Project Replifact

There is no doubt that the uprising of the internet has been the cause of grand changes in the music industry. Online streaming has been a big part of those changes where the new way of communication and the changes of music distribution originated from. Because of those changes is the music industry more different than anyone would know at first instance. This research is conducted for the company Replifact Media bv. Replifact Media is a cd/dvd production company. The production of physical music carriers is one of the segments of the music industry that has been affected by online streaming. To be specific, that segment has taken a tumble because of online streaming. This is where the practical problem of Replifact Media originate, attracting buyers.
A positive incidental of streaming is that artists are now in power to own and distribute their own music. Therefore are the artists the new buyers who are interesting for Replifact to attract. Which is also the main topic of this research and the main question:
In which way can Replifact activate artists in the Netherlands, to let the artists press their music by Replifact?
This research is aimed at the communication of Replifact and therefore there is created an advise to help Replifact with the practical problem, through a communication solution. The advice has taken the form of a strategic communication plan. To check if the advice would help Replifact with the practical problem hypotheses have been formed.
The hypotheses are: (1)Artists in the Netherlands communicate mostly online. (2) Artists in the Netherlands are accessible online by companies. (3)Replifact has no name recognition among artists. (4)Online visibility has an effect on the sales of a company. (5)Replifact’s competitors communicate mainly online. (6)Replifact’s competitors use a social media communication strategy. (7)Communication in the business-to-business market also goes through online channels. (8) Content is an important concept when using communication.
To check of the hypotheses could be adopted, the research went trough a couple of research fields. The library is used to search for theoretical information and the methods that are used in the library were a target group analysis and a competitors analysis. The target group is analysed by the technique of Michels (Michels, 2013) and the competitors is analysed by the technique of the good and the bad practices method (Pack, 2019).
In the field research has been done by a qualitative method called expertinterview and in the lab more research has been done by a quantitative method called a survey (Memelink, 2010).
At the end of the research all the hypotheses have been answered and adopted. Thereby the strategic communication plan was developed. The advice for Replifact Media is to start an online community with a social media strategy. Aimed at artists in the Netherlands in the ages between 25 and 45 years. The target group is to be reached trough the social media channels Facebook and Instagram. As an addition Replifact also need to be active on YouTube by filling their channel with short films. Also suggestions for changes of the website of Replifact are included in the plan.
To make the strategic communicationplan more specific for Replifact, a short term and a long term planning are included.
The strategic communication plan is the advice for Replifact to gain more name recognition amongs artists. What would have a positive contribution to the part that Replifact can activate the artists to let the artists press their music by Replifact.
In the end of this paper suggestions and some advises are made for follow-up research but mostly aimed at the buyers Replifact already have in their circle of customers.