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Published on February 2, 2008

The company is also extending its consumer market to provincial rural areas, instead of concentrating only on major cities.

The moves come following a 20-per-cent drop in the overall music market.

To achieve its goals, the company yesterday announced an alliance with two music camps: Loveis and Tata Entertainment, the second of which oversees all the works of Thai-American singer Tata Young.

Sony BMG will cooperate with Loveis for certain albums, while its cooperation with Tata Entertainment will last for three years.

The company hopes these efforts will help it achieve second place in the Thai music market with a 20-per-cent share - it currently has 18 per cent - as well as at least 25-per-cent revenue growth, against last year's 27 per cent.

Birathon Kasemsri na Ayudhaya, general manager for new business and marketing and sales, said yesterday that Loveis and Tata Entertainment matched Sony BMG's plan to create good quality music with more variety to maintain its current customers and reach a greater audience nationwide.

"Lack of creativity in creating music, or negligence to keep unique Thai singers by certain music camps, was a major factor for the drop in the overall music market. They have switched their focus to other businesses that are not related to their core business, and thus didn't put their money into what they should focus upon," Birathon said.

He added that the change in consumer behaviour to listening to more music from digital gadgets like MP3 players or through websites was not a problem because it is merely a shift from one tool to others. He said creating high-quality music would keep customers listening to music no matter what, and they would be willing to pay more for legal music material instead of pirated editions.

Sony BMG is putting a higher focus on distributing music through its digital channel, since this contributes as much as 40 per cent of its revenue while the rest comes from tangible items such as CDs.

By working with Loveis, Sony BMG will boost its distribution and marketing by offering interested corporate customers the use of music as a communications tool for marketing or building awareness of corporate social responsibility. Meanwhile, Loveis will focus on producing music.

In working with Tata Entertainment, Sony BMG will help build wider exposure for Tata Young, particularly in the upcountry market where the two partners see high growth potential.

Sony BMG also has a partnership with Live Inc, a local entertainment and media operator, to jointly create a movie featuring the story of the Thai ladyboy music band Venus Flytrap. The overall investment budget is Bt45 million.

It is also seeking potential business partners to continue expanding its exposure into movies and online games.

Nitida Asawanipont

 The Nation