Mapping Transmedia Marketing in the Music Industry: A Methodology

Media and Communication

article

Linda Ryan Bengtsson¹  Jessica Edlom¹ 

[1] Department of Geography, Media and Communications, Karlstad University

关键词: digital methods;    engagement;    ethics;    innovative methods;    music industry;    promotional culture;    transmedia marketing;   

DOI  :  10.17645/mac.v9i3.4064

学科分类：医学（综合）

来源: Cogitatio Press

【 摘 要 】

Over the last decade, the music industry has adapted its promotional strategy to take advantage of the fluid, contemporary,platform‐based transmedia landscape. For researchers of contemporary culture, the multiplicity of promotional activitiescreates substantial methodological challenges. In this article, we present and discuss such methodological approachesusing two studies of contemporary promotional music campaigns as illustrative cases. Inspired by digital and innovativemethods and guided by the Association of Internet Researchers’ (AoIR’s) ethical guidelines, we developed two data col‐lection strategies—reversed engineering and live capturing—and applied two analytical approaches—visual mapping andtime‐based layering. The first case study traced already staged music marketing campaigns across multiple online mediaplatforms, and the second followed an online promotional campaign in real time for six months. Based on these case stud‐ies, we first argue for the importance of grounded manual capturing and coding in data collection, especially when workingaround data access limitations imposed by platforms. Second, we propose reversed engineering and live capturing as meth‐ods of capturing fragmented data, in contemporary promotional campaigns. Third, we suggest the visual mapping andtime‐based layering of data, enabling researchers to oscillate between qualitative and quantitative data. Finally, we arguethat researchers must pool their experiences and resources regarding how to transcend platform limitations and questiona lack of transparency while respecting ethical norms and guidelines. With these arguments, we assert the researcher’snecessary role in understanding and explaining the complex and hybrid contemporary promotional landscape and providetools and strategies for further research.

【 授权许可】

CC BY