Market environment (1) Heshani Dias

Brand Plan Defines the core differentiators for the brand within its competitive environment. Identifies the specific aspects of your brand that are specifically valued by the consumers. These must then be protected to ensure consumer loyalty.

Analysis of Brand’s business and marketing environment PEST analysis Have any of your competitors taken advantage of any of the above to market new brands?

PESTLE What is the political situation of the country and how can it affect the industry? What are the prevalent economic factors? How much importance does culture have in the market and what are its determinants? What technological innovations are likely to pop up and affect the market structure? Are there any current legislations that regulate the industry or can there be any change in the legislations for the industry? What are the environmental concerns for the industry?

What is the political situation of the country and how can it affect the industry? Nothing has changed in recent years that can be useful to us.

What are the prevalent economic factors? “the UK economy has experienced once of the steepest recessions on record, and one of the most anaemic recoveries. Consumers’ purchasing power has been eroded by inflation, and wages haven’t been rising enough to compensate.” Mintel report ( More people are working harder and saving harder due to the impact of the recession. As the wages haven’t risen enough to compensate the rise of inflation, there will be very little disposable income amoung most families. Also, due to the scare the recession has caused, more people are saving any disposable income they can earn. With regards to this economic situation being the most prevalent issue, music purchasing could suffer further.

How much importance does culture have in the market and what are its determinants? Music Festivals are an important part of culture in the UK. They are enjoyed by people of all ages and there are festivals tailored to all music genres. “It's safe to say music festivals are now an established part of British summer time” ( Music festivals are no longer simply about the music, but is about the whole experience. Each festival says something about the people that go there, whether its throught the music or the brands that sponsor it. And it also attracts like-minded people, making it a social hub. More and more people are being selective about festivals as a form of self branding and joining a social group that they wish to associate themselves with.

What technological innovations are likely to pop up and affect the market structure? Source: trends-for-2013.html trends-for-2013.html Some upcoming innovations in techonology as well as trends to be aware of: Concert Crowdfunding. – This means raising money for concerts by getting donations from places like kickstarter. Higher quality music players – This could be new models of Dr.Dre ect. Reversion Rights & DIY Music Tech – More people are using DIY music tech and are editing and remixing. 3D Printing Music Merchandise – One example of this could be in the form of dolls as collectors items.

Are there any current legislations that regulate the industry or can there be any change in the legislations for the industry? Copyright Act (unchanged) Streaming Act

What are the environmental concerns for the industry? We are used to thinking that streaming and digital music is in fact more environmentally friendly. CD’s are physical items that require packaging and is distributed physically, which means more packaging. On top of that, once used, they often end up in landfills. So it seems obvious that digital music is the most environmentally friendly solution, but recent studies are beginning to uncover faults: “Digital music streams could harm the environment even more than compact discs” ( more-than-cd-s/051773) more-than-cd-s/ Even though this may appear unrealistic more an more studies are showing that streaming music actually uses up more electricity and energy than CD production would: “Streaming or downloading 12 tracks, without compression, just 27 times by one user would, in energy terms, equate to the production and shipping of one physical 12-track CD album” A researcher suggests that “a ‘close-to-consumer’ cloud solution might be the most environmentally-friendly option” for online content delivery

Political NONE Economical Consumers’ purchasing power has been eroded by inflation, and wages haven’t been rising enough to compensate Social Music sharing trends can change erratically, the fluctuation of social interest via social networks can influence our predictions? Technological -Concert Crowdfunding -Higher quality music players -Reversion Rights & DIY Music Tech -3D Printing Music Merchandise Legal Illegal downloading is still popular, but is becoming less of an issues as there are easier and better ways to get music for free. Environmental/Ethical Digital music streams could harm the environment even more than compact discs SUMMARY

Have our competitors taken advantage of any of these factors Spotify: Have used streaming to create a better music experience and have utilized the sharing aspect of music to sell their brand Grooveshark: use the economic situation to provide free music streaming while making profit through advertising spaces.