Monday, June 02, 2008
Case Study: Hope Publishing discovers Multimedia Sells Paper
Situation:
Hope Publishing, founded in 1892, is one of the nation's largest Christian music publisher. Managed by the fourth generation of the Shorney family, Hope Publishing sells choral, hand bell, hymnal and other instrumental sheet music to music distributors and churches. The marketplace, in general, is defined where new sales are not 'found' but rather 'taken' from a competitor.
Hope represents and sells more than 3,000 musical pieces, almost all of which have audio samples. Since the sheet music Hope publishes is not heard on the radio or other popular channels, music sampling is critical to sales. For decades, Hope Publishing has mailed music samples to their clients using vinyl records, cassette tapes, and finally CDs.
In 1997, Hope launched their first website for promotional purposes and began to digitize their music portfolio using Real Networks technology for online sampling. In 2001, using IntelliSuite as their platform, Hope redesigned their web site for eCommerce. By 2006, online revenue growth had stalled and visitor technical support had grown, so Hope began looking for a change in multimedia technology.
Solution:
Performance Communications Group (PCG) suggested converting the Hope music catalog into MP3 files, which could be managed with PCG's Internet Secured Application Technology (ISAT) Communication Center (www.isatcommunications.com). Hope would maintain digital rights management while improving the user experience and reporting, and introduce new ways to promote their music. PCG created the "Hope Player," a personal juke box that loads as many samples as desired. The Hope Player also allows for pre-defined play sets that Hope creates to promote new and compiled musical works.
Results:
PCG and Hope Publishing worked together to convert Hope's 3,000 music files during the summer of 2006 and launched the Hope Player in September of 2006.
Comparing the site traffic of September 2006 and September 2007 reveals:
Sept. 2006 Sept. 2007 Change
Site Visits 58,000 111,000 90%
Page Views 163,000 263,000 60%
Multimedia Minutes 29,000 115,000 300%
In the last twelve months, visitors have listened to more than 1 million minutes of music. This has translated into a 50 percent gain in revenue when compared to the prior twelve month period. A success by all accounts, Hope and PCG continue to work on new features such as podcasts and video.
Hope Publishing, founded in 1892, is one of the nation's largest Christian music publisher. Managed by the fourth generation of the Shorney family, Hope Publishing sells choral, hand bell, hymnal and other instrumental sheet music to music distributors and churches. The marketplace, in general, is defined where new sales are not 'found' but rather 'taken' from a competitor.
Hope represents and sells more than 3,000 musical pieces, almost all of which have audio samples. Since the sheet music Hope publishes is not heard on the radio or other popular channels, music sampling is critical to sales. For decades, Hope Publishing has mailed music samples to their clients using vinyl records, cassette tapes, and finally CDs.
In 1997, Hope launched their first website for promotional purposes and began to digitize their music portfolio using Real Networks technology for online sampling. In 2001, using IntelliSuite as their platform, Hope redesigned their web site for eCommerce. By 2006, online revenue growth had stalled and visitor technical support had grown, so Hope began looking for a change in multimedia technology.
Solution:
Performance Communications Group (PCG) suggested converting the Hope music catalog into MP3 files, which could be managed with PCG's Internet Secured Application Technology (ISAT) Communication Center (www.isatcommunications.com). Hope would maintain digital rights management while improving the user experience and reporting, and introduce new ways to promote their music. PCG created the "Hope Player," a personal juke box that loads as many samples as desired. The Hope Player also allows for pre-defined play sets that Hope creates to promote new and compiled musical works.
Results:
PCG and Hope Publishing worked together to convert Hope's 3,000 music files during the summer of 2006 and launched the Hope Player in September of 2006.
Comparing the site traffic of September 2006 and September 2007 reveals:
Sept. 2006 Sept. 2007 Change
Site Visits 58,000 111,000 90%
Page Views 163,000 263,000 60%
Multimedia Minutes 29,000 115,000 300%
In the last twelve months, visitors have listened to more than 1 million minutes of music. This has translated into a 50 percent gain in revenue when compared to the prior twelve month period. A success by all accounts, Hope and PCG continue to work on new features such as podcasts and video.
Labels: 2.0, banners, Chicago, email, Internet Secured Application Technology, ISAT, Lifestyle Computing, Marketing, multimedia, online advertising, PCG, Performance Communications Group, Podcasts, video
