Vibrant: MCA Case Study

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MCA Case Study

OVERVIEW
MCA Records, a division of Vivendi/Universal, is a diverse label home to an array of successful artists, including The Cranberries, Blink 182 and Shaggy. With the competition for offline recorded music sales on the rise from a host of Internet sources, MCA knew that a strong online presence for their artists would boost their brand awareness and drive CD sales. MCA was also aware that communities have been intrinsic in the consumption of music in all of its forms; as consumers tend to purchase music, attend live performances and share their preferences in groups. The client saw no reason that fans couldn't do the same in a branded, online medium.

BUSINESS CHALLENGE
Through their online presence, MCA Records sought to bypass the traditional concept of “record label website” and instead develop a dynamic, content-driven platform that extends the artist/fan relationship beyond their site to individual artist and affiliate sites. They also realized that building a site from scratch for every artist under their roof made little sense from a business perspective, especially considering that each artist needed to leverage information – music catalogs, audio and video clips, tour/event dates, and news feeds – from the same system. MCA also sought to continually add new artists to the roster and functionality to the platform as their online community grew. To meet these business goals, Vibrant had to:

	•	Create a easily-managed, highly-accessible content management system
	•	Fully and seamlessly integrate the client’s disparate legacy systems that housed their digital assets
	•	Meet the client’s rapid delivery timeline

THE SOLUTION
Given the extensive business needs, Vibrant (formerly KORE) determined that the heart of the solution would be an open, XML-based content management platform. Having developed the Universal Music Group (MCA parent company) corporate extranet, Vibrant looked to find ways to tap into and syndicate the extranet’s wealth of artist assets to MCA’s consumer-facing solution. Since the data was being ingested in different formats from a myriad of sources, the engine had to be able to handle and re-purpose the assets reliably and without administrative interaction. Overall, the MCA solution offered an encouraging window into how digital media can be leveraged both within and outside the enterprise.

Features:

	•	Bold, clean user interface with content updated daily
	•	Extensible, scalable and flexible system that puts an array of cross-referenced information at the user’s fingertips
	•	Ability of fans to register and contribute to the community aspect of the site
	•	Syndication and dynamic updating of all of the company’s digital assets from a common source

Benefits:

	•	Heightened fan loyalty due to their participation in the site
	•	Increased sales driven by the cross-marketing functionality enabled by the site
	•	Maintenance costs minimized by enabling in-house staff to update/enhance site
	•	Offers frontline business managers flexibility and creativity to customize their relationship with the consumer.

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