September 26 2016, Issue 518
Inside WMN’s New Structure
“The deal is, if you say you’re in the promo department, you have to do 10 pushups. It is now called the Radio & Streaming department.” So says Warner Music Nashville Chairman/ CEO John Esposito, holding court in his office with the newly minted head of said department, SVP Kristen Williams, as well as Chief Marketing Officer Peter Strickland. Aided by some late Friday afternoon refreshments, Espo and company lay out the label group’s latest evolution. CA: Why this change and why now? JE: My decision was driven by trying to see where the puck is going and to recognize we have to reinvent ourselves on a regular John Esposito basis or we’re lemmings. It’s like free shows. Everybody bitches about them, but everyone is still doing them because we’re all afraid to be the one who stops. We know how important radio is, especially in country. They’re going to be here for a long time and engaging with them is going to be incredibly important. But when 65% of our marketing budget and half our Kristen overhead is promotion, it doesn’t recognize Williams the massively growing streaming reality. Country [streaming revenue] is a little behind, but we’re catching up. We’re in the mid-30s [percent of revenue] now. Nobody is breaking out champagne, but [the broader record business] hasn’t had year-on-year growth since 1998 and we’re on track to have it. We’re small labels down here and Peter everybody has one or two people devoted to Strickland streaming. How crazy is that when it’s half of overall revenue? Equally important, it’s a music discovery vehicle, too. I sat back and thought, if I’m going to continue to spend this much overhead on what we call a promo department, why don’t I take people (continued on page 8)
Fest To See: MCA’s Sam Hunt (c) takes in the High Roller with iHeartMedia’s Kevin LeGrett (l) and Rod Phillips while in Las Vegas for the iHeartRadio Music Festival.
Radio Show & Tell
The 2016 Radio Show closed Friday (9/23) in Nashville. Here are recaps of a few noteworthy sessions. Marketing Trends: “It’s gone stale, it’s become ineffective, and now there’s a recoil against brands that do it.” That’s financial expert and syndicated talk radio host Dave Dave Ramsey Ramsey Wednesday (9/21) talking about marketing by repetition. He pointed to two approaches that have worked to cut through that noise for his brand, starting with tribal marketing. “They will spread the word on you,” he says. “And no amount of radio advertising is going to offset that.” Ramsey says his listeners identify one another based on a phrase he uses when asked how he is: “Better than I deserve.”
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