The Universal Music Group is planning on increasing music sales the good old-fashioned way … by advertising.
Universal’s strategy is to double its ad spend in the USA, somewhere to between $30 million and $40 million dollars.
One of the lesser talked about reasons for the decline in music sales is that record labels have been consistently slashing ad budgets for the past decade. Less advertising means less consumer awareness that means fewer sales. In other words, if you don’t tell people it’s out there, they will never know.
Music labels have been increasing counting on radio airplay to spread the word but guess what? That doesn’t work anymore.
Radio stations play less new music than ever before. Those who masquerade as “top 40” stations research the excitement out of their playlists and play a concentration of “non-offensive” hits. The major commercial radio networks have become the “Big Mac of the Music Industry”.
Universal is the first label to identify that a new model needs to be played. Last week, the company announced a joint venture with Live Nation and Front Line Management. The next step is to up consumer awareness with the increased marketing spend.
The aggressive move is expected to be watched closely by the other three majors, Sony, Warner and EMI.
