Music Marketing #1

  For this project, we were given a music genre we randomly picked. We were then asked to research the marketing and distribution techniques associated with the genre of music by choosing one music production company, and two artists that are signed with that company. We needed to collect research on the history of that company and who is signed with it, and we needed to gather information about the history, digital marketing, non-digital marketing, and the brand for the two artists we had chosen.

 I decided to choose artists that I actually listen to in my everyday life. I chose to do research about Tyler the Creator and Beyonce, since I got R&B/hip-hop/funk.

 The first thing I did before jumping into researching these artists, is researching the history of their music production company, Columbia Records. I found out a lot about this company using britanica.com. This website gave me a lot of useful information to better know this company.

 I then moved on to the artists marketing techniques. I planned my project by first looking up how these big artists sell their music today. I looked up the ways they are getting music out. I found out that their success comes from having a very clear and strong style or brand. I tried to focus on how they market themselves with their brand and how they market themselves using digital and non-digital ways.

 To try and figure this out, I first looked up both of the artists online marketing strategies. I saw both of them were very active on social media, not only promoting their music, but them as a person. This lets people see who they are outside of singing and performing on a stage. I then checked if they had online stores where people can purchase merch. I came to find out they both have online stores where they sell not only music, but clothes and accessories too. This helps keep them popular and keep their fans happy. Also, Beyonce uses the platform TikTok to release content that encourages fan participation (like dances, challenges) and promotes her music to a younger, more viral audience. This is another huge way artists can digitally market themselves.

 I then moved on to try and find non-digital marketing strategies. Both Tyler the Creator and Beyonce have been on tour in the recent years to perform their new albums. After researching, I learned that these artists go on tour mainly because it promotes the artists new music and it creates a stronger, more personal bond with their fans. I then tried to find other ways they promote themselves, and I found that they both sell CDs of their albums. This is very important because some people might prefer the CD version because they offer higher, sound quality than most streaming and they provide the physical satisfaction of owning the music, further promoting themselves. 

 I collected most of my information on Wikipedia and on Tyler the Creator and Beyonce's personal accounts. Going in this order let me be very organized while researching. Researching all of this made me realize that everything that these artists post is strategic to promote their music and themselves.