E-marketing
Role of internet in music industry
The digital platforms have been of great use in the music industry and this has been
evident in case more businesses have come up to carry out e-marketing strategies in various
ways. This has led to increased sales and reduction in the piracy of music form the middlemen
who use music to enrich themselves at the expense of the artists (Alexander, 2002). Internet is
really doing well in scrapping off the unscrupulous dealer who used to use the music that is well
loved by people in making money in uncouth means. Internet has played a key role in ensuring
that music that is released can be availed in the YouTube, where many people can access it
without having to go and buy it from shops a factor that is time consuming and tedious as well
(Alexander, 2002). Smartphones are used by many people in the global world and they have
proved to be significant in connecting the internet where music is availed at the convenience of
the consumers. One of the biggest advantages of internet in marketing is the ability to reach
millions of people at the same time from all the corners of the globe (Curient, Nicholas, &
Moreau, 2009). Internet has led to increased sales of music and many of the musicians have
become rich through the use of internet in their music. Internet has become a new business
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opportunity for the music industry and this is mostly in the distribution area of the industry and
on areas of entertainment. The internet has brought high innovation in the music industry and
this is currently proving to enable the music industry to take a center stage if internet continues
to be used as statistics shows.
How internet has ben of significant impact to the music industry
On the other side the internet has changed the way the music industry operates in any
significant ways that is evident where a unknown smart artist can be in a better position of
connecting with audience without the aid of backing of a major label or they start by putting their
works in digital platforms. This latter is loved by many and they start making money whenever
people download their works form the digital platforms while using the internet (Curien, Nicolas,
and Moreau, 2009). Despite the fact the audience might not be as many as expected but on the
other side the musician benefits because he does not need to share his profit with the labels. This
is the reason as to why up to this far, the internet is of great importance to the users of the
consumers in the music industry (Ryan, 2014).
Competing e-businesses within the music industry
The two ecommerce that have proven to be highly competitive in the music industry are
inclusive of the Spotify and the iTunes. Spotify has been ranked as the most well-designed and
user friendly of all the digital music services that are found in the internet. This is the reason as
to why it has been noted to be highly competitive in the music industry. Spotify has used the
right path that is loved by many and this has been to its advantage in racing to the top of the
music industry that it loves the more (Richardson, 2011). This is evident in its aspect of
continuing to blaze as an entrepreneurial model and this has created the success story of the
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company in its making. Music is becoming an ambiguous passion for many people and Spotify is
a successful e-marketing in this industry. Spotify was established with a more recognizable and
existing services that could be of great use to the music industry and this is then reason as to it
has remained to be competitive in the industry for a long period of time (Moscaritolo, 2014).
Spotify success comes along with the combination that is evident in the ingenious branding
campaign and this makes the company to focus on exclusivity that draws high interest form the
public. This is a strategy that helps in appeasing the all the digital music lovers who intron users
this type of ecommerce for being one of the best together with designing the required business
model that is as well an attraction to many people. This ecommerce has risen to the top ranking
in terms of digital music providers and this factor has made it to be very competitive as it is
loved by many people who are interested in obtaining music in the internet (Luker, 2012).
Despite its good work that exists in the industry Spotify faces high competition from the Apple
iTunes Stores who are proving to capture the music industry and in the midst of all this Spotify
has managed to bridge the gap and provide services that have been proven to be legal. These
have been proven to an attractive option to the whole globe in helping customer to connect with
their favorite artist and songs (Farber, 2009).
Apple iTunes
The iTune store is a digital platform that is used in used in listen to music that is in the
internet. It is highly competitive as it service are very good and loved by many who use them in
accessing music in then internet. This has been proven to be a large music vendor in the United
States of America and this is one of the reasons as to why it remains to be very competitive and
loved by many in terms of listening to the music that is present in the internet (Deegan et al,
2009). The introduction of iTunes has simplified the music work that is present in the internet as
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people are in a better position of downloading the software and listening to any music of their
choice that they feel like. The Apple iTunes store is best in offering of an application that is used
in various task that are inclusive of games that are very interesting and applicable during leisure
times. The use of applications is useful in provision of news and productivity to the customers
who are interested in downloading music from the internet. The Apple iTunes gets high benefits;
since, when a person downloads an application 30 percent of the benefit goes to the Apple
iTunes and 70 percent goes to the developer of the application implying that this software
company earns a lot when an application is downloaded (Moscaritolo, 2014).
The apple dominates the music market since it has employed the use of some useful
strategies that are of great benefit in its success. The use of complex business model is all that
that is evident in the software that has contributed to its success at a very fast rate in this current
growing music industry. The site of the iTunes has contribute to its growing success in the music
industry not forgetting the work that software plays in ensuring that all Apple business model are
overarched (Ross, 2013). Through creation of its own music store Apple has been able to
dominate the music industry as it is very competitive compared to any other software.
Comparison between Apple iTunes and the Spotify
These two software’s that are used in the music industry are similar as they all aim in making the
listening of music to be easier and faster as required by the consumer. The introduction of iTunes
and Spotify software’s has simplified the music work that is present in the internet as people a
are in a better position of downloading the software and listening to any music of their choice
that they feel like. In both the Apple iTunes and the Spotify their businesses are highly protected
sand they do not easily allow any piracy to take place as far as they are concerned in their parts
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of operations in the music industry (Wilson, 2013). They all ensure that any song that is
purchased all the details is saved in the computer in combination of all the metadata that have
been used in the industry. All the direct transfers of music by the use of the two software’ are
made simple and easily accessible to all the consumers of the whole globe. The two software’s
that is the Apple iTunes and the Spotify all used in the music industry are very sensitive in
ensuring that they incorporate massive catalogue that attach the song that has been purchased by
the consumer from the internet. The two music vendors have been able to sell music a lot to the
customers across the globe and this has made them to attain high returns through the high sales
that they make. The two vendors have had integration with music devices and a cloud that they
use to access all the information concerning music across the globe. The sales of the two music
vendors have been rated high and this has proved to be one of the similarities between them in
their operations in the industry.
Contrast of Apple iTunes and the Spotify software
The site of the iTunes has contribute to its growing success in the music industry not
forgetting the work that software plays in ensuring that all Apple business model are overarched.
Through creation of its own music store Apple has been able to dominate the music industry as it
is very competitive compared to any other software. On the other side Spotify is not that much
competitive as compared to Apple iTunes despite the fact that it’s really trying to dominate the
market but it has not crated its own music store as Apple iTunes has done. This is one of the
sectors that bring contrasts between it Spotify and Apple iTunes. Apple is different for the
Spotify; since, it was one of the very fast music stores that were able to provide an “a la carte”
selection of music that was liked by many people who are funs of music in the internet. Apple
provided high access to must that was provided in the internet thus, making it to be loved by
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many people who were more interested in all that they got through the use of the software. On
the other side, Spotify has been proven not to employ the use of the “a la carte” selection of
music that made Apple iTunes to be very competitive in the industry. Spotify flexibility has not
been very fast as that which was provided by Apple iTunes and this is one of the reason as to
why it was beaten by Apple iTunes in terms of competition. Apple was the first in combining the
mp3 that was produced by some of the companies at the time when it was established and made
it work well with the music stores that were in existence before making its own music store. The
Spotify software did not combine the working of the two at an early stage thus it was a bit slow
and Apple bet it in competition thus bring a contract between the two in their operations. The
way Apple iTunes carries out its operation is very different from the way Spotify operates and
this means that the two contrasts a lot in their operations. This is quite evident were the Apple
iTunes device makes comparison to Spotify online distributor of music to customers to be quite
unbalanced as they might require. Apple iTunes as compared to the Spotify have made their
downloading services of the music in the internet quite easy and reliable and this is another
contrast that is evident between it and Spotify. Spotify persuades it customers to pay for music
subscription while Apple gives its customers a chance to download music from peer to peer
services and since Spotify gives high limitation concerning what their customers can do with
their music that is the reason as to why their appeal is highly undermined by their customers. The
Apple iTunes business model is simple and clean as compared to the Spotify business model that
they have employed for use.
Executive summary
The success of any company and their product highly depend on the marketing strategy
they use to promote their product and to reach their customers. Most businesses that have
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recorded huge revenues have greatly invested in e-marketing with the aim of improving their
ability to reach their customers. The world of marketing has tremendously changed from the
days it was costly and time consuming to carry out traditional marketing methods such as the
print ads online marketing platforms. The digital era has come with exciting new ways of
communication that marketers take advantage of to ensure that their products are known and
seen by the customers at their own convenience. Increase in technology has formulated new
ways and means by which marketers can easily reach more people in a timely manner through
implementing e-marketing strategies. The use of e-marketing can take advantage of several
media platforms to reach millions of consumers with minimal complexity. Unlike the traditional
marketing methods, the e-marketing platforms have a unique way of allowing conversation with
the customers leading to increased response and improved service delivery. It allows the
marketers to keep in touch with their customers at a more personal level as they promote the sale
of their goods and products. The marketer only needs to keep the overall goals of marketing
within the realistic demands of the social marketing platforms. Due to shifting customer focus,
the logic of marketing is slowly changing from the exchange of goods towards service and this
offers more opportunity for the exploitation of digital marketing strategies. Unlike the traditional
marketing strategies, e-marketing platforms offers more cost effective methods of reaching
missions of customers in geographically diverse areas. The digital marketing platform offers a
best alternative of exploring customer relationship management due to increased interaction with
the customer through the digital means. The brand communication that is possible through e-
marketing platforms that help to build customer loyalty through increased frequency and
personalized content.
Conclusion
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Music industry is one of the industries that have heavily invested in the e-marketing
platforms in order to reach their clients and make more profits. Spotify has good e-marketing
strategy with good e-marketing mix that takes care of competitive pricing and distribution.
However, the iTunes seems to have the best mix of marketing strategy with the potential of
reaching more clients and making more profits. Unlike their competitor, iTunes apply the e-
marketing strategy of low cost margin that enables their clients to access music with more ease.
In addition, iTunes has made it more convenient by providing a wide variety of collection within
a simple gadget. iTunes allows for more flexibility through its simple and clean business model.
In addition, iTunes has massive catalogue that contains millions of songs and this makes it very
reliable to its users. The costs of enjoying music through iTunes are greatly reduced since little is
spent on marketing of Apple products, which is already a brand.
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Bibliography
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Deegan, M., Horner, J., Elliot, R. & Chase, D. 2009, Can subscribers keep Spotify afloat?,
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Farber, A. 2009, “Spotify in talks to offer music app to subscribers on 3”, New Media Age, pp. 3.
Luker, S. 2012, “Spotify looks to build consumer presence”, PR Week, , pp. 6.
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Ross, M. 2013, “Apple unveils iTunes Radio”, B & T Weekly, .
Ryan, D. 2014, Understanding Digital Marketing: Marketing Strategies for Engaging the Digital
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Wilson, J.L. 2013, “iTunes Radio Threatens the iOS Competition Without Innovating”,
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