FastTrack Communications Roadmap 2014: a Fresh Perspective
“FastTrack is an important part of the solution when it comes to redefining what the entertainment industry is in the 21st Century,” says FastTrack Director General Michel Allain. “We will play a major role in helping to rebuild the entertainment ecosystem for the digital age. Our work will embrace a far larger number of stakeholders than it has before, including music publishers, digital service providers, audio-visual creators and distributors, and more. As such, we must build out our communications capability to reach these diverse audiences, create a broader awareness of FastTrack’s significant role, and become more transparent and timely in communicating what we will deliver, and how it will benefit that ecosystem.”
FastTrack has entered a new chapter of its corporate mission as it engages as a key participant in the Global Repertoire Database (GRD) development process, and as it reaches out to serve new audiences such as music publishers FastTrack must not only communicate with key stakeholders in the GRD process, but become part of the wider conversation in the development of 21st century tools for international copyright administration. To accomplish these goals, the FastTrack Board has approved a roadmap for a renewed and expanded communications plan for FastTrack, to be implemented during 2014.
Our audiences for this expanded effort includes creators, the music publishing community, a wide spectrum of management and staff within copyright societies, music industry organizations such as record labels and the community of recorded music professionals, professionals in the audio-visual community, management and staff in non-governmental organizations which represent music and entertainment industry interests, and the media – especially trade.
Our goal is to create a much broader awareness of FastTrack as a critical player in the development of the technical infrastructure for the future of rights management in the digital age. We will provide information customized for each key audience on FastTracks’ current operations and future agenda, provide a better understanding of FastTrack’s role in the matrix of international copyright administration, and provide relevant background on FastTrack’s history and development.
This expanded communications effort will be undertaken primarily through digital communications: an expanded web site, a more broadly distributed web newsletter or blog, social networks, email outreach to key influencers and thought leaders, and media relations.
The new FastTrack web site will be the “the center of gravity” for our communications efforts. It will include news stories, analysis, background or explanatory information, infographics, photos, press releases and other media relations assets. At the same time, we will greatly expand the subscriber base FastTrack News, reaching out to potential subscribers through email, our new web site, and social media, and we will publish on a bimonthly schedule. Social media will be an important new tool for FastTrack, with the establishment of FastTrack pages on both Facebook and LinkedIn. Finally, we will execute a carefully planned media relations campaign to alert editors and correspondents to key development milestones in FastTrack’s participation in the GRD, and in FastTrack’s own initiatives.
The robust communications capabilities of FastTrack member societies can greatly amplify our outreach to key audiences, including publishers and other industry professionals. We will develop and deliver specialized editorial assets for FastTrack societies to use in their own digital communications efforts. In addition, we plan to establish a high-level taskforce of senior communications and marketing executives within FastTrack member societies to assist the FastTrack staff in developing tools for outreach to the targeted communities.
The first quarter of 2014 will be a development phase for this expanded program, with the goal of launching the new web site – our new “center of gravity” - in the first week of April.
Simultaneously, FastTrack staff will develop the other tools and activities in the roadmap so that they can be launched by mid-year, and can cross-promote and optimize the impact of the new communications outreach.
“The expanded communications agenda will mirror the expanded role that FastTrack takes on as a mission-critical part of the GRD development process” says Allain. “Both are an important part of FastTrack’s future.”
Robbin Ahrold, Chair - FastTrack Communications Committee
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