XV. Case Study. The artist

George Clinton is one of the most respected and influential musician/songwriters in the popular music industry. Since the early 1980s, he has been instrumental in the ongoing development and refinement of what is now called Urban Contemporary music. He is considered the Father of Funk, the dance-oriented rhythm and blues that has dominated African-American popular music in the last 20 years. He has also inspir­ed musical genres from Hip Hop to Rap.

Clinton’s best-known work was in the late 1980s with the groups Parliament and Funkadelic and their amalgum P-Funk. All of the ma­jor songwriter/producers (the people who dominate Urban Contemporary music in the 1990s) claim Clinton as a mentor and an influence — this includes Prince, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Teddy Riley, L.A. and Babyface, etc.

Clinton is probably the second most sampled songwriter, behind only James Brown. «Sampling» is a term unique to the late 1980s and 1990s, and is the result of the increasing use of computers in the creation of music. A «sample» is a small piece of a previously recorded song that is used in a new song or composition. Samples vary in length but generally involve a few bars of a song — sometimes only a single instrument (a guitar solo, a bass line) or all the elements (rhythm, vocals, solos). Clinton’s music is sampled primarily by Rappers.

Clinton’s persona is, to some extent, better know than his music. A frequent guest on David Letterman and MTV, BET, and other video-oriented programs, Clinton’s long, rainbow-colored hair is a familiar trademark. His irreverent humor pokes fun at the normal image of the rock’n’roll or R&B Rhythm and Blues star. And, although he has not had a «hit» record (sales of more than half a million units) in years, he still has a large, highly loyal following.

The company

Paisley Park Records is a small record label, associated with and distributed and marketed by Warner Bros. Records. Paisley Park chooses its acts and then oversees the recording, marketing, and packaging. Warner Bros. then manufactures the records themselves, distributes them to retailers, and takes the primary responsibility for marketing the records—advertising, contacts with radio stations, television video, etc.

Make no mistake about it: Paisley Park is Prince’s record label. Although run by Alan Leeds, Prince himself is the final decision maker on who the label signs and records. In that sense, Paisley Park is different from most other record companies. Most companies have large A&R (artists and repertoire) staffs; these are people who weed out the many artists seeking to be signed to the labels. At Paisley Park Records, the decisions on who to sign are more likely to be personal than at other labels.

The issues

The marketing problem is that George Clinton has not had a hit record in years. In 1999 he signed a new recording contract with Prince’s Paisley Park Records label. And the addition of George Clinton to that label’s short roster probably was more a personal decision by Prince — a sincere fan of Clinton — than a purely business decision. Upon signing, Prince immediately gave Clinton a small part in his moderately successful film, «Graffitti Bridge».

A significant part of Clinton’s problem is that he doesn’t seem to fit into any of the many market segments within the music industry —particularly the two key conduits for marketing in the industry, radio and music video television. Although he is clearly a legend in the Urban Contemporary market, Urban Contemporary program directors and DJs are not interested in his new music—they perceive Clinton as an «oldie» performer, and are less likely to play his new material. Pop or CHR radio (Contemporary Hits Radio, the modern equivalent of Top 40 radio formats) see Clinton as too much an Urban Contemporary artist for their formats. And, though MTV will interview Clinton at almost any opportunity, they are very slow to play his videos. The results are that Clinton’s records generally sell about 100,000 units each, based on the loyalty of his core audience.

Alan Leeds, Clinton, and his advisors want to develop a long-term strategy to reposition George Clinton. When Clinton signed with Paisley Park, he had already completed an album, «Cinderella The­ory,» that was to be released on that label. The Paisley Park strategy is to use the marketing of «Cinderella Theory» to prepare the way for the release of Clinton’s future albums.

As they look at Clinton’s past music and marketing, several features emerge:

• Clinton’s irreverent humor that viewers see on MTV and the David Letterman show is carried through on Clinton’s longstanding use of «cartoon» graphics on his albums.

• Clinton’s lyrics for his music have great depth and sophistication, a fact often lost on listeners and viewers.

• Traditionally George Clinton has been almost the only artist featured in his music—seldom using important backup support.

As they analyze the opportunities for repositioning George Clin­ton, they see two key dimensions to the music segments relative to Clinton’s opportunities: (1) a traditional-to-contemporary dimension and (2) a serious-to-funky dimension. They reach two big decisions: (1) make Clinton more «contemporary» on the first dimension and (2) make Clinton more «serious» on the second dimension. Given these marketing strategy decisions, what actions should George Clinton, Alan Leeds, and Paisley Park Records take to implement these plans?