The Music Publisher

For music publishers, the situation is more complicated than that of the book publisher, for much of the market, including having direct access to consumers, has already been lost. The good news is that music publishers can retake control of their industry by retooling their promotional skills for the online world.

Creating a thoughtful and meaningful MultiMedia eBook strategy is another way for music publishers to find greener pastures. But it alone is not the solution. The industry must multitask. Boning up on Internet marketing so they can fill the promotional vacuum left behind from the digital revolution, while at the same time, re-purposing their music assets for the fledgling MultiMedia eBook arena.

(To download the entire song…MP3, Music video, or MultiMedia eBook, click here.)

For the former, the digital revolution left the impression that iTunes did everything right. That their Internet savvy simply provided an unprecedented opportunity to steal an entire industry. True but only partly so. iTunes success has been so extraordinary that it just doesn’t bother with any serious promoting outside its own brand, much like Amazon promotes Amazon and leaves it up to the consumer to find what they’re looking for.
Both formulas work well for consumers who already know what they are looking for, but are woefully inadequate for new books or music whose creators are not household names.

Herein lies the fundamental reason while both industries are in decline.

Nothing moves without promotion!

During some months, Google reports over 10 million searches for “new music” alone!

So clearly, the demand is there. The supply is there. But that handshake that brings supply and demand together — promotion — is conspicuously absent.

Some sobering facts to bear in mind:

• Music publishing, and the record industry at large, is suffering from ever declining sales due to a lack of understanding of how music is promoted and distributed today.
• Consumers, according to Google statistics, are looking for “new music” at a rate of some 10 millions searches per month. Bottom line. The demand is there.
• Because musicians and bands traditionally relied on record companies and music publishers to promote their music, today a huge vacuum exists that neither party knows how to fill.
• Music publishers and record companies merely need to adopt new skills that bring back “promotion” to the music industry via the Internet.
• Cathedral Rock Publishing has the proven expertise to lend this critical skill set to music publishers, record companies, and even recordings artists so that they can meet the huge demand that still exists for new music, a market we estimate to be valued at $5.2 billion per year.

Whether one is inclined to embrace MultiMedia eBooks or not, the same realities apply. Music publishers, record companies, and recording artists need to bring “promotion” back into the mix of the music business. After all, it’s not called “the music” but the “music business.” As such, everyone in the music business that does not embrace this reality is sadly, destined for extinction.