MAR 100: My Goodbye/Hello

Inspire the uninspired. That is what marketing does, and that is what music does; igniting a fire that was never lit. Marketing for Universal Music Group is the match to their success. With, market segmentation, appeasement to all music genres and fans. Their focus on the promotions and sales with the attempt to reanimate the CD is what makes Universal Music Group an innovative company. UMG announced that their CD products were now only going to cost $6.99 to $9.99 making the buying power of their CDs more attainable. UMG not only focuses on the music as a tune, but also as a drive, or an incentive of today's culture and society. With their partnership with Bally, their artist's music is able to be purchased with a membership at Bally Total Fitness. Making music and their company together work for the greater good of society's health and culture is what makes the fire grow. UMG takes all facets of branding, product lines, and as a whole, product concepts with their labels which define and support every type of musical genre not just in the United States, but the entire world. Labels such as Universal Music Korea, Universal Music Japan, or Universal Music Group Italy. UMG's globalization makes the company profitable to all music fans in the world. UMG is leading the way in consumer's decision with all their popular artists and music distribution to all countries of the world. The success in UMG's marketing is what makes them the #1 world's leading music company. People sing and dance and listen to music everyday. Universal Music Group is able to simply ask them if other people want to see or hear it.

Launch of Imago Dei Music Group: New Product Line

Universal Music Christian Group, a division of Universal Music Group launched Imago Dei Music Group, a product line extension of Universal Music Group.The partnering of Universal Music Group Distribution, the long arm marketing section of Universal Music Group with entertainment executive Max Siegel initiated the launch of Imago Dei Music Group (iD Music Group), a division of Max Siegel Inc. Universal Music Group Distribution consists of four major divisions: Universal Music Distribution (UMD); Fontana, a worldwide distributor of independent music labels; Vivendi Entertainment, the largest independent DVD distribution company in the US and also a theatrical distributor; and Universal Music Christian Group. With this powerhouse under the new iD Music Group, high grossing sales are estimated within the beginning of its release. Initial releases from iD Music Group will include "Champion," from Darwin Hobbs (June 22) as well as BET "Sunday Best" winner Y'Anna Crawley's debut album (July 13). The product line extension of iD Music Group further extends the arms of Universal Music Group's genres and possible goods distribution; another revolutionary tactic from the world's leading music distribution and record company. 

Christian Band: Tenth Avenue North 

Product Concepts

The brand name of Universal Music Group and its labels helps to identify which record companies sponsor which artists. Each label represents different product lines varying from rock and roll, hip-hop, jazz, and classical just to name a few.  Music is a cultural need, an uplifting sense of enlightenment and a testament to the history of mankind's creativity. And with history, mankind leaves traces behind to commemorate the significant age. With music CDs, LPs, tape decks, and mp3s will be left behind for history to gather and to listen to. These gateways of music also hold another part of culture, art. The design of each artist's album cover, whether vinyl LP, tape deck, or CD, expresses the artist's creations of music and creativity; and it also sells.

Music will forever be in our veins.

Record Store Day

Saturday, April 17th, 2010 was Record Store Day, an annual event since 2007 to celebrate the wonder of music. This is the one day that all of the independently owned record stores come together with artists to celebrate the art of music. Special vinyl and CD releases and various promotional products are made exclusively for the day and hundreds of artists in the United States and in various countries across the globe make special appearances and performances. This day combines the marketing factors of consumer sales promotion, trade allowance, and point-of-purchase display. This celebration of music is a beautiful way to instill more culture within the minds of the people of the world.

Record Store Day

Jay-Z and Beyonce Performing at Coachella Music Festival 2010 

Mar 100- Pricing

CDs are now a niche market. Universal Music Group aims to change that by reducing its prices on all their labeled CD albums. I recently visited a bookstore, the unfortunate only few places to buy physical music, and perused through all the CDs looking for my favorite bands and singers. As I came across the King of Funk, James Brown, I found a price tag on the CD that shouldn't be there because James Brown is priceless. The surprise to me was that James Brown's greatest hits was on sale for $6.95. I also came across legendary Will Smith's greatest hits seeing the same price as James Brown, $6.95. To check that history reduced the prices of the music, I looked at the new 30 Seconds to Mars album that was just released, seeing the price to be none other than $6.95. As shocked as I was I found myself as a music lover and marketer to see the enticement of the prices of CDs. Needless to say I bought Will Smith, James Brown, and 30 Seconds to Mars. If I were you (which I'm not), I would go buy my favorite artists' albums on CD.

The Legend of the Guardians: Kings and Queens

 I love it when I see a movie, show or commercial and say, "I love that song! Who sings it?" I was at the move theater recently and was watching the fifteen minutes of previews.That's the loving spine-tingling feeling I got when I heard the main background music to the movie Legend of the Guardians. People may love the song and look it up and not realize that they were just enticed through a form of advertising. Within all forms of the entertainment business, Universal Music Group has advertised their artists and music. I was extremely intrigued when I found out that the song that I felt such a rush from was played by one of my all time favorite bands, 30 Seconds to Mars. Their songs are put out by the label, which is in turn distributed and advertised around famous websites and musical advertisement boards, and then the song and album is noticed. But the label company does not do all the work. The band also promotes their new releases and songs through their own channels, such as Twitter. Advertisement is a two-way street, where all parties trying to intrigue and get notice of a product or theme sell their shares.

Legend of the Guardians:
http://legendoftheguardians.warnerbros.com/

Follow 30 Seconds to Mars on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/30secondstomars

Mar 100 Advertising and Public Relations

Universal Music Group promotes their artists and the labels behind them through many tactics such as advertising and public relations. UMG uses many of their labels as a creative trademark for movie soundtracks. Many movie soundtracks are based from UMG music labels such as, Kung Fu Panda, Across the Universe, and the newly promoted movie, Kick-Ass coming out in theaters on April 16th, 2010. UMG provides every basis to advertise their artists and their music through all forms of media. UMG also integrates public relations through many partnerships. UMG has now partnered with Conduit Labs, a leading social music gaming developing company to approach music in a new socially fun way. This new-product publicity of musical gaming will in turn promote the music of UMG and the artists they sign.

For more information on the Conduit Labs and Universal Music Group's partnership, please visit:

http://new.umusic.com/News.aspx?NewsId=855

Check out Conduit Lab's Facebook games: 
http://apps.facebook.com/playsuperdance
http://apps.facebook.com/musicpets 



 

VEVO: Marketing Within Technology

Universal Music Group has created this innovative idea to integrate within the online video hit site, YouTube.UMG has made a music video player within the YouTube site exclusive for musical artist's music videos. The program let's the watcher visit the artists page on the VEVO site, as well as watch the video with lurics to the song. The marketing integration of this program and site gives HD quality music videos, as well as promotes and delivers the music to the online watcher in a better way. VEVO is a free site as well that leads to artists music and videos. UMG has created VEVO and made it into a great schematic for online sales promotion. I am a personal lover of VEVO, and listening to my music in high quality in both view and in sound, so I know how great the program and site are. Long live musical prowess!

VEVO's Site with Parachute:
http://www.vevo.com/watch/parachute/under-control/USUV70902536

More Music...More Power!

EMI Group Ltd. is looking to bind licensing with Universal Music Group to get off their declining deficit. The licensing agreement would mean Universal Music Group would pay $300 million over the span of five years to EMI to gain rights to distribute EMI's catalog in the United States with new and old musical artists such as Coldplay, Norah Jones, the Beatles and more. The idea of UMG buying EMI's licensing agreement lends to an idea of their tactic to spread music through their company, as well as a better promotional front of their company. UMG could look as a company that is willing to bail EMI out, as well as promote even more music through their labels. Marketing this issue is what will help UMG look more towards the future in terms of new contracts with new artists, and forging alliances with other music companies based under EMI Group Ltd. The music will now be under UMG, which would help me learn even more about licensing, musical artists, as well as marketing their music, as I apply for an internship with their New York based office. 

For more information on the license purchasing, please visit:

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-03-30/emi-universal-music-said-to-resume-talks-for-catalog-update1-.html

The Beatles under EMI selling to UMG:

http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/news/article/0,,6486456,00.html

Six-String

Universal Music Group has launched their new app for the iPhone and iTouch called Six-String. The application is a game basis of guitar hero on the iPhone and iTouch. I took a look at it and really enjoyed how they promote their artist's music, as well as the playing of the game. They made six studio-recorded sounding tracks from varying artists, such as Angels and Airwaves, Beck, Dashboard Confessional, Maroon 5, Wolfmother and many more available on the application and made twenty available for purchase. If I were to analyze the application in the terms of marketing, they created good digital promotion for it. They created a Facebook fan page, a Twitter page, and a Myspace to promote UMG's iPhone and iTouch app. The digital market is growing in size, and in recognition, which begs the question; will music stores exist outside of the computer?

For more information please visit:

http://www.universalmusic.com/artist-news/universal-music-group-launches-six-string%E2%84%A2-on-app-store

Sales Operation

Universal Music Group utilizes the physical and digital form of sales. Although physical music is now becoming a thing fo the past, UMG now is trying a promotional idea by reducing the price of CDs to $10 or less. Their idea is to capture more sales in retail stores, rather than through digital sales, which has increased in the past year. UMG sells through CDs, mp3s, and through merchandising. Their tactics through consumer sales promotion are by performances shows, concerts, and viral marketing. Music is heard everywhere through the airwaves, to the computer. UMG utilizes every listening channel and purchasing gateway to promote their artists' music sales and art. UMG's prospecting is focused on their top retail marketers such as Virgin Megastore, Best Buy and other electronic "big houses". Their new sales proposal on CDs is a hit and miss due to the fact that CDs are now if only a mainstream in cars. UMG is tackling sales through the motive of today's and yesterday's music affinities.


For more information on the Universal Music Group promotion idea on CDs, please visit this website:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62J04Z20100320

LIVE CD! LIVE AGAIN!!!

The CD may come back! UMG is now starting their launch of making CD prices of current artists starting from $10 or less at music album retailers. I visited the Barnes & Nobles between Warren and Greenwich st. in New York City to see the retailing of music in the physical form. What I saw brought me back to when I was twelve, the last time I ever needed to go into a music store. I noticed that the racking and filing of CDs like files in a large open file cabinet from genre and artists A-Z was still the same. I also noticed the other media within the music section of Barnes & Nobles such as DVDs. With my gears moving in a marketing set of mind, I perused the music CDs, played my favorite songs on the CDs by scanning them on their interactive sampling machines. UMG's CDs are presented like all products and labels within the music section, although they are the only label to present their featured and hit artists on the front of the entrance to the music section. They were promoting their release of Jimi Hendrix's remake CD, as well as Lady Gaga, unfortunately different genres, but well enough known to have their album covers on the two large wooden pillars in front of the security alarm scanners. I think UMG presents their artists and their products well enough to the point of where they can present it n a physical form. The only way I could suggest an improvement on UMG's part is to have a featured section of computers or digital media to present their new music, as well as any upcoming events for the company and their artists.

Goodbye Virgin Megastore Times Square:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/nyregion/15virgin.html
http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20090114/want-to-buy-a-cd-in-times-square-make-it-quick-virgins-giving-up/

Further Information of UMG's CD tactic can be found here:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62J04Z20100320

Digital Records

I visited the company and its products through the most convenient, profitable and innovative way today: the Internet. As unfortunate as it may be, people can now buy and listen to music by still sitting in front of the computer. Through the channels of online retailing and direct marketing UMG has distributed and sold their music online and through computerized innovation. I was able to peruse through all my favorite artists and even have a sample of some new songs that I've never heard before. The online retailing segment of UMG has given their company an 8.4% increase in digital sales. UMG has now made their retailing tactic digital based on this new generational concept. The only way to make music better through their retail market is to find a way to enforce illegal downloading of music, as well as a better partnership with main computer downloading programs. Pertaining to digital distribution, there should be a better focus on the new technology that people use to listen to music. The generation of music may not be as good as history's tunes, but who said music has to be that way? Who said music has to be a certain way to be remembered?

UMG Pushes More Aggressive App Strategy
http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i9e0f4d3075c501abe333e37d71741da9

Universal Music Group Reports 8.4% Growth In Digital Sales For 2009
http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/01/umg-digital-sales/

LET'S TRY NOT TO PEOPLE! IF WE LOVE OUR MUSIC ARTIST'S SONGS, LETS BUY THEM TO SUPPORT THEM!

Breaking Down the Groovin to the Music

Music is a cultural boom that is on a constant flow of change. Much like music companies evolve as well, at least in order to be profitable. Market segmentation in music lies in all the facets of music: listening, playing, singing, performing, dancing to, and writing. For Universal Music Group, it takes every aspect, every detail and letter of the word "m...u...s...i...c" and transforms it into a marketable segmented criteria. In the culture today, UMG understands the incorporation of music in everyday life through the headphones that are seen in every ear of every person around the world. UMG takes all aspects of market segmentation through label sponsorship, the reanimation of a rock and roll band, artist branding and marketing, and through the sheer love of all music for everyone's groove, while continually making profits as the world's largest record company in the world.


UPDATE: Universal Music Group and Bally Total Fitness's partnership is launched
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=123502



The Rebirth of Rock and Roll Gods, The Rolling Stones rolls back on Main Street
http://www.crawdaddy.com/index.php/2010/03/01/exile-on-main-street-to-be-reissued-in-may/

Tuning to the Consumer's Choice

Universal Music Group goes through many channels in which they appease to the consumer and their "groove" for their choice in purchases. Unfortunately, culture has shifted to a new era in technology, thus making touchable music obsolete. Technology has made a shift in music making everything electronic and through computer files and gigabytes. Universal Music Group has embraced this unfortunate, neo-cultural fact and made it to a profitable market. Many consumers love music, which also go to think who wouldn't love music. Their choice in the purchasing of music is derived from their "groove" of music, and also the price to pay for music. The company has made an increase of 8.4% in digital sales which is contributed to its arousal to the consumers. Universal Music Group has channeled its embrace and creativity into a technological revolution not just in music, but in the world. If anything were to be improved in UMG (Universal Music Group), the largest of the major record companies in music, housing and distribution, there should be an effort to try to get more advertisements that air through the internet, as well as television to help bring out the artists and music that they endorse. Music has an ability to appease to anyone, or at least be known to anyone. The music labels have the ability to share their artists' creations and music to the world, and that is what UMG does.

"UMG, the world's largest music company with artists like U2, Amy Winehouse, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Black Eyed Peas, Rihanna, Eminem, Lil Wayne under contract, as expected finds its revenue from physical product sales (CDs) in a seemingly unstoppable decline. Last year, the company's revenues were ?4,363 million, a 6.2% decrease compared to 2008.Still, Universal Music Group's digital sales grew 8.4% in 2009, which the company attributed to strong growth in online sales yet "tempered by softening demand for mobile products in the United States and Japan".UMG says it will "continue to encourage and support innovation", citing Spotify's iPhone application and MusicStation's presence on the Android Market as examples. Universal is also a major shareholder of VEVO, a service launched in December, 2009 that quickly rose to become the number 1 music property in the United States." - Robin Wauters TechCrunch.com
Monday, March 1, 2010; 1:30 AM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/01/AR2010030100680.html

Globally Marketing Music Through the Airwaves

Rock and roll music has been a renowned revolution in music ever since the late 1940s. Throughout the world rock and roll has been reinvented as the music that ignites the spirit through shows played in concert music halls, to the basement at a friend's house party, or through the electrical frequency of a set of headphones. Globally marketing rock and roll music for the Universal Music Group label company has become a technology/promotional based strategy. Universal Music Group takes music from the United States and spreads it worldwide through its international labels and websites. The music is also marketed and distributed through various supporting computer music programs such as iTunes or YouTube. The music labels that Universal Music Group support also has performances all throughout the world with their musicians playing in all different countries to spread their music.

All these websites are supporting Universal Music Group International Label Companies:

http://store.universal-music.co.uk/
http://www.universalmusic.es/
http://www.universalmusic.co.kr/
http://www.getmusic.com.au/

Moving to Everyon's Groove

Music is a channel in through which people express themselves, speak out, say and hear what they love, feel emotions and many other movements of the human spirit. Music is not bias, it does not choose who gets to listen. Music is for everyone and it is open to anyone who wishes to listen. Universal Music Group was able to break down each segment of musical genres within labels. The label I chose was Interscope Geffen A&M. This music label encompasses around independent expressionistic music. Their target market for this new-found style of music is to the general adult youth populace. The market for music is never truly dynamic because all types of people from all types of places in the world listen to the same kind of music or the same kind of sounds. People generally have a specific type of music they love, but no one can say that they appreciate only that type of music. A country man can still appreciate or listen to or even enjoy the sound of The Strokes. And a hip hop artist can still love The Beatles. There is even a hip hop rapper who says his inspiration comes from Bob Dylan. The musical genres don't collide, but the ingenuity and the flow of Bob Dylan's music helps to create this hip hop artist's flow. For the past fifteen years, Interscope Geffen A&M have not changed their target market, due to the fact that is has been an ongoing revolution in music with the same amount of dynamic people listening to it.

Working Out to the Groove

UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP (UMG) AND BALLY TOTAL FITNESS PARTNER TO MAKE WORKOUTS ROCK WITH FREE MP3 SONG DOWNLOADS TO MEMBERS

This two-year agreement between UMG (Universal Music Group) and Bally Total Fitness seems to be a positive step towards a healthier and more socially positive group of people in the world. It's a culmination of what people have on while doing their exercises and their goal to be healthier individuals. People of course have their own music or their own tastes, therefore Bally purchase of 4.5 million downloads will be pleasing to all different kinds of music lovers, while providing a gym as well. This new plan between Universal Music Group and Bally Total Fitness represents positive ethics and social responsibility for the welfare of these companies' customers. I feel that this combined effort is also targeting all kinds of people with all kinds of new incentives to get healthy and fit and join Bally Total Fitness, while still enjoying their workout music. This is a successful marketing idea due to a cheap gym being readily available for all people, as well as free music. Yes, there is illegal downloading, but there is also a new set of music that people have not heard about yet. I feel that this new deal with a membership at Bally will help people look into more kinds of music, and new artists and new directions of cultural bounds. People listen to music when they exercise because it gives them adrenaline, as well as makes them feel in their own center so to speak, or their own area. Listening to music in the gym keeps people away from distractions and focuses on the work out. With UMG and Bally Total Fitness combining the two things that people do at a gym, there is a new opening for new customers, as well as new listeners.

http://new.umusic.com/News.aspx?NewsId=840
http://www.ballyfitness.com/featuredartist.aspx