Music & Entertainment Company STIFF RECORDS Management (1976-1986) Lamuela, Omnet, Brendan, Kaylee, Natasha HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF STIFFS RECORDS Founded in 1976 by Dave Robinson and Jake Riviera. Both have decided to form an independent record label. Both have music experience working as music managers. Specialize in ‘Pub rock’, but got caught up with punk, ska & new movements. A loan of £400 from Lee Brilleaux to start the label. 1980, Stiff had an annual turnover in excess of £3.5 million. Most famous slogans – Ø“World’s Most Flexible Record Label” Ø“We came, We saw, We left” Ø“If it ain’t Stiff, it ain’t worth a fxxk” Ø“When you kill time, You murder success” ØRobinson told Vive Le Rock- “We were really a management company and we dealt with the records hoping to do well enough with one to fund the next one” ØNot only slogans, but also focus on picture sleeves and music videos. Ø4 years ahead of MTV in making videos. Ø34 different companies are working for them. ØMake videos to enlighten who the artist was. ØBefore their first punk release, Robinson said – “our attitude was ‘we go hard, we go fast’. A great audience are waiting to buy the first punk record, they don’t care whose record it was.” ØRiviera – “ Basically, we are going to put singles that are two and a half minutes long and have got two and a half chords in them. It will be very esoteric”. ØRiviera – “There’s a much larger market than you think, especially we are hoping to distribute through specialist shops like Bizzare Records and Rock On.” ØStiff Records agreed to pay musicians what they were making at their day job, bought them an amp and a tape recorder, let them do their thing. MAIN REASONS STIFF RECORDS CAME INTO FRUSTRATION DURING THE EARLY 70S.

ØThe complacency of UK music industry during that time ØMany songwriters were being denied the audiences they deserved ØCorporate major labels of they day where music itself has become an irrelevance. TIMELINE

August 1976, first single release was a success. ØNick Lowe, “So It Goes” ØSold 10000 copies Their next release sold only half of their first. ØPink Fairies, “Between The Lines” Nov 1976, Robinson and Riviera used money from Advancedale management company to finance the release of UK first Punk single. ØThe Damned, “New rose” 1977, Stiff Records Signed Wrekless Erec, Ian Dury and Elvis Costello. ØBigger sales ØSet up distribution deal with Island Records and EMI. Epic Records deal in US was also set up. Ø1978, Riviera left Stiff because many conflicts and disagreements between Robinson and him. ØWent on to form Radar Records with Martin Davis, taking Elvis, Nick and Yachts with him. ØStiff had a good run for the next few years with many top 20 singles. ØIan Dury was the most associated band with Stiff. ØCame up with the phase “Sex & Drugs and Rock & Roll”. Ø‘Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick’ went to No.1 in UK 1978. Ø1983, Island Records bought 50% of Stiff and Robinson ran both labels. ØIsland was in debt. Robinson had to lend £1 million to Island to fund their share purchase and pay the payroll. ØIsland deal failed and became a burdensome for Stiff. ØOct 1984 was Stiff last huge success, which is Pogues album “Red Roses for Me”. ØThe band created a fusion of punk and traditional music that became one of the strongest vibe in the early 21st century. ØUnfortunately, Pogues success wasn’t enough for Stiff because of Island which caused the label to close in 1985. ØZTT operations bought Stiff assets for £300000. ØOver 11 years of operating, Stiff issued about 400 singles and 100 albums, with a strike rate of about one in five. PESTLE ANALYSIS

This analysis is used by companies to track the environment they operate in or planning to launch in. POLITICAL

ØIn the 1970s the conservatives were in power. So due to this there were a lot of cuts which led to less disposal income which meant stiff records fan base could not afford to pay for records or live performances. ØTax policy would affect business costs by rise in corporation tax, Stiff Records could pass some of their tax to their customers in their pricing of their products such as live performances and albums. ØTrade restrictions. ØDifferent labels from other countries that are in partnership with Stiff Records would need licences to release their content and for Stiff Records to sell abroad. ECONOMICAL

ØDuring the late 70s to 80s inflation levels in the UK were extremely high and growth (GDP) was extremely low. ØStiff records began in 1976 and some saw this as a safe thing to do. This is because inflation levels the year before were almost 10% higher than what they were that year. This is why some people thought 1976 was a sign of a recovery. ØIn 1979 inflation was extremely high at 10%. ØIn 1981 there was a recession. ØThe recession meant that people did not have a high amount of disposable income and this might have effected the amount of music that people bought. ØDuring the recession unemployment rose to over 3 million and stayed this high until 1986. ØBy this time Stiff records had gone into administration. SOCIAL

ØThe late 70’s can be described as the new Britain as this is a time where Britain began to really embrace other cultures. ØMusic played a very large role in British society throughout the 70s and 80s. ØPopular music from 1976-1986 includes: Funk, Reggae, Punk and rock. This may be why most of the Artists under Stiff records are associated with these genres. ØThe 70s saw the popularity of reggae grow massively in the UK. This was done by the help of artists like bob Marley. Music from the Caribbean became very popular in Britain and a large number of afro Caribbean people migrated to Britain in the 70s and 80s. ØThis may have been a reason why Stiff records partnered up with island records who were first associated with music from the Caribbean. ØMany campaign and political songs were being released and were very popular during this time. ØSex drugs and rock and roll was a saying and social norm which was associated with Stiff records because of Ian Dury and it was very popular with young people through the 70’s and 80’s. ØIt was a norm for young people to go to gigs and performances just like it is today and this benefited Stiff records and their artists. TECHNOLIGICAL

ØWhen Stiff records first began in 76 technology was not as advanced as what it is now. Ø People were still playing music on vinyl record players and these had been around for many years. ØThe only record format that people could buy was vinyl and Stiff records made sure that Artists music was released on vinyl. ØIn 1979 Sony had released the Sony Walkman and this allowed people to listen to music for the first time while they were out and about. Ø Stiff records had to react to the then innovative product by allowing their artists music to be available on cassette. ØThis showed that stiff records were able to keep up with changes in technology as the business survived for many years after the release of the Walkman. LEGAL ØA law that affected Stiff records was the copyright act 1956. This law allows music to be legally protected for a number of years. ØDuring 1976-1986 stiff records had to abide by copyright laws. This meant that stiff records artists and the record label could not freely copy original music that they did not own the rights. Ø This meant that artists and the label were limited to what music they could release and cover. ØHowever having to abide by copyright laws was not necessarily a bad thing for STIFF records. ØThe Indie label had a number of hits during the late 70s to the late 80's. For example "Hit me with your rhythm stick" which reached number one. Artists such as Elvis Costello and Madness had many hits and this music was protected under this law. ENVIRONMENTAL

ØIt could be said that Stiff records have not played a very good role in being environmentally friendly. Ø A substantial amount of plastic was needed and used in order for the business activities to be able to function. ØThey released albums on vinyl records and on cassette tapes. ØVinyl is made out of polyvinyl chloride and this is a material which is not bio degradable. ØCassette tapes are made from a Polyester type of plastic with a magnetic coating and this is also a material which is not bio degradable. ØMany of the Artists under Stiff records performed for crowds of thousands of people and this is not very environmentally friendly as a lot of electricity is needed for performances on that scale. “Live Stiffs” tour is an example of this. Where 5 artist from the label went on tour together. ØArtists performed a lot at festivals and this can be very damaging for the environment and cause a lot of waste. PORTERS’ FIVE FORCES THREAT OF NEW ENTRY

ØPunk rock era was starting to develop around the same time stiff records was founded. The threat was it was easy for other to create similar record labels as in the 1970s rock was popular in London.

ØCost for stiff to start had to be borrowed and for them to carry on they had to take money from their management company. THREAT OF SUBSTITUTION

ØOther record labels could copy stiff records in the way that they distribute their records. ØWhen Riviera left and formed radar records he would have most likely use stiffs strategy. Ø1983 island records bought 50% of stiff records and eventually the deal failed. SUPPLIER POWER

Ø they had 3 distributors- EMI, island and epic records. ØAll with worldwide reach. Ø every record released had it own marketing campaigns, artwork, slogans etc.. Because of the marketing campaigns it resulted in huge profit margins. COMPETITIVE RIVALRY

ØThey had countless competitors not always in the same genre but still a rival. ØOther labels such as EMI that were already established had better quality products and made a lot more money. ØTheir customers were not very loyal because we can see that in the sale numbers when they sold 10,000 records compared to the next release which only sold half of that. BUYER POWER

ØIf fans don’t buy records sales drop impacting stiff records to struggle. No money no records. SWOT ANALYSIS

ØSWOT means strengths, weakness, opportunity and threats a company has. We use the swot analysis to consider the micro environment. ØThe analysis originated from Albert S Humphrey in the 1960’s. ØIt can be used as a strategy formula or strategy tool. ØStrengths and weaknesses are focused on the internals of the company. ØOpportunity and threats are focused on the external of the company. STRENGTHS

Ø Experience Ø Skilled work force Ø branding Ø Live stiffs Ø Distribution WEAKNESS

Ø Lack of financial resources Ø Jake leaving Ø Staff retention Ø Sales Ø Bad management OPPORTUNITY

Ø Horizontal integration Ø New markets opening THREAT

Ø Jake leaving Ø Dave running two labels at once Ø Other labels Ø Copyright law Ø Technology e.g. Walkman CONCLUSION

“We go hard, we go fast” attitude. ØThey did everything in a fast way and it’s a success, BUT they can't keep hold of their stars as they quickly look to another star to bring in cash when one has brought them a success. Made a wrong deal with Island Records ØRobinson sold 50% of stiff to Island Records. ØRobinson had to lend £1 million for Island’s survival. ØUnfortunately, the deal failed and it caused Stiff a huge problem in their cash flow. RECOMMENDATIONS ØOne way the firm could have avoided failure is, instead of Robinson trying to keep Island and Stiff records separate he should have kept the labels together. This would allow new acts to move from Stiff to Island to further their career. Robinson should have allowed another person to run Stiff, and then he could have focused on Islands still putting input into Stiff records. Allowing both firms to be successful as they would have the full attention of each person. Avoiding a negative synergy ØRobinson could have avoided lending 1 million dollars, by not signing the deal with Island and hired a financial advisor to see whether signing a deal with Island was beneficial ØInstead of allowing Jake to leave and take Stiffs acts to Rader, Stiff records should have created a contract for all staff and clients to sign which prevented them from leaving to rival labels and prevention of staff taking acts with them.