Research Summary- Sony Music Entertainment Must Compete in the Digital Industry

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Recommended: The Digital Music Distribution Revolution

Introduction

Sony Music Entertainment has a challenge in the field of digitally distributed music. Sony wants to be the frontrunner in innovative music products, but is behind Apple. Sony is losing its market to other industries that produce more advanced and user-friendly devices. With the emergence of digital downloads, iTunes has become king for those who listen to music digitally. With the projected growth of digitally distributed music, Sony needs to develop strategies to combat its competitors by offering more novel and breakthrough products. Today’s generation would rather download music online then buy CD’s and this trend is sure to continue. This information was found by our online research of Sony Corp and by our qualitative interviews.

Secondary Research

After obtaining ample research through reading scholarly journals, online articles, and annual reports, we found that Sony Music Entertainment’s problem is their lack of focus in the area of digitally distributed music. Sony’s goal in the financial report is to be the “leading global provider of networked consumer electronics, entertainment, and services” (Sony Corporation, 2009). In the same report, it states that one of Sony’s key objectives is to “transform its business to include significant and growing digital sales” (Sony Corporation, 2009) proving the importance in concentrating on the digital field. With Sony stating that they want to be an innovator in global technology, they need to move forward and progress in the digital area to be successful in the future.

The leading competitor in the digital field is Apple’s iTunes database to organize and play music. We found that “iTunes-purchased son...

... middle of paper ...

...on, March 7th, 2010). This question relates to our problem and allows us to find out what people think of the future for music.

Conclusion

After conducting primary and secondary research, our group realizes how crucial it is for Sony Music Entertainment to compete in the digital industry. We discovered that Sony’s problem is advancing in research and development due to their lagging behind Apple. The interview responses were as I predicted which was that Apple’s IPOD and iTunes would be primarily targets in which people play and classify their music. Apple creates superior products before Sony releases their materials and this illustrates why they are being successful in the digital world. The interview responses confirmed our original hypothesis that Sony is behind the competition in the digital field.

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