MGT 6990: Strategic Marketing in the Music Business
    Course Credit: 2 hours

Instructor: Clyde Philip Rolston, PhD                         Office: 244 Massey Business Center

Phone: 460-5436                                                        Email: rolstonc@mail.belmont.edu

Web Site: HTTP://campus.belmont.edu/rolstonc/                     AIM: DrMuzzBuzz

Office Hours: T/ R 5:30 6:15 or by appointment

Meeting Location: MBU 210

IMPORTANT DATES:  NO CLASS DAYS: July 4; Independence Day.

MID-TERM: June 28. FINAL EXAM: August 2.

 

Honor Code: The Belmont community values personal integrity and academic honesty as the foundation of university life and the cornerstone of a premiere educational experience. Our community believes trust among its members is essential for both scholarship and effective interactions and operations of the University. As members of the Belmont community, students, faculty, staff, and administrators are all responsible for ensuring that their experiences will be free of behaviors which compromise this value. In order to uphold academic integrity, the University has adopted an Honor System. Students and faculty will work together to establish the optimal conditions for honorable academic work. Following is the Student Honor Pledge that guides academic behavior:

 

“I will not give or receive aid during examinations; I will not give or receive false or impermissible aid in course work, in the preparation of reports, or in any other type of work that is to be used by the instructor as the basis of my grade; I will not engage in any form of academic fraud. Furthermore, I will uphold my responsibility to see to it that others abide by the spirit and letter of the Honor Pledge.”

 

Accommodation of Disabilities: In compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, Belmont University will provide reasonable accommodation of all medically documented disabilities. If you have a disability and would like the university to provide reasonable accommodations of the disability during this course, please notify Tammye Tanksley, Director of Counseling & Developmental Support in the Office of Student Affairs (460-6407) as soon as possible.

 

Course Description:A study of the methods used to market recorded music and movement of the recorded product from the label to the ultimate consumer. Topics include the changing business environment, market structure, distribution patterns, promotional strategies, charts, airplay, and pricing.

Course Objectives:After completing this course the student should have an in depth understanding of environment and issues facing music marketers today. The constant state of change and evolving methods will be emphasized, particularly as it affects advertising, publicity, radio promotions, and the channels of distribution through which the product flows. Both independent and major record label systems will be discussed.

Texts: Required: Harvard cases are available on line. Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping, Paco Underhill. Touchstone/ Simon & Schuster; Recommended Reading: BUSINESS OF MUSIC MARKETING & PROMOTION, vol. 2, Lathrop. Billboard Books; Hit Men, Fredrec Dannen. Random House/Vintage. All three books are available through the campus bookstore. The Underhill and Dannen books are available in paperback and can be ordered online for $3 to $1

GENERAL CLASS INFO: This class has never been taught at Belmont before. This means we have an opportunity to turn this into the most interesting and useful class you ever take! You will get out of this class exactly what you put into it. Therefore I am depending on you to come to class prepared and energized about each topic. I would much rather have discussions of the material than to lecture on it. As the course progresses expect to receive additional reading materials and feel free to suggest your own.

CASES: Beginning with the second class meeting you are expected to prepare a brief case analysis to turn in each week. Read “Learning by the Case Method in Marketing” before starting on the first case analysis. There are six cases. Your typed, double spaced analysis of each case should be three to five pages on regular size printer paper and one inch margins all the way around. After five pages I will stop reading, so please don’t bother to write more! Concise, thoughtful and well written papers are greatly appreciated.

Your lowest grade for the cases will be dropped, therefore no late cases will be accepted. Should you need to miss a class for any reason, you may email the case to me prior to the class. Each case is worth 50 points.

The purpose of the cases is not so much for you to analyze and solve the specific problem, although that is important to consider, but to get you thinking about the marketing environment and marketing functions as they pertain to the music industry. You should not only ask yourself questions like “What would I do if I were the protagonist in the case?” but specifically how the case applies to the music business right now. Has the environment changed since the case was written? If yes, how? And would the decision be different today than it was then? In some cases you may have to ask how the case applies to the music industry at all!

EXAMS: There will be two exams, a mid-term (100 points) and a final (200 points). The final will be comprehensive. These will be essay exams. Specifics will be given as the time for the exam approaches.

 

Grading Scale:

A+= 100 - 97; A=96 - 93; A- = 92 - 90; B+= 89 - 87; B=86 - 83; B- = 82 - 80; C+= 79 - 77; C=76 - 73; C- = 72 - 70 D+= 69 - 67; D=66 - 63; D- = 62 - 60; F= Below 60. Grades will NOT be curved.

 

"OPPORTUNITIES"

Mid-term 100 points

Final 200 points

Cases 5@ 50 250 points

TOTAL    550 points

DATE	Topic		Readings		Cases
May 31, 2005		The Music Business Environment		Marketing Myopia		Time Inc.
June 7, 2005		What are we selling and who's buying it?		Product Life Cycle		Apple
				Marvel Enterprises
June 14, 2005		Pricing and Distribution		Pricing and the Psychology of Consumption		Real Networks
				Pricing: A Value-Based Approach
June 21, 2005		The Internet		The Music Industry and the Internet		Online Music Distribution in a Post-Napster World
				Music Downloads
June 28, 2005		Mid-Term
July 5, 2005		Publicity and Media		TBA		The Passion of the Christ
July 12, 2005		Radio		TBA		XM Satellite Radio
July 19, 2005		Retail, Merchandising and Performance		Managing the Total Customer Experience		NextStage Entertainment
July 26, 2005		Advertising		TBA
August 2, 2005		Final Exam