FINAL

RESEARCH
REPORT
Columbia Records

Ashley Feeder & Lily Presson

Arizona State University –The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass
Communication | JMC 436 – Public Relations Research | December 6, 2022
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Overview……………………………………………………………………………..2

Client Backgrounder………………………………………………………………………….…3

Communications Audit…………………………………………………………………….…..10

Focus Group Report………………………………………………………………………..…30

Survey Report…………………………………………………………………………….……34

Target Audience Report………………………………………………………………………39

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………...…48

Citation List……………………………………………………………………………………..49

Appendices:

Appendix A: Focus Group Transcription…………………………………..………..62

Appendix B: Focus Group Consent Forms………………………………..………..70

Appendix C: Full Survey and Responses…………………………………….……..73

Memo 1…………………………………………………………………………..……………110

Memo 2…………………………………………………………………………..……………116

Memo 3………………………………………………..………………………………………124

Memo 4…………………………………………………………………………..……………132

Memo 5…………………………………………………………………..……………………139

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Document Introduction/Executive Overview
previews research conducted and main conclusions.

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 Client Backgrounder
Ashley Feeder & Lily Presson

Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by the Sony Music Entertainment group, a
subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese
conglomerate Sony. Colombia represents some of the most famous names in music history,
such as Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Harry Styles, (125 Years of Columbia Records, 2017).

Headquarters:
550 Madison Ave
Floor 24
New York City, New York 10022, U.S.

Additional Locations/Recording Studios:

111 East 58th Street, New York City, NY
207 East 30th Street, New York City, NY
49 East 52nd Street, New York City, NY
799 Seventh Avenue, New York City, NY
6121 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood, CA
34 Music Square E, Nashville, TN

Phone Number: 212-833-8000

Website: [Link]

Socials:
Facebook: [Link]
Instagram: [Link]
LinkedIn: [Link]
Snapchat: [Link]
Spotify: [Link]

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 TikTok: [Link]
Twitter: [Link]
YouTube: [Link]

Mission:
Columbia Records aims to achieve a few successes in its musical endeavors, by “lifting talent by
being a powerful, bold, and creative partner,” (Culture). This piece was pulled from Sony
Music’s website, as Columbia did not appear to have its own mission statement.

History:
According to the label’s LinkedIn, Columbia Records was founded in 1888 by Edward D. Easton
and a group of inventors after evolving from the American Graphophone Company and is the
oldest brand name in recorded sound and was the first record company to produce recorded
records. Columbia’s LinkedIn states that “from 1961 to 1990, recordings were released under
the CBS Records label namesake until the name Columbia was adopted.” Its modern name is
derived from the District of Columbia. The label is an American flagship recording label owned
by Sony Music Entertainment and operating under Columbia Music Group. The LinkedIn bio
also mentions that it is one of three of Sony Music’s flagship record labels, next to Epic Records
and RCA Records. Columbia was divided into two in the early 1900s, with one selling records
and the other selling players. In 1998, the CBS Records Group was officially acquired by Sony.
(Columbia Records, LinkedIn).

Industry:
The music industry is worth $28.8 billion as of 2021, and has increased a significant amount
each year, (Götting, 2022). The global recorded music revenue increased by $5.7 billion from
2020 to 2021. In 2016, the industry was worth $16 billion (Götting, 2022). Part of the significant
increase in the music industry profit can be attributed to music streaming services and the app
TikTok. (Capoot, 2022). In 2020, Sony Music Entertainment held 20 percent of the music
recording market and 25 percent of the music publishing market (Stone, 2020).

In June 2019, it was reported that 68 percent of adults aged between 18 and 34 years old
listened to music every day. Götting stated that “rock ‘n’ roll and country/western music is far
more popular among older generations, who have little enthusiasm for hip-hop and rap music,
which are much more preferable among 16 to 19-year-olds,” (2022). While musical preferences
may differ among age groups, most Americans agree that music is a part of their daily routines,
(Götting, 2022).

Few Firms Dominate Most of the Music Industry’s Production and Distribution

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This graph illustrates how the 4 main record labels: Sony Music Entertainment, EMI, Universal
Music Group, and Warner Music Group take up 85 percent of the U.S. recording music
industry’s production and distribution (University of Minnesota Libraries).

Relevant Management & Team Members:

Ron Perry – Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
Jennifer Mallory – General Manager
Frankie Argio - Senior Vice President, Marketing
Jay Schumer - Executive Vice President, Co-Head of Marketing
Betsy Whitney - Senior Director, Marketing

Target Market(s):
The largest customer segment for record labels is those aged 35 and up, with ages 18-34
following closely behind (How to start a record label, 2022). Record labels such as Columbia
Records get revenue from music sales and streams, so their most important audiences are their
artists and the fans of that artist. Columbia Records is an iconic record label that has a long
history, so they have an advantage when it comes to signing talented and successful artists.
Columbia Records must keep the specific artists’ fan base in mind when producing and
promoting their work. Columbia Records has a wide-ranging pool of artists that vary in terms of
target markets and demographics. The label also distributes music worldwide. This means that
the target audience changes depending on the product. Therefore, Columbia Records as a
company is very neutral and traditional, while their artists vary and have a much more eccentric
and specific aesthetic.

Business/Operating Model:
There are a few different ways Columbia Records makes profit. The first example is the
standard or traditional record deal. The label allots a substantial budget for marketing and
advertising and then also puts down an advance on projected royalty earnings. Sometimes they
may even establish recording costs as a recoupable expense. So, Columbia waits for back
payment on the entirety of its recording investment. Then, the artist can start earning towards

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their advance. Once the advance is made completely, the artist starts to earn royalties. The
second way Columbia makes profit is by a distribution-only deal. This is where the artist does
not sign with Columbia, they only seek to distribute their work through it. In this case, the
independent artist has to finance their own marketing and promotion. There is no artist's
advance that comes into play. Another way Columbia operates is through the net profit record
deal model. This strategy allows record labels to break-even while ensuring the artist a better
earning if the album is a success. Both the recording costs and the advertisement costs are
considered recoupables. Essentially, Columbia would keep all of the royalties until the net hits
zero. The splits only apply to release net profits. (Pastukhov, 2020).

Record labels have many different streams of profit, especially with newer models of how users
consume music. There are still physical sales, such as record and CD purchases, but digital sales
are also a big factor. Streaming is another way Columbia Records can make substantial profit,
track their success, and compete with other artists and labels. This also means that Columbia
Records must upkeep a positive relationship with streaming services such as Spotify and Apple
Music, so that their artists’ projects are promoted on them. Along with streaming, radio and
satellite radio, such as SiriusXM, contribute to the label’s profit when they play projects
produced by Columbia Records’ and promote their artists. Labels also make a percentage of the
profit from concerts and music festivals. Depending on the deal an artist makes with a label, the
label could receive royalties from touring, merch sales, licensing, streams, and sponsorships
(Pastrana, M., 2022).

Relevant Financial Information:

Columbia Records is privately owned and records an annual revenue of about $3 billion
(MDS, 2020). The label’s stock listing can be found under: NYSE: SONY (Sony Group Corp).
As of Oct. 2022, the stock read $72.58 USD, +0.50 (0.72%). (Google Finance).
According to Google Finance, Columbia has a market cap of $92.24 billion.
There are three major investors. First, PRIMECAP Management Co: 2.01% of stake,
25,331,098 shares owned. Second, Aristotle Capital Management LLC: 1.05% of stake,
13,263,531 shares owned. Lastly, Fiduciary Management, Inc.: 0.28% of stake, 3,532,269
shares owned. (Cables News Network).

Situational Analysis Information:

Record label addiction to virality
Ever since the birth of TikTok in September 2016, the music industry has introduced new ways
for record labels to market and profit from music. Tiktok has become a promotional tool for
artists and their labels. Becoming a trending song on TikTok is one way an artist can land a spot
on the Billboard 100. Andy McGrath, the senior vice president of marketing at Legacy
Recordings, a division within Sony Music, told Insider that they are constantly “monitoring
actions, reactions, and trends that happen on TikTok,” (Whateley, 2022). McGrath also added
that their entire music catalog is being tracked daily. Part of the reason the entire catalog is
tracked is because older songs are being brought back to the charts when they are repurposed
on TikTok. The music industry has also gained a community of music artists who make music to

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specifically go viral on social media. Songs are created to reference certain memes and trends
on apps like TikTok. (Whateley, 2022).

The emergence of new apps like TikTok and constant app updates with new features (such as
reels on Instagram) are not the only shifts in music consumption. Streaming has created an
entirely new way to discover and consume music. In the last six years, revenue from sales of
recorded music has increased. While music fans have been able to listen to more music than
ever before at a more affordable rate, musicians have gotten the short end of the stick. Record
labels get most of the profit from streams. For example, in 2015 major labels received 46% of
revenue from streaming subscriptions while artists only saw 7% of that. It is reported that for a
Spotify artist to earn one dollar from streams, their song would have to be streamed 229 times
(Onlabor, 2022). This is obviously good for record labels, but one of their main target audiences
is their artists. If they are not making a profit and are not happy, artists will turn their back on
streaming or record labels altogether.

Recent Communications Campaigns (Traditional and Social Media):

Columbia Records has been recognized for its marketing and advertising efforts for many years.
In 2020, their campaign for Harry Styles won the Artist Marketing Campaign award at the Music
Week Awards, (Columbia Records’ Harry Styles marketing campaign honored at the Music
Week Awards, 2020). Styles’ second album, Fine Line, was released in late 2019 and featured
partnerships with Live Nation Merchandise in which pop-up shops appeared in cities like Los
Angeles, New York City and London. (Careers - Sony Music).

The Weather Channel and Columbia Records had a partnership in December 2014 in which its
goal was to promote a new AC-DC album by “leveraging a custom native ad across mobile,
tablet and Web platforms that plays off the bad-weather title of a song on the album”: “Got
Some Rock & Roll Thunder” (Barris). In this partnership, Columbia was attempting to engage
customers and The Weather Channel attempted to make its information more digestible and
relatable.
In June 2022, Columbia won the Artist Marketing Campaign at the Music Week Awards, as her
album, “30,” surpassed 1.5 million sales in the U.S. in January 2022 (Caulfield, 2022). The record
label highlighted the fact that it was Adele’s “first album to fully embrace streaming and the
first campaign with the Sony Music UK label” (Paine, 2022).

Recent Major News:

Columbia Records NFT Trademark
Columbia Records filed a trademark application for non-fungible token (NFT) music and visual
media. The label filed an application for an NFT trademark on August 30, 2022, but it didn’t
come to light on social media until early September (Smith, 2022).

Lily Allen Says She Won’t Release Music on a Major Label Again
Lily Allen, an English singer-songwriter told The Independent, “I’d never sign a record deal with
a major label again,” (O’Connor, 2020). She explained why she would never work for a label: “I
don’t want to work within that corporate structure, don’t want somebody telling me I have to

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be talking into my camera phone all day, for ‘engagement,’” (O’Connor, 2020). Allen’s top songs
include “Smile,” “Somewhere Only We Know,” and “Fuck You.” This is just one example of how
big-name artists are beginning to not sign with large companies such as Sony. If this continues
to happen and artists speak out more, Columbia Records will be directly affected.

Halsey Complained About Being Forced by Record Label to Promote Music on TikTok
Halsey, a musician signed with Capitol records posted a TikTok complaining about how they
have to make viral content to promote their music: "I've been in this industry for eight years
and I've sold over 165 million records and my record company is saying I can't release it (their
new song) unless they can fake a viral moment on TikTok.” They explained that they just want
to make real music and that they’re tired. (Smith, 2022).

Competitors:
Capitol Records:
Capitol Records is one of the globe’s leading record labels, once home to artists such as the
Beatles and Frank Sinatra. Founded in 1942, Capitol is a subsidiary of EMI Music and operates
alongside Virgin Records, (Encyclopedia, n.d.). It generates a revenue of $8.8 million annually
and is the ninth largest record label in the world, (Clark, 2022). Different from Columbia
Records, Capitol recording artists record their songs at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles. Rather
than artists using multiple recording studios in separate locations, they can record in one
building with multiple studios inside. Capitol prides itself on the famous building, in which
legends such as Sir Paul McCartney, The Beach Boys and Nat “King” Cole recorded their famous
songs, (Capitol Studios, 2018).

Atlantic Records:
Atlantic Records was founded in 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson, (Encyclopedia
Britannica, n.d.). In 1967, it became a fully owned subsidiary of Warner Bros, which later
became the music division known as Warner Music Group (Atlantic Records, 2021). The
company’s mission statement is, “to create a nurturing environment for artists, songwriters,
and fellow employees at every stage of their career,” (Atlantic Records, 2021). It is based out of
New York City and has 350 employees. Atlantic Records has a revenue of $21 million (Kizer,
2022). Some of Atlantic Records’ most prominent artists throughout history include Ray
Charles, Led Zeppelin, and Aretha Franklin. Some highly accredited artists include Bruno Mars,
Wiz Khalifa, and ColdPlay. Some current artists popular within the label are Lil Uzi Vert, Cardi B,
and Lizzo. (Atlantic Records, 2021).

The three largest record companies in order of ranking are Sony Music Company, which
Columbia Records falls under, Warner Music Group, Atlantic being one of its labels, and
Universal Music Group, home to Capitol Music Group (Kizer, 2022).

Research Questions:
1. How aware are people of artists’ record labels?

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 2. Does Columbia Records promote diversity, equality and inclusion within their
communications?

3. What are the consistencies and inconsistencies across both social and traditional media?

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 Communications Audit
Ashley Feeder and Lily Presson

Introduction
The following communications audit examines Columbia Records’ strategies among all of its
social media platforms as well as the company’s earned traditional media. This report also
compares Columbia Records’ strategies to those of Atlantic Records and Capitol Records, two of
its major competitors within the record label industry. Samples of media included in this report
come from the time period of Sept. 7 to Oct. 7, 2022. Research was conducted using different
social and traditional media tracking tools, including Muck Rack, Inclusive, Rival IQ and Social
Blade. Findings were limited to the abilities of the tools used and different filters were applied
to narrow down traditional media mentions to include only English content articles that include
the names of the companies analyzed (e.g., “Columbia Records”).

Current Strategy
★ Social Media: Columbia Records posts weekly to its three main social media
platforms: Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. While Facebook posts follow a less
frequent upload schedule, followers can still expect at least one post per month.
Columbia Records’ posts on Instagram are primarily focused on its signed artists,
highlighting new music of the week, congratulating artists on their nominations
or wishing them a happy birthday. Twitter and TikTok posts include this type of
content as well as interview and concert video snippets.

★ Traditional/Digital Media: Columbia Records was mentioned approximately

3,438 times in traditional media from Aug.1 to Sep. 20, 2022, according to Muck
Rack. The coverage consists of news about Columbia Records’ past and current
signed artists as well as updates about the label’s song and album releases.
Overall sentiment appears neutral and overall mentions are brief.

★ Press Releases: Within the “Press Releases” page on the Sony Music website,
Columbia is mentioned in one press release from Aug. 1 to Sept. 20, 2022. This
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 release covers Sony Music and Music Women* Germany’s announcement of the
winners of the Female* Producer Prize. Music Women* Germany is the
nationwide organization of all music women* and female-identifying and non-
binary individuals in the German music industry. Sony Music, which owns
Columbia Records, often partner with MW*G.

★ Key Messages: Columbia Records appeals to users and media consumers by

displaying its assets, accomplishments and abilities rather than simply discussing
them. Columbia highlights its strong presence through awards and nominations.
The label aims to promote good music, talented artists and community.

Social Media Assessment

Facebook
Columbia Records’ Facebook account has 252,476 likes and 295,295 followers as of Sept. 30,
2022. There have been two posts from September 7 – October 7, 2022, regarding artists signed
with Columbia that have received Latin Grammy nominations. The label tends to only post on
Facebook for significant news regarding a client’s music or to pay tribute to holidays such as
Juneteenth or AAPI Heritage Month.

Figure 2 -
Facebook
Comment Figure 1 -
Figure 3 - Latin Congratulatory Post
Section for
Grammy Nominations for Harry Styles
Columbia
for Columbia Records
Records

Audience engagement on Facebook varies from post to post. One post will have 41 likes, six
comments, and 0 shares while another will have 15K likes, 127 comments, and 1.4K shares.
Comments on posts tend to be neutral or positive toward Columbia Records. There are
examples of people discussing their opinion on an artist or their music, but very little negative
discourse toward Columbia Records itself.

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Columbia Records’ Facebook photo collection shows the label’s promotion of their artists. It
also makes it apparent that the label has a focus on diversity and inclusion within their brand.
The photos showcase portraits honoring the Black artists currently signed with the label. There
are also photos honoring the female employees and artists within the label, as well as artists
who fall under the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) heritage.

According to Social Blade, Columbia Records has received a total of 1,089 likes in the last 30
days. Social Blade gives them an overall grade of “B” on Facebook.

Of the three posts during the time period, the most successful post in terms of likes and
engagement highlighted Harry Styles’ #1 trending album on the Billboard 200 Chart. The post
received 15,200 likes while the posting in Figure 3 only earned 41 likes. On Facebook, it seems
the engagement is based on artists and not award postings in general. The Latin Grammy
nominee post performed significantly less well than Harry Styles’ congratulatory post.

Figure 5 -
Facebook Figure 4 -
Screenshots of Facebook
Columbia Screenshots of
Records Search Columbia
Records Search

Instagram (@ColumbiaRecords)
As of Sept. 30, 2022, the Columbia Records Instagram account has 631,639 followers, follows
457 accounts and has a total of 9,236 posts. Columbia Records posts two to three times per
week, on average, containing mostly single photo posts and an occasional carousel or video
style post. From Sept. 7 - 25, 2022, Instagram posts received an average of 870 likes and an
average of 14 comments. Social Blade posted a “B” grade for the label’s Instagram.

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 Figure 8 - Latin Grammy Figure 7 - Weekly "New Figure 6 - Birthday Post for
Nominations Announced on Music Friday" Instagram Beloved Artist Bruce
Instagram Post Springsteen

The vast majority of Columbia Records’ content on its Instagram account are congratulatory
graphic style posts such as in Figure 7. This post received at least 3,044 more likes than any
other post from that week (Sept. 18 - 24). The recognition of Latin artists Rosalía, Yahritza Y Su
Esencia and Pharrell Williams was recognized by followers and fans alike. This is displayed by
the large leap in like count compared to the post right before (434 likes) and the post after
(1,547 likes).

Other posts feature video clips presenting the new music of the week. The record label has
adapted a weekly tradition called “New Music Friday,” that features work from its artists during
the prior week. These posts are more engaging, with video clips and background audio. These
style posts gather a larger comment count, with users showing support for their favorite artists
or promoting their own music.

Rarely, Columbia Records will post a birthday message to one of its artists. The label keeps it
consistent and concise, simply wishing the artist a happy birthday and including a photo. These
posts add a nice break to the otherwise wordy feed of announcements and nominee lists.

TikTok (@ColumbiaRecords)
Columbia Records’ TikTok account has 25.5K followers and 401.8K likes. The profile picture is
the iconic “Walking Eye” logo. There is no biography, links or playlists on their TikTok account.
The label’s 3 pinned videos are a sample of some of their most viewed posts, with one having
36.9K views, one having 23.1K views, and one having 72.1K views.

The posts are of artists within the label performing or promoting their music. Similar to
Columbia’s other social media platforms, comments on posts discuss the artist or music used in
the video rather than the label itself. Excluding the pinned videos, Columbia Records’ TikTok
videos receive under 4K views per video, with some not surpassing 500 views.

The post that received the most engagements in the last 15 TikTok posts was a post promoting
Beyonce’s new album “Renaissance.” The video got 129.4K views, 4,863 likes, 55 comments,
and 18 shares. The comments mostly consisted of Beyonce fans expressing excitement about
the release. The weekly music highlight postings are not as successful, at times only earning a
few hundred views. There is missed opportunity in the TikTok account, as Columbia Records is
contractually affiliated with some of the world’s most well-known people.

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Figure 9 - Feeder & Presson
Figure 10 - TikTok Columbia
That Received the Records TikTok
 Engagements

Twitter (@ColumbiaRecords, @ColumbiaUK)

As of Sept. 30, 2022, Columbia Records’ main Twitter account, @ColumbiaRecords has 762,152
followers and follows 674 accounts. They have an account dedicated to Columbia’s United
Kingdom artists and audience, @ColumbiaUK, that has 221,922 followers and follows 1,111
accounts as of Sept. 30, 2022. The overall tone of the tweets is very to the point and do not
express much emotion. They are written in a professional matter, which on a Twitter feed
differentiates itself from tweets made by casual users. The tone of Columbia’s tweets can be
seen in figures 11-15.
@ColumbiaRecords presents media like that on their Instagram account, with birthday selfies,
artist promotion and congratulatory graphics. Frequent retweets of signed artists can also be
seen throughout Columbia’s main Twitter feed. The account has over 39,000 tweets and is
followed by many well-known celebrities such as Harry Styles, Snoop Dogg and Jimmy Fallon.

Figure 12 - BET Figure 11 -

Figure 13 - Artist Congratulatory Tweet
Awards
Promotion Tweet for Signed Artist Harry
Congratulatory
Nomination Tweet Styles

@ColumbiaUK also produces content that promotes its artists and congratulates nominations
and awards. This account’s media differs from the main Twitter account in that the postings are
more candid. @ColumbiaUK tweets include photos from concerts and photos from artist
Oxlade visiting the office in the morning on Sept. 16, 2022.

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 Figure 14 - Columbia UK Figure 15 - Columbia UK
Candid Tweet Artist Recognition Tweet

In The Media
According to the data analytics software Muck Rack, Columbia Records received approximately
2,336 mentions in national traditional and digital media during the period of Sept. 7 to Oct 7,
2022. Of these mentions, 18 of them had Columbia Records in the headline. The coverage
consists mainly of news regarding artists within the label.

Two of the articles with Columbia Records headlined were about Sony’s new NFT trademark
application for Columbia Records. Four of them were about Columbia Records and former
Capitol Records Chief Jeff Vaugn’s new label, Signal.

Editorial content mentioning Columbia Records is from sites such as Billboard, Variety, The
Associated Press, and Yahoo Entertainment. This kind of coverage is about topics such as
tributes to artists, music promotion, and music event coverage.

For example, Figure 16 is a concert review of Lil Nas X at New York’s Radio City Music Hall.
Columbia Records is mentioned in reference to being Lil Nas X’s label. This would be positive
earned media for the label because the positive press for their artists falls back onto Columbia
Records.

Figure 16 - Columbia Records Earned Positive

Traditional Media Snippet
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Something that Columbia Records could improve on is reaching out to the media with story
pitches and comments. There was only one spokesperson quote given in one of the 18 articles.
It was about the inspiration behind Noah Cyrus’ new song produced by Columbia Records.
Columbia Records must provide more content and comments to earn more and better-quality
traditional media. The overall sentiment of the articles is mostly neutral because of how brief
the mentions are. More spokesperson quotes could increase the number of significant and
positive mentions.

An important observation to mention is that Columbia Records is not mentioned in comparison

to other labels often. With media coverage from brands, it is not uncommon to see releases of
new products to be compared with competitors. During this analysis of Columbia's traditional
media, no similarity was found in any comparison to the artists within the label’s releases or the
music industry market in general.

There was a surprising lack of traditional media mentioning Columbia Records in regard to
Beyoncé’s new album, “Renaissance.” Traditional media covering the album’s release was
plentiful, which was recorded with the label, but there was no coverage mentioning Columbia
Records during the research.

As for Columbia’s press releases, Columbia was mentioned once in the 13 press releases posted
to Sony Music’s website since July 29, 2022. One article briefly mentioned Columbia Records
when discussing Head of A&R Columbia Germany Sarah Schneider’s comments on the winners
of the Female* Producer Prize at Music Women* Germany and Sony Music Germany. Only two
of these articles discussed Columbia, as a label, more significantly. These pieces discussed the
same type of content that Columbia presented: congratulations, new artist signings and
accomplishment features.

Key Media Outlets/Influencers

While Columbia Records’ social media platforms do not promote or repost any influencer
media, there are many traditional media outlets/reporters that have repeatedly covered the
label.

Reporter: Media Outlet: Role:

Jem Aswad Variety Deputy Music Editor

Dan Rys Billboard Senior Writer

Shirley Halperin Variety Executive Editor

Ragan Clark Associated Press Writer and Social Media

Producer

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 Cerys Kenneally The Line of Best Fit News Editor

Competitive Analysis

Atlantic Records

Background
Atlantic Records is the largest frontline label at Warner Music Group. The label specializes in
jazz, R&B, and soul music. Atlantic Records has recorded prominent artists such as Led Zeppelin,
Aretha Franklin, and Beyonce. They have a revenue of $366 million. The label utilizes emojis
and pop culture well across all their social media platforms. They have more followers than
Columbia Records on Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram. In traditional media, Atlantic Records
receives more earned articles but also has more controversial stories about their artists that
could affect the label’s image.

Social Media Metrics

The following table gives a quantitative comparison of different social media metrics between
Columbia Records and its competitor, Atlantic Records. The metrics were collected using Social
Blade and RivalIQ and are current as of Oct. 6, 2022.

Metrics (As of Oct. 6, 2022) Columbia Records Atlantic Capitol Records

Records

Total Facebook Followers 295,099 532,689 260,551

Number of Facebook Page Likes 252,174 458,266 224,393

Average Number of Facebook Posts Per 0.93 25.9 0.17

Week

Average Engagement Rate Per Facebook 0.014% 0.007% 0.010%

Post (%)

Average Number of Shares Per Facebook 5 1,145 13

Post

Total Number of Instagram Followers 631,341 851,110 459,234

Average Number of Instagram Posts Per 4.90 9.80 1

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 Week

Average Engagement Rate Per Instagram 0.18% 0.13% 0.40%

Post (%)

Average Number of Comments Per 325 1,895 15.56

Instagram Post

Average Number of Likes Per Instagram 23,479 42,742 1,799.12

Post

Total Number of TikTok Followers 25,600 718,800 12,928

Total Number of TikTok Likes 401,600 3.9M 21,092

Total Number of Twitter Followers 762,628 685,628 456,533

Average Number of Tweets Per Week 10.7 25.6 0.57

Average Engagement Rate Per Tweet (%) 0.12% 0.062% 0.023%

Average Number of Retweets Per Week 1,704 10,442 7.47

Strategy Comparison: Facebook

Columbia Records’ Facebook account (@ColumbiaRecords) posts content similar to its
competitor Atlantic Records (@AtlanticRecords). The content mainly surrounds promoting the
music they release. Atlantic Records has more followers and page likes than Columbia Records,
but this could have a direct correlation to the fact that Atlantic posts on average 25.9 times a
week while Columbia only posts on average 0.93 times a week. Columbia has a slightly better
engagement rate per post (0.014%) than Atlantic who has an engagement rate of 0.007% per
post. As for average number of shares, Atlantic gets an average of 1,145 shares while Columbia
only gets 5. The overall takeaway from this comparison is that Columbia Records needs to
increase their average weekly Facebook posts by posting more - at least once daily! Columbia
Records also could add more emotion and expression in their posts. In figures 17-19, Atlantic
Records is seen using a much more upbeat and encouraging tone rather than trying to remain
professional, down to the usage of emojis.

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Figure 19 - Lizzo
Figure 18 - Atlantic Figure 17 - Atlantic
 Post
Facebook Post Promotion Post

Strategy Comparison: Instagram @AtlanticRecords

Both @ColumbiaRecords and @AtlanticRecords use their Instagram platforms to promote their
artists and their music. Atlantic Records tends to post mainly reels while Columbia posts mainly
images with graphics. Atlantic Records has 25.82% more followers than Columbia Records and
Atlantic posts more. Atlantic posts on average 9.8 times per week while Columbia only posts 4.9
times per week on average. Columbia has a better engagement rate at 0.18% per post because
Atlantic Record’s engagement rate per post is 0.13%. Despite this, Atlantic records get more
likes and comments on average per post. Columbia gets an average of 29,279 likes and 325
comments while Atlantic gets an average of 42,742 likes and 1,895 comments.

Figure 20 - Atlantic Figure 21 - Atlantic

Records Birthday Figure 22 - Atlantic
Records Instagram
Instagram Post Records Motivational
Page
Monday Instagram Post
Strategy Comparison: TikTok @AtlanticRecords
@AtlanticRecords has a much larger TikTok following than @ColumbiaRecords with 718,800
followers. Columbia has a mere 25,600 followers. Atlantic Records also has a total of 3.9 million
likes on the platform while Columbia Records has 401,600 total likes. Both TikTok accounts post
content that artists within their label have made as well as music promotion videos. Atlantic
tends to put more effort into posting content that trends on the app, such as video promos
over a screen recording of someone playing Subway Surfer or videos of Lizzo ranking her own
songs on her album. Columbia Records’ posts tend to be more formal, such as snippets of
interviews and videos of artists performing.

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 Figure 24 -
Atlantic Figure 23 -
Records Atlantic
"Subway Records
Surfers" TikTok Profile
TikTok

Strategy Comparison: Twitter @AtlanticRecords

Columbia Records has more Twitter followers
than Atlantic Records, despite the fact that
they have less tweets per week on average.
Columbia Records has 762,628 followers while
Atlantic Records has 685,628 followers. Atlantic
tweets on average 25.6 times per week while
Colombia tweets 10.7 times per week.
Columbia’s tweets get better engagement at
0.12% per tweet, while Atlantic has an
engagement rate of 0.062% per tweet. Despite
this, Atlantic gets significantly more retweets,
10,442 per week on average, while Colombia
gets an average of 1,704 retweets per week.
Columbia Records tweets their Instagram
content and retweets tweets from their artists. Figure 28 - Competitor Coverage Graph,
Atlantic Records mainly tweets about new music Sourced from Onclusive
being released and also retweets tweets from
their artists.

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Figure 27 - Atlantic Figure 26 - Atlantic
Records Lizzo Promotion Records Bruno Mars Figure 25 - Atlantic Records
Tweet Congrats Tweet Retweet
Strategy Comparison: In The Media
According to Muck Rack, Atlantic Records was mentioned 2,991 times in traditional media from
Sept. 7 to Oct. 7, 2022. This is larger than Columbia Records’ 1,912 mentions over the same
time period, (Muck Rack). Of these 2,991 articles, Atlantic was in the headline 18 times. Despite
Columbia Records’ less traditional media mentions, the label was mentioned 18 times in the
headline as well in the past 30 days. The coverage in the past month has consisted of music
releases and coverage on what Atlantic Records’ artists have been up to. Atlantic is mentioned
in articles about the BET hip-hop music rewards, celebrity drama, and artist music promotion
such as interviews and talk show appearances.

One thing that was apparent when observing both Columbia Records and Atlantic Records
traditional media coverage was that Atlantic Records had more negative press coverage
regarding their signed artists. For example, there were articles about Cardi B getting in a Twitter
fight controversy and a recently signed Atlantic artist getting sentenced for murdering a boy. As
of October 3rd, Atlantic Records did not comment on either of these. Columbia did not have
any coverage like this.

Figure 30 - Atlantic
Figure 29 - Atlantic Records Traditional
Records Negative Press
Media Coverage
Example

Of the 10 press releases published by Warner Music Group since Sept. 7, 2022, Atlantic Records
was not mentioned in any of them. On Atlantic Records’ own website, there is one press release
published on Oct. 4, 2022, announcing that Jeff Castelaz had been named president of Elektra
Records. Elektra relaunched as a freestanding label in 2009 but was merged into the Atlantic
Records group before then. Columbia Records does not publish very many press releases either.
Of the 13 press releases Sony has released since July 29, 2022, Columbia has been briefly
mentioned in two of them. As shown in Figure 31, the share of voice (measure of the market
your brand owns compared to distributors) between Columbia and Atlantic Records retains a
similar sentiment. Atlantic has a slight edge, with 56 percent of the voice share. This percentage
has fluctuated over time, mostly maintaining a split majority as shown in Figure 32.

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 Figure 31 - Share of Voice
Comparison Chart, Sourced Figure 32 - Share of Voice Over Time Chart,
from Onclusive Sourced from Onclusive

Strategy Comparison: Influencers

Similar to Columbia Records, Atlantic Records does not have any definite influencers that
frequently repost or promote the label. In traditional media, the reporter coverage from label
to label is quite similar, with certain reporters, especially editorial ones such as Variety,
covering the label repeatedly. In this research, influencers are defined as reporters who have
written about the record labels consistently and repeatedly. These writers typically wrote about
scandals, breaking news, album awards or announcements, etc. According to Muck Rack,
Atlantic Records most prominent reporter is Johnathan Landrum Jr. with The Associated Press,
who has mentioned Atlantic Records over 50 times between Sept. 7 to Oct. 7, 2022.

Capitol Records

Background
Capitol Records is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group that was
founded in 1942. Capitol is a wholly owned subsidiary of EMI Group, which is one of the
industry’s leading recorders, publishers and retailers of music. It also works alongside Virgin
Records’ U.S. operations. They offer a wide range of genres, including pop, rock, alternative,
rhythm and blues (R&B) and hip-hop and are based in Los Angeles, California (Encyclopedia,
n.d.). Comparably reports that Capitol Records outperforms Columbia in product quality, pricing
and customer service.

Social Media Metrics

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The following table gives a quantitative comparison of different social media metrics between
Columbia Records and its competitor, Capitol Records. The metrics were collected using Social
Blade and RivalIQ and are current as of Sept. 30, 2022.

Metrics (As of Sept. 30, 2022) Columbia Atlantic Records Capitol Records
Records

Total Facebook Followers 295,317 532,689 260,551

Number of Facebook Page Likes 252,479 458,266 224,393

Average Number of Facebook Posts Per Day 0.10 25.9 0.17

Average Engagement Rate Per Facebook Post 0.014% 0.007% 0.010%

(%)

Average Number of Shares Per Facebook Post 3 1,145 13

Total Number of Instagram Followers 631,890 851,110 459,234

Average Number of Instagram Posts Per Day 1 9.80 1

Average Engagement Rate Per Instagram Post 0.14% 0.13% 0.40%

(%)

Average Number of Comments Per Instagram 14.5 1,895 15.56

Post

Average Number of Likes Per Instagram Post 889.69 42,742 1,799.12

Total Number of TikTok Followers 25,543 718,800 12,928

Total Number of TikTok Likes 401,817 3.9M 21,092

Total Number of Twitter Followers 762,148 685,628 456,533

Average Number of Tweets Per Day 0.53 25.6 0.57

Average Engagement Rate Per Tweet (%) 0.27% 0.062% 0.023%

Average Number of Retweets Per Week 8.2 10,442 7.47

Strategy Comparison: Facebook @CapitolMusic

Columbia Records’ Facebook account (@ColumbiaRecords) posts similar content to that of its
competitor Capitol Music. In total, Columbia has 295,317 followers on Facebook while Capitol
has 260,551 followers. The number of page likes are also very similar, with Columbia at 252,479

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likes and Capitol at 224,393 likes. Neither of them are very active on Facebook, averaging 0.10
(Columbia) and 0.17 (Capitol) posts per day, (RivalIQ). The engagement rate follows suit of the
aforementioned categories and displays similarity once again.

Columbia has a Facebook engagement rate by follower of 0.015 percent and Capitol has a rate
of 0.013 percent, (RivalIQ). In average number of shares per post, Capitol takes the win with 13
and Columbia follows with a mere 3 shares.

Figure 34 - Congrats Post

Columbia Records Figure 33 - Capitol Records Facebook
Facebook Congrats Post

Strategy Comparison: Instagram @CapitolMusic

@ColumbiaRecords content on Instagram is similar to that of @CapitolMusic in various ways.
According to RivalIQ, as of Oct. 5, 2022, Columbia Records uploaded twice as many posts in one
week. Columbia received a total of 22,999 likes across the last 30 days, while Capitol only
received 1,125, RivalIQ revealed. Capitol also trailed Columbia in comment amount, with 77
comments compared to 324. However, Capitol does outperform Columbia in one key area:
engagement. According to RivalIQ, @CapitolRecords has an engagement rate of 0.83 percent.
@ColumbiaRecords has an engagement rate of 0.18 percent. Capitol does better in this
category because they do not have as many followers as Columbia Records. This indicates that
Columbia has more followers that engage less, while Capitol has less followers that engage
more.

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 Figure 36 - Columbia Records
High Performing Instagram Figure 35 - Capitol Records
Post Typical Instagram Posting

Strategy Comparison: TikTok @CapitolRecords

Columbia Records’ TikTok account (@ColumbiaRecords) is much more formal compared to
@CapitolMusic on TikTok. Columbia focuses on promoting new music, showing concert videos
and interview snippets. Occasionally, signed artists will do a ‘takeover’ of the label’s TikTok
account to promote their art. As of Oct. 4, 2022, Columbia has approximately 25,600 followers
on TikTok. Capitol remains much more candid in its TikTok presence, using meme videos, fan
submissions and behind the scenes content more frequently. As of Oct. 4, 2022, Capitol Records
has approximately 16,100 followers on TikTok, about 9,500 less than Columbia. In the last 30
days, Capitol has received 58,372 likes across their TikTok videos, according to RivalIQ.
Columbia has only 32 likes for the last 30
days, (RivalIQ).

Figure 37 -
Columbia Records Figure 38 - Capitol
"New Music Records Meme
Friday" TikTok Style TikTok Post

Strategy Comparison: Twitter @CapitolMusic

Columbia and Capitol share much of the same media
content on their Twitter accounts, including retweets

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of signed artist media, congratulatory postings and lighter-hearted content. In follower
comparison, Columbia outshines its competitor with 762,765Figure 41 - Competitor
followers Coverage,
while Capitol Sourced
follows
from Onclusive
with 456,714 followers. The average weekly tweets from both accounts are quite similar with
Columbia averaging 10.5 tweets per week and Capitol averaging ten tweets per week, (RivalIQ).
However, Columbia’s content earned much higher engagement than that of Capitol’s postings.
@ColumbiaRecords has an engagement rate of 0.12 percent for the last 30 days;
@CapitolRecords has an engagement rate of 0.033 percent for the last 30 days, (RivalIQ).
Columbia earned 13,650 likes and 1,661 retweets while Capitol earned 1,952 likes and 329
retweets.

Figure 39 -
Columbia Figure 40 - Capitol
Records Retweet Records Retweet
Strategy Comparison: In The Media
According to Muck Rack, Columbia was mentioned in reference to its artists and music 2,316
times in traditional media from Sept. 7 to Oct. 7, 2022. This is notably larger than Capitol’s
1,912 mentions over the same time period, (Muck Rack). Aforementioned, Columbia Records
was only featured in the headline of the article 18 times over the past 30 days. For the past 30
days at Columbia Records, there has been much to cover. Artist tours, BET Hip Hop Award
nominations, an Emmy win, anniversaries and birthdays, Latin Grammy nominations and album
announcements; the content was scattered across many topics. For Capitol Records, the
content followed talk show appearances, new music, tour announcements and release
anniversaries. Capitol was included or mentioned in the article’s headline 73 times over the last
30 days.

As stated previously, Columbia was mentioned once in the 13 press releases posted to Sony
Music’s website since July 29, 2022. The one article briefly mentioned Columbia Records when
discussing Head of A&R Columbia Germany Sarah Schneider’s comments on the winners of the
Female* Producer Prize at Music Women* Germany and Sony Music Germany. Only two of
these articles discussed Columbia, as a label, more significantly. These pieces discussed the
same type of content that Columbia presented: congratulations, new artist signings and
accomplishment features. In comparison, Capitol Records has posted nine press releases to
their website since July 29, 2022. These articles only mentioned Capitol Records briefly. Overall,
the two labels have a similar share of voice, with Columbia barely taking the majority over

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Capitol (Figure 43). While the majority-holder has shifted over time, Figure 42 displays that
Columbia Records had held the majority of the share of voice far more often than Capitol
Records has.

Figure 42 - Share of Voice Over Time, Figure 43 - Share of Voice, Sourced

Sourced from Onclusive from Onclusive
Strategy Comparison: Influencers
Similar to Columbia Records, Capitol Records does not have any definite influencers that
frequently repost or promote the label. In traditional media, the reporter coverage from label
to label is quite similar, with certain reporters covering the label repeatedly. In this research,
influencers were defined as reporters that have written about the record labels consistently
and repeatedly. These writers, agency or freelance, typically wrote about any recent scandals,
breaking news, album awards or announcements, etc.

Conclusion
Overall, Columbia Records maintains similar strategies across all of its main social media
accounts. One might find missed opportunity in not catering to the specific audiences of the
platforms themselves. For instance, media posted on Columbia’s Facebook page is often the
exact same as a post on its Twitter account. While Columbia has room for improvement, it still
keeps up with its competitors the majority of the time. Competitor labels such as Atlantic and
Capitol typically see less engagement than Columbia does. Columbia Records could post more
frequently across all social media platforms. Based on both Columbia’s social and traditional
media presence, it seems as though the label likes to let their artists represent them and let the
success of the label speak for itself. It would be interesting to see Columbia Records have more
of a media presence of its own.

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 Focus Group Report
Ashley Feeder and Lily Presson

Introduction
The Columbia Records research team conducted a focus group with three Gen Z college
students who are members of the client’s target audience. The focus group gave the team
insight on Gen Z’s understanding of record labels and the music industry. It also provided
insight into Gen Z’s social media preferences when it comes to music and artists.

The purpose of this focus group was to collect qualitative data from multiple sources within
Columbia Records’ target audience and gain an understanding of their reasons, opinions,
motivations, perspectives and social media interests regarding music and streaming.

Participant Backgrounds
There were three participants in the focus group. Participant A is a 21-year-old, fourth-year
college student studying kinesiology at the University of Texas. He listens to music regularly and
has a Spotify subscription. He attends concerts and listens to artists from Columbia Records
such as John Mayer and Blink 182. Participant B is a 21-year-old, fourth-year college student
studying Business Communications at Arizona State University. She listens to music and attends
concerts regularly. She has a subscription to Spotify and enjoys listening to country and pop
music. Her favorite artists within Columbia Records are Bruce Springsteen and Luke Bryan.
Participant C is a 21-year-old fourth-year marketing student at Arizona State University. She is
from Chicago and spends her free time attending concerts, listening to music and supporting
her favorite artists in all their ventures. She has an Apple Music subscription and enjoys pop,
indie and alternative music the most. Her favorite artists within Columbia Records are Harry
Styles, Peter McPoland, COIN, Adele, Peach Pit and Vampire Weekend.

Methodology
Inclusion criteria for the Gen Z college students recruited for this focus group were that they:
- Had knowledge about the music industry
- Are passionate about music
- Consume music through social media

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The focus group lasted approximately 45 minutes and questions included various topics such as
their social media use, listener preferences and prior knowledge of Columbia Records/music
labels. The interview was conducted over Zoom video chat and was recorded and transcribed
by the researchers.

The participants were aware of Columbia Records prior to the focus group. They were shown
no additional information during the focus group to get accurate information on their
knowledge and opinions of Columbia Records.

Interview Analysis
From the information gathered at the focus group, the researchers concluded that casual music
listeners have little to no interest in or knowledge of an artists’ music label. The researchers
also concluded that TikTok has had a significant impact on the music industry, and that listeners
tend to follow their favorite artists, specifically on Instagram, when they like them.

Below are responses from the focus group that reinforce our conclusions that a.) music
listeners have little knowledge about record labels and b.) music listeners acknowledge TikTok
has impacted the music industry.

Key Observations
Key observations from the interview included:
● Music listeners have little to no interest in or knowledge of an artists’ music label.
○ Users do not feel inclined to follow the artist’s label on social media.
● Participants have no preference between an artist signed to a major label versus an
artist signed to an independent label.
● Users are satisfied with the amount of diversity within the music industry.
● When users like an artist, they follow them on social media. Specifically, users tend to
follow the artist(s) on Instagram.
○ In following their social media, users are expecting to see posts about new song
releases, album announcements and behind-the-scenes style posts.
● All participants agreed that TikTok has had a major influence on the music industry.
○ Specifically, participants feel that TikTok has given smaller/lesser-known artists a
chance to be known.
● Only one of three participants knew Columbia Records was owned by Sony Music.

Key Themes
Theme #1: Casual music listeners are not aware of the record labels their favorite artists are
signed to.
● When asked what they knew about Columbia Records, Participant A responded: “I don’t
know anything,” and Participant B responded: “I don’t know anything either.”

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 ● When asked if they paid attention to what record label their favorite musicians signed
to, Participant B responded: “No, I don’t really feel like that’s necessary.”
● When asked if they are more inclined to listen to a new band that is on the same label
as their favorite artist, Participant C replied: “Sometimes. I feel that this usually just
happens by chance. But I don’t intentionally look up their label and listen to other artists
they have signed.”

Theme #2: Music fans agreed that TikTok has had a major influence on the music industry
● Participant A: “I think that TikTok has allowed for less mainstream artists to get their
music out to the public. They create songs that are catchy and turn it into a sound. Then
people will use their sound which is just free advertising.”
● Participant B: “I think TikTok has had a huge impact on the music industry especially
with making mediocre musicians gain fame.”
● Participant C: “TikTok has such a high impact on what songs have been going viral and
gaining traction. Small musicians have been given the chance to share their music for a
large audience to hear, which has helped their monthly listeners drastically. TikTok also
gives artists the opportunity to participate in trends where they can post funny or silly
about themselves which I feel always makes them feel more real.”

Theme #3: Only one in three of the participants were aware that Columbia Records is owned by
Sony Music.
● When asked if they knew who Columbia Records is owned by,
○ Participant A responded: “No, I do not know.”
○ Participant B responded: “Nope.”
○ Participant C responded: “Yes, Sony Music!”
■ Participant C went on to say she was aware of many Columbia artists:
including “Harry Styles, Peter McPoland, COIN, Adele, Peach Pit, and
Vampire Weekend.”

Theme #4: Music consumers have differing opinions about their satisfaction for diversity within
the music industry.
● Participant A: “I think the music industry has become more and more diverse and I am
happy with it.”
● Participant B: “I’m satisfied with the diversity in the music industry. It has changed a lot
through the years, and I love that there's so many different genres of music.”
● Participant C: “I think the diversity has increased heavily in recent years in the U.S. There
is always room for improvement, but I am not particularly unsatisfied. I think women
and minorities have been charting much more than they used to, and I think this will
continue to increase over the next few years.”

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 ● Participant C: “From what musicians I know are signed to Columbia, racially, there is no
diversity. However, the music styles are quite diverse, from pop to alternative to indie
and folk.”

Limitations
The focus group participants were known to the researchers, which may have biased responses.
The interview was also conducted over Zoom which could have lessened the connection
compared to had it been in person. Participant A was in a different time zone and had just
finished class, so he may have been more tired than the other participants. In addition, despite
being informed Columbia Records fans, only one participant was aware that the brand’s parent
company is Sony Music.

Future Ideas
Topics discussed during this focus group will be further explored through a survey that will be
conducted. A focus group using older participants could help the team have a better
understanding of different target audiences. A focus group of participants with deeper industry
knowledge could also be beneficial to aid with better knowledge of industry predictions and
trends.

Conclusion
Columbia Records has been able to create a portfolio of diverse and talented artists that music
consumers want to listen to. However, opportunities for growth were also revealed, such as in
the company’s lack of public awareness. The research has shown that casual music listeners
have little to no insight on the record label that their favorite records and artist belong to. The
next step is to quantitatively support whether these sentiments are felt by other Columbia
listeners.

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 Columbia Records Survey Report

Ashley Feeder and Lily Presson

Introduction:
The Columbia Records research team conducted a survey of Columbia’s target audience to
learn more about their perceptions of the brand, as well as the successes and failures of its
communication strategies. Following insight gathered from the previous focus group, the
survey questions aimed to discover a few key findings. Are people aware of artist’s record
labels? Does Columbia Records promote diversity, equity, and inclusion within its
communications? Within social and traditional media, what are the consistencies and
inconsistencies and what do users feel more inclined to engage with? The survey also sought to
assess whether there was a relationship between TikTok and the increase in rising stars and
industry profit.

Methodology and Target Population:

The target population of the survey included individuals who listen to music, regardless of if
they were aware of the label their favorite artists were signed to. The final four questions on
the survey collected demographic information from each participant. The survey took
approximately 10 minutes to complete and no personal information, including the name of
each participant, was disclosed to the researchers.

Development and Distribution Method:

The survey consisted of 34 questions and was built and analyzed using the survey software
Qualtrics. The questions asked in the survey sought to gain a better understanding of the
participants’ knowledge and perception of Columbia Records and social media habits regarding
artists and labels. To recruit participants, the survey was posted to Facebook and LinkedIn. The
survey was also distributed to peers of the research team. A total sample size of 72 participants
completed the survey between November 1, 2022 and November 9, 2022. However, some
participants did not answer all of the questions, resulting in an average of 59.91 responses per
question.

Participant Demographics:
Overall, the survey yielded 72 total responses. However, due to skip logic, some of the
questions referring to music streaming services and TikTok received fewer responses. Most
participants identified as female (98.44 percent) while the remaining 1.56 percent identified as
male. Most participants were between the ages of 18 and 24 (37.5 percent) followed the ranges

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of 25-34 (23.44 percent), 45-54 (17.19 percent), 35-44 (14.06 percent), 55-64 (6.25 percent),
and those 65 years and older (1.56 percent). Regarding location, 100 percent of participants
were from the United States and 34.92 percent of participants were from the Southwest region
(Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma). 28.57 percent of participants were from the
Southeast U.S. region (Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Florida,
Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Washington D.C. and
Delaware). 14.29 percent of participants were from the Western region (Washington, Oregon,
California, Nevada, Idaho, Utah, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado). 11.11 percent of
participants were from the Northeast region (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut,
Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine). Lastly, 11.11 percent of
participants were from the Midwest region (North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas,
Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio). As for ethnicity,
90.91 percent of participants described themselves as White, 4.55 percent described
themselves as “other,” 3.03 percent of participants described themselves as Asian and 1.52
percent of participants described themselves as Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.

Key Findings:
The respondents had no awareness or interest in music labels.

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The researchers asked specific questions on the survey to gain a better understanding of the
relationship between the public and music labels. In general, respondents did not seem to have
any awareness or interest in music labels. When respondents were asked if they had a favorite
record label, 91.4 percent said that they did not. More so, 82.09 percent of respondents said
they were not inclined to listen to other bands if they were signed with the label of their
favorite musical artist. Lastly, respondents were asked how much they knew about Columbia
Records and 79.6 percent said that they knew nothing at all. These results indicate most
respondents to not pay attention to music labels when choosing what music to listen to.

Participants do not pay attention to if bands are signed to major labels or independent labels.

Respondents were asked their preference between major labels and independent labels. The
survey found that 65.67 percent of respondents don’t pay attention to a band/artist’s label and
26.87 percent of respondents had no preference. Cumulatively, this means 92.54 percent of
respondents either do not pay attention or had no preference at all, strongly supporting that
respondents do not pay attention to whether bands/artists are signed to an independent label
versus a major brand-name label.

The majority of the survey respondents acknowledge that TikTok has had an impact on the
music industry.

The researchers wanted to see if the public believed that TikTok had an impact on the music
industry. The survey found that 91.49 percent of respondents believe that TikTok has impacted

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how record labels promote and create music. Over half of the survey respondents (55.88
percent) reported discovering a new music artist because of TikTok. This data shows that
respondents acknowledge that TikTok has impacted the music industry and the artists they
listen to.

The majority of participants use streaming services (i.e., Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music,
Pandora, etc.) to listen to music.

The researchers wanted to gain insight on how people are listening to music. A majority (54.39
percent) of respondents said they used streaming services (Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon
Music, Pandora, etc.) to listen to music at least once a month. Broadcast radio was the second
most common method of listening to music (26.32 percent). This supports the belief that most
participants listen to music through streaming services compared to other routes. The number
of respondents who use streaming services is greater than the next four categories combined.

Summary of Findings:
Overall, the survey yielded cohesive insights into how the target audience perceives Columbia
Records and how users find and listen to music. The survey further proved that Columbia
Records’ does not have a significant brand awareness or media presence because the majority
of respondents had no awareness of Columbia Records or record labels in general, even in
relation to their favorite artists. As shown in Question 13, 72 percent of respondents did not
know what label their favorite artist was signed to. The majority of respondents, 44 percent,
said that they were neither “satisfied not dissatisfied” with the diversity of the music industry
47 percent of respondents said they feel Columbia Records “meets other labels” in terms of
diversity. Record labels have begun to use TikTok to promote their music and the survey
respondents acknowledged this. The majority of respondents said that they find artists on
TikTok and that they believe that the application has changed how record labels and artists
promote music. Respondents do not pay attention to whether a band/artist is signed to an
independent label versus a major label. Columbia Records consumers heavily prioritize the use
of streaming services when deciding how to listen to their music. Respondents prefer to enjoy
their tunes on applications like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and Pandora. Further

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research may be necessary to identify specific media strategies that would increase music
listeners’ awareness of record labels, specifically Columbia Records.

Limitations of the Study:

The survey was distributed to Facebook groups thus the research team cannot guarantee that
all participants have true experience with Columbia Records music and media. Additionally,
because some of the questions only appeared to those who had followed Columbia on social
media, those questions yielded fewer responses than the survey as a whole. The questions
asking participants to type in their own response received fewer responses, possibly because
they did not know what to write or they did not feel like coming up with their own answer.
Finally, because the survey included a convenience sample, the results may not accurately
reflect Columbia Records’ audience as a whole. For Question Nine, a setting in Qualtrics caused
this question to be inaccessible by participants.

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 Columbia Records Target Audience Report
Ashley Feeder & Lily Presson

Introduction:

This report identifies Columbia Records’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
regarding their current communication strategies. Additionally, the stakeholders, influencers,
target audiences and common characteristics within the brand’s target demographics are
identified. This report also shows two examples of audience personas, based on the research
conducted, that showcase the characteristics of the label’s consumer base.

SWOT Analysis:

Strengths Weaknesses

- Utilizes Instagram reels well; - “New Music Friday” posts do not

engagement is sufficient perform well

- Emphasizes diversity and equality on - Instagram feed is not cohesive or

social media aesthetic

- While traditional media coverage is - Lower engagement rate despite high

limited, the sentiment remains follower count
positive

- Very frequent brief mentions in - Brand awareness is low

traditional media
- Lack of feature traditional media
coverage

Opportunities Threats

- Social media postings regarding - Columbia Record competitors have a

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Feeder & Presson
 award nominations and wins showed great social media following
a significantly larger amount of
engagement - Atlantic Records utilizes their TikTok
account better
- Utilize Instagram story highlight
capability; display recent Instagram - Competitors play into social media
stories for longer trends more

- Utilize TikTok account

- The label has popular artists that

could collaborate with them on social
media

- Increase press release coverage

Strengths:

Columbia Records strengths stem from many different platforms. The label utilizes Instagram
reels well, seeing sufficient engagement in these postings. For example, the reel with a clip
from Harry Styles’ “Music for a Sushi Restaurant” posted on Oct. 27, was viewed over 157,000
times and liked by 21,729 people. Columbia Records emphasizes diversity and equality on social
media as well and attempts to represent artists of all genders and races within the media it
controls. This can be seen in their Instagram reels as well. There are specific highlights
dedicated to pride, Black artists, and women on Columbia Records’ Instagram account.

Columbia Records has some strong points within their traditional media coverage. While
traditional media coverage outside of brief mentions is limited, the sentiment remains positive
and shows that the label is consistently creating new projects. Much of their earned traditional
media retains positive sentiment. The label also frequently earns recognition for awards or
good reviews. Columbia Records has also housed iconic artists in the past such as Billy Joel, who
is not forgotten by the news/pop culture. Columbia Records is not receiving many articles
where they are the focus of the story, but there are articles posted frequently that briefly credit
them.

Weaknesses:

While Columbia Records’ focus on communicating with its audience through Instagram content
can serve as a strength for the brand, specific postings are not as effective as the label
intended. For instance, the weekly “New Music Friday” posts do not perform well. During our
research period (Sept. 7 - Nov. 15, 2022) the 11 “New Music Friday” postings received an
average of 460.55 likes. The average amount of likes is approximately 460 likes for an average

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post from Columbia. Making this a weekly occurrence especially when it’s not outperforming
other posts, isn’t strategic. They need to find a way to make this content more engaging,
possibly by encouraging users to vote on what their favorite release of the week is or including
a personalized message/artist takeover. Columbia Records also has a low engagement rate
despite high follower count. While Columbia boasts over 633,000 followers, its weekly postings
receive 460 likes on average. Lastly, Columbia Records’ Instagram feed is not cohesive or
aesthetic. By presenting a cleaner and more professional look on their home feed, they can
appease many groups of people. Pre-existing followers will be able to recognize Columbia posts
in their feed with a uniform look and new followers will be immediately presented with a
visually pleasing and aesthetic brand image. This was presented within Atlantic Records’ feed
and Instagram presence. Atlantic has over 850,470 followers, (about 200,000 more than
Columbia) and maintains a sense of aesthetic in its feed.

Columbia Records’ overall brand awareness is low. Their target audience tends to prefer the
artists within the label’s online presence more than the label itself. In a survey and focus group
conducted by the researchers, we found that 94 percent of respondents did not know which
label their favorite artist belonged to. They also did not know which artists belonged to
Columbia Records. The label also is lacking in traditional media coverage outside of brief
mentions. Overall, 98 percent of the coverage seen during the cumulative research period was
brief mention. The label could increase their coverage in a few ways, so the lack of signature
mentions and spokesperson quotes in traditional media is a weakness for the label.

Opportunities:

As for opportunities, Columbia Records’ social media posts regarding award nominations and
awards consistently shows a significantly larger amount of engagement than other postings. For
example, Columbia’s post for the 2022 People’s Choice Awards from Oct. 26, 2022, received
30,369 likes as of Nov. 17, 2022. The label’s congratulatory American Music Awards post from
Oct. 14, 2022, received 17,801 likes as of Nov. 17, 2022. The post directly after the AMA one, a
“New Music Friday” post, received only 352 likes as of Nov. 17, 2022. This is a 98% decrease in
like amount, in back-to-back posts. Columbia Records also needs to utilize their TikTok account
more often. TikTok is the most music-driven social media application and is influencing the
music industry. The survey found that 91.49 percent of respondents believe that TikTok has
impacted how record labels promote and create music. Over half of survey respondents (55.88
percent) reported discovering a new music artist because of TikTok. The label needs to create a
stronger presence on the app. Along with this, the label has popular artists that could
collaborate with them on social media. Artists such as Harry Styles, Jack Harlow, and Lil Nas X
have very strong media presences. Just including them more in posts or allowing them to take
over the socials for a day would create a notable increase in engagement. Columbia Records
prefers to remain traditional and timeless, but on Gen-Z populated sites like TikTok and
Instagram, playing into trends and memes could really boost their media presence. This success
can be seen in Atlantic Records’ Instagram and TikTok feeds, in which they have about 200,000
more followers.

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Columbia Records needs to publish more press releases. Sony tends to issue many press
releases related to Columbia Records. But news related to the label should be shared on their
website and posted to their social media accounts in order to increase traditional media
coverage and engagement. The last press release issued by Columbia Records was in November
of 2018, (What’s New, 2018). The label has undoubtedly had many press-release-worthy
accomplishments since then. This specifically needs to be capitalized on to gain more frequent
mentions in traditional media.

Threats:

Columbia Records competitors have a similar, if not greater, social media following than
Columbia itself. As of Nov. 17, 2022, Columbia Records has 633,396 followers on Instagram.
Atlantic Records has 851,544 followers and Interscope has 691,673 followers as of this date.
Columbia does beat out one of its biggest competitors in Instagram following however, as
Capitol Records only has 22,363 followers on Instagram as of Nov. 17, 2022. Columbia could
also utilize its’ Instagram story highlight capability to display recent Instagram stories
permanently. This will provide followers with accessible widgets to new music, news, diversity,
etc. Columbia Records’ competitor labels, such as Atlantic Records, utilizes its TikTok account
much better. Atlantic Records has over 736,000 followers and four million likes on TikTok.
Columbia Records only has 25,000 followers and 402,000 likes on the platform. Atlantic Records
uses memes and TikTok trends to promote their projects and artists while Columbia Records
sticks to what they know: concert footage and music video clips. This kind of content is easy to
scroll past because they look like corporate or promoted posts. Because of Columbia Records’
more traditional, professional approach to all of their social media presence, competitors tend
to be a threat to Columbia Records because they utilize social media trends and memes more
often on platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, thus resulting in more engagement.
For example, Duolingo is just a tech company, but they have a strong social media presence and
brand awareness because they were able to utilize online trends and memes.

Stakeholder Analysis:

Columbia Records has two types of stakeholders: primary and secondary. Stakeholders make up
those who are affected by all major and minor company-wide decisions. These stakeholders
include, but are not limited to, clients, customers and competitors. Influencers also fall into this
analysis because they influence the brand’s image.

Primary:

The primary stakeholders for Columbia Records are Columbia Records music listeners and
artists signed to the label.

Columbia Records’ customers are people who stream, and purchase music released by
Columbia Records. Without their customers, Columbia Records would not make any revenue or
be able to operate. Columbia Records is one of the oldest surviving record labels in the

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recorded sound business. Because of this, the label has had to adapt to the audiences’ needs
throughout the years. The music industry is one that has changed significantly since the uprise
of technology. With the introduction of things like Sirius and XM radio and streaming platforms
like Spotify and Apple Music, Columbia Records has had to find ways to appease new audiences
that subscribe to this form of music listening.

Another primary stakeholder is artists that are signed to Columbia Records. The label benefits
from the content and projects that these artists produce. The artists must be making quality
music that will uphold Columbia’s image and receive streams and revenue from the public. An
artists’ image is also important to the label because they reflect on the label’s values. Artists are
often released from a label if they are involved in a scandal or are accused of committing a
crime. Artists are also directly affected by company decisions and executives. We saw this with
Taylor Swift and Scooter Braun at Big Machine Records. Her old record label, Big Machine
Records, has ownership over her first six albums, causing major controversy and forcing Swift to
re-record those albums, (Bruner, 2021). This is just one example of how artists are affected by
and can influence record labels.

Secondary:

The secondary stakeholders for Columbia Records are employees, partners and music
distributors.

The secondary stakeholders for Columbia Records involve a few groups of people. Employees,
partners (such as streaming services & social media platforms) and music distributors/retailers
are all invested in the social transactions of the label, therefore making them secondary
stakeholders. The overwhelming majority of Columbia customers who took the researchers’
survey listen to music on streaming platforms.

For instance, Spotify, a popular audio streaming service, “licenses track from major and minor
record labels from its extensive music library. It pays the rights holders an undisclosed amount
based on the number of times people listen to each track.” (Stephenson 2021). Streaming
platforms like Spotify are important to Columbia Records because they control the music its
users see on the app, hear and consume.

Employees are significant stakeholders within Columbia Records because decisions within the
label often directly affect them and how they work at the company. The label has 750
employees. Columbia Records’ management team includes Rob Silver who is the senior vice
president and head of analytics accounts and receivables research, Kim Rappaport who is the
senior vice president and head of business and legal affairs, and Azim Rashid who is the senior
vice president and head of urban promotion.

Music distributors are the ones responsible for distributing the music itself, from a music file to
digital platforms; they make recorded music accessible to the public’s ears. These people act as
a middleman between the artist and the streaming service. If an upcoming artist wants to

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publish their music to Spotify, they must work with a distributor. Some of the most popular
music distributors for Spotify include Amuse, CD Baby, Distrokid, Ditto Music and Record Union.
(Goodrich 2019).

Influencers:

Columbia Records does not have any official influencers. Influencers are beneficial to any
company because they build awareness, advocacy, and credibility. It is interesting that
Columbia Records does not have a greater online presence because the label basically already
has built-in influencers. The artists signed to their label, such as Harry Styles, have a massive
platform and influence on the public. Harry Styles has close to 48 million Instagram followers. If
they utilized their artists to promote the label, bring attention to other projects, and create
interesting collaborations, Columbia Records could have a stronger media presence.

Another form of influencers that could be beneficial to Columbia Records’ media presence and
increase music streams would be working with TikTokers. We have already seen this begin to
take place because record labels are signing famous TikTokers to make music. Nessa Barrett is
signed to Warner Records, Jaden Hossler is signed to TalentX Entertainment, and the D’Amelio
sisters (Charli and Dixie) are signed with Hollywood Records. Signing a few TikTokers to create
and promote music could be beneficial to the company. Also, hiring TikTok influencers who do
not create music to make content using Columbia Records music could also encourage the
music to trend on the platform. TikTok influencers on Columbia Records’ social media will also
increase engagement and create more content for journalists to create traditional media for
the label.

Audience Analysis:

Columbia Records is a music record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment. The label makes
a profit by selling records and receiving royalties every time a record that they produced is
played. This means that their audience is people who listen to music, more specifically people
who stream and purchase records. This makes Columbia Records’ audience extremely broad.
Understanding the target audience is important for Columbia Records because it needs to sign
artists and promote music that people want to listen to. Most of Columbia Records’ audience is
based off their most popular artists that are signed to them. For example, Harry Styles, Adele,
Beyoncé, and Lil Nas X are some of the label’s top artists right now. The audience for the label
would be people who listen to these artists.

Originally, Columbia Records was known for their blues and jazz music but has shifted to pop
and alternative music. This shift has drawn in a younger target audience. Keeping a variety of
artists from all genres in their portfolio is important to keep an expanded target audience. With
a large target audience, there will be more streams and record purchases. Music has also
become more accessible because of platforms like Apple Music, Spotify, TikTok and YouTube.
This means that things such as income and class are less important for the label.

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Audience Personas:

Persona #1:

Grace, 24
Los Angeles, California

Grace is 24 years old and lives in Los Angeles, California. She works as a marketing specialist and
makes $65,000 a year. Grace is interested in all things music and enjoys combining this passion
with her career path when possible. She has always loved music but developed a more serious
passion for it in her teenage years. Her favorite genres are alternative, pop and rock. Grace also
plays the piano and the ukulele, but ultimately prefers to listen rather than play. During her free
time, you can find Grace scouring Ticketmaster for the latest concert tickets, listening to music
or making music of her own. Grace’s favorite record label is Columbia Records for a few
reasons. She loves Harry Styles, Adele and Beyoncé, all of which are signed to the label. Grace is
active on most social media platforms, especially Instagram, TikTok and Twitter. She enjoys
finding new music on these platforms and can show her support for the artists she likes.

Persona #2:

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Feeder & Presson
 Jeremy, 29
New York, New York

Jeremy is a 29-year-old man who lives in New York City. He works for a tech company as a
software engineer and makes $78,000 a year. Jeremy loves hip hop and alternative music. His
favorite artists are Jack Harlow, Polo G, and The Kid LAROI. He likes to spend his free time going
to concerts with friends. He has a Spotify premium subscription and looks forward to posting
his Spotify Wrapped on his social media accounts for his followers to see. He likes to support his
favorite artists by purchasing their records and merchandise. He also encourages his friends and
coworkers to stream their music so that they can be on the Billboard Top 100. Jeremy also
watches TikToks on Instagram reels and discovers new artists and songs that way. He is active
on Twitter as well, but mainly for work and news related content.

Summary:

Columbia Records needs some work on their online presence. The label has an impressive
portfolio of artists and timeless projects, but there is little awareness of the brand itself to
music listeners. Their lack of social media presence does not help with this issue. Music labels in
general are not of interest to the audience, which is shown in Columbia Records’ and its
competitors' social media engagement. The label could be doing more on social media to get
more engagement, like utilizing TikTok more efficiently and collaborating with its signed artists
on social media. The label also does not have a very cohesive or aesthetically pleasing social
media presence. It does not feed into popular culture, memes, or internet trends, resulting in a
disconnect between the brand and the younger generations.

Columbia Records also needs to feed journalists deeper and more frequent information to
create an increase in high-quality traditional media coverage. The label also needs to increase

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Feeder & Presson
press releases and spokesperson quotes in the media by meeting with journalists more often.
Columbia Records could discuss artists, streaming, TikTok, the future of the company, and even
the long history that the label must earn more traditional media coverage. Columbia Records is
a longstanding record label, but if they want to relate to the younger audience and upcoming
generations, online presence, streaming services, and influencers are very important.

45
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Conclusion
overall conclusion that highlights main findings based on data and identifies opportunities for
improvement for the client's communications strategy and tactics.

The best way for Columbia Records to gain more traditional media coverage would be to
provide more spokesperson quotes. There was only one spokesperson quote throughout all five
bi-weekly periods. The label needs to provide more comment on stories if they want to increase
coverage from editorial sources such as Variety, Deadline Hollywood, and E! Online.

As shown in the coverage, followers tend to engage most with content discussing award
nominations or wins. The weekly “New Music Friday” postings, while a tradition, do not result
in the target engagement the label is seeking. Using snippets on unreleased songs or clips of the
artist talking about their new music could result in a boost in engagement on these consistent
postings.

46
Feeder & Presson
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receive attribution. (2016, March 22). 6.4 current popular trends in the music

industry. Understanding Media and Culture. Retrieved September 16, 2022, from

[Link]

the-music-industry/

Whateley, D. (2022, July 7). How Tiktok is changing the music industry. Business

Insider. Retrieved September 16, 2022, from

[Link]

marketing-discovery-2021-7#:~:text=TikTok%20is%20an%20essential

%20promotional,generated%20posts%20from%20their%20fans.

What's New. Columbia Records. (n.d.). Retrieved December 6, 2022, from

[Link]

125 years of Columbia Records - an interactive timeline. Columbia Records Timeline.

(2017). Retrieved December 6, 2022, from

[Link]

timeline/#!date=1885-06-10_[Link]!

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58
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 Appendix A:
Focus Group Transcription

Columbia Records conducted a focus group to gain insight on the public’s knowledge of the
music industry, Columbia Records, and social media habits regarding artists and labels. The
following text is the transcription of the session.

This interview took place on October 24, 2022, at 2:15 p.m.

Introduction:
Observer: “Hi everyone! My name is Lily Presson.

Moderator: “And I’m Ashley Feeder!”

Observer: “We are here as part of a research project for our class at Arizona State University
that is looking into Columbia Records. We are going to talk about music, record labels, artists
and social media. This study is for class purposes only and has not been funded by any
organization. Let me assure you that your name will not be used in the final report and your
anonymity will be maintained at all times. Also, thank you for being here today, Ashley and I
really appreciate you taking the time to participate in our focus group. Feel free to interact with
one another and sort-of treat it like a conversation. Do you guys’ mind if we record this session?
If not, I can rely on my handwritten notes.”

The group consents to recording.

Observer: “Do you guys have any questions before we start?”

The group has no questions.

Observer: “In that case, we will go ahead and get started. Ashley and I will both be conducting
this focus group, but she is going to be serving more of a moderator role, while I am going to be
taking notes and observing.”

Moderator: “Alright, we are going to start off by playing you guys a song!”

*“As It Was” by Harry Styles plays for ten seconds. *

Moderator: “Do any of you know this song? Give me a thumbs up if you do.”

All three participants give a thumbs up.

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Moderator: “This song is “As It Was” by Harry Styles. It is currently number three on the
Billboard Hot 100. Harry is signed to a major record label. Okay, I’m going to play one more
song.”

*“You Proof” by Morgan Wallen plays for ten seconds. *

Moderator: “What about this song, has anyone heard it before?”

Two of three participants give a thumbs up.

Observer: “Nice! So, that was “You Proof” by Morgan Wallen. It is currently number seven on
the Billboard Hot 100. Morgan is actually signed to an independent label.”

Moderator: “Who would you guys say is your current favorite band or musician?”

Participant A: “Definitely Mt. Joy.”

Participant C: “Can I pick more than one?”

Observer: “Of course!”

Participant C: “Harry Styles, COIN and The 1975.”

Participant B: “I’m a country girl so probably Cody Johnson and Morgan Wallen! I really
appreciated that you played that song earlier, I literally love him.”

Moderator: “Oh nice!! Yeah, those are all really great artists. Do you know what record label
your favorite artist is signed to?”

Participant A: “Um, no actually.”

Participant B: “I don’t either. Oops.”

Participant C: “I do actually! Harry and COIN are signed to Columbia, and I think The 1975 is
signed to Interscope.”

Participant B: “Woah, it’s so cool that you know that.”

Moderator: “Yeah, nice job! Okay, so now that we’ve gotten to know a little bit about your
guys’ music taste, let’s chat about social media. Typically, when you like a band or musician, do
you follow them on social media?

Participant C: “Yes!”

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Participant A: “Yeah, same.”

Participant B: “Yes, I normally follow them to see what they are up to when they’re going on
tour and to know when they’re releasing new songs.”

Moderator: “What are you looking for in their content? Is it news, concert dates, behind the
scenes content? That type of stuff.”

Participant C: “I love seeing their posts during tours, with videos and pictures from each show.
COIN has been posting really cool videos on both TikTok and Instagram recently from their live
shows. The 1975 just released a new album last week so seeing a lot of the behind the scenes
and their promo has been interesting. I always look for artists and bands that enjoy being
interactive with their fans in some kind of way.”

Participant B: “Wait, I saw that too! I definitely look for news and concert dates, especially new
song releases. I also like to see their life behind the scenes.”

Participant A: “Usually, I am just looking for new song or album releases and if they are coming
to my area when they are on tour.”

Moderator: “Which platforms do you typically follow bands/musicians on? Like Insta, Twitter,
TikTok?”

Participant A: “I follow them on Instagram mostly because I feel like I won’t see their Twitter
posts as much due to the amount of tweets on my feed.”

Participant B: “Same, I normally follow them on Instagram. I think it’s because so many people
use that platform that they know to post all important updates on there. Sometimes I follow
them on TikTok because I feel like it shows more of the inside scoop of their lives. I’m not a big
Twitter person so I don't follow artists and bands there, either.”

Participant C: “All the above! Sometimes artists and bands have Spotify accounts too, where
they make public playlists they’re enjoying at the moment, which I think is really cool and fun
for fans to be able to see what they’re favorite artists are into.”

Observer: “Oh, cool! I’m an Apple Music gal so I didn’t know that. I think they do something
similar but definitely nothing that personal.”

Moderator: “Do any of you ever like, comment or share posts from your favorite bands and
musicians? If yes, why?”

Participant A: “I only like their posts and it's typically so I can go back and see and look at them
if it's regarding tour dates or new releases.”

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Participant C: “Yeah, I typically will always post their new songs on my Instagram story. I also
like reposting any of their content which I think is cool or interesting. I post these in hopes of
others giving the song a listen and maybe even becoming a fan, or to find who else likes the
band so we can talk about them. Depending on the artist, I will comment on their posts, but I
will always like their tweets, TikToks and Instagram posts. I like to always support my favorites,
no matter how big or small they may be. I have noticed that on TikTok I'm much more inclined
to comment on videos as they will post funny moments and different tour clips that interest
me. It’s more personal there.”

Participant B: “I don’t normally comment on their posts because so many other people
comment and it’s not like they're gonna look at my comment and reach out to me. I will share
posts from them to other people that like that artist or band to be like ‘hey they’re coming to
AZ for a concert, we should get tickets.’”

Observer: “Gotcha. So, your kind of saying that Twitter can feel impersonal sometimes? Like the
distance between you and the artist feels greater on Twitter?”

Participant B: “Yes, exactly.”

Moderator: “Do any of you also follow their record label? If yes, why?”

Participant A: “No, because I don't know what label they are signed to.”

Participant C: “I do not follow their record labels either. I used to follow a few but ended up
unfollowing as the posts weren’t about artists I am interested in, and it took up a lot of my
feed.”

Participant B: “Yeah, same. I do not because I don’t know what record label they are on.”

Moderator: “How do you feel TikTok has impacted the music industry?”

Participant A: “I think that TikTok has allowed for less mainstream artists to get their music out
to the public. They create songs that are catchy and turn it into a sound. Then people will use
their sound which is just free advertising.”

Participant C: “TikTok has such a high impact on what songs have been going viral and gaining
traction. Small musicians have been given the chance to share their music for a large audience
to hear, which has helped their monthly listeners drastically. TiKTok also gives artists the
opportunity to participate in trends where they can post funny or silly about themselves which I
feel always makes them feel more real.”

Participant B: “Yeah, I think TikTok has had a huge impact on the music industry especially with
making mediocre musicians gain fame.”

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Moderator: “How do you think TikTok has played a role in how record labels promote and
create music?”

Participant A: “I’m not sure. I would guess that record labels actually tell their artists to
promote their song on TikTok and then once it has gained a good amount of traction, they
release it.”

Participant C: “When it comes to promoting music on TikTok, artists can share just a tiny clip of
a song. Usually, it’s the most intense or fun part of the song. which gains a lot of attention. This
then leads to people using the sound and gaining more and more popularity. TikTok also gives
them the opportunity for artists to learn what fans want to hear, what kinds of beats and
production they are enjoying and are into.”

Participant B: “I think many record labels can get ideas off of TikTok because there are so many
people on the app with different ideas and TikTok shows the new trends and I believe that
helps record labels when thinking of the songs they should write.”

Moderator: “Oh okay, cool. Do you pay attention to what record label your favorite musicians
are on?”

Participant A: “I do not.”

Participant C: “Sometimes but not always. If the artist is well established, not really. But when a
more new, fresh artist signs to a label, I like to see who else they have signed to see if they’ve
done any marketing that I think is really cool. An example is Olivia Rodrigo, she had really
awesome marketing surrounding her “Sour” album, so I got looking into her label to see who
else they have signed.”

Participant B: “No, I don’t really feel like that’s necessary.”

Moderator: “Do you typically prefer bands on major labels or independent labels? Why?”

Participant A: “I don’t have a certain preference just because I focus more on the artist than the
label that they are from.”

Participant C: “It depends on the band. For indie artists, I prefer bands on independent labels as
their songs aren’t so pop radio, which some of the major labels push out of their artists.
However, when the bands are more geared towards the pop sound, I like them to be on major
labels as they seem to have mastered the perfect sound.”

Participant B: “Yeah, I feel like bands on major labels are better because the labels put a lot of
time and effort into making their music sound the best to their ability.”

Moderator: “How satisfied are you with the diversity of the music industry?”

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Participant A: “I think the music industry has become more and more diverse and I am happy
with it.”

Participant C: “I think the diversity has increased heavily in recent years in the U.S. There is
always room for improvement, but I am not particularly unsatisfied. I think women and
minorities have been charting much more than they used to, and I think this will continue to
increase over the next few years.”

Participant B: “I’m satisfied with the diversity in the music industry. It has changed a lot through
the years, and I love that there's so many different genres of music.”

Moderator: “If one of your favorite bands or musicians is on a certain label, are you more
inclined to also listen to a new band that is on that label?

Participant A: “No I don’t really focus on other people that are signed by the label.”

Participant C: “Sometimes, I feel that this usually just happens by chance. but I don’t
intentionally look up their label and listen to other artists they have signed.”

Participant B: “I feel like if I looked into the labels my favorite artist are a part of, I would be
more inclined to listen to another artist on that same label. I don’t know if that made sense, but
yeah.”

Moderator:” Do you ever listen to compilation records or playlists from record labels?”

Participant A: “No I don’t. I have actually never heard of that”

Participant C: “I have not done this, mainly because I have a specific music taste which may not
be showcased in a playlist with a wide variety of artists.”

Participant B: “No, I never really do that.”

Moderator: “What role do you think streaming channels like Spotify and Apple Music play when
it comes to record labels?”

Participant A: “I think that Spotify and other streaming platforms have allowed for artists to be
more independent and not have to sign to a record label to get their music out there.”

Participant C: “I think streaming channels play a great role, especially when it comes to the
playlists being made. Spotify has so many different playlists like “new music Friday” and their
daily mixes which are curated for each individual. Apple Music also has playlists like these,
which listeners can click on and find new artists and songs that they enjoy. I'm not exactly sure

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how these playlists are hand-picked, but I feel that their record label definitely plays a major
role, as if it is a major label, they are much more likely to be placed on it.”

Participant B: “I feel like they are the root into making artists and labels get out there and be
known. These streaming devices allow us to listen to the music they put out. So I do believe
they play a significant role in the music industry.”

Moderator: “What do you know about Columbia Records?”

Participant A: “I don’t know anything.”

Participant C: “I know that Columbia is one of the main labels that many very successful artists
and bands are signed to. I am also aware of a handful of artists that they have signed.”

Participant B: “I don’t know anything either.”

Moderator: “Do you know who Columbia Records is owned by?”

Participant A: “No, I do not know.”

Participant B: “Nope.”

Participant C: “Yes, Sony Music!”

Moderator: “Can you name any bands or musicians on the label?”

Participant A: “No I can’t.”

Participant C: “Harry Styles, Peter McPoland, COIN, Adele, Peach Pit, Vampire Weekend.”

Participant B: “I don’t know any off the top of my head.”

Moderator: “Where do you think Columbia Records falls when it comes to diversity compared
to other labels?”

Participant A: “I don’t know about Columbia Records diversity, so it is hard to compare it to

other labels.”

Participant C: “From what musicians I know are signed to Columbia, racially, there is no
diversity. However, the music styles are quite diverse, from pop to alternative to indie and
folk.”

Participant B: “I don’t know about Columbia Records so I can’t really compare it to other
labels.”

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Moderator: “When it comes to Columbia Records, where do you tend to get most of your news
about the label?”

Participant A: “I don’t look for any news on Columbia Records.”

Participant C: “Twitter! I follow many artists and lots of fans of the people I enjoy most. So, I am
frequently being shown promoted tweets and tweets that are based off of my likes from
Columbia. Especially when Harry Styles releases his albums, I am constantly getting news about
Columbia Records as Harry is signed under them.”

Participant B: “I don’t look for anything about Columbia Records, so I don’t really read news on
them.”

Observer: “Alright, well I think that pretty much wraps it up! Before I close us out, does anyone
have any questions?”

Participant C: “I do have a quick question, actually. Is anyone going to the Harry Styles concert
in LA?”

Moderator: “Lily is!!”

Observer: Yes, on November 11! I’m so excited.

Participant C: “I’m so jealous! Tickets sold out so fast.”

Observer: “I know, it was crazy! Well, thank you all so much for participating in our focus group
study, that’s all we have for you today! It’s been really fun getting to talk with you guys and we
really really appreciate you taking the time to be here.”

Moderator: “Thank you guys! Bye!”

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 Appendix B:

Participant A Consent Form

An Analysis of Columbia Records and Its’ Media: Focus Group

We are undergraduate students under the direction of Professor Bovio at the Walter Cronkite
School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. We are conducting a
research study for my Public Relations Research class to better understand Gen Z’s
understanding of record labels and the music industry, including their social media usage and
specific preferences.

I am inviting your participation, which will involve an approximately one-hour focus group. You
have the right not to answer any question, and to stop participation at any time.

Your participation in this study is voluntary. If you choose not to participate or to withdraw
from the study at any time, there will be no penalty.

Your responses to the focus group will be used to better understand how music listeners use
social media to engage with record labels. There are no foreseeable risks or discomforts to your
participation.

Your individual responses will be kept anonymous. The results of this study may be used in class
assignments, but your name will not be used.

I would like to audio record this focus group. It will be transcribed, but the recording will be
deleted after the transcription is complete. The focus group will not be recorded without your
permission. Please let me know if you do not want the focus group to be recorded; you also can
change your mind after the focus group starts, just let me know.

If you have any questions concerning the research study, please contact Lily at
lpresson@[Link] or 928-533-0191. If you have any questions about your rights as a
subject/participant in this research, or if you feel you have been placed at risk, you can contact
the Chair of the Human Subjects Institutional Review Board, through the ASU Office of Research
Integrity and Assurance, at (480) 965-6788. Please let me know if you wish to be part of the
study.

By signing below, you are agreeing to be part of the study.

Name: Brayden Liebrock

Signature: Brayden Liebrock Date: Oct 15, 2022

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 Participant B Consent Form

An Analysis of Columbia Records and Its’ Media: Focus Group

We are undergraduate students under the direction of Professor Bovio at the Walter Cronkite
School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. We are conducting a
research study for my Public Relations Research class to better understand Gen Z’s
understanding of record labels and the music industry, including their social media usage and
specific preferences.

I am inviting your participation, which will involve an approximately one-hour focus group. You
have the right not to answer any question, and to stop participation at any time.

Your participation in this study is voluntary. If you choose not to participate or to withdraw
from the study at any time, there will be no penalty.

Your responses to the focus group will be used to better understand how music listeners use
social media to engage with record labels. There are no foreseeable risks or discomforts to your
participation.

Your individual responses will be kept anonymous. The results of this study may be used in class
assignments, but your name will not be used.

I would like to audio record this focus group. It will be transcribed, but the recording will be
deleted after the transcription is complete. The focus group will not be recorded without your
permission. Please let me know if you do not want the focus group to be recorded; you also can
change your mind after the focus group starts, just let me know.

If you have any questions concerning the research study, please contact Lily at
lpresson@[Link] or 928-533-0191. If you have any questions about your rights as a
subject/participant in this research, or if you feel you have been placed at risk, you can contact
the Chair of the Human Subjects Institutional Review Board, through the ASU Office of Research
Integrity and Assurance, at (480) 965-6788. Please let me know if you wish to be part of the
study.

By signing below, you are agreeing to be part of the study.

Name: Noelle Tessmer

Signature: Noelle Tessmer Date: Oct. 16, 2022

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 Participant C Consent Form

An Analysis of Columbia Records and Its’ Media: Focus Group

We are undergraduate students under the direction of Professor Bovio at the Walter Cronkite
School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. We are conducting a
research study for my Public Relations Research class to better understand Gen Z’s
understanding of record labels and the music industry, including their social media usage and
specific preferences.

I am inviting your participation, which will involve an approximately one-hour focus group. You
have the right not to answer any question, and to stop participation at any time.

Your participation in this study is voluntary. If you choose not to participate or to withdraw
from the study at any time, there will be no penalty.

Your responses to the focus group will be used to better understand how music listeners use
social media to engage with record labels. There are no foreseeable risks or discomforts to your
participation.

Your individual responses will be kept anonymous. The results of this study may be used in class
assignments, but your name will not be used.

I would like to audio record this focus group. It will be transcribed, but the recording will be
deleted after the transcription is complete. The focus group will not be recorded without your
permission. Please let me know if you do not want the focus group to be recorded; you also can
change your mind after the focus group starts, just let me know.

If you have any questions concerning the research study, please contact Lily at
lpresson@[Link] or 928-533-0191. If you have any questions about your rights as a
subject/participant in this research, or if you feel you have been placed at risk, you can contact
the Chair of the Human Subjects Institutional Review Board, through the ASU Office of Research
Integrity and Assurance, at (480) 965-6788. Please let me know if you wish to be part of the
study.

By signing below, you are agreeing to be part of the study.

Name: Grace Konchan

Signature: Grace Konchan Date: Oct. 16, 2022

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 Appendix C:

Full Survey and Responses

Introduction and Consent:

Hi, our names are Ashley Feeder & Lily Presson. We are journalism students at Arizona State
University's Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. For our class on
research methods, we are conducting a survey about Columbia Records. We'd like to hear
from people about their attitudes toward Columbia Records, even if they aren't familiar with
the label. However, we would like to hear from people aged 18 and older only please.
This survey will take you less than ten minutes to complete and your participation is
voluntary. Your information will be kept anonymous and used for class purposes only. The
survey will remain open until November 9, 2022. Thank you for your time and if you have any
questions about our research, you can contact us at ASUJMC436@[Link].

Question 1: During an average day, how much time do you spend listening to music?

● Less than one hour

● One to two hours
● Three to four hours
● Six or more hours

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Question 2: Typically, when you like a band or musician, do you follow them on social media?

● Yes
● Sometimes
● No

Question 3: What are you looking for in a music artists' social media content? Select all that
apply.

● News/concert dates
● Concert videos/photos
● Personal content/behind the scenes
● Promotional videos
● New merchandise
● Other
● I do not follow music artists on social media

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Question 4: Which social media platforms do you typically follow bands/musicians on? Select
all that apply.

● Instagram
● Twitter
● TikTok
● Other
● I don’t follow bands/musicians on social media

“Other” Responses: “Facebook,” “Facebooj”

Question 5: Do you ever click on, like, comment on, or share posts from your favorite
bands/musicians?
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 ● Yes
● Sometimes
● No

Question 6: What typically motivates you to engage with an artist's post?

What typically motivates you to engage with an artist's post?

Concert content, frequent content

Key words

Upcoming dates or events

Feel good posts

I only like thing and I’ll do so if it is engaging or new or funny

If I like the post or am excited about it

Nothing in particular - all depends on the day

Seeing new content

Something that is relatable

How much I like their music

Behind the scenes content/more into personal life - the humanization of an artist

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Aesthetic or the nature of shared news

To support

If I s a performance I love

If the content is related to a concert I saw, song I liked, or if it was funny…

Concert discussions

Amusement

If it is something I am super interested like one of my favorite songs or new song releases

Personal experience

Reference to music that I enjoy

Just if I like something they posted

Something funny or tour coming near me

Giveaways

If it is a new release (album, single, merchandise) or if there is humor behind it.

humor, life updates outside of career

Concert content

New concert dates, cool photos

Familiarity

If it is about something personal

Nothing

If it talks about upcoming tours or tiger events where I can see them

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 Relatable content, always like it to give it engagement, contest entry

Charity work done by artist

New releases

if it is something that i agree with, music i love, support a cause that I can get behind, etc.

Usually I only interact with posts when they relate to a raffle for tickets or merchandise.

For fun

If it’s iconic

Nothing in particular

If they are giving out free stuff or giving out concert info or tickets

How much I’m moved by their music

Relevancy or new news

They post something related to me such as photos or videos from a concert I attended

Question 7: Do you follow your favorite bands'/artists' record label on any social media
platforms?

● Yes
● Sometimes
● No

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Question 8: Have you ever discovered a new artist because of TikTok?

● Yes
● Maybe
● No

Question 9: How do you view TikTok's impact on the music industry's discovery of
new/unknown artists?

● Extremely bad
● Somewhat bad
● Neither good nor bad
● Somewhat good
● Extremely good

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Question 10: Do you think TikTok has impacted how record labels promote and create music?

● Yes
● No

Question 11: How do you think TikTok has impacted how record labels promote and create
music?
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How do you think TikTok has impacted how record labels promote and create music?

It has brought light to a lot of aspiring and smaller artists

As a generation, we are becoming hard wired to spend less time focusing on certain tasks.
With tik tok, you don’t have to spend much time looking and with the for you feature it
automatically pulls things that I like.

People can be heard without having to be attached to a label

It's a faster, cheaper way to announce new music and get fans hooked before the song is
even released

Putting unknown artists in the forefront

Maybe they are more open because there is so much talent on tiktok

Short tidbits and a mix of art both visual and music

It's the newest social media platform and targets younger audiences who consume the
majority of today's new music. Because TikTok is also primarily based on sound bites for
trends or challenges, a lot of the songs used re-enter or reach the top of the charts.

Release snippets of the songs hoping it will get viral with trends

Gives unknown/Aspiring artists a way to reach a large number of people they wouldn’t reach
otherwise

My teen children always say “oh I heard that song on a TikTok”

I think it made parts of songs become super well known

Quick and easy access to have people listen, if they like something they can share the
feedback instantly

Record labels may be more likely to demand catchy/danceable tunes from their artists
because they know that will increase the changes of it going viral on TikTok.

Given light to new and aspiring artists

It allows music to become viral before being released

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Gives anyone a shot to become known

Use creators and the platform to reach people they would have reached otherwise.

Show sneak peeks of new music videos or behind the scenes of upcoming msuic

I feel that TikTok has made music making more casual as artists can come up on this platform
instead of the long, hard “typical” route. Artists can reach people on this platform very easily
and it is more accessible in general.

TikTok is very interactive, and new songs get released on music platforms every week, but a
ton of those songs get heard about through TikTok videos.

It disrupted the charts and awareness

Wide spread platform that has helped smaller artists expand their music audience from
making their music a duetable sound to simply created small short music videos. Allows less
investment on certain artists but still gives them a platform to expand their brand

They are making more creative videos and having their artists do their marketing by showing
face on social media

If I like the song or the dance someone is doing to it I tend to want to know more about the
artist I then research the song on who sings it!

I tik tok video can go viral of an unknown artist and send them on their way to fame and
fortune

I’m not sure how Tik Tok HS impacted how record labels promote and create music. I just
know if I find a musician that I like, I will follow them.

Artists are intentionally creating songs they think will go viral

I think by popularity songs get downloaded after being seen on TikTok

People want their clips to go viral. Like season of the sticks guy

Artists are now able to have a career and a successful one without the backing of a label and
promotion is curated by the artist themselves instead of the label or artist's team

It elimates the need for the inmediary of a record label and more artists can form organically.
Alternatively, some labels have gotten creative and used the platform as a way to force their
artists to seem "organic" and "authentic" when it's actually a PR stunt. I've also heard artist
on TikTok come forward about their record label harrassing them into posting a TikTok quota

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 and getting upset with them when they don't go viral.

Question 12: Who is your favorite music artist? Please list only one artist.

Who is your favorite music artist? Please list only one artist.

harry styles

Elton john

Harry Styles

Bruce Springsteen

Cardi b

Fleetwood Mac

Maroon 5

Taylor swift

Blackbear

Like Combs

Hozier

Seven Lion

Morgan Wallen

Harry Styles

Lana del ray

Taylor Swift

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Olivia Rodrigo

MUNA

Harry Styles

Taylor Swift

Halsey

The Killers

Nathaniel Ratecliff

Taylor Swift

Billy Joel

Keith Urban

Thomas Rhett

Brandi Carlile

Zach Bryan

Linkin Park

Taylor swift

Day Lipa

Illenium

Luke Combs

Kasey Musgraves

Luke Combs

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Harry Styles

Death Cab for Cutie

Like Combs

Elton John

John Mellencamp

Frank Sinatra

Duran Duran

Lady A

Grateful Dead

Keith Urban

The weeknd

Taylor Swift

Shania Twain

Taylor Swift

Post Malone

Post Malone

Hardy

Zac Brown Band

Drake

Post Malone

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Garth Brooks

Taylor Swift

Eminem

Pink

Coldplay

DefLeppard

Billy Joel

Rascal Flatts

Maren Morris

John Mayer

Doja Cat

Question 13: Do you know what record label [QID49-ChoiceTextEntryValue] is/are signed to?

● Yes
● Maybe
● No

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Question 14: To the best of your knowledge, select up to 3 artists that you think are signed
with Capitol Records. Please do not consult outside sources.

● Lizzo
● Harry Styles
● Beyoncé
● Lil Nas X
● Pink Floyd
● Drake
● ABBA
● Niall Horan
● Jack Harlow
● Led Zeppelin

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Question 15: To the best of your knowledge, select up to 3 artists that you think are signed
with Columbia Records. Please do not consult outside sources.

● Lizzo
● Harry Styles
● Beyoncé
● Lil Nas X
● Pink Floyd
● Drake
● ABBA
● Niall Horan
● Jack Harlow
● Led Zeppelin

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Question 16: To the best of your knowledge, choose up to 3 artists that you think are signed
with Atlantic Records. Please do not consult outside sources.

● Lizzo
● Harry Styles
● Beyoncé
● Lil Nas X
● Pink Floyd
● Drake
● ABBA
● Niall Horan
● Jack Harlow
● Led Zeppelin

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Question 17: Do you have a favorite record label?

● Yes
● No

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Question 18: What is the name of your favorite label?

What is the name of your favorite label?

I meant to click no

Capital Records

Question 19: How satisfied are you with the diversity of the music industry?

● Extremely dissatisfied
● Somewhat dissatisfied
● Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied
● Somewhat satisfied
● Extremely satisfied

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Question 20: Do you typically prefer bands on major labels or independent labels?

● Major labels
● Independent labels
● No preference
● I don’t pay attention to their label

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Question 21: If one of your favorite bands/musicians is on a certain label, are you more
inclined to listen to other bands/a new band that is also on that label?

● Yes
● Maybe
● No

Question 22: Which of the following do you use to listen to music at least once a month?
Select all that apply.

● Broadcast radio
● Streaming services(i.e., Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Pandora, etc.)
● Records/CD’s/Cassettes
● YouTube
● Other

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“Other” Responses: “XM,” “Satellite radio,” “Satellite-Sirius,” “Sirius”

Question 23: Does using a streaming service make you listen to music more frequently than
you did prior to when you used a service?

● Definitely not
● Probably not
● Might or might not
● Probably yes
● Definitely yes

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Question 24: Do you ever look up the bands/musicians you hear on streaming services to
learn more about their record labels?

● Never
● Sometimes
● About half the time
● Most of the time
● Always

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Question 25: Do you ever look up the bands/musicians you hear on streaming services to
learn more about the artist? Ex: personal facts, songs, etc.

● Never
● Sometimes
● About half the time
● Most of the time
● Always

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Question 26: How much do you know about Columbia Records?

● Nothing at all
● A little
● A moderate amount
● A lot
● A great deal

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Question 27: Do you know who Columbia Records is owned by?

● Yes
● No

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Question 28: Can you name any bands/musicians signed to Columbia Records? Reply "No" if
you cannot think of any.

Can you name any bands/musicians signed to Columbia Records? Reply "No" if you cannot
think of any.

no

No

No

Shakira, Beyonce, Harry Styles, Adele

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

Billy Joel

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No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

Harry Styles, Pink Floyd,

No

No

No

Michael Jackson

No

No

No

No

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No

Mikey Cyrus, Adele

no

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

Ni

No

No

No

No

No

Billy Joel previously

No

Adele

No

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Question 29: Where do you think Columbia Records falls when it comes to diversity
compared to other major record labels?

● Falls behind other labels

● Meets other labels
● Exceeds other labels

Question 30: Where do you remember hearing/seeing news about Columbia Records in the
past few years?

● Broadcast media (TV, radio)

● Email
● Label’s website
● Social media
● Traditional media (print, online)
● Other
● I don’t remember seeing/hearing news about the label in the past few years

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“Other” Responses: Question was left blank

Question 31: What is your age?

● Under 18
● 18-24
● 25-34
● 35-44
● 45-54
● 55-64
● 65+
● Prefer not to say

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Question 32: How do you describe yourself?

● Male
● Female
● Non-binary / third gender
● Prefer not to say

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Question 33: In which U.S. region do you currently reside?

● Northeast
● Southwest
● West
● Southeast
● Midwest

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Question 34: How would you describe your ethnicity? Select all that apply.

● White
● Black or African American
● American Indian or Alaska Native
● Asian
● Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
● Other

We thank you for your time spent taking this survey. Your response has been recorded. If you
would like more information about our research, please contact us at
ASUJMC436@[Link].

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 MEMO 1
Feeder-Presson Consulting, for Columbia Records

To: Kimberly Harris, VP of Publicity at Columbia Records

From: Ashley Feeder and Lily Presson, CEOs of Feeder-Presson Consulting
CC: Lennon Delgado, HR Manager at Columbia Records
Date: September 23, 2022
Re: Bi-Weekly Research Report for September 7 – 20, 2022

Overview
For the time period of September 7-20, 2022, the researchers also evaluated the quantity and
quality of Columbia Records’ traditional media coverage. There were eight earned media
articles over the two-week period. All 8 of them were brief and neutral mentions.

For the time period of September 7 – 20, 2022, the researchers evaluated the quantity and
quality of Columbia Records’ Instagram feed posts. There were 13 total posts made to Columbia
Records’ Instagram over the two-week period: 11 of these posts were static images, while two
of them consisted of video clips. In total, Columbia Records posted 28 pieces of media, within
those 13 posts, to their account during the two-week period. Seven of these posts discussed
the accomplishments of their signed artists, such as Emmy wins and Latin Grammy
nominations. Other posts featured clips from new music of the week, dubbed “New Music
Friday.” The 13 posts received 12,541 likes and 154 comments all together. 1

Traditional Media Coverage2

Columbia Records’ total coverage for the bi-weekly report is 8 earned media articles with 5
outlets covering the label. A.D. Amarosi from Variety covered the label most frequently with a
total of 2 articles during the bi-weekly period.

1
Information in this paragraph sourced from @ColumbiaRecords on Instagram.
([Link]
2
Coverage is tracked using Meltwater. Traditional media coverage included in this bi-weekly report is limited to
English editorial content articles in the top 91-100% reach in the West and Southwest that include the words
“Columbia Records.”

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The type of coverage on the label has been brief only. Brief mentions relate mostly to an artist’s
being previously or currently signed with the label.

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The total earned media articles for Columbia Records during the bi-weekly period have been
neutral. The sentiment is mainly geared toward an artist rather than the label itself.

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There were no spokesperson quotes during the bi-weekly period. All earned media for
Columbia Records was brief and neutral, so there was no spokesperson within the articles.

Columbia Records’ Instagram Account

As of September 20, 2022, the Columbia Records Instagram account has 632,495 followers,
follows 457 accounts, and posted 13 times between Sept. 7 – Sept. 20, 2022. These posts
gathered 12,541 likes total and 154 comments total. The post with the most likes (4,572) was a
single photo post highlighting Columbia Records’ 2022 Latin Grammy nominee artists. The post
with the most comments (28) was a post that featured a congratulatory message to artist
Rosalía on her Latin Grammy nominations and recognition.

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During the two-week period, the account posted 13 times for its 632,495 followers. The posts
totaled 12,541 likes and 154 comments. On average, each post received approximately 958
likes and 12 comments. As of September 20, 2022, the account has a total of 9,232 posts and
follows 457 accounts.

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From September 7 to September 20, 2022, the Columbia Records Instagram account posted 28
individual pieces of media within its 13 feed posts. This comes from carousel style posts, in
which Columbia is able to put multiple pictures in one posting. Instagram allows for users to
post up to ten pieces of media within one single posting. The post with the highest media count
(eight) features Columbia artists’ new music from the week before. The majority of the media
posted is static images (11), with only two of the posts featuring video clips.

The researchers will be closely monitoring any additional traditional media posts and Instagram
posts shared in the next two weeks and tracking which posts get most audience engagement.

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 MEMO 2
Feeder-Presson Consulting, for Columbia Records

To: Kimberly Harris, VP of Publicity at Columbia Records

From: Ashley Feeder and Lily Presson, CEOs of Feeder-Presson Consulting
CC: Lennon Delgado, HR Manager at Columbia Records
Date: October 6, 2022
Re: Bi-Weekly Research Report for September 21 – October 4, 2022

Overview
For the time period of September 21 to October 4, 2022, the researchers evaluated the
quantity and quality of Columbia Records’ traditional media coverage. There were 21 earned
media articles over the two-week period, which is a 165.2 percent increase from the last
research period (September 7-20, 2022.). All 21 of the articles had a neutral sentiment and all
but one had a brief mention.

Additionally, the researchers evaluated the quantity of quality of Columbia Records’ Instagram
feed posts between September 21 to October 4, 2022. There were six total posts made to the
Columbia Records’ Instagram over the two-week period: four of these posts were static images
and two of these posts were video clips. This was a 53.85 percent decrease from the last
research period (September 7-20, 2022.) In total, Columbia Records posted 13 pieces of media,
within those six posts. The posts discussed Barbra Streisand’s anniversary with the label &
upcoming album, new music from the week and birthday wishes to one of its signed artists,
Rosalía.

Traditional Media Coverage3

Columbia Records’ total coverage for the bi-weekly report is 21 earned media articles with five
outlets covering the label. Variety and SFGate covered the label most frequently with a
total of eight articles from Variety and six from SFGate during the bi-weekly period. Of the 21 of
the earned traditional media, they were not all different stories. The eight SFGate articles were
republished from other publications such as Variety and the Associated Press.

3
Coverage is tracked using Meltwater. Traditional media coverage included in this bi-weekly report is limited to
English editorial content articles in the top 91-100% reach in the West and Southwest that include the words
“Columbia Records.”

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As shown in the graph, there was an increase in earned traditional media coverage during this
bi-weekly period. The media coverage volume increased by 162.5 percent. The previous bi-
weekly period, Sept. 7-20, 2022, had eight earned articles and the current bi-weekly period,
Sept. 21-Oct. 4, 2022, had 21 earned articles.

For the time period of Sept. 7-Oct. 4, 2022, there were 29 total earned traditional media. Of this
total, 27 were from the month of September and two were from October.

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From the bi-weekly period of Sept. 21-Oct. 4, 2022, 20 (or 95 percent) of the earned media
articles were brief mentions. Only one was a signature mention. The singular signature mention
was a Variety article posted on Sept. 28. The article discussed Columbia Records’ joint venture
with former Capitol Records CEO Jeff Vaughn to launch a new label, Signal Records. The 20 brief
mentions mainly consisted of statements of artists’ affiliation with Columbia Records.

During the period of Sept. 7-Oct. 4, 2022, all of coverage was brief, except for one significant
mention on Sept. 28.

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The sentiment in all 21 of the earned media coverage from the bi-weekly period was neutral.
The sentiments were mainly geared toward the artists rather than the label itself.

Coverage Sentiment - Cumulative

100%

Positive Neutral Negative

The overall sentiment from all the earned media coverage from Sept. 7-Oct. 4, 2022, was
neutral. The brief mentions of Columbia were in reference to facts about what label an artist
was producing with.

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 Spokesperson Quotes in Articles
1.2

1 1
1

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0 0 0 0
0
9/7/22 - 9/21/22 - 10/5/22 - 10/19/22 - 11/2/22 - Total
9/20/22 10/4/22 10/18/22 11/1/22 11/15/22
During the bi-weekly period of Sept. 21-Oct. 4, there was one spokesperson quote. The article
was an E! Online story published on Sept. 23 and was about one of Columbia Record’s clients,
Noah Cyrus’ new song with her father Billy Ray Cyrus. The article did not specify who spoke
with them for the story, just that Columbia Records had shared information about what
inspired the song in a statement.

Columbia Records’ Instagram Account

As of October 4, 2022, the Columbia Records Instagram account
([Link] has 631,422 followers, follows 457 accounts,
and posted six times between Sep. 21 – Oct. 4, 2022. This is a 53.85 percent decrease from the
prior period, Sept. 7 – 20, 2022, in which the label posted 13 times. These posts gathered 9,939
likes total and 134 comments total. The post with the most likes (6,632) was a black and white
portrait of Barbra Streisand, in which the label congratulated her on her 60 th anniversary at
Columbia Records. The post with the most comments (44) was also the 60 th anniversary
Streisand post.

During the two-week period, the account posted six times for its 631,422 followers. This is a
53.85 percent decrease from the previous period.

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The posts totaled 9,939 likes and 134 comments. On average, each post received approximately
1,656.5 likes and 22.33 comments. This is a 72.91 percent increase in average likes from the
previous period (Sept. 7 – 20, 2022).

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From September 21, 2022 to October 4, 2022, the Columbia Records Instgram account included
13 individual pieces of media within its six feed posts. This comes from carousel style posts, in
which Columbia is able to put multiple pictures in one posting. Instagram allows for users to
post up to ten pieces of media within one single posting. The post with the highest media count
(eight) is a “New Music Friday” post. In this post, Columbia Records included eight clips of new
music from the week prior. Approximately 67 percent of the media posted were static image,
while the remaining two posts (approximately 33 percent) were video clips.

The Columbia Records Instagram account itself lost 1,073 followers (a 0.17 percent decrease)
since the last two-week evaluation period. On average, each post gathered 1,656.5 likes, a
72.91 percent increase from the previous period. The amount of accounts followed by
Columbia Records (457) remained the same as the previous two-week evaluation period.

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As of October 4, 2022, the account has a total of 9,239 posts and follows 457 accounts.

Conclusion
During the evaluation period of Sept. 21 to Oct. 4, Columbia Records earned 21 placements in
earned media. During the prior two-week evaluation period, the label received eight
placements. The increase in coverage from period-to-period was 165.2 percent.

During the evaluation period of Sept. 21 to Oct. 4, Columbia Records posted six times to their
Instagram feed (@ColumbiaRecords). During the prior two-week evaluation period, the label
posted 13 times to their Instagram feed. The decrease in coverage from period-to-period was
53.85 percent.

The researchers will be closely monitoring any additional traditional media posts and Instagram
posts shared in the next two weeks and tracking which posts get most audience engagement.
Specifically, the researchers will be monitoring the results of the upcoming album releases and
award ceremonies.

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 MEMO 3
Feeder-Presson Consulting, for Columbia Records

To: Kimberly Harris, VP of Publicity at Columbia Records

From: Ashley Feeder and Lily Presson, CEOs of Feeder-Presson Consulting
CC: Lennon Delgado, HR Manager at Columbia Records
Date: October 20, 2022
Re: Bi-Weekly Research Report for October 5 – October 18, 2022

Overview
For the time period of October 5 to October 18, 2022, the researchers evaluated the quantity
and quality of Columbia Records’ traditional media coverage. There were four earned media
articles over the two-week period, which is an 80.95% decrease from the last research period
(September 21 – October 4, 2022). Half of them had a neutral sentiment and half had a positive
sentiment. All articles had a brief mention, and none had a quote from a spokesperson.

Additionally, the researchers evaluated the quantity of quality of Columbia Records’ Instagram
feed posts between October 5 to October 18, 2022. There were eight total posts shared to the
Columbia Records’ Instagram account over the two-week period: four of these posts were static
images and four of these posts were video clips. This was a 33.3 percent increase from the last
research period (September 21 – October 4, 2022), in which six postings were shared.

Traditional Media Coverage4

Columbia Records’ total coverage for the bi-weekly report is four earned media articles with
four different outlets covering the label. Of the four earned traditional media articles, they
were not all unique stories. The SFGate article was republished from Variety. These articles are
ones that have positive sentiment.

4
Coverage is tracked using Meltwater. Traditional media coverage included in this bi-weekly report is limited to
English editorial content articles in the top 91-100% reach in the West and Southwest that include the words
“Columbia Records.”

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As shown in the graph, there was a decrease in earned traditional media coverage during this
bi-weekly period. The media coverage volume decreased by 80.95 percent. The previous bi-
weekly period, Sept. 21-Oct. 4, 2022, had 21 earned articles and the current bi-weekly period,
Oct. 5-18, 2022, had four earned articles.

For the time period of Sept. 7-Oct. 18, 2022, there was 33 earned traditional media articles. Of
this total, 27 were from the month of September and six were from the month of October.

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 Type of Coverage from 10/5/22 to 10/18/22

100%

Brief Feature Sig. Mention

From the bi-weekly period of Oct. 5-18, 2022, 100 percent of the earned media articles were
brief mentions. The four brief mentions mainly consisted of statements of artists’ affiliation
with Columbia Records.

Cumulatively, all of coverage has been brief, except for one signature mention on Sept. 28,
2022.

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During the bi-weekly period, the sentiment for 50 percent of the articles were neutral and 50
percent of them were positive. The two positive mentions come from a Variety article and a
duplicate of the article reposted on SFGate. In this positive mention, Columbia Records
contributed to producing Rosalía’s TikTok stream that won a Latin Grammy. The two neutral
mentions come from Deadline Hollywood and Library of Congress.

Coverage Sentiment - Cumulative

6%

94%

Positive Neutral Negative

Of the 33 total earned traditional media articles during the time period of Sept.7 - Oct. 18,
2022, the sentiment for 94 percent of them were neutral and 6 percent of them were positive.

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 Spokesperson Quotes in Articles
1.2

1 1
1

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0 0 0 0
0
9/7/22 - 9/21/22 - 10/5/22 - 10/19/22 - 11/2/22 - Total
9/20/22 10/4/22 10/18/22 11/1/22 11/15/22

During the bi-weekly period of Oct. 5-18, 2022, there were no spokesperson articles. This is a
100 percent decrease from the previous bi-weekly period (Sept. 21-Oct. 4, 2022).

Columbia Records Instagram Account

As of October 18, 2022, the Columbia Records Instagram account has 630,437 followers,
follows 457 accounts, and posted eight times between Oct. 5 – Oct. 18, 2022. This was a 33.3
percent increase from the last research period (September 21 – October 4, 2022), in which six
posts were shared. These posts gathered 30,603 likes total and 286 comments total. The post
with the most likes (17,473) was a graphic-style post presenting the 2022 American Music
Awards nominees. The label specifically congratulated artists Adele, Beyoncé, Dove Cameron,
Harry Styles, Lil Nas X, Polo G, Rosalía, The Chainsmokers, The Kid Laroi, Yahritza Y Su Esencia
and Maren Morris. The post with the most comments (111) was the same congratulatory AMA
post from October 14, 2022.

During the two-week period, the account posted eight times for its 630,437 followers. This is a
33.3 percent increase from the previous research period, (Sept. 21, 2022 – Oct. 4, 2022), in
which Columbia only posted six times.

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For the time period of October 5, 2022, to October 18, 2022, posts totaled 30,603 likes and 286
comments. On average, each post received approximately 3,825 likes and 35 comments. This is
a 130.9 percent increase in average likes and a 56.9 percent increase in average comment
amount compared to the previous time period. The 2022 American Music Awards nominee
announcement could be the reason for this large increase.

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From October 5, 2022, to October 18, 2022, Columbia Records uploaded four video posts and
four static posts. Video postings saw a 100 percent increase, jumping from only two postings
during the period prior. The amount in static postings stayed the same. This is the first time
during a research period that Columbia Records has posted the same amount of both media
types (four static and four video).

From October 5, 2022, to October 18, 2022, the Columbia Records Instagram account included
26 individual pieces of media within its eight feed posts. This comes from carousel style posts,
in which Columbia is able to put multiple pictures in one posting. Instagram allows for users to
post up to ten pieces of media within one single posting.

The post with the highest media count (eight) is a New Music Friday post in which multiple
artists’ new music is highlighted from the week before. In this post, Columbia Records included
eight clips of music videos. Approximately 50 percent of the media posted were static image
(four), while the remaining four posts (50 percent) were video clips.

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The Columbia Records Instagram account saw a 100 percent increase in bi-weekly media
posted. In the previous period, the label posted 13 different images/videos. This week, 26
images or videos were posted. From Oct. 5, 2022 – Oct. 18, 2022, the average post contained
3.25 individual pieces of media. This is a 39.8 percent increase from the last period, in which
posts contained an average of 2.2 pieces of media.

As of October 18, 2022, Columbia Records has 630,473 Instagram followers. This is a 0.15
percent decrease from the following period, (631,422). In total, 949 accounts unfollowed
Columbia Records from October 5, 2022 – October 18, 2022. The account has a total of 9,247
posts and follows 457 accounts, as of Oct. 18.

Conclusion
The researchers will be closely monitoring any additional traditional media posts and Instagram
posts shared in the next two weeks and tracking which posts get most audience engagement.
Specific social posts and traditional media regarding the upcoming American Music Awards,
including winner announcements and further news, will be monitored as well.

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 MEMO 4
Feeder-Presson Consulting, for Columbia Records

To: Kimberly Harris, VP of Publicity at Columbia Records

From: Ashley Feeder and Lily Presson, CEOs of Feeder-Presson Consulting
CC: Lennon Delgado, HR Manager at Columbia Records
Date: November 3, 2022
Re: Bi-Weekly Research Report for October 19 – November 1, 2022

Overview
For the time period of October 19 to November 1, 2022, the researchers evaluated the quantity
and quality of Columbia Records’ traditional media coverage. There were four earned media
articles over the two-week period, which is consistent with the last research period (October 5
–18, 2022). Three of the articles had a neutral sentiment while one had a negative sentiment.
All articles were brief mentions, and none had a quote from a spokesperson.

Additionally, the researchers evaluated the quantity of quality of Columbia Records’ Instagram
feed posts between October 19 to November 1, 2022. There were eight total posts made to the
Columbia Records’ Instagram over the two-week period: four of these posts were static images
and four of these posts were video clips. This was a 0 percent change from the last research
period (October 5 – October 18, 2022), in which eight postings were also made. There was a
95.03% percent increase in average likes and a 72.14 percent increase in average comment
amount compared to the previous time period.

Traditional Media Coverage5

Columbia Records’ total coverage for the bi-weekly report is four earned media articles with
three different outlets covering the label. Of the four earned traditional media, they were not
all different stories. The SFGate article was republished from Variety.

5
Coverage is tracked using Meltwater. Traditional media coverage included in this bi-weekly report is limited to
English editorial content articles in the top 91-100% reach in the West and Southwest that include the words
“Columbia Records.”

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As shown in the graph, the earned traditional media coverage during this bi-weekly period is
consistent with the previous bi-weekly period with four earned articles, a 0 percent change.

For the cumulative time period of September 7 - November 1, 2022, there were 37 earned
traditional media articles. Of this total, 27 were from the month of September and nine were
from the month of October, and one was from November.

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From the bi-weekly period of October 19 - November 1, 2022, 100% of the earned media
articles were brief mentions. The four brief mentions mainly consisted of statements of artists’
affiliation with Columbia Records.

Cumulatively, all of coverage was brief, except for one signature mention on September 28,
2022.

During the bi-weekly period, the sentiment for 75 percent of the articles was neutral whereas
25 percent were negative. The negative mention came from an UPROXX article about how an
artist was unable to release a song until they left Columbia Records. The three neutral mentions
came from Variety and a duplicate of the article on SFGate, as well as an article from UPROXX.

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Of the 37 total earned traditional media articles during the time period of September 7 -
November 1, 2022, the sentiment for 92 percent were neutral, 5 percent were positive, and 3
percent were negative.

During the bi-weekly period of October 19 - November 1, 2022, there were no spokesperson
articles. This is the same as the previous bi-weekly period (October 5 - 18, 2022).

Columbia Records Instagram Account

As of November 1, 2022, the Columbia Records Instagram account has 630,109 followers,
follows 457 accounts, and posted eight times between October 19 – November. 1, 2022. This
was a 0% change from the last research period (October 5, 2022 – October 18, 2022), in which
eight postings were also made. These posts gathered 59,678 likes total and 482 comments
total. The post with the most likes (27,201) was a graphic-style post presenting the 2022
People’s Choice Awards nominees. The label specifically congratulated artists Adele, Beyoncé,

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Chlöe, Dove Cameron, Harry Styles, Lil Nas X, Rosalía, and Maren Morris. The post with the
most comments (241) was the same congratulatory PCA post from October 26, 2022.

During the two-week period, the account posted eight times for its 630,109 followers. This is a
0 percent change from the previous research period, (Oct. 5, 2022 – Oct. 18, 2022), in which
Columbia posted eight times as well.

For the time period of October 19, 2022, to November 1, 2022, posts totaled 59,678 likes and
482 comments. On average, each post received approximately 7459.75 likes and 60.25
comments. This is a 95.03 percent increase in average likes and a 72.14 percent increase in
average comment amount compared to the previous time period.

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From October 19, 2022, to November 1, 2022, Columbia Records uploaded four video posts and
four static posts. Video postings saw a 0 percent increase, remaining stagnant from the period
prior. The amount in static postings also saw a 0 percent increase, with four postings. This is the
second time during a research period that Columbia Records has posted the same amount of
both media types (four static and four video).

From October 19, 2022, to November 1, 2022, the Columbia Records Instagram account
included 23 individual pieces of media within its eight feed posts. This comes from carousel
style posts, in which Columbia is able to put multiple pictures in one posting. Instagram allows
for users to post up to ten pieces of media within one single posting.

The post with the highest media count (seven) is a New Music Friday post in which multiple
artists’ new music is highlighted from the week before. In this post, Columbia Records included
seven clips of music videos. Approximately 50 percent of the media posted were static image
(four), while the remaining four posts (50 percent) were video clips.

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The Columbia Records Instagram account saw an 11.54 percent decrease in bi-weekly media
posted. In the previous period, the label posted 26 different images/videos. This week, 23
images or videos were shared. From October 19, 2022 – November 1, 2022, the average post
contained 2.875 individual pieces of media. This is an 11.54 percent decrease from the last
period, in which posts contained an average of 3.25 pieces of media.

As of November 1, 2022, Columbia Records has 630,109 Instagram followers. This is a 0.058
percent decrease from the previous period (631,473). In total, 364 accounts unfollowed
Columbia Records from October 19, 2022 – November 1, 2022. The account has a total of 9,254
posts and follows 457 accounts, as of November 1, 2022.

Conclusion
The researchers will be closely monitoring any additional traditional media articles and
Instagram posts shared in the next two weeks and tracking which posts get most audience
engagement. Specific social posts and traditional media regarding the upcoming People’s
Choice Awards, including winner announcements and further news, will be monitored as well.

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 MEMO 5
Feeder-Presson Consulting, for Columbia Records

To: Kimberly Harris, VP of Publicity at Columbia Records

From: Ashley Feeder and Lily Presson, CEOs of Feeder-Presson Consulting
CC: Lennon Delgado, HR Manager at Columbia Records
Date: November 18, 2022
Re: Bi-Weekly Research Report for November 2 – November 15, 2022

Overview
For the time period of November 2 to November 15, 2022, the researchers evaluated the
quantity and quality of Columbia Records’ traditional media coverage. There were seven earned
media articles over the two-week period, which is a 75% increase from the last research period
(October 19 – November 1, 2022). All of them had a neutral sentiment except for one positive
sentiment. All articles had a brief mention, and none had a quote from a spokesperson.

Additionally, the researchers evaluated the quantity and quality of Columbia Records’
Instagram feed posts between November 2 to November 15, 2022. There were 12 total posts
made to the Columbia Records’ Instagram account over the two-week period. Within the 12
posts, ten of these posts were static images and 24 of these posts were video clips. This was a
50% increase from the last research period (October 19 – November 1, 2022), in which only
eight total postings were made.

Traditional Media Coverage6

Columbia Records’ total coverage for the bi-weekly report is seven earned media articles with
three different outlets covering the label. Of the seven earned traditional media articles, they
were not all different stories. An SFGate article was republished from Variety and is considered
a duplicate.

6
Coverage is tracked using Meltwater. Traditional media coverage included in this bi-weekly report is limited to
English editorial content articles in the top 91-100% reach in the West and Southwest that include the words
“Columbia Records.”

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As shown in the graph, there was an increase in earned traditional media coverage during this
bi-weekly period. The media coverage volume increased by 75%. The previous bi-weekly period,
Oct. 19-Nov. 1, 2022, had four earned articles and the current bi-weekly period, Nov 2-15,
2022, had seven earned articles.

For the time period of Sept. 7-Nov. 15, 2022, there was 44 earned traditional media articles. Of
this total, 27 were from September, nine were from October, and eight were from November.

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From the bi-weekly period of Nov. 2-15, 2022, 100% of the earned media articles were brief
mentions. The seven brief mentions mainly consisted of statements of artists’ affiliation with
Columbia Records or mentions of individuals working for Columbia Records.

During the period of Sept. 7-Nov. 15, 2022, all of coverage was brief, except for one signature
mention on Sept. 28, 2022.

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During the bi-weekly period, the sentiment for 86% of the articles were neutral and 14% of
them were positive. The positive mention comes from an SFGate article that left a positive
review about an album released by the label. The neutral mentions come from Deadline
Hollywood, SFGate and Variety.

Of the 44 total earned traditional media articles during the time period of Sept.7 – Nov 15,
2022, 91 percent of the articles had a neutral sentiment, 7 percent had a positive sentiment
and 2 percent had a negative sentiment.

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During the bi-weekly period of Nov. 2-15, 2022, there were no spokespeople quoted in articles.
There was only one spokesperson quote total from Sept. 7-Nov. 15, 2022.

Columbia Records Instagram Account

As of November 15, 2022, the Columbia Records Instagram account has 633,436 followers,
follows 456 accounts, and posted 12 times between Nov. 2 – Nov. 15, 2022. This was a 50
percent increase from the last research period (October 19, 2022 – November 1, 2022), in
which eight postings were made. This is also the first research period in which Columbia
Records’ following count has dropped (by one user). These posts gathered 29,373 likes total
and 358 comments total. The post with the most likes (22,082) was a graphic-style post
presenting the 2022 Grammy Award nominees. The label specifically congratulated artists
Adele, Beyoncé, Arcade Fire, Harry Styles, Rosalía and the Chainsmokers. The post with the
most comments (241) was the same congratulatory Grammy post from November 15, 2022.

During the two-week period, the account posted 12 times for its 633,436 followers. This is a 50
percent increase from the previous research period (Oct. 19, 2022 – Nov. 1, 2022), in which
Columbia posted only eight times.

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For the time period of November 2, 2022, to November 15, 2022, posts totaled 29,373 likes and
comments. On average, each post received approximately 2,447.75 likes and 29.83 comments.
This is a 67.19 percent decrease in average likes and a 50.49 percent decrease in average
comment amount compared to the previous time period.

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From November 2, 2022, to November 15, 2022, Columbia Records uploaded 24 video posts
and ten static posts. Video postings saw a 500% increase, posting 20 more times than the
period prior. The amount of static postings also saw a 150 percent increase, with ten postings.

From November 2, 2022, to November 15, 2022, the Columbia Records Instagram account
included 34 individual pieces of media within its 12 feed posts. This comes from carousel style
posts, in which Columbia is able to put multiple pictures in one posting. Instagram allows for
users to post up to ten pieces of media within one single posting.

The post with the highest media count (ten) is a New Music Friday post in which multiple
artists’ new music is highlighted from the week before. In this post, Columbia Records included
ten clips of music videos. Approximately 29 percent of the media posted were static image
(four), while the remaining 24 posts (approximately 70% percent) were video clips.

The Columbia Records Instagram account saw an 47.83 percent decrease in bi-weekly media
posted. In the previous period, the label posted 23 different images/videos. This week, 34
images or videos were posted. From Nov. 2, 2022 – Nov. 15, 2022, the average post contained

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2.83 individual pieces of media. This is a 1.4 percent decrease from the last period, in which
posts contained an average of 2.87 pieces of media.

As of November 15, 2022, Columbia Records has 633,436 Instagram followers. This is a 0.528
percent increase from the following period (630,109). In total, 3,327 new accounts followed
Columbia Records from November 2, 2022 – November 15, 2022. The account has a total of
9,266 posts and follows 456 accounts as of Nov. 15, 2022. The following count saw a 0.22
percent decrease, unfollowing one account during the research period.

Conclusion
Throughout the cumulative time period of Sept. 7 - Nov. 15, 2022, the traditional media
coverage remained consistent when it comes to type of coverage. The second bi-weekly period
had the most coverage overall (possibly due to the 2022 American Music Awards) and the third
and fourth bi-weekly period has a drop in coverage, only producing four articles within the two-
week period. The best way for Columbia Records to gain more traditional media coverage
would be to provide more spokesperson quotes. There was only one spokesperson quote
throughout all five bi-weekly periods. The label needs to provide more comment on stories if
they want to increase coverage from editorial sources such as Variety, Deadline Hollywood, and
E! Online.

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Throughout the cumulative time period of Sept. 7 – Nov. 15, 2022, the social media coverage
remained consistent in post amount, total media posted and following amount, but fluctuated
when it came to total followers, media type posted, total post comments and total post likes.
There was a spike in bi-weekly likes and comments when the American Music Award
nominations were announced. As shown in the coverage, followers tend to engage most with
content discussing award nominations or wins. During this same research period that the AMA
posting was made (Oct. 5 – Oct. 18, 2022), the account posted its second-highest media
amount: 26 individual pieces of media posted. This increase in postings, plus the overwhelming
support of followers on these postings, resulted in the lowest follower count during our
research period. The weekly “New Music Friday” postings, while a tradition, do not result in the
target engagement the label is seeking. Using snippets on unreleased songs or clips of the artist
talking about their new music could result in a boost in engagement on these consistent
postings. As of Nov. 15, 2022, Columbia Records has its highest follower count of the entire
research period, at 633,436 followers. This could be due to the announcement of the 2023
Grammy Award nominees posted on Nov. 15, 2022, as Columbia followers have shown a liking
to award-style postings during the research period. Over the ten-week period, Columbia
Records only unfollowed one account.

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