TOTAL LICENSING
EUROPEAN INSIGHT
Like a Virgin...
It’s long been said that licensing fol- there are lessons here for everyone smaller gestures to distribute music in
lows trends rather than sets trends. in licensing. Since starting out, we’ve new ways) is the $120m deal Madonna
And, for many years, licensing was seen developed strategic partnerships with did last October with Live Nation, be-
as the poor relation in marketing, pro- promotions and marketing companies, coming the first performer in its new
ducing key rings, t-shirts and tat. Billion established a stand alone agency to Artist Nation division. The deal’s signif-
By Morten
dollar franchises, a more responsible work with our clients and brands, have icance is that Madonna is the first big
Geschwendtner
attitude to brand management and entered new markets and will con- star to choose a one stop shop agree-
Director higher stakes have changed all that. But tinue to do so to offer our partners ment with one company (and Live Na-
Kidz Entertainment
licensing is still growing up and there more value. We have also invested in tion is a tour company, not a record
are still bits of the industry that strug- a children’s marketing consultancy, a label) that gives the company rights to
gle to be taken seriously or struggle to children’s free magazine publisher and all music-related products including
take themselves seriously. a dubbing studio. tours, albums, merchandise, fan sites,
So moving our principal trade show All this has given us additional revenue sponsorships, etc. Traditionally, artists
to Las Vegas, one of the world’s big- streams and created a mature business have relied on different companies to
gest playgrounds and described by its with more value to offer clients. But focus on different disciplines. Madonna
official tourism site as “an ever-chang- it’s also involved heavy investment and was quoted as saying, ‘The paradigm in
ing fantasy-land of a city,” has outraged a long term view. As businesses, we the music industry has shifted and as
some, pleased others. It certainly won’t must think and act 360 degrees for a an artist and a businesswoman I have
help us cement an image of a maturing brand and offer an entire package of to move with that shift.’ As the website
and serious industry at work. But this services in the manner you’d expect
Techcrunch.com subsequently com-
is a minor setback. If we are going to from a top brand marketing agency. mented, ‘the only real question now is:
build robust businesses that can sur- It might not be possible to do this all how fast will the music industry model
vive the next generation of entertain- with in-house resources, but it can be come tumbling down?’
ment ups and downs; the hunger and possible (and more efficient) if you Within the entertainment industry, the
impatience of financial institutions and build strong partnerships with adver- model of IP creation, management and
the fickle global consumer we must tising, media, design and PR agencies exploitation is not new. But offering a
truly grow up, and deliver a wider busi- then build a strategy together that fits fuller service with the long term view
ness agenda than many licensing com- each individual local market. of creating mature businesses with
panies presently do. The music industry is a good example reliable revenue streams is a state of
When we started Kidz Entertainment of making this transition. Initially, it was mind the whole industry needs to get
in 2000 we knew we had to do more painfully slow to respond to consumer into, not just the entertainment giants.
than just sign licensing deals for ma- behaviour and it doggedly continued to And it probably won’t be achieved by
jor European entertainment brands. produce CDs and get cross about mu- following trends. In fact we have to be
We were, after all, a small company in sic downloads until relatively recently. ready beforehand and to know how
a relatively small market. But just how Now, entirely new business models we, as agents, can continue to add
much more we’ve had to do to keep are beginning to emerge. The most value if we want to be around in the
ahead of the pack is remarkable and significant example of this (amid many long term.
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