This document analyzes Interscope Records' current standing in the urban music market. It finds that while Interscope is still successful due to artists like Kendrick Lamar and parent company Universal Music Group, it has declined since Jimmy Iovine led the company and is not as innovative as before. The analysis recommends that Interscope recruit new major artists, host more events, focus on live music again through tours, and market itself more aggressively to the urban community to regain its former credibility and market position.

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A Market Analysis for
(Interscope Records)
(Matthew “Kyrri” Watkins)
Full Sail University
Project & Portfolio II: Business and Marketing
(12/13/17)

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This analysis report looks at the current community standing of Interscope records. It
looks at Interscope’s past performance and what they have been doing in the recent years to
compare to when the old president, Jimmy Iovine, was still running the show. The report has an
overview of the company and some information on its parent companies, Universal Music Group
and Vivendi. This report includes recommendations on how Interscope could reinstate their
presence within the urban community.

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OBJECTIVE
Based on current events within the company, I was hired to plan their next step into their
market.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The information gathered was mostly recent external, secondary information, gathered
within the month of December, sourced from online databases.
RESEARCH AND KEY FINDINGS
Interscope records is a record label under Universal Music Group.
They are a leader in hip-hop and urban
music. They are innovators and leaders in the
industry, creating unprecedented features
within their artists songs, the inception of
Beats by Dre, and Beats Music streaming.
They have some of the top names in hip-hop ranging from Dr. Dre and Ice
Cube, all the way to Eminem and Kendrick Lamar. The target market of
Interscope records are men and women ages 15-27 in urban environments
with an income range of $1,000- $15,000/year, who enjoy hip hop, and insomniac magazine.

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UMG’s parent company, Vivendi, is financially secure, having a net income, in 2016, of 1.256
Billion Euros. (Yahoo Finance, 2017) Interscope is clearly a big player in the industry with the
big names in hip hop still being a part of the label. Including Kendrick Lamar signing in 2012.
(Fitzmaurice, 2012) Although Interscope has not made much of an uproar as it did in the past
with Jimmy Iovine as the President, it is still in the game. One major thing to come out on
Interscope was the recent HBO docu series “The Defiant Ones.” (“Defiant Ones”, 2017)

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CONCLUSIONS
Interscope Records is still standing strong within the urban community, but due to the
expectations left by Jimmy Iovine, it is starting to decline. Having UMG as its parent company
has clearly helped to keep it at the top, but if they don’t start to hustle again they could easily fall
behind. Interscope has released artists such as Lady Gaga and Eminem to the US and in
partnership with Polydor released them to the European market. As of late the major name
Interscope has is Kendrick Lamar, but he has not had the same level of push that Eminem and
Lady Gaga had. The path set forth by the predecessors is clear and Interscope needs to start
innovating again o remain on top in the urban environment.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on Research and conclusions, Interscope needs to market themselves to the urban
community again. They need to bring in new major named artists and have them work with the
legends to build credibility again. They need to start hosting events and many other activities to
bring crowds back to Interscope and away from their competition.
They also need to heavily focus on live music again. At one point they had the “Up in
Smoke tour which was a major tour that had many headlining, op named artists on the roster,
which brought in much revenue for Interscope. If Interscope were to do this again they would be
able to regain more credibility in the urban environment again.

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REFERENCES
(2017). Retrieved from
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/02/Eminem_2017_-
_EMAs_2017.jpg/222px-Eminem_2017_-_EMAs_2017.jpg
(2017). Retrieved from https://i1.sndcdn.com/avatars-000001660373-fnvv9k-t500x500.jpg
(2017). Retrieved from http://routenote.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/UMG4-
700x525.jpg
The Defiant Ones. (2017, July 9). Retrieved from https://www.hbo.com/the-defiant-ones
Fitzmaurice, L. (2012, March 8). Kendrick Lamar and Schoolboy Q Sign to Interscope |
Pitchfork. Retrieved from https://pitchfork.com/news/45696-kendrick-lamar-and-
schoolboy-q-sign-to-interscope/
Yahoo Finance. (2017). Retrieved from
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/VIV.PA/financials?p=VIV.PA