Entretainership Sessions(Music Business Workshop): Session 2

The Uniqueness of Service marketing as it relates to music business

A service is any act or performance which a party can offer to another party which is essentially intangible. 

Music artistes are into the service business. When artistes do what they do; that is sing, act, or dance, they offer a service like the doctor, lawyer and surgeon. So I write this piece to help the artiste understand the nature of the business he is into. 

Characteristics

Intangibility:

Services are intangible; that is it can’t be held, touched, or seen before purchase decision.  This means that buyers cannot make judgments based on sensory evaluation i.e taste, touch, sight, smell, or hearing until they buy. 

As regards service offerings, buyers rely instead on whatever physical cues they can find to assess quality, including the appearance of the service provider and the physical environment in the service firm.   

That is your fans/ listeners rely on the materials you make available that will aid their perception of you.  Hence your brand image and business associations you –the service provider- project to them via mediums like your music videos, packaging and promotional materials matter a lot.

A major marketing need for services is to make them tangible or show the benefits of using the service.

Do all the physical activity you can to make yourself visible.  Make yourself a household name by projecting a unique and essential brand.  While you are at it make them know:

Why you should be heard and watched. 

Why your CDs should be bought,

Why companies should associate their brands with you and ask you to endorse, Why music lovers should pay an amount to watch you perform live 

Men would continue to judge by outward appearance - by their senses (even God said so…).  So, back up your musical works with more physical evidences- especially of good quality- and get your music out there -to be heard.  Do not be slack on proving your existence, as long as you are still in the market.  Communicate what you stand for, that is being a brand.

Heterogeneity

Heterogeneity is the variation in service quality caused by inconsistencies of performance.  Developing, pricing, promoting and delivering services are challenging because the quality of a service is often inconsistent.  Since services depend on the people who provide them, their quality varies with each person’s capabilities and day to day performance.

 That is your performance at the 2009 ABC award show may not be the same or as good as your performance at the XYZ 2010 end of year party- I hope not-.

Organizations attempt to reduce inconsistency through standardization and training.

So artistes can reduce inconsistency in their performances by setting a performing standard for themselves and going through more preparation. Though a lot of artistes claim that the quality of their performance at events is largely tied to the organization of the show, which is true.  But there are artistes who have set a standard for their performances. Take Dare art Alade for example.

Nevertheless, services are most often performed by people, and people don’t always offer consistent performance. 

But don’t worry if you don’t perform at exactly 100% excellence sometimes, it is well understood that you are not a robot.  

What matters is that you just get better at it.

Inseparability

Another unique aspect of service is inseparability.  In most cases, the consumer cannot (and does not) separate the deliverer of the service from the service itself.

Let’s say fans can’t separate a music artiste from his music. Can you separate Terry G from his ‘free madness’? 

Because you can’t store services, you can’t separate production from consumption. 

Terry G goes hand in hand with his energy and craze.

You can’t mail someone a haircut or drop off a TV repair job on a customer’s front porch.

You can’t mail or shelve a live performance.  

Services, therefore, don’t follow the normal model of production - sale – consumption; they are sold first; usually produced and consumed simultaneously.

Inseparability has a special meaning in many service industries. In some cases, a particular provider is so closely identified with a service that substitute providers will simply not suffice. If you pay to be entertained by Femi Kuti or Charly boy, a performance by Mr X just won’t do. 

In other words, this feature of service is saying:

Isolate is not Nice and Nice is not Isolate. Following this rule, they should not be replaced with each other or compared.  Tiwa Savage is very not like other female artistes (that has popped up ever since her arrival) nor is Reminisce Seriki.  You can only say you enjoy Nice’s music more than you enjoy Isolate’s or you enjoy Tiwa and do not enjoy some other.  You do not say Nice is better than Isolate or Reminisce is better than Seriki.

In many service fields, in fact, it is a major objective of the service provider to establish this kind of exclusivity.  Medical specialists, lawyers, writers, entertainments, consultants, chefs, and designers frequently work to make customers believe they can’t get the same from anybody else.

 And that is what you should be doing as an entertainer. That is, you should strive to communicate to the public that if it’s not you on stage, it’s not the same as you. No matter how closely the music artiste’s music and style is to you and your music.

Perish-ability

Another result of intangibility is that services cannot exist before or after the actual performance. This is the perish-ability aspect of service.

You have offered your service as an artiste when you performed on stage.  The people can’t have your service (the performance) before or after. They can only have it while it is served- while you serve it.  That’s why you have to make every performance worthwhile for the entertained. You need to put more efforts into your performances. Give your fans extra.

Esther Fabunmi is the head of  Entertainment Ideaz ( an entertainment social enterprise),  and  bank manager of  Talentz Bank (www.talentzbank.blogspot.com), a music business resource and networking platform dedicated to help entertainers 'turn from talent to cash'. Mail: talentzbank@yahoo.com, Facebook/Talentz Bank, Twitter: @talentzbank.