Musicnotes ties sheet music sales to new movies

Musicnotes Inc. is finding that tying the sale of sheet music to a new movie launch is a successful way to increase both site traffic and cross-selling opportunities. In the past, while CDs may been introduced at the same time a new movie opened, the sale of sheet music often lagged by several months, says Musicnotes chairman and chief financial officer Tim Reiland.

But now Musicnotes, No. 400 in the Internet Retailer Top 400 Guide to Retail Web Sites, is working directly with music publishers such as Alfred Publishing, which distributes music for the Harry Potter movies, and Shapiro Bernstein to make sheet music available at the same time a new movie opens.

For instance, Musicnotes will begin marketing the song, Ring of Fire by Joaquin Phoenix, on the Guitar Guru section of its site and will tie marketing to the debut of the new movie about the life and times of singer Johnny Cash, which opens Friday. Customers can purchase the sheet music and an interactive guitar lesson.

“The sheet music business doesn’t have to remain in the horse and buggy days,” Reiland says. “We took the idea of tying the release of new movies to more sheet music sales to some of our publishers and they loved the idea.”

In addition to making sheet music more widely available to its audience, Reiland says popular new movie-related songs often present new cross-selling opportunities. “If customers buy a popular new movie song, they often purchase at least one more item,” he says. “This results in the typical average order doubling from $10 to about $20.”

Musicnotes is always looking at new ways to expand its merchandising opportunities. When a new movie such as Walk The Line is about to open, the company will promote the launch and the newly available music in its weekly electronic newsletter and in targeted e-mail blasts.