Like viruses, such strategies take advantage of rapid multiplication to explode the message to thousands, to millions. Adapted from Kirby & Marsden (2006, p.88)
The marketing mix
The means by which such ideas are turned into reality is the ‘Marketing Mix’
Definition: A range of marketing activities/tools that an organisation combines and implements to generate a response from the target audience. Pickton & Broderick
(2001)
• The 4P marketing mix profile:
The concept of the marketing mix was first developed by Borden in the 1950’s and the mnemonic ‘4Ps’ was coined by McCarthy (1960).
Product: Anything that can be offered to a market for; attention, acquisition, use or consumption, that might satisfy a need or want.
It includes physical objects, services, persons, places, organisations and ideas
Price: The amount of money charged for a product or service, or the sum of the values that consumers exchange for the benefits of having or using the product or service.
Place: All the company activities that make the product or service available to target consumers.
Promotion: Activities that communicate the product or service and its merits to target customers and persuade them to buy.
• The additional 3P marketing mix elements:
These elements were added by Booms and Bitner (1981) to account for service orientated products.
People: All direct & indirect personnel: their roles, responsibilities and overall consideration & contribution to the marketing process.
Physical evidence: All the physical representations which; reinforce the customers’ expectations of consistency and quality, enabling a brand to be built and established.
Process: The business management process by which all products and services are delivered to customers &/or consumers.
• The 4C/7C mix
Lauterborn (1990) suggested that that the marketing mix could be interpreted from a buyer’s (customer orientated) view, instead of the seller’s (company/product orientated) view. This view is created by the mnemonic 4C/7C mix:
7P’s - 7C’s
product - choice
price - cost
place - convenience
promotion - communication
people - consideration/contribution
physical evidence - consistency
process - corporate competence
· The service nature of the music video
A service: ‘Any act or performance that one party can offer to another that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything. Its production may or may not be tied to a physical product.’ (Kotler, 1997)
Service products vs. Products services
1. Service products: those pure services, or major service components, directly offered to customers, such as concert or stage show.
2. Product services: those service elements associated with a physical object such as on-line internet shopping or instrument tuning.
Five key elements of service:
1.Intangibility – cannot be experienced in advance
2.Ownership – no aspect of ownership
3.Inseparability – production & consumption together
4.Perishability – cannot be stored or kept
5.Variability – all service delivery is unique & different
