Their patience and advice have been valuable and has helped In my work. I would like to thank Ms Iranian Hire, Dean of Commits who made this dissertation a compulsory one. I would like to thank Mr. K. Assai Parkas for assisting and guiding me through the process of completing this dissertation. I would like to thank Victor Musketeer for Glenn me the right contacts to talk to.
I would Like to thank Mr. Tussah and Santos from Only Much Louder who gave me valuable information regarding their music festival. DECORATION I, Ms Jowett Data Chuddar, student of I year MA (MAC) hereby declare that this reject report on “The Youth effect: Music Festivals and Brands” is the record of authentic field work carried out by me from June 24, 2013 to August 2, 201 3 and has not been submitted to any other university or Institute for the award of any degree or diploma.
OF 26 Name: Date: Table Of Contents Abstract 5 Introduction 7 History Of Live Music 10 Literature Review 17 Research Methodology 20 Case Study 1: Sunburn Festival Case Study 2: NH Weekender Data Analysis 29 Discussion 43 Conclusion References Appendix ABSTRACT 21 26 47 45 Youth is a video-sharing website, created by three former Papal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos. Localization in India took place in May 2007 in English and Hindi.
The company is based in San Bruno, California, and uses Adobe Flash Video and HTML technology to display a wide variety of user-generated video content, including movie clips, TV clips, and music videos, as well as amateur content such as video blobbing, short original videos, and educational videos. Youth formed in February 2005, allows billions of people to discover, watch and share originally created videos. Youth provides a arum for people to connect inform and inspire others across the globe and acts as a distribution platform for original content creators and advertisers and marketers, large and small.
Today Youth is the third most-visited site on the internet behind Backbone and Google with a reach of more than 800 million people. After the creation of Youth in February 2005, there was extremely rapid growth within sixteen months generating over 4 billion views per day Can, 2013), a 50% increase since 2010. So it would be safe to say that Youth is one of the best platforms for the promotion f an event, especially for audio-visual aid. Youth is not strictly a music sharing medium. But over the last few years, out of the millions of videos streamed on Youth, videos related to music are by far the most popular.
According to Commerce of Youth’s audience watch videos related to music more than any other category. Youth’s expansive reach and ever-evolving features has earned its place amongst the most important music business tools today. The concept of Youth has had an explosive growth in terms of popularity among fans, artists and industry professionals as well as reaching a global audience. Event management is small. It involves studying the intricacies of a brand, identifying the target audience, conceptualizing the event, planning the logistics and coordinating the technical aspects during and after the event.
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines, performance art, and social activities. This research article intends to investigate two wings. The first is whether or not the explosive viewers on Youth, along with its other social media links, has had a significant effect on the crowd turnover and promotion of music festivals and live performance industry for musicians in the country.
The second aspect that this article explores is the role played by music events as a marketing strategy in the sales and promotion of other goods. Through this dissertation, I will start with the history of live performances by artists and how Youth has helped in pulling more crowds to these performances. INTRODUCTION There is no doubt that live performances as an element of an artist’s career has changed significantly since the birth of the digital age.
Earlier, the concerts and the live performances used to be primarily a promotional tool in selling an album. But now a concert is one of the most significant products that the bands sell. As the digital era took over, the physical recorded album became obsolete, forcing a change in the business strategy. Social media, with its expansive reach and ever-evolving features, has now become one of the most important music business tools. They help o encourage explosive growth and popularity among fans, bands and industry professionals.
It plays an important role in the successes of musicians world-wide and it is always at the forefront in the minds most industry professionals who seek new ways to increase fan-base and ultimately, revenue for the artists. With the decline of record sales as a supporting source of revenue, artists are continuously looking for alternative sources of income. Sites like Youth, Backbone, and Namespace has made it possible for them to reach out to millions of people to spread word about their music, themselves and their experiences while making the music.
With the availability of such resources, artists have started to redefine the artist-fan relationship. This has made it possible to link their music to a variety of applications creating an outstanding outlet for discovery and sales of music. Youth started the trend of creating a direct link from consumers to their favorite musical groups, giving them a visual aid of their practice sessions, gigs, recordings and concerts. The industry has definitely seen a positive impact for venues, promoters, managers, ticketing, new artist discovery and the subsequent birth of new mega concerts. Youth Statistics -The worldwide reach
But it also means Youth isn’t dependent on one social network or another to be successful. Just as Namespace has started to decline in popularity, future has become Just as popular for sharing clips on Backbone, Twitter, and other online communities. ” – Unknown To some, Youth is seen as a website full of amateurs wasting their time posting poorly made videos, while others see Youth as their chance at stardom, their most understanding teacher, or their meeting place Ninth closest friends. Youth does allow for all these things to happen.
It serves as a diurnal coffee house where people can share ideas and gather with likened and intonating individuals to discuss ideas, art, and music. There is a separate place that allows others to learn from more experienced players. Another section shows professional videos of signed artists. Musical users’ needs range from wanting to hear a rendition of a popular song, to the liver version of the song performed in some gig, to wanting to share their original songs with others. They want to learn how to play their favorite lick on guitar or “hat fingers to use for a complicated chord progression on the piano.
They advertise Peps and watch their favorite music video. They cover their idol’s song and collaborate with musicians across the globe to perform Christmas carols. They sing karaoke or play the recorder for the sole purpose of showing off their musical skills or lust learning. The possibilities of this video sharing virtual world are only bound by the imaginations of the users and the terms of service of the web space provider. In the following section of this article, a deeper look will be taken into how one Youth has affected popularity of some music festivals.
HISTORY OF LIVE MUSIC ere history of live music can be dated back to the middle ages when courtly life emended entertainment, hiring troubadours’ to perform music for the royal families. With the expansion of the economy during Renaissance, the demand for music increased significantly allowing the best composers and musicians to command high salaries and travel from one city to the next selling live performances and Classical eras. The industry flourished with the advent of the printing press and thus, the spread of sheet music which allowed musicians to earn a living through the physical sale of their work.
During the 19th century, technologies allowed music to be utilized as a recording. As a result, the concept of physical sales was taken to higher level but live performances remained a key component in the careers of the musicians. In the late sass’s, live performances could be sold as a “good” rather than solely a service. This was made possible due to the successful selling of the Gramophone by The Columbia Phonograph Company. One of Hollywood most significant aspects is the legacy of live music performances it created during the ‘Golden Era”.
During the period, musicians could be found playing at legendary nightclubs and hotels like the Coconut Grove and Ambassador Hotel. After gaining significant exposure in these places, they were picked up by renowned music producers and got the opportunity to play in different countries and the famous Sunset Strip in LA. Sometimes performances in places like the Macarthur Park would attract a crowd of more than 6,000 people. Over the years, it went on to becoming a legendary Jazz venue, drawing crowds from all over the Los Angels to hear local artists play. But by the end of the sass a change was seen.
Fewer casual engagements at night clubs and hotels would take place. The balance of live music to recorded music would shift into the studios. Soon the 3-4 minute performance on a record became more popular than the full length versions that were performed at clubs, compelling performers to modify their performances to fit within the preferences of their audience (Daffodil, 2011). The demand for recordings of live performances continued to increase as a result of advances in recording technology. ere new knowledge from experiments in sound quality led to the rise and demise of number of recording media formats.
The fear, as one music critic described was that “if you had a phonograph player at home, you would never go outside of your house to listen to live music again. In the sass, they thought that because people had cassette tapes, they would Just tape their friends’ music and never buy albums again” (Situated, 2009). The result was, however, quite the opposite, sending record sales to new heights, dramatically increasing the excitement surrounding music, and giving the people more of a desire to see their favorite bands live.
In sass and early ass, CD sales were booming and the number of shows performed to promote those albums continued to rise. CD sales held the highest market share of all music media being sold. According to Mark Cunningham, artist manager and marketing repressions of Aware Records and A-squared Management (Chicago IL), “pre- internet, the album was the main thing for almost every act – it was the main reason they toured, made videos, etc. And a lot of bands really only played live to sell more albums” (Cunningham, 2012). Artists traveled far and wide to generate excitement for their albums.
However, as a result of the massive expense of promotion, their tour-stops typically included major markets in which they knew the band could draw crowd and head back to the studio. Bands had to utilize print promotions and radio to communicate with their fans about tours and albums. Paper newsletters and postcards would be mailed to the fans and the bands had to get people to sign their mailing list in person at shows and the information would be mailed to them about addresses became invalid, and consequently, they would no longer receive the promotional materials.
It was one of the least efficient systems as the sender would end up getting a bulk of bad address returns and a lot of money would be wasted on invalid shipping addresses. Even worse, the people could never be tracked down again unless they notified the authorities personally. “The only other method to spread awareness was mass media. But if you failed to get a song played on the radio or through a TV broadcast (like a Saturday Night Live performance), then it was ‘ere, very, very hard for people to find out about you”, said Cunningham. Mass media furthermore aided in the development of a large gap between the artists and the fans.
It was a very firm one-way relationship where the fan didn’t have the resources to find out anything about an act unless national media talked about it. The media Nas the filter and the consumers picked from whatever was made available to them. Before the integration of digital tools and online social media sites, these artists pent huge sums of money to keep the audience engaged and aware of the happenings of the band, performed live to help gather a greater following and then released an album in hopes that the loyal names on the mailing list would buy it.
ADVENT OF THE DIGITAL ERA: In 1994, something happened that would change the dynamics of the industry drastically and cause a shift in the existing model. The Francophone Institute released the first MPH encoder enabling listeners to transfer songs from their CD collections and store them as files on their computer (Nair, Christi). Storing and playing music on amputees became extremely popular and soon lead to the exchange of music files through the internet. In 1999, Anapest introduced an online hub allowing the concept of peer-to-peer file (POP) sharing which eventually attracted as many as 70 million registered users (Abortionist, 2012).
With this new feature, the bargaining power of consumers went from virtually non-existent to extremely significant. Suddenly, users could access millions of new songs uploaded by friends or strangers and download them free of charge on their computers, without any repercussion from intellectual property or copyright laws. This concept was not well-received in the music industry and lawsuits flared up between industry professionals and Anapest, Aziza and rooster. The industry panicked as the new trend emerged, fearing that the availability of free digital copies would replace the purchase of physical albums.
Companies like Apple capitalized on this idea by creating new distribution channels for music. In one week, tunes sold over 1 million songs, wreaking every record and becoming the largest online music company in the world in 2001 (Dillydally, 2003) Though tunes and other music stores boosted the sales of music online, a number f issues became pervasive. First, digital piracy remained a more popular medium to acquire music as the legally obtaining music became an option and not an obligation. Approximately, 99% of music files available online were unauthorized (IF Music Piracy Report 2002).
Consequently the price of songs began tending towards zero and as music was unbundled through the availability of single-song downloads; the revenue stream from huge sales of artists was destroyed. The recorded album gradually was losing its value forcing artists to recognize that they would soon be sales. Secondly, though fans now had excessive amounts of music, the divide between the artists and fans increased even more. The need of mass media was eliminated for the purpose of music discovery.
Fans had no medium to connect with the bands, and no real reason to be any more engaged than simply downloading the songs form the Internet. As more music began to be consumed for free, the industry desperately started searching for new innovative ways to work with the new music Industry model. The digital revolution seemed to appear the key factor for the demise of the music industry. However, with each change in the industry, the emerging trend Nas not without benefits. Fans could finally access music of bands they likes and could discover more of an artist’s repertoire based on the easy availability of the band’s discography.
Fans could also download new unfamiliar music without the penalty of financial loss of not enjoying the track, as opposed to the issue of limited exposure in the old model. Previously, fans had to attend a show, see a posted promotional flyer or hear about a new band form a friend. It quickly became evident that this new model was the future of the music industry. With the importance of the hysterical album essentially obsolete, promotion of the album was no longer the main goal of artists. Now, bands had to promote themselves and sell their tour, compelling artists to turn concert tours as their primary source of revenue.
To do so, artists switched the focus of the promotions from album-centered to artist-centered. Bands now had to sell their story, their community, and their music by engaging fans in new Nays that could not be replicated and downloaded online. In one particular reflection of this, David Bowie, in an interview with the New York Times, stated that “music itself s going to become like running water or electricity. You’d better be prepared for doing a lot of touring because that’s really the only unique situation that’s going to be left.
It’s terribly exciting”. Social media made this shift possible HOW YOUTH HAS HELPED: In 2005, Youth was launched for people to upload, view, and share videos within their networks. Youth as a Social Media platform, made this shift of focus from albums to artist by providing bands with three major opportunities: 1 . Increased connectivity with fans and industry professionals 2. Access to a global audience 3. Video recordings of gigs practice sessions, behind the camera footage, interviews, and many more which add credibility to the information.
Increased connectivity Fans In an era of interconnectivity, the importance of specific demographics or geographic location is outweighed by the habits, trends, and personality of fans. Establishment of online communities (subscription of channels on Youth) around artists stimulated a strong artist-fan relationship where this kind of information became relevant. The move was made from a purely business relationship, which Nas connecting with fans only during promotions and appearances, to one that included a more human element, fostering a more meaningful relationship between the two.
Artist Manager, Josh Terry of A-squared Management, states that “It is more important now than ever to give the fans a behind the scenes look at their favorite bands, to keep them connected, and to let them know how important they are. Introit a solid fan base, a band as a business can’t operate”. Thus fans need to performing. Something even as simple as a prank played by/on the artist helps create a bond. The fans feel closer to the artists by getting a sneak-peek into their lives. Recordings of their practices create enthusiasm and excitement for the upcoming events.
The recordings of the makings of the videos are purposely made to contain goof-ups and mistakes which bring out the human side of the artists. It gives an impression that they are Just like us. It gives fans a window to perceive the artists/ bands as “friends”, giving them a view into their experiences that take place offline. Or appropriately engage fans, it is argued that the artist should promote 80% of their content about things other than promotional material. This helps in building of a strong offline relationship with the fans through the online resources.
By omitting on videos and songs on Youth, or by sharing the link on other social media, fans are able to directly communicate their demands for tour stops or music or to provide feedback on events. Fans can feel as though their demands are generating a response making them feel valued. Through Youth fans identify with specific genres of music and specific bands based on their interest. When people feel an emotional connection or sense of belonging to a group, they become more active participants in that group and invest more time and money in the well-being and successes of the live performances.
This gives artists the opportunity to convert online interest into revenue. INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS Not only do the opportunities exist for fans, but they are especially existent for industry professionals from all aspects of a concert perspective. Venues, promoters and managers among others can all reap the benefits from Youth as well. Venues ere role of venues in concerts is fundamental. Venues have already begun using social media to open their lines of communication directly to the bands that headline them and the fans that will fill their seats.
As one Los Angels venue stated, if you stop listening to people, they stop coming. If you stop listening to bands, they stop booking your establishment. Without feedback and the appropriate adjustments, the experience becomes less enjoyable and the venue ultimately shuts down. Thus denudes need to constantly be up-to-date about the successes and failures of band performances through videos to keep a check on their reservations. This helps especially when multiple artists try to book venues on the same day or time. Following their videos online helps them decide how to prioritize.
With happy fans, the venue next sought out ways to get the bands back, and Youth was one of their sickest to success if not the primary. Promoters Promoters evaluate fan feedback, number of views and band statistics every day to look for demands and trends in their areas. If Youth links on Backbone or Twitter show a certain trend, a promoter can act on the demand to bring new bands to new areas and new venues. According to the band’s manager, Josh Terry, “A Rocket to the Moon received literally thousands of comments on Youth in Indonesia asking them to come to their country.
The promoter in Jakarta noticed this and eventually put in a great offer for the band to perform there for 1 show. The band had never played internationally and never been to Southeast Asia, but at their very first show the band headlined a 45 minute set, playing for 5000 fans, each of whom spent over $50 USED on tickets. He later stated that Indonesia was the band’s biggest market. It is areas. Artist Managers ere benefits for artist managers are invaluable. Posts by fans can be monitored by managers and interpreted for business practices.
Terry said that he monitors every posting or video and monitors if it increases awareness and causes fans to react. Everything nowadays is reactionary. If something is bubbling, he knows he has something to make money out of. When things begin to “bubble” it is because fans have begun to share and respond to the post. Analyzing Youth along with Twitter, Backbone, Namespace and other social media analytics every week enables managers to see if fans are talking about bands, how many people are “liking” or re-posting the ‘ideas, etc.
Such analytics give insight into the excitement surrounding bands, and can help the managers to track what is working and what is not. These analytics have been highly significant indicators for their success in today’s online atmosphere. LITERATURE REVIEW Many papers have examined whether online word-of-mouth or user-generated content, such as consumers’ reviews, ratings, and blobs, have an impact on sales. The earlier studies (see, for example, Dollars 2003, Chevalier and Manikin 2006) have tried to establish the relationship between online consumer reviews and product sales.
The more recent studies have taken more nuanced approaches toward examining such a relationship. For instance, Chem. et al. (2007) study how the number of helpful votes on reviews and the reputation of reviewers influence the relationship teens book ratings and book sales. GHz and Ghana (2010) consider how product and consumer characteristics moderate the relationship between consumer reviews and product sales. In addition, researchers have started to pay attention to how consumer opinions can drive product sales. For instance, Dean and Armadas (2009) have studied the causal relationship between blob buzz and music sales.
All of these existing studies utilize data on user-generated content and address the impact of consumer behavior on product sales. Our study is related to how online content can influence product sales. However, it differs greatly from this literature because we examine online content from a completely different angle and study company-generated content rather than or user-generated content. To the best of our knowledge, no other paper has tried to quantify the value of live music marketing through Youth specifically.
This study also draws upon the marketing literature that studies the effect of traditional advertising on sales. In general, advertising often has an immediate effect on sales. A more subtle question to marketing managers is how long the cumulative effect of advertising persists. It can be argued that consumers remember past advertising messages, but this “goodwill” toward the advertised brand gradually decays because of forgetting and competitive advertising. Given and Horsy (1990) and Horsy and Simon (1983) propose that advertising can also indirectly affect sales through purchase reinforcement.
Advertising can encourage consumers to try a new experience, they may purchase it again in the future. In addition, competitive reactions could also have a major impact on the effectiveness of advertising. In the short run, marketing actions may prompt a positive sales response, but the long-run effect could be negligible depending on the nature of competitive reactions banshees 1980). En apply the insights from the studies mentioned above to the online social network context, and investigate the effects of artists’ online marketing actions.
In the social networking context, Trusts et al. (2009) studies the impact of word-of-mouth referrals and traditional marketing on the number of sign-ups at a major social networking Since the digital revolution, the masses have been able to view or listen to digitized artwork from a drive and on the internet, making it even easier for the consumption art. Jenkins (2006) makes the distinction between media, what we see or hear, and technology, the way media is produced and consumed.