Top Lifestyle Record Labels Date: Friday July 8th, 2011

By: Ranah and Sheret

OverviewOverview

Key Competitor “Share of Voice”

Social media presence – i.e. number of followers

Marketplace Assessment

Analysis of set criteria

Label Bio

Top eight lifestyle labels

Key Takeaways

Recommendations for Musical Freedom

Key Competitor Record LabelsKey Competitor Record Labels“Share of Voice” in the Marketplace

Market Place Market Place AssessmentAssessment

Criteria Dim Mak

DFA Fool’s Gold

Mad Decent

Ed Banger

Toolroom Ghostly International

Spinnin’ Records

“Share of Voice” (More than 80K Followers in at Least One Stream of Social Media)

✗ ✓ ✗ ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗ ✓

Website Accessibility(Subjective Measure - Clarity, Information and Ease)

✓ ✗ ✓ ✓ ✗ ✓ ✓ ✗

Website Appearance (Subjective Measure – Artistic and Unique)

✓ ✗ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Prestigious Artists (Subjective/Objective Measure - Social Medias )

✓ ✗ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✗ ✓

Genre Variety/Diversity (More than 3 Genres) ✗ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗Large Artist Roster(More than 40 Artists) ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✓ ✗ ✓Quality Merchandise (Objective Measure – Merchandise included more than just logo printed items and music)

✓ ✗ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✗

Events/Festival Presence(Promoting Label – at least 3 events in a year or hosting parties on a regular basis)

✓ ✗ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✗ ✗

Constant Releases (More than One Release Per Month) ✓ ✓ ✗ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓Marketing Effort (Subjective Measure – based on amount of parties hosted, marketing activations, and overall promotion)

✓ ✗ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✗ ✗ ✗

BIO: Dim MakBIO: Dim Mak Objective: Build brand awareness by touring, partnering with

festivals, and in-house shows

Use their own venues to host weekly events

Maintain presence in festivals

Dim Mak usually has 2 releases per month

Genre: Various – 23 artists

Headlining Artists:

Bloody Beetroots

Dada Life

Steve Aoki

“Share of Voice”

BIO: DFABIO: DFA

Objective: Engage diverse fan groups and value quantity over quality

As the year goes by, they have less releases (ie. Five in May, three in June, 1 in July)

Genre: Dance, Electronic, Disco – Over 40 artists Headlining Artists:

Hot ChipLCD SoundsystemBenoit & Sergio

“Share of Voice”

Objective: Build Mad Decent brand as a vehicle that brings new sounds and cultures to light in the ever-diversifying music community.

Genres: various/experimental 30 artists on label Headlining Artists:

DiploRuskoMajor Lazer

Label maintains a dominant, self-aware brand that shows interest in the consumer. New sounds can be risky, Mad Decent strategy is effective

because label’s “untamed” lifestyle and methodology is appealing.

“Share of Voice”

BIO: Ed BangerBIO: Ed Banger Objective: maintain a small, tight-knit, and collaborative

record label to develop a unified Ed Banger image and build

strong brand awareness in a local area (France).

Genres: French House, Electro Pop, Indie – 14 artists

Headlining Artists:

Busy P

Justice

Mr. Oizo

Low genre diversity

Frequent releases

“Share of Voice” particularly high “Share of Voice”

BIO: FoolBIO: Fool’’s Golds Gold Objective: To build a brand around a specific lifestyle

In-house graphic designer Dust La Rock

Currently only have a few releases in the past year

Dubbed an “indie innovator” by Billboard and a “tastemaker label” by the New York Times

Genre: Various – 36 Artists

Headlining Artists:

A-Trak

Kid Cudi

Duck Sauce

“Share of Voice”

BIO: SpinninBIO: Spinnin’’ Records Records Objective: Acts as a host and an umbrella to its 21 sub-labels

Constant releases - 8 releases in past month

Genre: Dance – Low Diversity (underground scene)

Headlining Artists:

Sander van Doorn

Afrojack

Eric Prydz

“Share of Voice”

BIO: Ghostly International BIO: Ghostly International Objective: : to be a complete “aesthetic experience”; to bring

innovative, quality art to people with open eyes and ears.

Genre: “Genre-less”, avant-pop/experiemental

Headlining Artists:

Matthew Dear

Dabrye (aka Tadd Mullinix)

Mobius Band

Quality aesthetic output:

Website, online store Do not host events and festival presence is minimal.

Nonetheless, Ghostly maintains a dominate brand

“Share of Voice”

BIO: ToolroomBIO: Toolroom Objective: To release quality house music by both new and well-

established artists, making the Toolroom name synonymous with the best of the best in the industry.

Genre: Dance (with a twist of “funk”) – 83 artists on label. Sub-labels: Leaders of the New School & Toolroom Longplayer. Marketing initiatives are very basic and minimal.

Despite weak marketing initiative, Toolroom brand is popular due to its prestigious artist roster and events.

Headlining Artists: Benny Benassi David Guetta DeadMau5

“Share of Voice”

Key Takeaways Key Takeaways

Labels can design their message around an overall brand (a lifestyle) or the music they produce

Social media presence does not always mean one label is more successful than the other

Festivals and event partnerships are critical Interaction with music consumers allows for a more receptive

fan base

Through:

○ Contests and giveaways

○ Charities and cause marketing

○ Website accessibility and information

•Liberated•Open Ended•Universally Communicated •Musically Inspired

Musical Freedom. A Dream.

Sheret

Ranah

Recommendations Recommendations Less is more – quality rather than quantity (releases & artists) Creating character independent of Tiësto, however having him as the face and

front-man of the label Have festival presence – i.e. host Musical Freedom stages Communicate cohesive, simple, and clear message via every possible outlet

(‘customer touch points’) Ex. Through: merchandise, festival presence, graphics, and marketing

initiatives How to stay relevant without constant releases?

Hosting weekly parties Forum – Creating a hub for fan interaction (customer generated content) Blog with Musical Freedom news and other relevant information Gallery on website (videos and photos)

○ Behind the scenes footage; artists’ work outside music world○ Photos of music fans at Musical Freedom related or artist-related events