By Nathaniel Luce
The client: Founded in 2012 by Erin O. Anderson (MBA ’10), Olivia Management is an artist management and music consulting company based in Nashville. Erin has worked in several capacities within the music industry: as a product manager for Amazon Music and MP3, as well as a consultant for Sony Music Entertainment, the Americana Music, Nashville Chamber of Commerce, and more. Olivia Management’s clients have been featured in NPR’s First Listen, Bonnaroo, SXSW, Austin City Limits Festival, Grey’s Anatomy, The Bluebird Café, Music City Roots, CMT’s Nashville, Mile of Music Festival, and many more.
The project: Olivia Management currently represents five different artists, including The Secret Sisters. Originally from Alabama, The Secret Sisters comprise Laura and Lydia Rogers. Their third album, You Don’t Own Me Anymore, was released by New West Records on June 9, 2017. The band is currently on tour through October across the United States. They have almost 40,000 likes on Facebook, and their last album reached No. 18 on the U.S. Country Billboard charts.
Teams were asked to design an engaging fan club for The Secret Sisters, with a goal of creating a steady revenue stream and fostering a solid artist-fan relationship. According to research from the Boston Consulting Group, just 2% of a brand’s customers provide 20% of the company’s revenue and drive the majority of sales through their recommendations. Olivia Management wants the fan club to be a compelling incentive for avid fans to receive unique and desirable content.
Team 9 celebrates their victory (Photo cred: Erin Anderson)
The presentation: Relying on an impressive amount of research on the music and entertainment industries, fan clubs, and digital marketing trends, teams incorporated a variety of intriguing content opportunities and promotional strategies to incorporate into their visions for the fan club. Tangible benefits like exclusive music, engagement opportunities, ticket and merchandising discounts, were peppered throughout proposals, with creative uses of video and podcasts for fresh content. Teams were divided on whether to charge for membership, with compelling arguments on both sides of the debate.
The feedback (quote from faculty, coach, client): “I was completely blown away with how thoroughly the Accelerator students understood the challenge, dug deep into research, and presented me with findings I had never even dreamed about,” said Erin. “All of their ideas were backed up by data, and they’ve given me multiple solutions that make sense for my artist.
“It was next to impossible to pick a ‘winner.’ We plan to implement a piece of every single student solution.”
