Republic Records
Artist Tech Stack
Concept by Kosta Elchev
Introduction
Oversaturation and repetitiveness have left artists marketing strategies inefficient and stale. We need to move away from only using our gut to guide our strategic decisions and establish a modern marketing foundation that embodies a techno-human approach.
Focusing on the implementation of an Artist Marketing Tech Stack will enable us to better develop, deploy, manage, and iterate each aspect of the marketing operation. As the industry transforms in response to the direct-to-consumer model, those Labels that fully embrace a fan-centric approach to their business will emerge as the new leaders.
What Is It?
A marketing technology stack is a grouping of technologies that marketers leverage to conduct and improve their marketing activities.
The Artist Tech Stack consists of applying enterprise strategies and systems to establish consistency and performance within the artist marketing operation.
Beyond the Mar-Tech implementation, systematic communication procedures with marketing channels will be formulated to maintain a first-mover position and supplement marketing costs around important moments.
How It Works
The stack optimizes existing front-end touch points and implements new channel strategies by developing a data-driven back-end which analyzes and optimizes each digital touch-point for growth, retention, and sales. To build new revenue streams effectively, Artists must adopt new approaches to acquiring, retaining, and rewarding fans that are predicated on applying enhanced analytics capabilities.
THE STACK CONSISTS OF:
FRONT-END
CMS
Website, Blog,
Relevant Web
Properties
Devices
Apps
Mobile
OTT
Voice
AR & VR
Back-End
SEM
Insights
Third Party Tools
Data Warehouse
SEO
BACK-END
Advertising
Display Ads
Media
OHH
Automation
Optimization
Experience Optimization
A/B Testing
Personalization Software
CRM
Audience Management
Insights
Relationship Nurturing
Social Media
Social Networks
Messaging
Ad-Tech
Tracking
Retargeting
Streaming
Music
Video
Reactive to Active
Focusing investment not only on existing channels but new platforms and partnerships to yield audience growth opportunities and revenue. Content and distribution expertise must be paired with other capabilities in data analytics, in acquisition and retention mechanisms, and in experience development.
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Audience Acquisition
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Brand & Communications
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Content Marketing
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Marketing Operations
Always-On
An always-on strategy will be implemented to provide a systematic way to scan for signs of changes to the strategic environment. We will identify the most pressing strategic issues and regularly engage in formulating a response. We will carefully monitor the progress of strategic initiatives to increase the speed and impact of strategy execution.
Multiple time horizons: The long, medium and short-term need to be addressed individually. Each demands different goals, stakeholders, and rhythms.
Reinvent and prompt strategic dialogue regularly: With too much repetition, strategies become saturated and stale. Rather than changing the process, we inject inspiration and novelty by focusing our process on a changing set of critical strategic questions.
Invest in execution and monitoring: Priority strategic initiatives will be tracked via monthly reports and debriefs.
Supplementing Marketing Costs
Exploiting the growing competition between established and emerging tech brands, the division will create strategic relationships to offset marketing costs for album and label promotions. These partnerships will play a significant role in developing and growing the artists following and engagement through the implementation of new features and ancillary marketing campaigns. Monthly and quarterly meetings will be outlined to keep a consistent flow of information between the brand and Label to help align initiatives around important moments.
Parasocial Theory
The Para-Social theory has been principally pursued in communication studies although work in psychology, sociology and related disciplines has been done as well. The concept originated in 1956 with the article “Mass Communication and Para-Social Interaction” by Donald Horton, and R. Richard Wohl wherein the authors suggested that through repeated visual and audio contact people form a one-sided relationship with the media figure while being utterly unknown in return. The advent of mass media and the 24-hour consumption habits of content expedites the formation and strengthening of the relationship.
Para-Social Interactions (PSI) leads to a Paras-Social Relationship (PSR), which is key in establishing the feeling of knowing the celebrity long after the exposure ends. In a small percentage of cases, the media figure becomes a source of felt security and safe haven such that a parasocial attachment (PSA) forms.
Using this theory you can systematically create optimized interactions through macro and micro communication channels that increase the artist to audience bond. While Management focuses on developing their artist, we focus on developing their audience.
This outline is still an early stage imagination and should be treated as wet clay. Discussion and feedback are necessary.