The Public Relations Approach to Music Promotion

From the outside looking in, it may appear that the music and recording industry functions like a well-oiled machine, a machine that, in theory, runs free from any significant administrative and creative strategical input. In reality, however, the recording industry requires significant contributions from experts within various different facets of the music promotion process. After all, platinum selling records are not mass-produced on some sort of "musical conveyor belt," programmed with one-size-fits-all promotional tactics that are guaranteed to catapult the record, and the artist themselves, into industrial stardom.

Countless talented artists, songwriters and musicians have gone unnoticed by the public with no immediate hope of ever breaking into the mainstream music scene. Success and notoriety are not guaranteed and, unfortunately, talent is not always a consistent measure of record sales. If talent is not an accurate predictor of record sales then what is? The answer is simple, advertising and promotion.

Similar to any other industry, the recording industry requires a little help from its friends in advertising and public relations in order to function effectively and achieve their primary target objective: to sell millions of records. The concept of "good music" selling itself is an ideal concept, but, unfortunately, it is not quite feasible within today's overpopulated music market. Artists have to "stand out of the crowd" in order to get noticed and attain merely a fraction of their musical genre's market.

The trick to succeeding within this cutthroat music industry is, as you may have guessed, traditional public relations methods guised as music promotion and artist publicity measures. In the past, the music industry has relied heavily upon antiquated marketing and advertising measures that may have been effective 15 years ago, but they have long since outgrown their prime. The modern-day version of recording industry music promotion and artist publicity is, fairly simply, collaborated public relations and marketing efforts, with an emphasis on public relations within the recording label decision-making hierarchy.

Public relations based music promotion and artist publicity tactics will, in my opinion, help the music industry to harness and employ the alterations occurring as a result of the industry's transition to digital distribution and promotion. Consumer engagement havens such as blogs, Facebook, Twitter and iTunes are simply too successful and frequently used to ignore. Public relations-rooted promotion is, indeed, capable of handling and optimizing social media and music sharing platforms that will eventually prove to be instrumental to the music industry's digital success.

In the future, I hope to see a significant paradigm shift or transition within the recording industry's preferred methods of music promotion and artist publicity. I expect to see an increase in promotional tactics that are rooted within the public relations discipline and, as a result, a decrease in alternative promotional methods such as marketing and advertising. Considering the industry's current restrictive financial situation, the comparison of earned media (public relations) as opposed to paid media (marketing) is a real "no brainer."

A Public Relations Equation for a Music Industry Solution

With all this talk of a digital revolution within the modern-day music industry, you must be wondering where the public relations part of the equation, the purpose of this blog, fits into the "music industry solution." The answer is simple. They are one in the same. 

How can this be? How could the digital distribution revolution that threatened to abolish the recording industry, as we knew it, only a few short years ago be a part of the public relations equation to the music industry's ultimate solution? Once again, the answer is simple. 

The public relations profession, like many other modern professions, has recognized the powerful influence of social media and digital communication and, as a result, has harnessed its influence and directed it toward accomplishing their industrial goals and objectives. Because of the public relations professions' understanding of the modern marvel known as digital communication, the industry has been able to demonstrate the effectiveness of audience engagement and organizational transparency. 

Within the context of the music and recording industry, the same theory and methods of public relations sustain. The music industry solution is not to ignore digital distribution and Internet-mediated communication, it is to embrace it. As many recording industry conglomerates and independent labels have recently demonstrated, the music industry has slowly, but surely, began to recognize, harness and embrace the digital and social revolution. 

You might be wondering by now how public relations (PR) can help to improve and further legitimize the traditional recording label within the age of digital music. That, in and of itself, is a legitimate question and concern. As I mentioned earlier, I personally believe that the solution to the music industry's current anguish over industrial legitimacy within an era of digital distribution, self-promotion and social communication can be answered with two simple letters, "PR." 

Compared to the recording industry's traditional and widely accepted methods of music promotion and artist publicity, public relations is a relatively new concept to the music industry. In years past, the music industry has heavily relied on marketing and advertising-based methods of promotion to sell records and concert tickets, as well as publicize new and existing artists. Considering the increased popularity of digital distribution and social media platforms devoted to music lovers and entertainment junkies, I believe that a public relations-rooted approach to music promotion and artist publicity is more appropriate in light of a modernized recording industry. 

In my next post, I will highlight a few more concrete reasons why I believe public relations is a big part of the music industry solution for both today and years to come. 

Go Digital or Go Home

Sorry it has been so long since my last blog, graduate school has quite the knack for getting in the way of life outside the classroom. In my last post, I discussed a few of the issues and opportunities that have rolled in on the coattails of a seemingly daunting digital music age. Today, I would like to elaborate a little more upon this fundamental paradigm shift within the music industry and, ultimately, suggest a few strategies for turning this "virtual threat" into a "virtual opportunity." 

Regardless of whether or not the music and recording industry chooses the "fight or flight" approach to digital distribution, the trend is obviously here to stay. With this in mind, it seems as if the choice is an obvious one. In the beginning of the digital transition, the recording industry was extremely apprehensive and, often times, close-minded to the new technological advances. In the recording industry's defense, however, the transfer from retail to digital was quite an intimidating transition at the time, and it seemed as if it would eliminate a large majority of their diminishing profit margin. 

Over the years, the recording industry began to realize that digital music distribution was something that they simply could not ignore. The dreaded iTunes, iPod and iPhone were here to stay, no offense Apple. After much reflection and restructuring, the music industry now understands and values the vast opportunity that lies amid the land of social media, infinite domain names and virtual music libraries. 

However, with much opportunity comes much challenge. Although the chance for virtual exposure and unprecedented sales has rapidly increased, the availability and accessibility of music has also increased with digital distribution. This means that recording labels are able to offer music dating back as far as they can remember, as well as the albums that were made since the integration of the iPod and the cellphone. Some early adopting recording labels and artists have transitioned to strictly digital distribution, meaning a physical copy (CD) of their music simply does not exist in any retail store.

Digital music distribution has also brought about a unique purchasing alternative for the music consumer that allows them to purchase individual songs from an album without purchasing the entire 10 to 12 song album. For consumers, it allows them to purchase the songs that they really want without being tied down to the entire album. For recording label executives, however, it means that consumers are able to spend anywhere from $1 to $5 getting what they really want, and the standard $9 to $15 album is virtually out the cyber window. 

What does this mean for the recording industry? No more filler songs on albums. Every single song cut has to stand on its own two feet, because that is exactly how it will be evaluated by the listener, all "on its own." Select loyal music consumers will still purchase the entire album, if it's a good one, but the majority will evaluate each song individually to determine if it is worthy of the 99-cent price of admission. 

Personally, I believe that this concept of song individualism is a healthy change for the music industry. Now, maybe we can get our hands, or shall we say our mouse pads, on some albums that are consistently good from cover to cover. 

The digital music transition that the recording industry could not foreshadow so many years ago has now turned into a land mine of opportunity, revenue and infinite success. Despite our love loss over the tangible record, we understand that digital is, indeed, an opportunity for success and not a threat to the recording industry's legacy and legitimacy.