Uncovering a Sonic Blue Ocean

Abstract

Be it for providing a positive customer experience, a holistic brand identity, or a way to combat stress and exertion, background music has been used by businesses for profit since the invention of the phonograph. (Thompson, 1995) Modern technology enables this to happen fast, and tailors it to the needs of the business. Kollekt.fm is an Amsterdam based B2B music consultancy focussed on doing just that: providing brand-tailored music to businesses. Though this appears to be a single service, it has multiple facets: commercial music licensing, music consultancy, creation of music libraries, and music management and playback. Kollekt's primary proposition is a culmination of all four of these, making it a high-end service accessible only to a particular market segment. However, the team at Kollekt believes that their expertise and assets have the potential to go beyond this current segment, and this project explores possible opportunities for new value propositions in this domain.

An extensive market analysis for services comparable to Kollekt (and their vision for the new proposition) reveals a dense competition space with several well-established players with a global presence, indicating that providing a comparable service and competing on standard business metrics (like cost) may prove to be futile. (Kim & Mauborgne, 2005). On exploring Kollekt's client stories, an enticing new opportunity is revealed: employee involvement and well-being. Employees in businesses are a key stakeholder in its music ecosystem, yet all the services explored in the market research give sole control (of music curation, scheduling, and playback) to the business owners or managers, effectively sidelining the staff in the journey causing unhappiness and possible conflict between stakeholders. Contextual Inquiry done in small businesses in the Netherlands also reveals interesting insights. Small business employees have power, autonomy, and often are in-charge of the music (often with restrictions placed by the managers). However, there are no services that enable them to do so well, and they find themselves relying on personal use streaming services like Spotify. This is not ideal as these services are illegal to use in businesses, and not designed for commercial use.

TRUNE, an end-to-end SaaS background music services for businesses, aims to fill this gap and create a more inclusive business music ecosystem by recognising staff as a key stakeholder. It also aims to make background music accessible to more businesses by expanding Kollekt's roster of value propositions. The essence of the concept lies in leveraging businesses' human capital (instead of expert curators in Kollekt's current service) to create a unique background music identity. This empowers the employees and creates a better working environment for them, which in turn positively impacts the customer experience and business performance. Different aspects of the solution are also tested and validated, resulting in directions for further iterations.

The thesis ends with discussing the relevance of this concept within the context of Kollekt and its strategic fit with the company, and gives recommendations for its implementation. In conclusion, employee involvement in the background music (via the solution offered or other directions) has high potential in furthering the commercial background music industry and can simultaneously provide Kollekt with a blue ocean to grow to new heights. Scope for further research and development is also discussed, both within the company and externally.