Artists In The Music Industry: A Case Study

This study addresses how self-made artists in the music industry uses marketing skills to help promote their music compared to the artists that are signed to a record label.

Throughout this essay, I’m to going to analyze and compare Chance the Rapper’s sales to that of a well-known Hip/Hop artist J. Cole and the marketing schemes deployed by the upcoming artists in the music industry.

Artists must learn to adapt to change constantly. They have to incorporate or amalgamate several marketing and promoting schemes to grow their audience organically. One such artist, Chancellor Johnathan Bennet commonly known as ‘Chance the Rapper’ has taken extreme measures to stand out from the rest of the artists. It is very clear from the data that I’ve collected

How does it compare to the artists that have a record label?

A record label provides an artist with a contract taking a cut from their earning in exchange to use their studio and equipment. For artists without a history in recording music, the label is more involved in providing the artists with producers, recording studios, song writers which may give the impression that the record label controls the artist’s vision of making music. Chance the Rapper has openly talked about his dislike towards record labels trying to force artists into writing controversial songs for promoting their company.

J. Cole on the other hand has a history of staged controversial fights which has helped him promote his music and grow as an artist including his sales. Implementing such promotional strategies is known as Guerilla Marketing. It can leave a remarkable imprint on the audience while maintaining a cheap and efficient budget. It is an unconventional way of promoting and it is also very much possible that such an event receives lesser attention from the audience than expected. Chance uses the power of online marketing such as social media to promote his records. He is the only main stream artist in the industry that earns most his income through tour revenue and his clothing merchandise which he sells

It usually correlates with business affairs since the contractual agreements and financial obligations of the departments are parallel between the both of them. In order to make money, the record company takes money and the accounting department estimates the budgeting requirements for each department. Usually, the record label creates a complex forecast model that calculates profitability. The accounting departments conducts an analysis based on the Profit and Loss report.

What is the ‘Profit and Loss statement’?

A profit and loss statement or P&L is a financial statement that recapitulate the revenues, costs and expenses sustained during a specific period of time usually taken place in a budgetary quarter or a year. The data acquired by this method is used to provide information of the company’s ability or loss thereof to generate profit by increasing revenue (+) or reducing costs (-) or sometimes even both.

The year of 2017 has been a rough year for major independent record labels, in terms of the album sales that have continued to decline steadily throughout the past few years due to the presence of other music streaming platforms and according to Amy Macy, “the consumers [began] looking elsewhere to satiate their burgeoning musical