Submitted To: Mr. Neel Rai Senior Faculty Dept.

of Business Administration

Submitted By: Poonam Choudhary Akbar Raza Neha Samele Chandan Kumar Sonia Gour M.BA. IInd Year

INDIAN MUSIC INDUSTRY

SALES MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES OF T-SERIES/ HMV

T-SERIES & MUSIC PIRACY
Gulshan's father Chandrabhan and his family moved to Delhi from West Punjab in 1947. The family members began selling fruit on the roads and within a few years, earned enough money to establish a small fruit juice shop. Chandrabhan later started selling pre-recorded music by opening a record shop. In the early 1970s, Gulshan began looking after the music business and named it Super Cassettes. By 2000, T-Series had become a $ 90 million group with a presence in the Consumer Electronics (color television, fans), CDs (12 million CDs per annum), Audio/Video Magnetic tapes and cassettes (186 million cassettes per annum) and mineral water businesses. The company had rights to over 2000 video and 18,000 audio titles, comprising of nearly 24,000 hours of music software. T-Series had a technical collaboration with Hyundai of Japan for its color television venture. This meteoric rise of T-Series was termed by analysts4 as 'a story of avarice, greed and cunning and the clash of two mafias - one represented by Gulshan and the other by those whom he damaged.' In the 1970s, the Indian music industry was dominated by GCI and Polydor (later named Music India Ltd.- MIL), which sold only expensive LP records through a few record shops. These companies did not set up facilities to manufacture cassettes on a large scale. Since cassette players were not very common in the country at that time, GCI and Polydor were happy offering cassettes in small numbers at very high prices. Compared to the LP records, cassettes were incredibly cheap to produce and reproduce and could be easily distributed and transported. Gradually, a large number of outfits began setting up illegal copying operations. Most copyright violators chose old Hindi film songs from the GCI catalog. All that was required to run a copying outfit were two cassette players and a supply of tape, spools and cases. Since the bootleggers paid no royalties and no excise and used cheap cassettes, they were able to sell their products at half of GCI's prices. By the mid 1980s, cassettes reproduced in this fashion accounted for a significant portion of the music sold in India. A major part of this piracy industry was reportedly owned and operated by T-Series. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, audio cassette production was defined as a small-scale industry (SSI). Thus, Gulshan was able to take advantage of the subsidies, loans and all the other incentives accruing to the SSIs. The only capital expense the company had was the cost of the cassette - Rs 7 - and the cost of duplicating. This cassette was retailed at about Rs 25. On the other hand, GCI and MIL cassettes retailed for Rs 36-45, as the companies had to pay, in addition to royalties, an excise duty of 15 % on every cassette. As T-Series did not pay any excise duty, the entire 15% benefit was passed on to the customer. Gulshan

also kept his dealers/retailers as happy as possible - if a T-Series cassette was found to be defective, it was instantly replaced. Super Cassettes never became a member of the IMI5 , and therefore, was under no obligation to follow the organization's guidelines. The company quickly emerged as the biggest competitor to GCI, which even came close to winding up its operations. .

HMV Music Company

The HMV Group is a company which is predominantly active in the retail business. They have stores situated in UK, Canada, and Hong Kong, Singapore as well as in Japan. The company deals with music and books, the music business is dealt through the HMV record label while the books are managed under the name of Waterstones. The company has a history of mergers and acquisitions and despite the established name of the brand, the company still is undervalued in the market. As a result the company tends to remain under the constant threat of takeovers and biddings. In July 2007, HMV Group agreed to sell its HMV Japan business, which operates 62 stores and through the hmv.co.jp website, to DSM Investments catorce Co., Ltd. In the same month, Gerry Johnson appointed as an Executive Director of the group. (HMV Group, Data Monitor Company Profile) Initially the company used to only operate through its retail stores in the high street markets. However in the past few years, the company has established websites for its business as well resulting in the three main ecommerce based websites www.hmv.co.uk, www.hmv.co.jp, and www.waterstones.co.uk. These handle the books as well as the music business for the company. The Music business is carried out by HMV through its retrial stores as well as through the online website while the book trading business is carried out by Waterstones through its own respective retail outlets and its separate website. The report however deals mainly with the music business of HMV and how ecommerce solution can enable the company to attain a competitive edge in the market while establishing itself more strongly with the consumers. The target market for HMV includes people who like to listen to music and watch movies. They can belong to a diverse demographic however they are restricted geographically to United Kingdom, Canada, Hong Kong and Singapore only. Through the ecommerce site however the HMV is targeted a much wider audience which is not catered through its retail stores in the high streets. The main competitors for HMV include the ASDA Group, Borders, Tesco Corporation, Virgin Group, WHSmith, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Amazon.com, Inc., Woolworths Group plc. Most of these companies have retail stores in the high streets of the markets as well as established online ecommerce sites as well. In the book trading business, Amazon.com,

WHSmith and Woolworths are the market leaders with Amazon.com being the market leader in the ecommerce and online sales. In the music and media business however the leaders are HMV as well as Virgin Groups. However with the changes made by Virgin to capture the online download market, the Virgin Group has an edge over HMV.

History

The history of Indian Music is from the ancient day of 3rd and 2nd millennia BC, during the Indus valley civilizations. Indian music is based on rhythms and melodies but more importantly it is more concerned with vibrant colors of the rich musical heritage and a wide range of vivid emotions and expressions. Many Archaeological studies are the evidences and give validated presence of several musical instruments like harps and drums during the era.

According to the Indian mythology, the laws of music was revealed known to Narada, the first sage. It is being believed that Tumburu was the first singer and Goddess of music and learning is Saraswati. Between 200 BC and 200 AD, Bharata created Natyashastra or the rules for theatre between, which also focused on music. It included descriptions of various classes of instruments like the Gandharva music and Talas which are the rhythmic element of Indian music. The period during 300 AD to 600 AD which is the Gupta Period was marked by the masterpieces created by Kalidasa, a lyrical poet and a writer of great epics and plays. The period of 600 AD to 1200 AD, was mainly of emergence of the regional music, classical Hinudstani music and which was also influenced by Islamic music. The first major text describing ragas was written by Matanga and was known as Brihaddeshi, which literally means The Great Treatise on the Regional. Brishaddeshi also introduced the sargam which is the musical notation in Indian music. Entertainment (India), Crescendo, Virgin Records, Magnasound, Milestone, Times Music and several other prominent national and Regional labels that represent over 75 % of the output in legitimate recordings and a wide range of musical repertoire.

Brief introduction Indian Music Industry has a rich musical tradition and is capable of generating sizeable revenue for the country in every genre of the music industry. There are log of loopholes in the industry due to the unabated growth of piracy. Raids spanning the length and breadth of the country, the Indian music industry has lost of over Rs. 1800 crores in the past three years.There are registered offices in Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore and several other cities, towns across India focusing on surveillance, law enforcement and intelligence teams. Indian Music Industry is now working with newer strategies and better infrastructure to reach and strike at the very roots of piracy in India. Indian Music Industry along with MTV launched the first music awards in India, THE IMMIES which has been having a resounding success. The objectives of the award were to reward music talent. Contemporary Scenario
Contemporary Indian music is a mixture of classical music, pop music and popular Indian film music. Several genres of music exist in India, some of the contemporary music genres in Indian music are as follows:

Indian Music - Classical

Indian Classical music is usually dividend into two broad categories namely the Hindustani music and the Carnatic music. The Carnatic music has its traditions from the southern part of the Indian subcontinent which emphasizes on vocals. While the Hindustani music is a traditional form from North India. The bases of the

ANSOFF Matrix Introduction

The Ansoff Growth matrix is a tool that helps businesses decide their product and market growth strategy. Ansoffs product/market growth matrix suggests that a business attempts to grow depend on whether it marketsnew or existing products in new or existing markets.

The output from the Ansoff product/market matrix is a series of suggested growth strategies that set the direction for the business strategy. These are described below: Market penetration Market penetration is the name given to a growth strategy where the business focuses on selling existing products into existing markets. Market penetration seeks to achieve four main objectives: Maintain or increase the market share of current products this can be achieved by a combination of competitive pricing strategies, advertising, sales promotion and perhaps more resources dedicated to personal selling Secure dominance of growth markets Restructure a mature market by driving out competitors; this would require a much more aggressive promotional campaign, supported by a pricing strategy designed to make the market unattractive for

competitors Increase usage by existing customers for example by introducing loyalty schemes A market penetration marketing strategy is very much about business as usual. The business is focusing on markets and products it knows well. It is likely to have good information on competitors and on customer needs. It is unlikely, therefore, that this strategy will require much investment in new market research. Market development Market development is the name given to a growth strategy where the business seeks to sell its existing products into new markets. There are many possible ways of approaching this strategy, including: New geographical markets; for example exporting the product to a new country New product dimensions or packaging: for example New distribution channels Different pricing policies to attract different customers or create new market segments Product development Product development is the name given to a growth strategy where a business aims to introduce new products into existing markets. This strategy may require the development of new competencies and requires the business to develop modified products which can appeal to existing markets. Diversification Diversification is the name given to the growth strategy where a business markets new products in new markets. This is an inherently more risk strategy because the business is moving into markets in which it has little or no experience. For a business to adopt a diversification strategy, therefore, it must have a clear idea about what it expects to gain from the strategy and an honest assessment of the risks.

Market Segmentation
The market segmentation is explaining that there are different market segments. The three markets of the entertainment industry are all divided by the online factor. Products are identified as dematerialized and materialized products. This division is highlighting the digital fracture; some people, usually the elders, are not using internet in their daily life and are not familiar with IT devices. On the games market, the online factor is accentuated by the geek culture, which is the culture of passionate persons about IT and gaming. They are more present on the games factors but can be very interested in new technologies (tablets, android, mp3, etc.) and will buy online products to use these technologies. The markets can also be separated into another category, which is the world of passion (HMV blog). In addition to the geek, there is also the passionate about music or films. These categories are people who are more likely to buy physical supports to feel the product and appreciate everything to do with it (cover, booklet songs, etc.). Passionate people will also go to live concerts to see their favorite band/singer. This type of market segmentation is for all ages. Festivals are a bit different, since it is not about a specific type of band, but more about the ambiance there. It is a sort of passion too but that might not touch all ages, and more for teenagers and adults between the ages of 15 and40 years old. A third category of segmentation will be the mobile use of technologies. The people who are traveling and moving a lot are more interested in using mobile devices which can have their song sand movies they like. So they usually go on a downloading platform to buy these products to use them easily on their new technologies, mainly the young and adult segment (15-40 years old). By opposition, you will have the people who are not very mobile, mainly the eldest, buying physical products. This opposition is present as well for video games but in family with stationary consoles. In contradiction, you have the individuals in those segments who are traveling a lot, who are using the mobile consoles. Finally, the fourth segmentation will be the economic factor. buy physical products that are more expensive 3. Diversification Radios, headphones, phone covers, stereo systems, computer games, posters, magazines, books, T-shirt, mugs, cuddly toys, another area is the in live performance which is now about to be the more lucrative area in the music industry. The retail hopes to tap into this trend by selling tickets for shows. 4. New technologies: New product inside HMV even if already existing in the market They just open the high technology sector in HMV stores; they now offer iPods, I Pads, laptops, and blue ray players. They have developed their floor space for selling electronic goods.

Staff employed at HMV UK & Ireland have probably chosen this work because they are passionate about music/DVD/gaming. In addition their individual knowledge of new brands, album, games and console are plentiful. By allowing the customer to rate the items they have purchased, they enable other customers who can relate much easier to the review. This may not increase sales but this

form of customer service not only encourages more customers to be loyal to the business, but also prevents the customer service departments time being wasted by questions that could be answered in these reviews.

The Product
HMV offers a massive variety of products pertaining to the music industry. The core of the range is music in its various formats: CDs, tapes, records and videos. HMV aim to stock the best range of music available, at the most competitive prices. HMV also generates sales from video films, DVD and computer games as well as a comprehensive array of related product and accessories including blank media, storage, T-shirts and magazines.

Promotion
The companys commitment to advertising, promotions and personal appearances has given HMV a very strong image in music retailing. Clearly, HMVs logo has had a major role to play in publicising the brand the world over. The dog and trumpet remains an integral part of all HMVs advertising and promotion. It conveys the heritage and experience associated with the brand. It has been represented in recent advertising campaigns accompanied by the slogan, Top Dog which represents a positioning statement and brings the brand to life. HMVs overall marketing strategy is rooted in the need to generate new and maintain existing customers with an abiding interest in entertainment - music, video and games. In-store design is tailored to creating atmosphere and ambience via video screens, listening posts, graphic elements and the like. Above all HMV aims to make its stores exciting to visit yet simple to shop for the customer. In addition to strong merchandising activity, HMV pursues an aggressive marketing strategy across a broad spectrum of media, including TV, radio, posters and press advertisements. HMV actively promotes more than 500 different releases in any one year via co-operative advertising approaches. Personal appearances by the rich, famous and musically talented - celebrities such as Bon Jovi, Sir Elton John, Public Enemy, Van Halen, Kylie Minogue, David Helfgott, kd lang, Lenny Kravitz, Celine Dion, and more recently shock rock star Marilyn Manson - generate consumer interest and a wealth of PR activity

HMV
The HMV store in Londons Oxford Street opened in 1986 is the worlds largest record store and appears in the Guinness Book of Records.

HMVs store in Oxford Street, London, used to contain a small cutting room to convert demonstration tapes to discs. On 8 May 1962, a Liverpool entrepreneur called Brian Epstein used the facility for his band, The Beatles. As a result the band was signed by EMIs Parlophone label. Nipper was part bull-terrier, part Jack Russell and was so named because of his tendency to nip at his visitors heels. The CDs sold by HMV Australia in 1998 would reach well over half-way across Australia. The longest-serving album in the HMV Australia chart is the Whitlams Eternal Nightcap, which remained in the HMV Top 40 for 79 consecutive weeks after its release in August 1997. HMVs biggest-selling single in Australia is Elton John's Candle in the Wind, 97. The companys His Masters Voice painting is kept at its headquarters and firemen have instructions that, in case of a blaze, it is the first thing to be saved. The painting is not the original, which was burnt in the store fire in 1937, but a copy by Barraud himself.

SWOT ANALYSIS OF HMV Introduction For this assignment I have been tasked with conducting a strategic analysis of the HMV group. This analysis shall be in the form of a report and will include an environmental, internal and external audit of the HMV group. I will also be basing my recommendations on the future direction that HMV group should move in for the next 3 years from the audits and other research data. Introduction to the HMV group HMV Group is one of the world's leading retailers of music and DVD and the leading retailer of books in the UK and Ireland in terms of total sales. Including the acquisition of Ottakar's, the Group operates from over 730 stores in 8 countries. All of the Group's operations, both in the UK and internationally, are wholly owned. Music is the Group's largest product category, accounting for 37% of Group sales for the year to April 2006, closely followed by DVD, which was 32% of Group sales. Books, which comprise the vast majority of Waterstone's sales, contributed 24% of Group sales n the same period. The Group is a focused international retailer and highly selective about the countries in which it operates. Executive summary I concluded through my findings that HMV Groups markets had experienced rapid change over recent years and have become more competitive and with a diminishing amount of in store sales as consumers choose to use the internet to fulfil their needs. To counteract these changes I recommended that the HMV group change their current philosophy and rely more heavily on the services that the internet provides as consumers are branching out when it comes to services that they require.

Main findings Environmental Audit There are a number of environmental factors or forces that can influence the behaviors of the market place affecting the consumers or the competition just as much as any