Bose expands marketing push with new studio and record label
Bose Studios will include music, film, podcasts and live events as the audio company looks beyond traditional ad campaigns.
By Maya Lindqvist · Senior Technology Correspondent
3 min read
Bose has created Bose Studios, a new media arm that includes a record label and plans for film, television, podcasts and live events, according to Business Insider and The Verge. The move matters because the audio hardware company is trying to build its own entertainment pipeline for marketing rather than relying only on conventional ad campaigns.
Bose chief marketing officer Jim Mollica told Business Insider that the effort is part of a shift away from traditional campaign-led marketing. The Verge reported that the company is positioning Bose Studios as a broader media operation, with Bose Records as one of its main pieces.
Mollica told Business Insider that Bose Records is intended to support underappreciated or new artists. According to The Verge, the label is not being framed as a rival to the three major music companies, Sony, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, but it will enter a music market where independent labels already compete with self-releasing artists and digital distribution tools.
How Bose Records is supposed to work
Mollica told Business Insider that Bose would not own artists’ masters, would not take a cut of streaming or sales revenue, and would allow artists to sign with other labels. The Verge described those terms as unusually favorable to artists, while noting that many details of the business model remain unclear.
The Verge reported that Bose also wants to build a catalog of music it can use in its advertising. That would give the company access to music for commercials without relying as heavily on outside licensing deals, according to The Verge’s account of Mollica’s comments.
The new label gives Bose a closer link between its audio brand and musicians, but The Verge noted that finding and developing artists is different from selling headphones and speakers. The report said Mollica did not cite hired A&R executives from established labels or major celebrity partnerships tied to the launch.
A wider media plan
Bose Studios is not limited to music. Mollica told Business Insider that Bose is also working on movies, TV series, podcasts and live event production, according to The Verge.
Mollica said some “legendary Hollywood names” are attached to film and television projects commissioned by Bose Studios, The Verge reported. The companies and individuals involved were not identified in the report.
The Verge compared the Bose effort with past corporate record-label projects connected to brands outside the traditional music business. The examples cited included Starbucks’ Hear Music, Scion A/V, W Hotels’ W Records, Mountain Dew’s Green Label Records and Procter & Gamble’s TAG Records.
The Verge’s Terrence O’Brien argued that Bose has a closer claim to music than some of those brands because it sells audio products, but he questioned whether the company has a clear enough plan across music, film, podcasts and events. Bose has not disclosed financial targets, artist signings or a release schedule for Bose Records in the reports cited.
This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.