Article

 

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE FACTORS THAT CAN HINDER THE GROWTH OF LOW COST DIGITAL MARKETING OF INDEPENDENT MUSIC (p.85-101)

by

Georgios.P. Heliades, TECHNOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF IONIAN ISLANDS

Fabricio Lazakis, TECHNOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF IONIAN ISLANDS

Keywords : Independent music, music marketing, music distribution, Internet services, social media, communication

JEL classification : M1, M2, M3, L1

Abstract

As the Internet forms itself towards music distribution, it offers a huge range of services for musicians, most of which fall in the low cost section. This paper investigates the adoption of the Internet as a mean of music distribution by musicians of independent style. It builds up on our previous effort to map the independent music scene across the country, discovering a poor volume of musicians that actually spend significant time to market their music over the time they spend to create it. In this research, employing 300 independent musicians and groups in Athens, we confirm a high expectation out of Internet services by musicians but a relatively low engagement rate. A number of reasons can be blamed for that, relating to the use of technology. However, the most interesting finding was a lack of the right communication instinct, leading to an opportunistic treatment of the social media and related facilities. It is obvious that certain steps will have to be taken if this sort of music is to be grown over the new distribution channels. These steps may include certain technical improvements on services. However, the main issue is the maturity of attitude towards the public, translated into the right marketing steps.