Besides being a very talented and successful artist, Beyoncé is also a significant economic phenomenon. Which doesn't hurt, at all, when it's all rolled into one. Relevant to the point that the world's leading media & entertainment scholar, Anita Elberse, professor at Harvard and author of many books including "Blockbusters: Hit-making, Risk-taking, and the Big Business of Entertainment", in which she demolishes the theory of the long tail, has developed an in-depth study on the Beyoncé phenomenon published in the August 2014 issue of the "Business Harvard Review". For ebookextra readers we have reconstructed Beyoncé's path in an article to read in 7 minutes as Elberse traces it in this essay that is not very easy to find.
Beyoncé's global success reached its peak in December 2013, with the unexpected release of her fifth solo album, entitled Beyoncé. The American pop star did her utmost to keep the launch under wraps, in order to experiment with a new marketing strategy, but also to avoid the possible spread of counterfeit versions of the album following the leak. At the time of the announcement, which took place via a video on Facebook and a message on Instagram, no one could predict how the news would be received by fans and especially by the music industry.
In addition to being a world-famous singer, Beyoncé Knowles has shown that she has a good entrepreneurial spirit, although the interest in the artistic and creative dimension remains an undisputed priority for her.
Parkwood Entertainment
In 2008, Beyoncé founded the Parkwood Entertainment Company, an entertainment company dedicated to the management, creation and digitization of all content and products associated with the "Beyoncé" brand. The company also offers a wide range of services to its commercial partners, on behalf of which it creates websites or commercials (such as Pepsi), also supervising tours and carrying out promotional activities.
The singer, as President and CEO, has always personally participated in the most important initiatives of the company and has assembled a team of collaborators, finding a point of reference in Lee Anne Callahan-Longo (Executive Vice President and General Manager) and Jim Sabey (Head of International Promotion), with whom he had already worked previously.
The strength of the "Beyoncé" brand lies in the value and prominence that it is capable of giving to all facets of femininity, combining strength and sweetness, elegance and sensuality, offering a model in which all women can identify (perhaps not on the level aesthetic, but certainly on the emotional one). After collaborations with L'Oreal, Tommy Hilfiger and Giorgio Armani, Beyoncé preferred to give space to collaborations and independent initiatives, which also allowed her to create her first perfume.
As far as the making of the latest album is concerned, the costs of production, distribution and promotion, as well as the risks, were borne jointly by Parkwood and Columbia, which then divided the proceeds, while the artistic aspect was entrusted entirely to Beyoncé's company.
The surprise project of the Beyoncé album
The unexpected release of this album is part of the transition to digital process that is affecting discography more than other sectors of the media. As we have seen, record sales have fallen inexorably in recent years due to the boom in digital music, with iTunes as the undisputed market leader. The initial project provided for the album to be launched exclusively on iTunes, without being preceded by any type of promotion, which represented a potential risk, given the impossibility of foreseeing the results of the new strategy.
In 2012, a few months after giving birth to little Blue Ivy Carter, Beyoncé began recording her fifth album, in a house rented specifically to house all her collaborators, who worked for a month in studio rooms of registration.
The songs had to be launched all at the same time, through a "visual album", in which each piece would be accompanied by a video. Another fundamental rule was that of total secrecy, otherwise the album could have appeared on the net illegally before the official date, as had happened to other pop stars including Katy Perry, Eminem and Lady Gaga.
In just two months, to launch the album later this year, 17 videos were shot, as well as a five-part short documentary made by renowned documentary maker Zachary Heinzerling, in which Beyoncé explains her project to fans.The 17 videos accompanying each piece shot in just the two months.
Surprise
The company turned to Apple, to ensure that the songs could be downloaded simultaneously in 119 countries, and then to Facebook, through which it would be possible to warn Beyoncé's fans of the album's release as soon as it appeared on the tunes. A further problem was that of the production of the discs, which also had to be kept hidden. The best solution seemed to be to manufacture blank CDs, to which an external cover would be added only at the last minute.
Fan reaction remained unknown and although a series of footage had been prepared, including a press release, documentary and video clips, Beyoncé and her collaborators could not predict how the media would use this content. Then there was to verify how the product would have been received on the international market and to make matters worse it was probable that the main record companies, such as Universal Music, Sony Music and Warner Music, would not have reacted positively to the exclusive pact between Parkwood and Apple.
On the eve of the release, therefore, there were still many question marks, even if perhaps the positive outcome of the experiment could already be glimpsed in the telegraphic announcement with which the album was presented on the web: "Surprise!". After all, it is always originality and the ability to surprise others that are the key to success and the Beyoncé project seems to have demonstrated to everyone that an established artist (and professional) can very well give up the support of a traditional advertising campaign, aiming all about the quality of his relationship with the public, with whom he has the opportunity to share emotions, dreams and experiences.
