HNC Music Business

Music Marketing Outcome 3

Innocente Carena
This report is based on the record label I am part of for my College course. The label
is called Alt-Hippo and we currently have one artist on our roster, known as the
‘Ruvellas’. Our aim as a label is to help re-brand, promote, record and release music
by ‘grass roots’ artists as well as touring and live performance.

Mission Statement
“Alt Hippo are a small record label based in Dundee, Scotland with the aim of
maximising the potential of grass roots artists by means of producing professionally
recorded releases, brand building, touring and promotions”

Market Analysis
Our label is catered to the alt/indie rock style of music with the age of followers and
fans of the current band on our roster (Ruvellas) ranging between 14 and 40 (larger
scale due to family coming to shows and bringing their older friends). As the Ruvellas
are a young band from Dundee and are still attending high School, that would place
our current target market still at school, mostly. Due to this demographic, it makes
selling music and merchandise a bit easier as they will always have a family member
buying their music or merchandise and since the majority of their following still
attend school, it is fair to presume that their parents will be giving them money for the
show also. It is imperative that Ruvellas break into the Dundee scene and establish
themselves as a local band before pushing out of Dundee into other towns or cities due
to their young age and only following coming from Dundee. To help them do so, we have
booked support slots for them on some high profile hometown shows, for experience,
exposure and establishment. At the current moment, we do not have any direct
competitors as we are still a small label and have not made any big enough ‘moves’ or
‘signings’ to warrant any competition. However, as the label progresses and with time,
the door to competition may widen more.

Unique Selling Point

As we are a label that works with younger, non-established bands, which are merely
breaking into the scene, we see this as a unique selling point due to the nature and
nourishment that we can offer bands from a young age. We want to offer young bands
a platform where they can gain experience, exposure and establishment, within their
local scene. Hoping to give them the confidence to stand out from the other local
bands and become the new ‘hometown heroes’ that everyone will talk about. We’re
not saying that we will get you a million dollar record deal but we will put you in a
much more, controlled and firm position that has the options for you to consider
striving for anything you want, musically and artistically.

S.W.O.T Analysis
Strengths – Our team is made up of well experienced individuals from the local music
industry which enables us to have a greater and better knowledge of our surroundings,
venues, bands and other new projects that are evolving around Dundee.
 Weakness – Our communication and time keeping is not the best at times due to us
having heavy work schedules from college and our own personal and social lives are
extremely busy also, hindering us from getting some things done quicker.

Opportunities – As one of the label members are well known regionally as a promoter,
the opportunities for bands on our roster to play with bigger, better and more established
bands is very positive and possible. Venues and venue owners trust our knowledge and
experience when bringing forward a new artist. We also have multiple different friends and
associates that own rehearsal spaces, studios and venues, making striking a deal or finding
contacts is much easier for ourselves.

Threats – Like said before our time keeping and communication are not always the best so
this can be seen as a threat as newer venues, booking agents and business’ might not want to
work with us or have the same trust as other venues due to this being a vulnerability.

REVISION: The Ruvellas Days= 11

Scottish Tour - Winter 2018 Shows= 10

EXPENSES SUMMARY TOTAL COST VAT

TOTAL EXPENSES WAGES £4,000.00
VAN HIRE £612.12 £122.42
PETROL £400.00
ACCOMODATION £803.00
PER DIEMS £2,200.00

OTHER EXPENSE
TOTAL £8,015.12 £122.42

INCOME
GUARANTEE £9,000.00
MERCH 80% £7,200.00

INCOME TOTAL £16,200.00

PROFIT / LOSS
EXPENSES £8,015.12 £122.42
5% CONTINGENCY £400.76

PROFIT/LOSS £7,784.12 £122.42

Recording Budget £10,000.00

Item
Rehearsal Time £60.00
Accommodation £2,625.00
Session Keys £460.00
Session Vocals £460.00
Petrol £100.00
Studio £2,100.00
Producer £2,000.00
Mastering £500.00
Food & Living £1,050.00
Contingency £500.00

TOTAL £9,855.00

Marketing
Mix 4 P’s

Price – Price for downloads will be your standard iTunes rates and physical CD’s will
also be roughly the same as buying an album from iTunes.

Product – We will have physical CD’s and merchandise that can be bought online or
at shows, for the Ruvellas.

Promotion – Using new technology such as social media to promote all upcoming
shows and releases as well as traditional methods of handing out flyers, word of
mouth and press releases via newspaper and radio.

Place – Currently all band events and queries will take place in Dundee as the band
are still a bit young for travelling to out of town shows and the only following they
have is currently in Dundee.

Future Goals
Currently we have set out goals and aims for the Ruvellas that our label must meet
such as recording their first single and promoting as well as putting on a launch night
for the band. With the plan to hopefully expand our roster and artist repertoire this
coming year.