Summit 2015, Austin TX
Monday & Tuesday, March 23-24, 2015
Session 1: Monday 10:15 IPO Room
Moderator: Bruce Ronkin
David Philp
Assistant Professor, Music Management & Popular Music Studies
William Paterson University
Magical Mystery Tour: Lessons For Today’s DIY Musicians From The Beatles’ Self-Managing Failures
As artists, The
Beatles are arguably the most popular musical group of all time. This
doesn’t mean they were infallible. As businessmen, the poor decisions
of John, Paul, George, and Ringo clearly showed their weaknesses as
individuals and as a group. The purpose of this paper is to describe
the mistakes The Beatles made in the short time between their manager
Brian Epstein’s death in August, 1967 and John Lennon’s signing with a
new manager, Allen Klein, in January, 1969. This 17-month period was
musically a creative whirlwind for the band. It was also the beginning
of their demise. This time period gave rise to inflated egos,
depression and drug use, personal growth, poor communication and
ignorance; these issues taxing the band in more ways than they could
understand. When it was over, Klein presided over a disbanded
collection of individuals who proceeded to sue and counter-sue each
other (and Klein) for years. Today’s DIY musician culture can learn
more from The Beatles than how to write, arrange and record memorable
songs. This study will delineate those lessons so musicians and artists
can learn from the blunders and misjudgments made by this iconic band.
Stan Renard
Lecturer of Music Industry
Colby College
Adjunct Faculty of Marketing and Management
Eastern Connecticut State University
Music Brand Marketing Strategies: A Review and Analysis of Current Practices
Music brand marketing
strategies have been at the center of change and many innovations in
recent years. This paper accounts for brand marketing strategies
currently in use by megabrands, music companies and artists. In
addition, the author provides a brand analysis addressing the relevance
of brands within the music industry and how brands have been affected
by new advances in technology and current consumer behavior patterns.
The author undertakes a comprehensive literature review on branding and
music brand marketing, followed by an analysis of a large sample of
music-related brands. The findings of the analysis are then synthesized
within an integrated model presenting current branding strategies in
use between the music industry and megabrands as a measure of artist
involvement and company investment levels.