Kiya Persad
AS Media Production and Communication
Drake is an artist in Republic Records which is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group (a major label).
His primary target audience is females between the age of 18-28. However, males between this age group and females from 16 are a secondary audience of his music. The social media he uses are twitter: @Drake
His official website is http://www.drakeofficial.com/
Marketing Case Study Of Drake
Universal Music Group is a major label created in 1934; as Decca Records USA. Then, in 1996 UMG was created.
Republic Records is a subsidary of UMG that was created in 1995. It focuses on artists that have a genre of music in pop, hip hop or rock. It is one UMG's most recognised subsidaries; others include Island Records and Interscop Records.
Drake is a worldwide recognised Rap artist from Toronto, Canada. He started his career as being a character on a TV show called 'Degrassi: The Next Generation'. He then started his rapping career by releasing mixtapes and then eventually he became a part of Lil Wayne's 'Young Money Entertainment' in 2009.
Drake also now has his own label 'OVO Sound'. He made this in 2012. This label includes artists such as PARTYNEXTDOOR and Amir Obe. However, this is a subsidary label of Warner Music Group.
Drake's persona is seen as being more empathetic than most rappers. This is due to some of his lyrics being more respectful of women than his fellow rappers in Young Money Entertainment. This empathy has allowed him to attract more female fans. His sound is soft sounding rap that is a lot calmer than most rap songs. However, even with a calm aspect about them, his songs still have a lot of energy about them.
Drake's latest mixtape is called "What a Time To Be Alive" and it featuring Future.
The album artwork is a picture of diamonds. This shows richness and prosperity. It shows that they have 'made it', thus relating to the title of 'what a time to be alive' as it's a good time for them to be alive as they are now successful. It is also a simple design, which relates to Drake's smooth sounding music.
Due to Drake's music being so soft and soothing, as well as being bass heavy, his lyrics and his sound put together allow him to have a target audience of both genders. His primary target auduence is 18-28,however, his secondary audience is between about 14 - 34. As his music is classed as Rap, many people that listen to him are in areas of urbanisation. Many of their interests would include things like making music of their own, playing/being interested in sports such as basketball and going out to parties with friends. This applies to both his primary and secondary audience but mainly his primary audience.
Promotion is when the product is being shown to allow the audience to remember the product in order to build up a demand for the product. An example of Drake being promoted is through his merchandise that he promotes in his OVO Sound label. This allows his fans to have somewhere to find the newest merchandise. The merchandise he creates is related to his target audience as it is hats, hoodies, tracksuits and jumpers, the typical clothing for many of his target audience.
Publicity is when the product is shown through use of media. For example, on a chat show or a live performance on TV. One way Drake has been publicised is through being on 'The Ellen Show'. This allowed him to be interviewed by Ellen DeGeneres and thus be publicisied into media through his fans and the general public watching the show. It also allows him to talk about upcoming music, tour dates and give publicity to his product. As Ellen is a popular show across America, it is automatically targeted to his main target audience of young Americans. However, with the use of the internet, it also allows his fans to gain access to this content globally, thus promoting him to everyone.
Advertising brings the target audience and general public up to date with the latest news of the product. For example, if youtube ads to show upcoming music or upcoming tour dates advertisied on posters. On Drake's website he talks about his upcoming tour dates and music. One advert where Drake advertisied his music is through the use of synergy. Synergy is when two conglomerates come together to cross promote their product. For example, Drake advertises his new song 'hotlin bling' in a T-Mobile Superbowl ad. As the superbowl is big in America and England due to so many people liking American Football, it creates a bigger audience for him to be advertised to. As a lot of his target audience are in the late teen/young adult age, there are into many sports and so would be likely to see this advert. It promotes his song and himself as he is in the video pretending to shoot a music video but instead changes the words to relate to T-Mobile. At the end of the advert it shows a link to find out more about both products.
