The Marketing of Jamiroquai Essay Example

The Marketing of Jamiroquai Essay Example The Marketing of Jamiroquai Essay The Marketing of Jamiroquai Essay Sony Music International, whose head office is based in New York, comprises sixty different affiliate companies world-wide, one of which is Sony Music UK. Sony Music UK became a pure record company in 1965, with two of its main objectives being to discover and market UK artists, and to penetrate the UK market using international artists. The organization became increasingly popular and successful throughout the 1970s and 1980s and is now one of the most powerful record companies in the world, and generates more annual revenue than any of its competitors, as illustrated by the bar chart below However, despite its strength and success, Sony Music has recently suffered from a major decrease in turnover and profits, as illustrated in the graphs on the following page. This is the result of a drastic change in the singles market; the UK sales of singles have plummeted, with figures for singles sales currently being the lowest on record for the past 25 years. Unfortunately, this trend does not appear to be changing; singles sales in 2002 totaled less than  £100 million in the first time since 1994, down 13.7% on 2001. Jamiroquai In 1991, Sony Music decided to launch the sub-label Soho Square. Jamiroquai, a multi-cultural English band led by singer Jason Kay was formed a year later in 1992. They released a song called When You Gonna Learn? on the independent London-based label Acid Jazz which generated a lot of attention, and were immediately inundated with offers from numerous record companies. Soho Square offered Kay an eight-album contract for  £1.3 million in 1992, but were not interested in signing the rest of his band. Kay accepted, but decided to keep his original band and pay them himself. Since 1992, Jamiroquai has continued to be Soho Squares most important and profitable artist. The band has a very distinctive musical sound which is not easily categorized and best described as a fusion of disco, jazz, funk and soul, and has consequently allowed them to attract a multi-racial fan-base. The bands image is very strong; their name incorporates the words Jam (as in a musical jam session) and Iroquis, the name of an indigenous American-Indian tribe who value the environment highly, which reflects both the bands love of music and their concern for the environment. Jamiroquais debut album on Soho Square, Emergency on Planet Earth, released in 1993, went straight to number one, and made them the top-selling English band of that year. Since then, Jamiroquai have continued to be very successful, selling a total of 16 million albums worldwide, having a dozen Top 30 chart hits, and winning numerous awards. Although Jamiroquais importance to Sony Music as a whole is not great, Jamiroquai is Soho Squares most successful act, and is a high priority to the sub-label as the band has allowed Soho Square to achieve its objective of successfully breaking an unknown UK band. Also, the fact that Kay is signed to Sony Music for 8 albums, a figure much higher than the US average 4 album contract offered to other artists, it is clear that Sony Music has long-term aspirations for the band. One of Sony Musics main objectives for Jamiroquai is to exploit its past marketing experience to allow Jamiroquai to break and conquer the US market. Sony Music, as the largest record company in the industry, has a wide variety of tools and resources available, in particular its extensive network of contacts within the music media, which, if managed effectively, can help to meet this objective. Sony Musics Environment Sony Music recognises the importance of managing its micro-environment in order to ensure efficiency and success in its marketing campaigns, as well the importance of interacting with and adapting to its macro-environment in order to preserve its competitive advantage and remain ahead of its competitors. Sony Musics Micro-Environment The company The process of setting up a marketing campaign for the band is carried out by Sony Music as follows: Management will set objectives stating desired single and album sales and other strategies for Jamiroquai, and will communicate these to the rest of the company. It is then up to the marketing department to work with other departments, such as Research and Development, to assess how to attract its target audience. Suppliers The company is responsible for all of its own supplies; it is self-sufficient in that it owns its artist and produces its own CDs and other forms of media (e.g. LPs and DVDs). Marketing Intermediaries Sony Musics marketing intermediaries comprise the following: Resellers- The number of reseller mediums available to Sony Music have increased dramatically in the past decade, with CDs being sold at specialist music stores, online companies, supermarkets and music mega-stores such as HMV and Tower Records. Physical Distribution Firms- Instead of working with external firms, Sony Music UK has its own warehouse located in Aylesbury, where all CDs and other forms of media are stored and shipped, allowing the organisation to keep costs down. Marketing Services Agencies- Sony Music is able to reduce its marketing costs by arranging the vast majority of its marketing itself. In Sony Music, it is not only the Marketing Department that is responsible for marketing, but also the Press and Public Relations Departments, ensuring that publicity and advertising for all artists are maximised. Financial Intermediaries- Being a multi-billion pound organisation, Sony Music does not rely as heavily on financial intermediaries as other organizations, but its recent decline in profits could change this trend in the near future. Customers Sony Musics products are targeted to specific consumer markets, but although market research is carried out via Sony Music mailing lists, and a recently-launched Sony Student Website which aims to gain information from the student population, the market research aimed specifically at Jamiroquai fans is limited, with it being more focused on a range of Sony Music artists. Competition Sony Music faces fierce competition from others within the music industry, namely the other members of the Big Five: EMI, Universal, Warner Bros and BMG. With Sony Musics current profit and turnover dives, it is essential that the company remains aware of its competitors plans and marketing strategies. Sony Music tries to position Jamiroquai in its consumers minds as a band that transcends an array of music and racial boundaries, and sees this as its main source of competitive advantage. The organisation aims to maintain its success, like all other record companies, via its Artists and Repertoire Department which is constantly on the look-out for new talent and which also tries to persuade artists signed to other labels to sign to Sony Music. Publics The two publics that most affect Sony Music are: Media Publics- The media can have a negative effect on Jamiroquais album and single sales. Sony Music try to control this by setting up publicity stunts that they believe will help boost sales, and by maintaining good relationships with editors of publications and heads of music at radio stations, to ensure that Jamiroquai gets the best ratings, reviews and airplay possible. General Public- Sony Music understands the importance of keeping Jamiroquais image as consumer-friendly as possible, and does this by changing the bands image where necessary. For example, when trying to break Jamiroquai in the USA, Sony Music decided to change the lyrics on the bands Return of the Space Cowboy album to suit the American populations views on cannabis: Cheeba Cheeba (slang for cannabis) was changed to Freeba Freeba Gotta get high was changed to Gotta get sly Sony Musics Macro-Environment Economic Environment It is expected that by 2010, the Asian Tigers, India and China, will have a combined GDP of 28%, which is 10% higher than the predicted GDP of USA, and of Western Europe and Japan. These developing markets represent potential markets, as their standards of living, wealth and demand for technological goods are all on the increase. Demographic Environment The UK, like the majority of developed countries, has an ageing population; it is predicted that 38% of the population will be over 50 years old in 2031. This older generation will be likely to spend a significant percentage of their income on leisure activities (including music). It is therefore wise for Sony Music to investigate targeting this audience. Another trend is increasing European integration, leading to the creation of the Euro-consumer. Sony Music has the advantage of Jamiroquais multi-racial and multi-cultural band appealing to the diverse inhabitants of EU member states, and should maintain this image to attract more of these new Euro-consumers. Cultural Environment Celebrities and music groups have a considerable effect on peoples attitudes and appearance. Kays strong and unique image (he is famous for his flamboyant hats and his collection of fast cars) means that Jamiroquai is distinctive and easily-recognisable. However his numerous violent outbursts and bad behaviour have also caused him to be regarded negatively by many, as his behaviour goes against the moral beliefs and values of the general public (Reference: Page A1). Political and Natural Environment The growth of public interest groups have proven beneficial to Jamiroquai, as Kays much-publicised support for the environment has gained him many supporters. Jamiroquai recently performed a benefit concert for Friends of the Earth and played a short set near the Danish Embassy in protest at whale culling around the Faroe Islands. Technological Environment Technology has had a big impact on the music industry, its biggest threat to date being music-swapping software, as companies such as Napster have caused significant dents in Sony Musics profit margins because of the fact that their 51 million users do not want to buy music that they can obtain for free on the Internet. There have been ongoing legal battles between Sony Music and Napster, with a resolution yet to found. Fortunately, success was found by Sony Music with MP3.com: joining forces, the Big Five record companies (Sony Music, EMI, Universal, Warner Bros and BMG) deluged MP3.com with lawsuits charging the company with enabling Internet piracy, with the result being MP3.com paying Sony Music $20 million. Sony Music also introduced a revolutionary idea to try and combat music-swapping software: the production of non-copiable CDs which cannot be uploaded onto the Internet or burnt onto other CDs. This idea has been met with mixed reviews, as many consumers have turned against Sony Music for doing so. Also, it has been rumoured that Taiwanese companies are secretly developing hardware to read these CDs.