ACCOUNTABILITY FOR RECORDS THAT ARE COMMERCIAL FAILURES

By: Roderick T. Head As urban music professionals, each of us can probably name at least five albums that either should have been successful or were destined to be instant frisbees from the beginning. While one is quick to claim recognition stakes in hit records, fingers immediately start pointing in regards to the guilty parties involved in records that are commercial failures. Artists will blame the label for not getting behind the project. abels will either blame the artist for being too hard to work with or not being creative enough, internally blame specific departments or designate either the overseeing A!" e#ecutive or product manager the scapegoat. When a project fails, who should be held accountable$ %he record business is an art and not a science. When something goes wrong, it could be any number of things. &t could be the record wasn't in the grooves, promotion team wasn't up to the task, video didn't match the strength of the music or outside circumstances such as other acts being out at that particular moment stealing the limelight. (ou can never be)** percent sure of what went wrong. %he music business isn't a math equation where you have an equation and only one answer, remarked arry +han, ,enior -., "!/ .romotion and 0arketing, 1ive "ecords. 0usic consumers are very fickle, which makes it increasingly important for labels to efficiently and effectively implement their marketing plans and respective budget allocations. /y the same token, the most genius plan can only disguise the musical shortcomings for so long until the truth is revealed via word2of2mouth promotion and reviews in trade and consumer publications. %here are many controllable and uncontrollable variables involved in creating music that is qualitatively and quantitatively beneficial to the label, but if the business processes the label is built upon continue to produce erroneous results, simultaneously hindering the company's success3e#amination. ,oftware giant 4racle 5www.oracle.com6 recently announced plans to unveil new applications targeting the media industry and intellectual property and rights management market. Within the 4racle 72/usiness ,uite, the new applications will support the financial and legal aspects involved in the management of media assets and intellectual property, including marketing, selling, servicing, and billing customers as well as paying rights holders. 4ver 8* percent of companies have to manage some type of intellectual property. %he new functionality added to the 4racle 72/usiness ,uite will allow companies to better control the entire lifecycle of their intellectual property, said 0ark /arrenechea, ,enior -., Applications 9evelopment, 4racle. &n addition to fostering better departmental communication within labels, the end result would cause department heads to automate their operations and encourage more2educated decisions across the e#ecutive ranks within the company. 9epartment heads would be required to input their respective project summaries into the system, recapping the various successes and failures associated with the department's activities. /y doing so, when the time comes to setup the artist's ne#t project, a more accurate plan can be devised to ensure success, potentially decreasing costs and increasing profit margins.