A giant brand + Music Talents = Music Industry Boost

The Pepsi Music Awards are the new annual meeting for Venezuelan musicians. The first award ceremony took place in Caracas, Venezuela on March 29, 2012, generating a huge revolution within the Venezuelan and Latin music industry. With 57 categories, these awards are expected to become one of the most important awards of Latin American music industry, after the Billboards and the Latin Grammys. However, how could a new award ceremony become that big, when for many years it has been a matter of the two giants previously mentioned? The incredible success of the Pepsi Music Awards has been a consequence of an enormous move of Venezuelan music executives. The objective of that move was to foster and develop an industry well forgotten during the last two decades. New spaces for performing arts, regulation changes regarding the minimum local content to be broadcasted in radio and TV, and the efforts of outstanding musicians to rescue traditional rhythms, have created the perfect environment for the industry renewal.

It is not a secret that piracy and successful artists with questionable talent have damaged the music industry in general. In the case of the Latin industry, this damage is definitely major because there are not strict regulations and surveillance on copyright infringements. Therefore, it was necessary to change the traditional distribution model and create different revenue streams. As a result, artists started to produce and distribute free songs through the Internet as initial steps. Partnerships with giant brands outside the music industry have boosted the music distribution as well. Simple things like buying a journal or buying a Pepsi, give people the chance to either receive discount coupons to buy albums, or retrieve digital content through QR codes. It is not necessary to go to a physical music store or having online accounts to get the latest releases. Simplicity, creativity, and marketing go together to fight against music industry “diseases.”   

The last component of the new music marketing strategy in Venezuela is called “The Pepsi Streams”. A TV series in which artists give interviews and perform a short concert that is then edited and broadcasted on a major TV channel in Venezuela. Moreover, the complete recording session is broadcasted live through the Internet with behind the scenes shooting and bonus songs for the Internet audience. In a few words, creativity and intelligence seem to be the best way to fight problems in the music industry, as it is in real life. 

References & Pictures:
http://premiospepsimusic.pepsimundo.com/