The answer is unmistakably NO it’s not but the days of opening a field and putting a few acts on and not really providing much quality is gone. As an industry it’s vital to ensure time, effort and money are spent in making the brand very strong. The industry needs to ensure that customers want to come to the events and that the relevant acts are there too. What you have to be really careful of in the UK, is that experiences are priced in the right way. A challenge faced in the industry is the increasing affordability and desirability of going abroad to experience festivals. Events here, must be priced appropriately with the value obvious to see in order to entice those consumers who can easily fly to Croatia and have an experience of pretty much the same acts in the sunshine. There is also a need to be wary that it is not seen as a solely UK business, but Europe wide and that those brands are relevant across those networks. The business is in robust health but changes must be made in how consumers are targeted, how content is provided and most importantly that conversations are on-going – Festivals should not be seen as just 4 or 5 days in summer sunshine, they’re a 365 day a year communication channel of which 4 or 5 days a year happen to be when it comes alive.

Creating value for money, Creating ‘other stuff’:

Music marketing partnerships must create enough ‘other stuff’ at Festivals and venues that add value to the user experience.  The consumer then feels 'yes I’m paying  £X but I’m getting the best weekend/time of my life, I’m getting that memory created forever, it’s the thing I’m going to talk about with my friends for the next 15 years'. An example Live Nation are citing at the moment in sport is that people will go to Twickenham for 7 hours for effectively 80 minutes of rugby. However that desire to experience a day at Twickenham is because of all the other activities that happen there and that’s what the music event business has got to understand. People will come to an event such as a Festival for 4 or 5 days and in reality the headline acts only perform for 4 hours of that, so what are people doing for the other 65 or 70 hours that they are there?

Understanding and focusing on this, is key for music marketing right now.

Music Marketing is an Extension of You and Your Music.

It is a non-music extension of who you are and what you create.  It's everything you and your music already are, but brighter, louder, faster, stronger, and taller.

The event becomes a brand in itself. This is where people talk of their desire to go to Wireless, or Reading rather than to see specific acts. This brand tells people coming what to expect, what sort of people go, influences what sort of brands will want to partner in the future and what excitement can be found beyond the music. In essence, it is an association game in which simultaneously your festival or event influences which brands wish to partner with you, which people talk about you and how you’re portrayed but in turn, the brands that want to work with you, how people talk about you and how your image is created decide the marketplace position of your event.

Music marketing is extending the artist into life. It’s creating the whole package. What would that ‘music’ drink, eat, do, enjoy – and want to share. Who would they be friends with, who would aspire to be a part of it’s crowd. It is about delivering a complete package that sells the music, the ‘creative extras’ and gets people to come.....

...and even more people to wish they were here.

Areas of Music Marketing

 

It is also about the shopper journey where by music marketing should be seen as an emotional journey from date release to the aftermath. For example with a festival:

The HEART: Brand integration straight into the heart of one of our most cherished memories.

The HEAD : Market value and potential

   

• With income from music sales falling, bands are increasingly prepared to settle down with brands to take advantage of their financial and marketing clout.
• 85% of adults listen to music for an average of 3.5 hours every day
• 58% of adults say that music is an integral part of their lives
• 60% of concert goers are likely to purchase a product from a sponsor (OnSpon Article 2013)
• Brand activity in music is a driving force behind purchase preference, influencing their choice of a brand over another, say 31% of 16- to 18-year-olds.
• A new generation of consumers raised on brand endorsement and social media are buying music because of branded partnerships. Two-thirds of young people  have bought a song based purely on its presence within an ad.

(According to The Brands and Music Manifesto report by specialist music marketing agency FRUKT for PRS for Music (the Performing Right Society).

• It provides relevance
• Tangible assets that people can take to tell their consumer about
• Positioning in the right way, that provides engagement opportunities to millions of people not just those at the event. 

• Tapping into real emotions - Music Marketing creates emotional, euphoric connections
• The marketing objectives it delivers against – loyalty, penetration, engagement
• Music appeals to the masses and is truly International
• Cut through and dwell time are real strengths
• It's the business of life long memories