Sunday, October 29, 2006
November 2 Reading – Territorial marketing: international repertoire and world music
In this article, the author explores the idea of “territorial rights” in the music industry. This territorialization, he argues, is central to “global marketing strategies” in the music industry. He follows Garcia’s suggestion that cultural relations are defined by 1) deterritorialization, or “the loss of any natural relationship between culture and geographical and social territories,” and 2) reterritorialization, or the relocalization of old and new symbolic productions. The author explores how international marketing departments in major record labels have influenced acquisition, prioritizing and circulation of the music of recording artists and its consequences.
In the 1960’s and 70’s, international departments within record labels were supposed to synchronize the movement and marketing among international artists or act as a link for workers in different countries. Now international marketing departments influence how artists are acquired, produced and presented. This issue affects location of offices and organizational change, and is a new consideration as to whether a new artist will have international potential. Marketing outside the U.S. opens new doors for producers because of its potential for extra income.
International staff have to make judgments on the types of music (instruments, tempos, rhythms, voices, and melodies), political judgments on parts of the world, marketing judgments about music distribution, and pragmatic judgments about sound carrier formats (mp3, CDs, cassette tapes, etc.). The most profitable countries based on these judgments will become the “global markets.”
International repertoire – “a label which has become an institutionalized euphemism for the recordings of artists who sing conventional melodic songs in accent-free English and who have a number of ballads in their repertoire.”
In contrast to a regional repertoire (a repertoire that will work in a region of the world, such as Spanish pop music), or a domestic repertoire (released in only one national territory), international repertoire will work globally, and producers seek out artists with international potential. Ballads always work for international repertoire, said David McDonagh, Senior VP of International at PolyGram’s NY office. An artist must also have the right voice which is “in English without an accent.”
Rap and country do not usually work internationally because of their “dependency on lyrics,” and British rock doesn’t usually work internationally because of its artists’ accents.
Artists are re-labeled from domestic artists to international, and must be marketed very carefully in order to break into the international market. A good example of this is the case study on Mari Hamada, which I will discuss in class.
Artists and their representatives will try to market themselves according to the wishes of major corporations to be placed on the international priority list. If an artist is picked up as an international artist, he/she can expect admittance to an exclusive artist aristocracy, but the company must market, invest, and promote strategically to get the artist to this point.
“World music” is defined as “an eclectic mixture of styles, rhythms and sounds” that was meant to solve the marketing dilemma of placing diverse music. It is not from the entire world, but from certain places in the world. World music, whose sounds signify different places, differs from international repertoire in that it is more easily located and less open to local appropriation. In addition, world music emphasizes the artists’ origins, while international repertoire tries to hide it. Marketing artist origin has been viewed as “a rather cynical ploy by the music industry” because it appears to encourage global attentiveness, when really it is marketing world music as a commercial category.
The 4 consequences of these processes the author outlines are:
1. Performers are encouraged to compete with each other by the corporate organization of musical production in pursuit of specific commercial strategies. This competition has the potential to hinder creativity.
2. Most artists stay “local” only because companies will not market their music to other territories.
3. Because the major labels have tried to make themselves “global,” local staff defensively resist stepping outside their “genre boxes.”
4. Although some artists are internationally successful because of corporate marketing and investment, many are successful despite corporate marketing and investment. This is due to the actions of enthusiasts who contribute to the formation of music industries, which employs a different kind of logic: emotional investment and pluralizing knowledge to that found in the institutional industry.
Questions:
1. Is “transcending” a non-English speaking background the only way to break into the international music industry? What are some possible solutions to this problem?
2. Is listening to “world music” an acceptable source of diversifying your music intake?
3. If a performer chooses not to compete with others to become an international repertoire artist, can he/she still be internationally successful? If so, what would he/she have to do to get there?
In the 1960’s and 70’s, international departments within record labels were supposed to synchronize the movement and marketing among international artists or act as a link for workers in different countries. Now international marketing departments influence how artists are acquired, produced and presented. This issue affects location of offices and organizational change, and is a new consideration as to whether a new artist will have international potential. Marketing outside the U.S. opens new doors for producers because of its potential for extra income.
International staff have to make judgments on the types of music (instruments, tempos, rhythms, voices, and melodies), political judgments on parts of the world, marketing judgments about music distribution, and pragmatic judgments about sound carrier formats (mp3, CDs, cassette tapes, etc.). The most profitable countries based on these judgments will become the “global markets.”
International repertoire – “a label which has become an institutionalized euphemism for the recordings of artists who sing conventional melodic songs in accent-free English and who have a number of ballads in their repertoire.”
In contrast to a regional repertoire (a repertoire that will work in a region of the world, such as Spanish pop music), or a domestic repertoire (released in only one national territory), international repertoire will work globally, and producers seek out artists with international potential. Ballads always work for international repertoire, said David McDonagh, Senior VP of International at PolyGram’s NY office. An artist must also have the right voice which is “in English without an accent.”
Rap and country do not usually work internationally because of their “dependency on lyrics,” and British rock doesn’t usually work internationally because of its artists’ accents.
Artists are re-labeled from domestic artists to international, and must be marketed very carefully in order to break into the international market. A good example of this is the case study on Mari Hamada, which I will discuss in class.
Artists and their representatives will try to market themselves according to the wishes of major corporations to be placed on the international priority list. If an artist is picked up as an international artist, he/she can expect admittance to an exclusive artist aristocracy, but the company must market, invest, and promote strategically to get the artist to this point.
“World music” is defined as “an eclectic mixture of styles, rhythms and sounds” that was meant to solve the marketing dilemma of placing diverse music. It is not from the entire world, but from certain places in the world. World music, whose sounds signify different places, differs from international repertoire in that it is more easily located and less open to local appropriation. In addition, world music emphasizes the artists’ origins, while international repertoire tries to hide it. Marketing artist origin has been viewed as “a rather cynical ploy by the music industry” because it appears to encourage global attentiveness, when really it is marketing world music as a commercial category.
The 4 consequences of these processes the author outlines are:
1. Performers are encouraged to compete with each other by the corporate organization of musical production in pursuit of specific commercial strategies. This competition has the potential to hinder creativity.
2. Most artists stay “local” only because companies will not market their music to other territories.
3. Because the major labels have tried to make themselves “global,” local staff defensively resist stepping outside their “genre boxes.”
4. Although some artists are internationally successful because of corporate marketing and investment, many are successful despite corporate marketing and investment. This is due to the actions of enthusiasts who contribute to the formation of music industries, which employs a different kind of logic: emotional investment and pluralizing knowledge to that found in the institutional industry.
Questions:
1. Is “transcending” a non-English speaking background the only way to break into the international music industry? What are some possible solutions to this problem?
2. Is listening to “world music” an acceptable source of diversifying your music intake?
3. If a performer chooses not to compete with others to become an international repertoire artist, can he/she still be internationally successful? If so, what would he/she have to do to get there?
