How Do I Break Into the Global Hip Hop Market?

First of all, what is the global hip hop market?

Basically, it's just four countries: Japan, the UK, Germany and France. In 2007, the US music industry made $6 billion in sales. The top four international markets made $7 billion dollars, and the overall world market (in other words, every single country except the United States) was $13.4 billion last year.

All of these figures are from the IFPI, which is basically an international version of the RIAA, with smart lawyers and much better graphic designers, too. If you're not already up on it, their Digital Music Report 2008 is a motherfucking goldmine of free information. So important I'll do the link again:

STEP ONE: DOWNLOAD THIS DOCUMENT NOW.

One important piece of background information: the exponential rise in digital music sales has a lot to do with why everyone is so excited about "the global market" -- this graph should summarize things nicely:



From the DMR 2008 report above, the IFPI raises an important point: "globally, the digital market is split roughly 50/50 between online and mobile sales."

Here's some more important statistics: this is a quote from Alan Moore (source link):

The internet reaches 1.3 billion people (of which an increasing proportion are already using their mobile phones as their primary - or often only - internet access device.). But there are over 3.5 billion mobile phone subscribers today. Every one of those mobile phone users can be reached with a basic SMS text message (and 74% of us are active users of SMS, so they will be able to respond to your communication).

Out of the internet’s 1.3 billion users, only 1.2 billion are active users of email. So the most powerful communciation method on the internet - email - has a possible maximum reach today of 1.2 billion. If we take only the active users of SMS - remember the reach via mobile can reach essentially every mobile phone subscriber on the planet - the 74% of 3.5 billion - is 2.6 billion.

Also, as we will see shortly, the global market split might be 50/50, but the details make for interesting reading, and complicated marketing challenges. Not every country approaches hip hop or music purchases the same way...actually, none of them do.

For an overall look at international hip hop, check out Flight 808 -- an overdose of information, laid out in an easy-to-find way. There's also a decent body of work at Hip Hop Linguistics and a huge archive at World Hip Hop Market.

JAPANESE HIP HOP DEMOGRAPHICS and CULTURE

First and foremost: Japan is the second largest music market in the world, and they love hip hop. This is very good news. Last year the Japanese music industry made $3.5 billion in profits, more than half of the US market. Japan buys a lot of music online, but primarily through mobile phones -- 91% of all digital music sales in Japan were bought via phone in 2007.

Japanese music sales are monitored on the "Oricon Charts," but the industry fundamentally mirrors the US model, with many of the same companies.

Recommended Reads: Guardian UK looks at Japanese Pop Culture, a 2007 interview with female duo HalCali, some token BBC Coverage, and professor Ian Condry jacking off his ego...some gems in that last article, though. Dig deep.

UK HIP HOP AUDIENCE AND MARKETING

In the UK, digital sales more closely resemble the US figures, where 67% of digital purchases happened online. (In the United States, that figure is 71%.) UK hip hop has been undergoing a pretty amazing renaissance in the past several years, but they're still having a hard time making any serious inroads into the US market. Aside from Dizzee Rascal on Def Jux and Lady Sovereign on Def Jam, UK hip hop remains an isolated scene.

For hip hop entrepreneurs reading this, the UK presents your best bet. Allegedly, they speak the same language, and you will find enough in common with the UK audience to communicate effectively.

Recommended Reading: The best place to start is the outstanding website UKHH.COM, full of quality interviews, reviews and articles. You can get caught up very quickly here and decide who to reach out to.

FRENCH HIP HOP STATISTICS

France is skewed towards mobile purchases, although not as radically as the Japanese: 61% of the digital sales in the UK last year were bought over the phone.

Common Sense Methods and Strategies

1. Speak the Language. If you're really serious, you'll get a translator. Babelfish will do more harm than good -- despite huge advances in technology there is still no Universal Translator.

2. Get a Street Team. Nothing beats having people on the ground. The quicker you can establish a motivated fanbase in a foreign country, the better.