Elissa Stooker's Proposal

Title(s)
Carry On My Wayward Son: the transition of marketing mediums in an ever-changing music industry

Abstract
Music marketing was a static issue until the digital age. A band released an album, it was hopefully added to radio playlists, posters were hung in music stores, reviews listed in music magazines, and the band toured relentlessly. The upside to these strategies? They were easy, time-tested. The downside? Only a select few bands reached nation or world-wide success. The advent of MTV in 1982 was a huge boon to music marketing. Now a band's video and image could be broadcast across the country, reaching their target demographics directly. As advertising became more pervasive, bands began marketing through traditional mediums like billboards and television and through more creative efforts like street teaming, where fans are sent throughout their communities with flyers and other promotional gear. Once the internet took hold of our society though, the potential for music marketing exploded, most notably through early downloading and file-sharing sites like mp3.com and Napster. Now, websites like purevolume.com and garageband.com allow for bands to market themselves. Record companies have extensive networks of webpages dedicated to their artists, merchandise is sold at the click of a button, banner advertisements are on the side of every page, pop culture websites and blogs market music just by mentioning it, and social networking pages like MySpace and Facebook offer both direct marketing through advertising and indirect, user-generated marketing.

I will be exploring how this industry has evolved over the past 50 years and the avenues the field of music and music marketing must take to be successful in the future. While print, broadcast, and radio are still viable mediums, they should no longer be considered the primary avenue of music marketing in this complex digital world. But what are the implications of relying so heavily on the digital realm? A debate has raged for years about whether or not "illegal" file-sharing is beneficial to artists, especially those trying to make a name for themselves. And with the dearth of music marketing sites on the internet and all the different options, how to market these websites to potential users - both bands and fans? A recent Google search on "music marketing" returned more than 141 million options!

In researching this topic, I will uncover and demonstrate types of marketing that are effective in reaching unique market segments and demographics. I will also explore the issues that arise with such emphasis on digital marketing - the good, the bad, and the just-plain-confusing! This will be based upon market research and interviews with laymen and professionals in both the music and business fields. The best way to present both the past, present and future of this field is to use an experiential format, where the "reader" can travel through a sample marketing campaign using both old and new methods, and decide at the end which was more effective to them. In addition to this, the reader can make choices on how to market "their" band, seeing in the end which marketing techniques were best for them based upon their details and target market. This project will be useful to both artists interested in promoting their music and to companies who represent music and other media.

Methodology
This project is making an argument that music marketing is a complex issue in today's digital world, and that it must stay cutting-edge in order to stay relevant and in the public eye. I want to speak with those that currently work in the marketing field to get their opinions on how marketing has changed since they began working, and also uncover their marketing processes. I would also like to speak with those that work in related business fields such as advertising, public relations, and artist management to see what they feel are the best ways to adapt their contributions to ensure that new music marketing is successful. Obviously the most important aspect of this project however will be market research on various market segments - consumers and musicians alike and their respective demographics. I also want to research and do some case study-type work.

Media Presentation
I am seeing this project as an interactive "click and learn" journey through the history of music marketing, and then have it turn into a visualization of a discussion about where the industry is today, and the results of the market research into current techniques. Then I want to have the user experience some marketing techniques and at the end, judge which were more effective to them, and once they choose, have that lead into an explanation of the positives and negatives of each way, going from the oldest model to the newest idea for the future of marketing. Then at the end I would like to have a game option where the user has a band they must market. Choosing from some pre-set parameters - such as target market, musical style, and budget - the user will them choose which marketing path they would like to follow. Choices will be given along the way, like "You choose to encourage free downloading of your music as a promotional tool." The choices the user makes will determine in the end a success rating for their band.

The project will flow much like a paper but will have varying ways of using multimedia in each segment (interactivity, visualization, experiential, etc.) to keep it interesting. Marketing is itself not a subject that can be adequately described on paper, as very little marketing is done on paper. You must have multimedia to show the complexity of the subject, and especially in that this project relates directly to music, which obviously can only be heard in order to experience it. It will be presented in DVD format.

Advisors
Christi Crowe, owner of FLAG Marketing
(potential) Mark Goldstein, Music Industry Professor and former Lawyer
(potential) Marlene Towns, Marketing Professor in Marshall School
IML Advisor (who I'm told is Holly).

Budget
I don't anticipate the budget to be more than the cost of transportation, calling costs, and paper. It may be necessary, however, to purchase materials for research and imagery. I would not like to spend more than $200 overall.

Timeline
I will collect research materials and look for imagery over the summer, and do some initial research into marketing techniques. I would also like to construct some surveys with which I will begin market research upon my return in the fall. I will also begin work on the overall interface, and try to get the first part of the project done so that I can focus on creating the game element in the spring.

Resources
I will need lots of imagery as examples for marketing efforts, interviews, video clips, and related texts. In terms of software, I am interested in Korsakow but will most likely need Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and Final Cut Pro.