Jay Arnez Felicite, stage name Jay Felicite, is a musical artist based in London, UK. Jay Felicite is a songwriter, Caribbean singer, and engineer and music producer with valuable experience in the music industry (Reverbnation n.d.). Felicite’s music depicts a mix of raga, reggae, R&B, soul and blues. Generally, his music is what is referred to as Flav’d. The artist was born on June 3rd, 1992 (Reverbnation n.d.). He has since produced music through Felicite Entertainment which he founded in the United Kingdom. Felicite released his first song in the year 2013 titled “Call Me” under Felicite Entertainment. Since then, he has had the chance to work with various influential music producers including Edeez beats and N-Soul beats (Reverbnation n.d.). He recently released an Extended Play (EP) titled “Gawdly.” An EP is a type of musical recording that has more musical tracks than a single, but fewer tracks to be categorized as a Long Playing (LP) musical recording or an album (Campbell, Martin, and Fabos, 2014.
This marketing plan is aimed at marketing the release of the “Gawdly” EP. The marketing plan is aimed at exploring various aspects of the music industry to achieve success in marketing the EP; not only marketing the musical recording, but also the artist himself among other aspects that relate to his lifestyle. Essentially, the music industry in the modern age has become diverse and requires background and technical knowledge utilized through a business approach to ensure a given artist becomes successful in a professional way (Bacache et al., 2014). This marketing plan seeks to utilize digital marketing platforms, live events, radio promotion, advertising activities, TV promotion, and traditional press to ensure optimum marketing of the EP Gawdly to ensure maximum success of Jay Felicite as an artist in the music industry (Jamsphere n.d.). As such, the contents of this marketing plan are focused on emphasizing different implementable approaches that will ensure the accomplishments of its objectives
(Source, Jamsphere.com n.d.)
Aim and Purpose
The main aim and purpose of this marketing plan are to majorly market the Extended Play (EP) “Gawdly” produced by Jay Felicite. The focus of the marketing plan shall be achieved through exploring a variety of marketing tools to ensure optimum success in marketing efforts (Campbell et al., 2014). The expected results of the strategies discussed in this marketing plan include the following. First, the marketing plan to be implemented in the release of Jay Felicite’s new EP called “Gawdly” is expected to boost his fanbase. A large fan base generally translates to more sales in terms of music CDs, event and concert tickets among other forms of revenue in the music industry (Rutter 2016). Second, since Jay Felicite is relatively a new artist, he still has to get more recognition in the public for his works of art. Generally, the marketing plan is aimed at creating a buzz around him and his work to create a widespread awareness of his music and himself as an artist. The third expectation involves gaining more radio plays which will, in turn, help him get more recognition in the music industry. This will establish him strongly as a professional musician. Fourth, this plan aims at ensuring that there is a kind of notoriety surrounding his music and hype about his social life. Lastly, the marketing plan is widely expected to create a shared experience of the ST. Lucia lifestyle which is the native location of the artist, Jay Felicite. A show of the culture he grew up in will work towards making his fans understand the different messages embedded in his music and his view on certain significant matters affecting the society. The culmination of the aims and purposes of the marketing plan gear towards creating a successful musical and business outcome surrounding the release of Jay Felicite’s EP “Gawdly.”
Music Industry Overview
The music industry in the current age of information and technology has become diverse in a manner of ways. The diversity causes the trends and waves to change from time to time making it hard for musicians to be able to keep up. Correspondingly, the musical artists are faced with various challenges, which include creating a strong and loyal fan base on local and even international levels (Wikstrom, 2016). Putting into consideration that fans are important, the success of any musical artist can, therefore, be evaluated by the strength and capacity of his fan base. To achieve this form of success, an artist ought to implement conventional and empirical business fundamentals like a marketing plan to survive in a diverse market in these changing times (Wikstrom, 2016). Therefore, the marketing plan will explore different areas of the music industry that have a significant impact on the capability of an artist to succeed.
The Music industry places a lot of emphasis on the fans. The fans are considered the consumers in this industry (Leyshon et al., 2016). The product is considered to be the music. As such, an artist ought to produce good music to stay in touch with his fans. Good music is defined by the quality of musical instruments used, sync of these instruments, voice quality and a relevant message being delivered to the audience (Cloonan, 2016). By accomplishing this, an artist stands to gain a larger fan base that is loyal to the type of music he or she produces. However, the most important thing is the channels through which the music is able to reach a wide variety and diverse set of consumers which acts as the audience. The different ways through which consumers will be able to get access to and get more information about the artist and music is very significant in establishing a successful front in the music industry. The various ways to achieve this kind of awareness includes digital marketing, radio promotion, live events, brand partnerships, advertising activities, TV promotion and traditional press (Rolston et al., 2015). The marketing plan will cover these in detail to come up with a plan for ensuring the success of the newly released EP “Gawdly.”
Digital Marketing
In this instance, Jay Felicite should make use of various social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook among others. This will ensure that much of the online population gets informed of him as an artist and the music he produces (Campbell, et al., 2013). By making people aware, there is the potential of gaining a strong fan base that interacts with his music online (Strauss 2016). Furthermore, Jay Felicite ought to utilize various online marketing tools such as personal websites (Hutchison, 2013), blogs, YouTube that ought to provide information about his music and access to his music via online means (Chen et al., 2015). Not forgetting the most important invention of the internet that enables communication that is instant and secure at the same time, the E-mail. E-mails would provide a powerful front in informing various subscribers of his YouTube channel or his personal website on various major events that would let them listen to the music he has produced in a social environment (Standring 2006).
The social media sites that will be used will include Facebook, Twitter, Shazam, Google, Youtube, and Snapchat. Promoted posts on Facebook for the driving pre-orders for the EP will be essential in marketing the EP. Radium one, as a data driven marketing solution will be used to enhance pre roll spend driving awareness and pre-orders on the release of the EP. Digital sites running posters for some weeks after the releases including posters on Radium one and Facebook pre-order ads will be used to encourage fans to share and pre-order the EP. Facebook promoted ads showing the OUT NOW message across an interested audience. Pre-roll activities on Radium One, also displaying the OUT NOW message across a targeted audience through use of cookie pools. Besides, high awareness of OUT NOW messages across various social media platforms including Snapchat where there will be a complete takeover of the Sky Snapchat page, which will mainly display mobile ads will also be used. Google Lightbox ad will also be used to create a very robust online presence across the Google network targeting a variety of potential online audiences. For Shazam fans, takeover of the Shazam Listening screen will ensure high awareness of the release with the OUT NOW Message. Besides, online mail and direct mail will be used to reach a mass mainstream audience through newsletters of the OUT NOW message across various subscribers and interested audience.
Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook will be used to encourage more people to share the release and content of the EP. The hashtag #Gawdly will be used from the first mention to the release and marketing of the EP. Jay Felicite’s accounts will be mainly used in this marketing. Since Jay has also feature other artists such as Scarlet Power, Zig Zag, Montana B, Lil G, and Arthur Allain, they will also use their accounts to market the EP. They will help in the social media marketing given that Jay Felicite does not have a huge following on social media. All radio and press news or interviews will be shared via social media. While attending radio interviews, Jay will use this opportunity to inform those who may wish to follow him about his official social media channels. Five daily updated comprising videos, images, and challenge news will help familiarize the new EP. Social media will act as the best avenue to reach more fans and establish a contact with them. Jay will reply to comments and messages from fans and offer free EPs for fans who upload and share dance videos. Other challenges, which will all be accompanied by #Gawdly will include singing battles for songs in the EP. Jay will encourage fans to have their friends vote for them to win the challenge, which will in turn increase his social media followers. The focus will also be on the use of different media from gif’s, photos, to videos. Social media will also be used to provide links for the EP found in the Spotify, iTunes, Amazon Music, Google Play, and Beatport.
Radio Promotion
The radio had been a very successful and influential marketing tool up until the invention of the internet. Even though there is radio on the internet, it still faces stiff competition from digital media (Link, 2014). The allure of digital media has struck the world in an exponential manner. This has created a situation where the radio is not valued anymore. However, we cannot neglect that most people still listen to the radio and consider it as a form of entertainment (Sheinkop 2016). Therefore, the radio still remains the best place for an artist to get recognition thereby widening his fan base. The larger the fan base, the more the sales expected.
The use of the marketing power that is present in the radio stations would be very useful to ensuring the success of the EP “Gawdly” in every aspect of his music career. The fact that most radio presenters and DJs have a strong fan base compounded with the loyal listeners of the radio stations, the increase of radio promotion on Jay Felicite’s side would be an of a great advantage to him. The more the DJs talk about him and his music while playing a few tracks from his new EP would work well towards establishing his presence with the new works of music that he has produced for the benefit of his fans (Rolston et al., 2015). He would, in turn, be able to gain more fans and as a result create a successful foundation for his music career.
Radio Promotion would involve the following activities. There will be a 3 second EP advertisement across major radio stations (Capital Extra, Kiss FM, Iluvelive, and Mister Jam) that has that connects to the targeted audience. Radio interviews during popular shows like the Lashawna Show will also be used. Third, Jay will also promotion the EP in the aforementioned radio stations and make at least two songs be featured in the daily playlists. Further, spot plays and EP audio ads will also be featured in Radion 1 Xtra, Reprezent, Capital Xtra and Kiss FM. Jay will also use the interviews to market his social media accounts, notify listeners of his live events and where they can get the EP.
Live Events and Street Marketing
The music industry is a place where people like to meet up and listen to new music and even popular music of the past (Rolston et al., 2015). This has brought about the need for live events where the artist goes to perform their music live to the audience. On the other hand, there are what are termed as DJ plays which majorly involve a DJ playing a good collection of the music while the audience listens and dance along. The power of the audience that is depicted in this events cannot be underestimated. The reason being that the audience at most of these events has a good taste in music and if they get to like Jay Felicite’s new EP “Gawdly,” it would be a signal for the potential success therein.
Live events would give Jay Felicite a chance to sample some music from the EP for the audience. Furthermore, the audience will create a good environment for the new EP to be marketed to the public. In essence, live events contain the vigor of the fans and have some aspects that align to the aims and purpose of this marketing plan. For instance, the audience in the live events would make it able for Felicite to boost his fanbase in an incredible way. The experience of seeing or listening to a live performance of a song is very different from listening to it on the radio or the television (Papies and Heerde, 2017). Therefore the audience at these live events have the first-hand experience, and by sharing their experience by word of mouth, more people would be interested in Jay Felicite’s new EP, and other works of music he has produced (Gamble and Gilmore, 2013). This would be very significant in helping make Jay Felicite an established music artist in the UK music industry and on an international level.
“The live show is the truest form of musical expression, the setting in which musicians and their listeners alike can judge whether what they do is ‘real’ (Frith, 2007, p.8)”. Therefore, Jay Felicite will hold a street marketing campaign, which will entail two road shows, street dance contests, and distribution of flyers. Jay will use these platforms to make contact with customers. All road shows will be staged in London with the first in Jay’s hometown, Saint Lucian. During these events, Jay will showcase his skills and perform songs exclusively from his EP. Scarlet Power and Zig Zag will also be present in some live events and street campaigns to support Felicite market his EP.
Synch/Licensing and Brand Partnerships
The music industry operates just like any other industry in the world. For one to conduct business operations, one has to acquire permits from the relevant authorities. Furthermore, business in the music industry is mainly involved with brand image and associations created (Sheinkop 2016). Therefore, it is very crucial that an artist looking to stamp his foot in the diverse music industry should be able to maintain a good brand image by creating worthwhile, appropriate and successful brand partnerships that aim at helping his brand awareness campaign on a very large scale. In this case, we consider Jay Felicite as a music artist and the brand associated with or rather that defines him as an artist and his music.
Licensing the EP would create major sales boost for the artist. First, licensing is considered the legal means to conduct a given business operation (Bacache-Beauvallet et al., 2015). As such, when business operations are legalized there comes the issue of revenue. Revenue streams increase with licensing of music production and distribution activities. By licensing his music production and distribution operations, Jay Felicite is going to create a legal definition of his business making more investors available to conduct business with him. Furthermore, these investors might come in the form of brand partnerships. This would impact positively on Jay’s ability to distribute his music. The brand partnerships may create a lot of opportunities for the young artist. The opportunities may include an association with a recognized and established the brand in various sectors of the economy. The brand partnerships may also provide access funds and resources that will enhance the operations of distribution of the new EP “Gawdly.”
Sync/Licencing and Brand Patnerships may involve a number of activities. First, video production of the songs featuring endorsments of various brands that have partnered with the artist may be used. Jay can also sync the song with other productions including films, music brands, and major art events. Brand partnership deals with various brands, for example local football championships where some of Jay Felicite’s songs will be featured as theme songs for the games. Jay will also partner with various music or production brands to distribute his music across various events, music stores, and online platforms.
Advertising Activities
The music industry is all about getting recognized and getting much airplay. To enable this to be a reality on Jay Felicite’s side, he should be involved in advertising activities that help him get more recognition in the music industry. These advertising activities may make the release of the new EP more successful. Through the advertising of his new EP, more people would be able to attend the live events and DJ plays that will give them a chance to listen to his music. Furthermore, other channels of advertising like social media, websites, and blogs (Dewan, and Ramaprasad, 2014) would create a good source of marketing power that would inform the fans of the impending release of the new EP “Gawdly.”
The advertising activities will mainly include playing of various tracks from the EP at major festivals including Field Day and Meltdown. Live performances and appearances of Jay Felicite at major music festival events will also give the audience a taste of the EP, create awareness of the EP, and various pre-release events to take places. Other activities will nclude performance of live gigs at strategic locations with an interested audience, creating a wave of interest within the audience about the Jay Felicite and his music; mention of the release date of the EP at live events; posters of the release event on locations of major music festivals; live DJ play of various pre-release tracks from the EP; and interacting with the audience at live events for example the music festivals will be a good way to market his music brand.
(Source, Jamsphere n.d.)
Traditional Press
Though the world has changed in terms of the media channels used to communicate important information to the public, the value of traditional press has not yet been eroded. The news release also known asr press statements still hold immense value even though they are a rather traditional form of passing information through the media. Correspondingly, these types of media can be used to communicate information about an important event, launch or new product from a particular company. Therefore, the release of the new EP should have in its schedule a press release that will work to inform the public of the launch event of the EP “Gawdly.”
By conducting a press release, the audience that relies on traditional media for information will be informed of the launch event in advance. The significance of traditional media comes in targeting the audience that does not rely on online sources for their information (Leenders et al., 2015). Therefore, the press release about the release of the EP when put on broadcasting media will work towards targeting a section of the fans and the larger audience to provide them will relevant and reliable information. This information will create an interest in the fans and audience thus increasing the potential number of the audience at the EP release or launch event.
Activities aiming at promoting the EP through traditional press will manly include press release announcing the release of the EP, content focusing on the artist, the EP and the venue of the release event and other relevant information; as well as positive press about the artist and his music, with much focus on the popularity and quality of the message in the music.
Charity Shops
Seager (2014) argues that charity shops have been experiencing increased demands for most products. As an upcoming musician, Jay will need to invest more in increasing his customer market and marketing his EP. Therefore, Jay Felicite should target charity shops as a way of marketing his EP and future songs to new customers.
Timeline and Release
| Date w/c | Timeline | Social Media Assets | Marketing | Other |
| April w/c 15th | Cover photo release Studio photos | Organic posts | Kiss FM Radio interview | |
| April 20th | 7:30 am Capital Xtra 1:30 pm Iluvile | Two audio releases Lyric video teaser Different cover photo 5 Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram posts | YouTube pre-roll Facebook, Instagram pre-roll | |
| April 29th | Spotify 5 Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram posts | Spotify Banners and mobile overlay | ||
| May 1st | Facebook and Instagram | 15 seconds dark post acoustic visuals | ||
| May 2nd | Full Audio release | Audio release to radio stations YouTube audio release | DJ audio distribution from 4th May | |
| May 5th | 7am YouTube | First YouTube video release | Facebook and Instagram posts on video release with links to YouTube channel | |
| May 6th | 8am Kiss fm 1pm Capital Xtra | Video release tour and interviews | Live Facebook and IG video on the video | |
| May 21st | 11 am. Live event Saint Lucian | Live event to increase awareness | Intense marketing of live event from May 1st |
These two elements of timeline and release of the EP go hand in hand. For a successful release of the EP, the timing must be near to perfect. Various aspects set to enhance the release of the EP should be accomplished on the right time to ensure the flow of information and operations are in a specific procedure that guarantees a successful release. The following will entail the timeline aspects of the release.
Two months before release should be a period to countercheck the legal matters pertaining to the music industry. For instance, one should employ an entertainment lawyer to check various legal issues including copyrighting of musical works produced and various licenses from relevant boards in the music industry to ensure the legitimacy of operations (Shuker 2016). Thus, this period should also contain the increase of subscribers to your newsletter and social media pages. This will increase the audience that gets access to relevant information about Jay Felicite as an artist and more of his songs.
One month or two weeks before the release should majorly involve operations surrounding the announcing of the date and venue of the release event. This should be carried out through the various forms of advertisements mostly social media, websites, blogs and newsletters. The release event can be a show or a listening party. One example of such activities includes creating Facebook invites for the live show or listening party. Furthermore, this period marks the beginning of the press campaign for the release event. The press campaign should be aggressive and vigorous to get information to most people thus increasing the number of potential attendees.
Two weeks before the release would majorly entail the boosting of the excitement of the release on social media and other online media platforms. Essentially, there can be a scheduled countdown in place to make the fans become eager to attend the event on the actual release day. Then two weeks after, on the actual release day, the following important actions should be carried out. First, make a post or video that is funny and talks majorly about the release and post it on your personal website. This would make the fans get excited more. Second, a newsletter announcing the release should be sent to the artist’s mailing list. Third, social media should be updated regularly with the progress of the release on the actual release day. This would build the excitement and momentum around the event.
The work does not end on the actual release day but continues afterward. After the release of the EP, Jay Felicite should be able to keep in touch with his fans through various forms of communication be it e-mails, social media, website comments among others. This would work to determine the success of the release and whether further activities need to be implemented to up the tempo surrounding the newly released EP.
Budget
Table 1: Budget
| Budget Category | Timespan | Estimated Costs |
| Radio Promotion (M-F Spots) | Weekly | £ 1836.56 (Aland, 2017). |
| Live Events, street marketing and DJ Play | Two events | £ 5000 (Varies depending on the type of event, venue, and capacity of attendees among other significant factors) |
| Brand partnerships | On need basis | Amount will depend on deal with partners |
| Digital Advertising (Social Media) | Daily | £ 0.4- £ 2.00 per click, £ 2.50- £4.50 per new follower (Michaud, 2016). |
| Advertising activities and Traditional press | On need basis | £ (In terms of 5-7 % of gross sales made from the release) (Williams and More, 2017). |
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