Niche Markets

A niche market is very important for the music industry as it can define and include anything that is in sale. That means that every single product that is on sale is affected by its niche and can be defined by it. There can be very specific niche artists where a brand new artist can see a gap in the business and offer something very unique and different, and there is mainstream niche where the products are aimed at a very wide audience resulting in there being a low price due to high demand. It is very important if an artist can create a specific niche because they will gain a strong audience and usually very successful.

Lily Allen is a great example of how someone seemed to create a new market within music. Her very different sound of talk-singing was interesting. I was all very casual as she seemed to address her audience directly through the camera as if talking to them. Not many people had heard of her as her record label didn't giver her much support, they were preoccupied with albums like X&Y (Coldplay) and Demon Days (Gorillaz). She created a Myspace account which got thousands of hits on the few recordings she had uploaded.

Her first bit of interest was from The Observer Music Monthly, a magazine from The Observer. She gained the cover story of the magazine shortly after which was her first mainstream coverage. Her label then allowed her to have more creative control over her tracks and she was allowed to use songs she had written not forcing her to work with mainstream producers. Lily finished her album within two weeks and it started to be a hit with people interested in this new style.

I am going to try to use this for my album to help promote it as it it successful. I tried to find an artist with a distinct niche when I was searching, and that is why I chose a female solo artist because hopefully I will use this as a guidance.

"Unless you have a niche you won't successfully sell an album".