This Business of Music Marketing and Promotion

Transformation has been the operative dynamic in the music industry since the first publication of This Business of Music Marketing & Promotion in 1999. Online music has provided much of the fuel, with downloadable songs and file-sharing programs creating new avenues of distribution and promotion to consumers worldwide. The old rules of marketing and promotion still apply: You still need to create a marketing plan, cultivate your audience, and understand all the latest music business conventions - from royalty percentages to pricing strategies - that this book thoroughly discusses. But the conventions that were in place at the end of the 20th century no longer apply today. The revised and updated edition of This Business of Music Marketing & Promotion accounts for the music industry's dramatic transformation. It reveals how the Web and other technological developments have revolutionized not only how music is made but also how it can be delivered to customers. Central to this objective is its focus on the full integration of online sales and promotion into the standard music marketing mix, as well as on competitive marketing and promotion tactics, innovative uses of e-mail, and creative approaches to generating sales on a Web site.

Tad Lathrop has written and edited music and marketing materials for a host of companies and publishers, including SonicNet and Launch. He lives in Oakland, CA.