Tune into music’s potential for customer acquisition

January 23, 2008

The mobile device will become a way for artists to connect, cultivate and build their audiences

Will mobile be music to the ears of many in 2008?

Irv Remedios, vice president of marketing at mobile networking service Mozes, said that every year the promise of mobile marketing seems “just a few years away.” But marketers are starting to realize the channel’s potential for memorable campaigns targeted at music fans.

“Consumers are also willing to interact with the bands and artists that they love,” Mr. Remedios said from Palo Alto, CA. “There’s really no need to wait for some whiz-bang mobile technology that functions on just 3 percent of devices to become mainstream years from now.”

Mr. Remedios said marketers should provide customers with a complete experience by integrating some element of mobile – SMS, IVR or the mobile Web – into every campaign they run. By doing this they will be able to connect and create a conversation with their most passionate customers.

“There is going to be a larger number of artist-driven mobile marketing campaigns with artists that have smaller audience bases,” said Greg Scholl, president/CEO of The Orchard, a digital distributor for independent record labels.

Wireless carriers will get smarter about marketing to foreign nationals

Because of this phenomenon, expect the total audience for such campaigns to grow.

In essence, the mobile device will become a way for artists to connect, cultivate and build their audiences – just like their Web sites are meant to do. Overall music sales should jump as well, taking a market that is led by one-off transactions into one that is relationship-driven.

Mr. Scholl thinks the other trend to note is how wireless carriers will get smarter about marketing to foreign nationals living in other countries, using music intelligently as a way of increasing revenue-per-user.

Keeping aside the billing and mobile storefront integration issues, carriers are aware that music is a powerful customer acquisition and retention tool. But the offers have to be relevant and contextual.

“Certainly Verizon has been a great example in the U.S. in taking leadership with V Cast, kind of disintermediating what had been traditionally called the mobile content aggregators,” Mr. Scholl said.