A new era of consumer marketing?

Abstract

Purpose – This paper aims to address the emerging post-millennium trends in co-creational marketing, in the context of how these trends apply to the recorded and live sectors of the music industry. Consideration of marketing as a broadened concept to include societal processes has implications not only for the marketing concept itself, but also for the roles of the parties implicitly involved in the marketing process. Therefore, the standard and polarising marketing clichés of “firm and customer”, “buyer and seller”, and “producer and consumer” may be replaced with a more contemporary marketing approach in which value can be created and shared by either party. Design/methodology/approach – Initially the paper provides a review of contemporary literature on co-creational aspects of marketing and a subsequent identification of typologies of co-creation practices. Conceptual frameworks pertaining to the relationships of these typologies are then proposed. An extensive review and analysis of journal articles, industry reports and news sources on music industry marketing was conducted. From this review and analysis, 30 examples of co-creational marketing were identified. The music industry was chosen as it constitutes a relevant and contemporary marketing context due to the existence of interactive technology and changing consumer preferences regarding their interaction with music intermediaries and against a context of digital piracy. Findings – Five typologies of co-creational marketing were found to be relevant to the music industry. Key examples of co-creational marketing within the music industry are discussed and analysed in relation to the identified typologies and conceptual frameworks. Research limitations/implications – The relevancy of co-creational marketing practices to the music industry is investigated, followed by consideration of managerial implications and future research directions. Originality/value – The theoretical prospect of value co-creation through active consumer contributions to the marketing process is not revolutionary or new, but the implications of such a potential shift in power or influence have developed into a contemporary challenge for marketers.