Tad Lathrop - This Business of Global Music Marketing: Global Strategies for Maximizing Your Musics Popularity and Profits

True to the subject matter , writing this book was something of a journey, both literally (travel abroad) and figuratively. Fortunately I didnt travel alone. Music specialists from around the globe appeared at just the right times to graciously light the way through some of the darker passageways. Without them, I couldnt have completed the trip. Thanks to:

Jim Pettigrew, for coordinating interviews and reviewing the manuscript-in-progress.

Suzanne Ciani, for sharing her insights and experience as an independent musician.

Daniel Cheung of The Orchard for shedding light on digital music strategies and on business in China.

Rob Kuilboer of Astral Music for his detailed comments on distribution.

Peter Fosso of the Global Music Project for his view from the nonprofit sector.

Mary Jurey of New West Records for talking about what her job entails.

Thanks also to: Sree Nagarajan for his conversations about marketing independent music, and for his enthusiasm about the subject; Syed Rizwan Mehdi of Music World Entertainment, Hyderabad, India, for providing invaluable research on distribution in India; Gurmeet Singh of Music Today for further clarification of Indian music sales; and Ilari Kaartinen of DD Records in Finland for taking the time to answer questions.

In addition, Id like to thank:

Bill Krasilovsky, for his pioneering book This Business of Music.

The folks at Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI), for providing my first experiences with the back end of music commerce.

The crew at Cherry Lane Musicfellow travelers in my early music publishing days.

Nancy Carroll, for her chart designs; Audrey Celenza for editorial assistance; Brandy Jones for technical consultation; and Shelba Sellers for lending her expertise in economics.

At Billboard Books, thanks to executive editor Bob Nirkind, manuscript editor Ross Plotkin, copyeditor Michle LaRue, designer Jay Anning, and production manager Salvatore Destro.

Finally, a tip of the hat to musicians everywhere. The magic is in your hands.

Start small , expand widely, then go global. Thats the well-traveled path of the music marketer. But today, the go global imperative is more pressing, more promising, and more possible.

Todays music audience is global. Concert tours are worldwide in scope. Internet downloads are available the world over. An artists albums are distributed internationally. This globalization of the music audienceof the music businessrepresents a gold-plated opportunity for musicians and sellers of music. More income, more distribution, more worldwide awarenessthese are the prizes that await the music maker who has the ambition to pursue them. And you dont have to be a large business operation to sell globally. Nowadays anyone can do iteven a one-person enterprise.

This Business of Global Music Marketing is intended as a source of practical information for those who wish to take advantage of todays global opportunities to sell music. It provides guidelines for systematically and profitably engaging in cross-border music commerceguidelines that will be useful to the following kinds of readers:

Independent musicians and music producers who market their own recordings

Entrepreneurs building and expanding their own music businesses

Music managers looking for ways to broaden their artist clients audiences

Marketing executives seeking ideas for entering foreign markets

Career seekers interested in music and global business

This book is a companion volume, of sorts, to my other book on the music business, This Business of Music Marketing and Promotion. That book provides general principles for operating at each stage of marketing, from product development to distribution (via brick and/or click), from promotion in the media to selling on the Internet. Global Music Marketing takes those same principles and explains how they can apply beyond the borders of your own country. There are important differencescultural, regulatory, administrative, legal, political, logisticalbeyond the obvious language variations.

To give readers the broadest possible perspective, Ive included strategies and concepts that are applied across industries, not just in music. The hardest-core music devotees may be inclined to bypass some of this material. Certainly, its possible to focus only on the music-marketing basics and then dive into the global marketplace with some success. But more and deeper knowledge tends to result in wiser, more informed choices and reduced risk of error and loss. The information is here if you want it, and worth taking the time to think about.

As with This Business of Music Marketing and Promotion, Global Music Marketing can be read straight through from front to back, as a logically unfolding narrative of the marketing process. The book can also be cherry picked for information relevant to your immediate needs. Just use the Index and the Contents.

Its my hope that readers of Global Music Marketing will come away with an understanding of country-to-country differences and how to bridge them to reap maximum profit from music in the full, planet-spanning marketplace.

Note: This publication has been written with the aim of providing accurate and up-to-date information about the music industry. However, business customs, technologies, and monetary values change over time. Furthermore, every business situation is unique; readers circumstances will invariably differ from those I describe, even if the circumstances appear similar. For those reasons, the author and the publisher bear no responsibility for actions taken by readers based on information provided in this book. Readers are urged to seek the current advice of appropriate professionals.

Going Global:
Why Its a Good Idea