In the following essay we will try to give a brief explanation (maybe even a model), and we will interpret the following subject from a managerial aspect i.e. how the individuals or managers would work on promotion of the young talents.
Afirmation or promotion of the young talents is very important issue not only for the musicians that are treated as products, but also for the the general cutlure within the country. There are several levels where this kind of promotion could be introduced. Thus, we can work in the frames of the local community, on the national and international leve, which is the main subject of the this essay. Marketing strategies for the young taltents affirmation depends of the level on which we are working.
We need to define the marketing strategy very precisely. Thus, first we will need to collect all the influencing forces, and analyze the from different points of view. We need to diferenciate the positive and negative factors i.e. our sthrengst, weeakneses, threaths and opportunities. Including the factor called general environment, primarily socio-cultural and demographic-economical environment. We must think about competitiors i.e. all the other cultural events that are our possible competitors, suppliers, public and audience and the most important thing in the marketing process 4 Ps: product, place, promotion and prize.
First step in marketing strategy would be product definition, what we are offering on the cultural market. Defining the market, on the other hand, is very important because it is on of the components that the manager or the agency directly is concerned. There are several types of markets as monopolistic, monopsonistic, highly competitive market etc. In this case, because the matter of our discusion are young talents and how to promote them on the cultural market, we can conclude that we are dealing with highly competitive markets, where great number of excellent musicians from different genres are participating. Above that, music belongs to the categories of cultural events, toghether with theather performances, exhibitions, cinema etc. All those events are in the same time potential competitors or substitutes.
After we have determined the market and all the forces (positive and negative) that influence of the strategy implementation, we are moving to the next step which is the product itself. Altough we are speaking for the musicians in general, still there are some categories, ordered by several particular parametars. On the beginning of this text we have mentioned that young talents would be matter of discusion, thus some particular and detailed catogorization in their promotion is not necesity. Nevertheless, we will have to note that in the starting point we will recognize two categories of young musicians:
Young musicians that are at the beginning of their profesional career, and we are on the beginning of their promotoion and the other category which is young musicians that are already known in the culutral market and some of them maybe are very well recognized. This note is very important because we can’t treat those two categories the same, when we are speaking about marketing promotion. Thus, some of them are well known on the market, they have even permanent production, and the others are on the starting point, and they will have to come to that point. When we have this kind of product differentiation we will have to determine different marketing strategies.
In any case, for both categories we will have to deal with almost the same factors that could influence on their presentation. In this proces, besides the importance of the product, we have to be aware and we must to think about the target audience. We are speaking about the environments of market economy where art is also a kind of busines. People are now in position to sell the art and to make profit from the art. That means that music or any other art is not non-profitable any more. For that reason targeting the audience is maybe on of the most important things that we have to think about in the planing proces. (There are cases when, organizations that are working on organization of cultural events, are tying to make concerts for youngsters which means that they target particular audience and usualy those kind of concerts are not paid, and the amount of consumers is bigger). During the promotion proces we have to be aware that young talents are profesional musicians, but also we need to include all the issues which will serve in the funcion of their further education.
Each product, no matter whether is produced by profit or non for profit sector, we need to present it to the public on the way that would be the most acceptable. In this essay, speaking about one specific activity as the music is, automatically we all the products produced in this field will be treated as specific product, as well. What we need, i.e. what kind of materials we need for the good affirmation of the young talents, again depends of the environment that we are supplying. However, if we don’t have disant promotion material, entering the target market would be very difficoult and sometimes even impossible. There are specialized organizations which primarily acitivity is affirmation of the young talents, organizations which on the other hand are specialized concert agency for young musicians.
Several points are very important for the musician that we intend to enter the market. Audo, video or CD recording which will prove the quality, especialy in the period when the buyer is selecting the musicians. Besides the audio materials, printed materials are also necessary, like curriculum vitae, some concert critics, awards, different brochures etc, which again prove the quality of the product that we are offering. In this package we will need a good number of compositions that the musician will be ready to play, which means his/her repertioire.
Once that we have determined the product, we will determen the target area on which we will offer our product, and again we will have to deal with the socio-cultural and demographic-economical environments and their positive or negative influence. Once we decided the place, our next step would be strategy implementation. In this part, besides all the above mentioned issues regarding the promotional materials, we are coming to one very important moment for the people that are offering the product i.e. the managers or the agencies, the important question would be whether the product that we are offering on the market can be sold.
For that reason, our next step would be prize determination. The prize is one of the four basic elements in the marketing proces. It is also very important component that contributes to the affirmation of the young talents. We have to note here that there are cases when we have to be ready to promote some musicians withouth prizing them, but usualy it is a case when we are entering new market or in function of some particular event or production. Besides the environment, influencing the prize, there are also some important economical factors like the economy of the country, supply, demand etc. That means that the prize must be adoptable in coordination with the demand of the environment i.e. the market.
At the end we can conclude that in the proces of affirmation of the young musicians, the best alternative would be if we have specific organizations that are working in this field, like concert agencies or individuals-managers. Of course that those kind of activities always should be stimulated and supported by the organizations and fondations which primarily acitivites are in coordination and in function of the arts. I think that we don’t need to emphasize the need and the importance of such activites, affirmation of the young talents in the international level, where besides their own presentation, they are presenting the general music culture in the country from where they are coming.
Jeunesses Musicales Macedonia
Musicians of the new milienium
December 18, 1999