While much of the media and entertainment industry is still recovering from the major losses of the past few years, music stands out as one area that is actually growing stronger every year. 

According to IFPI’s Global Music Report, global recorded music revenues increased by 10.2% in 2023 and total trade revenues reached $28.6 billion, the ninth consecutive year of growth. Much of this is driven by paid streaming subscribers, but 2023 was also the “biggest year ever” for live music in Live Nation’s 2023 financial results, with revenue growing 36% to $22.7 billion and operating income growing 46% to $1.07 billion. 

Music companies have a deep investment in the experience economy, whether it’s through live performance or the development of musical skills like playing an instrument or learning music production. Music publishing and music creation companies are focused on the growth of their customers, taking them from novice to pro and supporting them across the entire process. That offers significant opportunities to engage with customers and build relationships that last for years, if not decades. 

Keep reading to learn Salesforce’s benefits in the music space and how one Online Music Store saw a 150% increase in engagement and $120,000 increase in monthly revenue by leveraging data to deliver individualized experiences. 

The benefits of Salesforce for music companies

We see two common scenarios with music companies struggling to manage their technology: they are either long-established companies with legacy systems that do not meet their current needs, or younger, fast-growing companies that are burdened by different systems they have gained through acquisitions. 

In both cases, consolidating technology is the first step to set a foundation that allows them to take action on their mass stores of data. Music companies can unify sales, service, and marketing within Salesforce, and having one integrated tech stack centralizes contacts/customers for the business to make multi-channel communication easy.

Contact management can be especially challenging for music companies, and without a central point of contact, there’s no alignment between departments. For example, if sales is pursuing a client, they should be included in marketing campaigns and receiving relevant messaging and content. All of that information can be stored in Salesforce, and Marketing Cloud provides a full view of the customer’s profile and all the past touchpoints in their journey. 

Marketing Cloud Personalization (MCP) creates better user experiences on websites, helps with cross-selling and upselling, and power the next best actions for service. Mapping out the Customer Journey (i.e. from novice to pro) allows companies to add automation to key steps in the individual’s progress, and helps the company celebrate their successes. Send out emails when an instrumentalist hits their practicing goal or completes a training book, encouraging them to hit their benchmarks and continue using your products. 

Rather than staying in “maintain mode”, music companies can drive growth and reach new customers with proactive sales engagement: 

• If a person abandons the subscription sign-up page or abandons their cart, retarget that person via a relevant and targeted email campaign
• Show customers when a favorite or followed artist publishes, where they’re playing and when, or suggest artists like them
• Help focus customers’ attention to new products they might be interested in

How one music client increased revenue and engagement 

One of our music clients is an online store serving artists, DJs, producers, and labels by providing the tracks, tools, and connections for their community to thrive and grow. As a highly distributed company that grew organically and via acquisition, the store saw a great opportunity in consolidating to Salesforce’s marketing stack, beginning with Marketing Cloud Engagement (MCE) to provide personalized email journeys for their DJ community. 

With MCE, the store was able to clean and consolidate their contact lists, segment their audiences, and define their customer journeys. They consolidated email communications by migrating off of Hubspot onto MCE for a consistent brand experience. With that strong foundation, the store was able to focus on their next step to extending their tight-knit in-person interactions to the web.

The store’s website is the primary revenue source for subscription and downloaded tracks, as well as a venue to their other online properties to buy loops, products, and access content. The store implemented MCP to replace the existing coupon functionality, which, on the legacy technology, did not provide data on clicks, conversions, and other activities. 

Once a person landed on the website, the store wanted a better understanding of that individual’s affinities, such as the artists they like or the charts they are playing. With MCP, the store has quick access to data in real time, so it can tweak marketing initiatives as needed. For example, using Einstein recommendations, the Music Store can provide a unique customer experience on its website by individualizing DJ chart content based on affinities for artists, labels, and genres.

Over the course of the first year, the Music Store saw: 

• 150% increase in engagement 
• $120,000 increase in monthly revenue
• 3x increase in coupon usage 
• Over 20,000 new free subscription sign ups and 10,000 paid subscriptions
• 5.8 million impressions on MCP coupons
• 93,000 clicks on MCP coupons

Mphasis Silverline’s media and entertainment team knows your industry, your department, and the technology that will help your organization reach its full potential. With experience building industry-leading applications for some of the world’s most influential music brands, we can show your team how to get more from your Salesforce investment.

Learn more about how our experts can help your music organization.