A Look Inside J Records Digital Marketing Dept. – Part 2

Part 2 of 3 – Tarek Al-Hamdouni of J Records graciously agreed to answer a few questions and give us a rare look inside a major label’s digital marketing efforts.

Hypebot – Do you see your department’s importance growing within J’s overall marketing efforts or more as an adjunct to traditional marketing?

Terek – Big labels have a tough time adjusting and adapting to the quickening pace of music trends. Traditional marketing is expensive and not very reliable. There’s no telling how many people actually view a print ad or pay attention to a TV plug. It is very expensive, but labels have grown accustomed to it and see it as a necessary expense. Online advertising, however, is much less expensive and easier to track. Google has been incredibly efficient in their advertising endeavors, but have yet to convince those who create the budgets for our projects of it’s versatility and effectiveness.

As time continues, however, more and more departments are relying on Digital Marketing to get their artists more publicity and viewership. Audio and Video streaming will soon be taken into account in the Billboard Charts (this will most likely have a profound effect on digital marketing, especially in the eyes of major labels). Yahoo’s Launch music page has become extremely important in Digital Marketing endeavors. The site reports that a #1 single on radio receives the same # of streams on their radio stations as on the radio per week (about 500,000).

It is highly probable that the Digital Marketing Core in all labels will heavily outweigh all other departments in head count in the near future. Every label department must be existent both in the non-digital market and in the digital market. Digital Marketing lets fans know that their artists are alive and well where they are, the internet. The internet is where kids live these days. It’s where adults work and where both young and old come to play, socialize, explore, and connect. If they cannot connect with their artists here, they won’t connect with them at all. Digital Marketing is a unique revolution in that it is a prime example of consumer’s new ability to dictate to producers what they want and how they want it. Not only what and how, but what we’re seeing more and more is when they want it… and the answer that keeps coming up is "now." On the internet, on their iPod, in their video games.

Many labels are worried about the industry and point to bands like Guns N’ Roses, who sold so many albums you’d think every guy in America owns 3 copies. What there is a failure to recognize is that the digital era allows users to decide what they listen to, not program directors and labels. If a fan wants to hear an artist that mixes the styles of Alicia Keys with Kanye West and adds a bit of Led Zepplin, you’re damn sure they’re going to find them, and you’re damn sure they’re going to find them in one place: the internet.

Read Part 1 of the interview here.  On Monday Part 3 – What advice would you give other digital marketers about what is really working in this field and what should be avoided.?