Case study CASE STUDY. Breaking Australian music overseas: persuasive promotion strategies for entering international markets

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1 CASE STUDY 10 Breaking Australian music overseas: persuasive promotion strategies for entering international markets by Pandora Kay Victoria University Case study Source: Courtesy of News Limited Image Archive. Persuasive promotion strategies are imperative to the success of Australian music in international markets as will be demonstrated in this case. Furthermore, it is imperative for Australian artists to enter overseas markets. The domestic market for sales of contemporary music is only about two per cent of world music sales and, within this, an estimated 85 per cent of the music bought in Australia is recorded by foreign artists. Additionally, in the music industry, success in international markets can further increase sales in the domestic market. Special international releases of songs and video clips can benefit domestic sales figures and chart positions as many fans purchase both copies. This case study first considers persuasive promotion strategies used generally to break Australian music into international markets and then focuses on two Australian acts currently experiencing considerable success overseas: silverchair and Human Nature. Both acts have used persuasive promotion strategies to break into various international markets but their approaches and achievements reveal some similarities and some differences. In the 1970s, Olivia Newton-John and Peter Allen had success in the US and relocated there. In the 1980s, several Australian contemporary music acts achieved success overseas: Men at Work in the US especially with the hit single Down Under from their Business as Usual album, Midnight Oil in the US and Europe, and INXS. These successes were in an era when albums were recorded on vinyl and these artists were signed with record companies that no longer exist. Men at Work for example, were signed with CBS Records Australia, a subsidiary of CBS US which might well have helped their successful release there. It pre-dated the mergers of the so-called major record companies to the current five: BMG (Bertelsmann Music Group); Sony (acquired CBS in 1988); Warner Music; EMI (merger with Warner put on hold in 2000) and Universal Music Group (incorporating Interscope, MCA, and Polygram in 1998). It also pre-dated the Internet as a means of accessing music online for either listening or downloading. Several big developments in online music occurred in Napster which provided users with CD-swapping software as well as a searchable database lost a long-running legal battle against the Recording Industry Association of America to keep its free music-sharing service and will become subscription-based. Online music service provider, MP3.com, entered into an agreement to be acquired by Vivendi Universal (parent company of Universal Music) at which time it will no longer be a public company but will continue to remain an independent promoter and distributor of music for all independent artists and record labels. Two alternative online music service systems were announced whereby record company majors will join forces with leading

2 10 Promotion in International Marketing 415 Internet companies. MusicNet will offer online music from EMI, BMG and Warner Music that will be played over the Internet by America On Line (AOL) and Real Networks with customers paying either to listen to or download a song. A rival system, Duet, will be launched by Sony and Vivendi. Maybe in the 1970s and 1980s, success for Australian artists in overseas markets was more hit or miss and influenced by a fad for Australian culture resulting from the success of Australian films such as Crocodile Dundee or Australian stars in American-made films such as Olivia Newton-John in Grease. In the UK, the Australian-made television program Neighbours has contributed to a fad for Australian culture since the 1980s and directly brought Kylie Minogue to the attention of the UK market as an actor in the first instance and then as a pop singer. Nevertheless, this does not entirely account for why some Australian acts succeeded while many other aspirants did not. Some Australian artists continue to have success overseas but have relocated there. Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue reside in the UK these days and more recently Natalie Imbruglia relocated to Europe. Most of the other Australian artists successful overseas, tour there extensively as a significant part of their promotional strategies but consider Australia the base where they live, albeit sporadically. At the minimum, most artists tour in association with the release of each album and some acts such as Newcastle trio, silverchair, and Melbourne trio, the Living End, have toured overseas relentlessly since their phenomenal album debuts in 1995 and 1998 respectively. The promotion strategies used by silverchair and Human Nature and other Australian artists in international markets are also complex and reveal six significant promotion activities for exposing artist s music to a market: live performance, recording releases, sales and chart positions, radio airplay, video clip broadcast, and artists websites (both official and unofficial fanbased sites). Furthermore, live performances can take various forms: as a support act for well-known bands or artist; as part of a promotional tour usually associated with the release of a recording; as part of a music festival (see Table 1); at music expos, conventions or conferences the trade show equivalent for music product (see Table 2); or as a product placement within a feature film, television drama series, television variety or chat programs. Evidence additionally indicates important synergies further occur between these various activities. Several Australian artists have had recent success performing at music expositions in overseas markets with this often leading to record deals and further live performances at music festivals. Country singer Kasey Chambers was one TABLE 1 Examples of significant music festivals in international markets Market UK US Canada Europe Other Festivals Reading; Lollapalooza; Edgefest, Roskilde, Rock in Rio, Brazil; Leeds; HFStival, Vancouver Copenhagen, Buenos Aires Alternative Meltdown Washington Denmark Festival, Argentina TABLE 2 Examples of significant music expositions/conventions/conferences in international markets Market United States Canada Europe Music exposition/ South by South-West Music & North American Folk MIDEM: International Music convention/ Media Conference (SxSW), Alliance Convention, Market, Cannes, France conference Austin, Texas (NAFAC),Vancouver Winter Music Conference (WMC), Miami, Florida International Blues Challenge, (IBC) Memphis

3 Z416 The International Marketing Mix B of the best-received artists to perform at the 2001 SxSW before an audience of 7,000. Perth folk trio, The Waifs, signed a worldwide deal with Nettwerk records and secured six months work performing at more than 15 festivals in North America as a result of their exposure at the 2001 NAFAC within the Australian delegation funded by the Australia Council for the Arts. Melbourne blues trio, Collard, Greens & Gravy, came second in the 2001 IBC, leading to many performances at American blues festivals. Melbourne duo, Madison Avenue, took out two awards at the 2001 WMC: the biggest award of the night, Best Dance Artist, in addition to Best New Dance Artist. Their Melbourne record label, Vicious Grooves, took their single Don t Call Me Baby to the 1999 MIDEM where the artists ultimately signed to Virgin for the UK market and Sony for Europe and America. Madison Avenue s debut album Polyester Embassy released in 2000 has since had chart success in the Top 10 US Billboard Dance Chart and two UK Top 10 singles. As evidenced above, in the early 21st century, Australian contemporary music acts achieving success overseas are ever-increasing in number and music styles. Also expanding are the international markets sought. In addition to the traditional markets US, UK and NZ other significant emerging markets for some Australian artists are Canada, Europe, Japan, Asia, South America and South Africa. Persuasive promotion strategies in international markets: silverchair and Human Nature silverchair have been categorised as rock n roll, alternative, grunge and heavy metal and their phenomenal success commenced in 1995 with their first single Tomorrow and first album frogstomp. These sold more than three million copies with major international markets being North America, the Philippines, and NZ. Their second album Freak Show outsold the first in Europe. Persuasive promotional strategies strongly contributing to this success include heavy radio airplay especially in the US, heavy video clip broadcast rotation on MTV US and Europe, frequent and extensive live performance tours initially in the US and Europe but worldwide since their debut album, and two major US TV performances on NBC s Saturday Night Live in 1995 and on The Late Show with David Letterman in Of the selected significant music festivals in international markets listed in Table 1, silverchair performed Reading, UK 1995 and 1999; Roskilde, Denmark 1995; Buenos Aires, Argentina 1996; Edgefest, Canada 1997 and 1999; HFStival, Washingrton DC 1999; and Rock in Rio, Brazil They also have an award-winning website first established as an unofficial website by fan, Pete Walton, resident in New Jersey, US, that became their official website in November By December 2000, silverchair amicably concluded a three album contract with Sony Music Australia s Murmur label which they fulfilled in six years. Their recordings in the US have been released by Sony s Epic Records since To date they have released four albums, more than 13 singles and sold 6 million copies globally. Their international markets encompass 17 countries plus most of South-East Asia as evidenced by their fourth and final album with Sony, Best of Vol. 1, (released without silverchair s endorsement), the international release of which was staggered over a sixweek period concluding mid-december Specific Asia-Pacific markets include the Philippines, Japan and NZ. Europe is heavily represented by 11 countries: Portugal, Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Poland and Switzerland. The specific markets in North and South America are US, Canada and Brazil. Future recordings and international markets for silverchair will depend on their new record deals. They have signed with Eleven, a new independent label under the EMI banner, aiming to develop and sign a few burgeoning Australian bands with the priority being to nurture their careers abroad. In this record deal, silverchair retains ownership of all their musical copyright and will secure label partners for distribution rights in specific international markets. For example, in Australia, NZ and SE Asia, silverchair will partner with Eleven while distribution throughout the Pacific Rim will be undertaken by EMI. In North and South America they have signed directly to the Atlantic label. Label partners for Europe and Japan have yet to be finalised. The relationship between Eleven and EMI is a unique arrangement with silverchair forsaking signing bonuses in exchange for longer-term benefits of ownership of their copyrights and complete control over the creation and marketing of their music. Human Nature are predominantly categorised in the pop music genre and their international success commenced in 1997 as the support acts for big name pop stars Michael Jackson and Celine Dion on European tours comprising 50 arena shows in 18 different countries and the total audience exceeding two

4 10 Promotion in International Marketing 417 million. Human Nature have a record deal with Sony Music Australia and have released three albums since March Some tracks on their second and third albums were recorded in the UK and US, possibly to increase the success of these tracks in these two significant pop music markets. Human Nature s most successful international markets for record sales and chart positions to date are the UK followed by Asia. Various promotional strategies have contributed to this. International contacts and unique use of TV exposure have played significant roles. Initial contacts formed in 1996 when Human Nature were the support act for Celine Dion s Australian tour led to them supporting her European tour in 1997 and securing a major Europebased agent as their international representative. Unique worldwide TV exposure was achieved when they performed the Australian national anthem at the Olympic Games opening ceremony in Sydney September 2000 and, in 1999, they performed their single He Don t Love You within the Australian-made television program, Neighbours which is also very popular in the UK. They too have an award winning official website. Challenges to promotion and success in international markets for silverchair and Human Nature Securing international record deals, agents and contacts will be increasingly difficult in a highly competitive international market where competition comes from not only other Australian acts but any artists of a similar music genre from anywhere around the world. Positioning within music genre is also relevant to promotional image, competition and success in particular markets. Human Nature for example as an all-male vocal group who don t play instruments but dance when performing, have been compared in varying degrees to Westlife, Backstreet Boys, N*Sync, Hanson, Souldecision, and others. silverchair are considered a hardrock act in the UK with strong support from metal magazines, Kerrang and Metal Hammer, while elsewhere they have been generally categorised as rock n roll, alternative, with some grunge influences, especially in relation to their first two albums. Also in the UK, silverchair have often been accused by some British music press and artists, namely Courtney Love, of merely cloning sounds of UK bands, Nirvana; Pearl Jam and Led Zeppelin. These accusations probably account for some of silverchair s problems with record sales and chart positions in the UK market despite attracting audiences to concerts held there. Changing musical direction over-time further complicates the positioning and promotion of some music product. silverchair s third album Neon Ballroom was a departure. In addition to rock, some tracks further explored rock/electronica and others used different instrumentation. This first appeared on one track of the second album Freak Show, where strings, sitar and tympani were used. Neon Ballroom also featured classical pianist David Helfgott, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and NSW Public School Singers. These changes in silverchair s musical direction and genre have been intentional. The band itself has stated they were lucky to sign with Murmur record label for the first album in 1995 and consider this due to alternative music being popular at the time. Change in silverchair s musical direction throughout these years was to be expected, considering their first single, Tomorrow, was written by band member, Daniel Johns and first performed by silverchair bandmembers when they were about 12 years old. As they matured as a band and as individuals over the past nine years, change was not only expected but seems to have been allowed, even encouraged, by their former record company, and continuing manager, John Watson. Of the former deal and relationship with Sony, silverchair frontman, Daniel Johns, stated in a UK interview with Robyn Doreian in January 2001, we pretty much had creative control over everything and very rarely did they step in to say we couldn t do this or that. silverchair perceived the phenomenal success of their first single Tomorrow and album frogstomp as giving them, room to experiment with the next two albums, rather than it being a formula for record sale success to be endlessly repeated. A frequently stated goal has been to establish a silverchair sound while simultaneously pursuing change in musical direction. Further changes were a stated aim of the band in 1999 following the release of Neon Ballroom when Daniel Johns stated one aim, is to set new goals and challenges to keep it interesting... changing musical direction... but keeping enough of the positive elements of silverchair to keep silverchair fans satisfied. Future challenges Breaking into international markets and maintaining them are two separate matters for most contemporary musicians. This problem is largely due to two sets of changing factors, that is, the needs and wants of the artists, and those of their fans. Either the artists want

5 Z418 The International Marketing Mix B their music product to change and develop over time or the fans music interests and tastes change as they grow older. Sometimes changes occur in both factors. silverchair demonstrate the former and largely avoided the latter by trying not to be positioned as a teen band. In the band s early days, they did not appear on TV or deal with mainstream press, choosing only to talk to fanzines, or music rags and publications deemed as cool. For pop groups who by definition are popular (appealing largely to the young teen and youth markets), the changing interests and tastes of their fans is a reality over time as their fans get older. Promotional image strategies of pop artists reinventing and repositioning themselves are widely prevalent in this music genre. Many artists are renowned for their makeovers. Madonna has possibly undergone more image changes than any other artist. Human Nature, although still considered a pop boy-band, have already reinvented and repositioned themselves and their music to appeal to new fans and markets. Originally they performed in tailored suits, now they wear denim and fashion clothing supplied by Australian fashion retailer, Dangerfield. Funding persuasive promotion strategies for Australian music to break into overseas markets is one of the biggest hurdles, as the amount required in the 21st century is astronomical. For all except a very rare few Australian artists, the required funds are generally beyond being artist self-funded or fully recoupable advances to the artists by their record companies or other parties. Rather non-recoupable contributions are required and the sources of funds for the international promotion of Australian music and artists are very limited. Wellconnected contacts in foreign markets to assist with funding international promotion strategies are also needed. Major sources for funds and contacts are record company deals, distribution partnerships or worldwide distribution systems of some kind, and music agents in international markets. Securing these will be increasingly difficult in an increasingly competitive global market. Questions 1 What push and pull strategies are used in international promotion of Australian music? 2 To what extent and in what ways are the promotion strategies for Australian music in international markets, outlined in the case study, standardised or differentiated? Include a summary of the factors favouring standardisation and differentiation or customisation in your answer. 3 What forms of technological change have had an impact on the promotion of Australian music in international markets and what are the advantages and disadvantages of these technological changes? 4 What are the major obstacles to persuasive promotion strategies by contemporary Australian music artists entering international markets in the 21st century and what strategies are used to overcome these obstacles? 5 For an Australian band or artist of your choice, which overseas market or markets would you recommend they enter and which promotion strategies should they use and why? In your answer, as well as identifying specific promotion strategies, also identify all relevant international promotion issues and concepts considered in the case and previous discussion questions and relevant to your final set of recommended specific promotion strategies. References Donovan, P. (1999) Want to manage a band? This could help, The Age, 8 December. Donovan, P. (2001) Australian Acts Chart their Course. The Age, 31 March, p. 18. Doreian, R. (2000) Back from the Brink, Rock Sound (UK) quoted in news, December Dougherty, H. (2001) New music site takes on Napster, The Age Green Guide, 3 May, p. 27. MP3.com (2001) Important Announcement for MP3.com Customers vivendimp3.html Tijs, A. (2001) The Living End, Beat Issue 759, 30 May, p. 57.