1. LAWSON CASE
STUDY
MUSIC INDUSTRY

2. The Music Industry
Institution
Audience
Production Distribution
Consumption
Exchange/
Marketing
Exhibition
Reception

3. Production
▪ The group’s actual formation was started through Myspace – Adam was playing the
drums in college and found Andy who was looking to start a band and said if he
needed a drummer then he would gladly work with him
▪ Ryan knew Andy at the time as they were both doing solo gigs and when they kept
playing in the same spots they decided to work together
▪ Joel and Ryan went to the same uni and so knew each other – when Ryan, Andy and
Adam began working together Ryan called Joel to London to begin sessions
▪ It took four rehearsals before the band felt comfortable enough to write their own
music and perform live at different venues - Their first gig was in Cambridge with only 7
people.
▪ The name Lawson came about as it was the name of a surgeon who performed the
operation of Andy’s brain tumour when he was 18

5. Production – getting signed/ Exhibition
▪ They booked an opening act tour with the Wanted in 2011 as Andy was
friends with Max from his younger days.
▪ After performing several acoustic sets on tour with the Wanted they were
approached by several large record labels.
▪ They chose to go with Global Talent Records which is part of Polydor (branch
of universal)
▪ Signed a two album deal
▪ Following the big signing they opening for acts such as The Wanted, Jessie J
and Avril Lavigne

7. Distribution
Marketing
Distribution
Budgets
Word of mouth
Online downloads
Live performances

8. Production/ Exhibition/ Distribution
▪ The band toured in 2012 fitting in a headline tour of the UK in
January and May
▪ They did an intimate show at Monto Water Rats in London which
was streamed worldwide in April
▪ The band later revealed that their debut album, Chapman
Square, would be released on 22 October

9. Production/ Distribution/ Exchange
First Album – Chapman Square
▪ Producers consisted of John Shanks
(Celine Dion, Backstreet Boys, Take
That), Ki Fitzgerald (The Wanted, B.O.B
and Jonas Brothers), Carl Falk (One
Direction and Nikki Minaj), and Rami
Yacoub (Britney Spears, Backstreet
Boys, One Direction, Westlife, The
Saturdays and Pink,)
▪ On 22 October 2012, Lawson
released Chapman Square
▪ The album went gold.
Singles
▪ The band's first official single, When
She Was Mine was released on
27th May 2012
▪ The band's second single, Taking
Over Me, was released on 5th
August 2012
▪ On 14th October 2012, the band
released their third official single,
Standing in the Dark, which
reached number six.

11. Marketing
• Lawson used social media a lot to promote their singles and debut
album by using sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter –
interacting with fans
• It was made available through Amazon, HMV, Tesco, Asda – any big
supermarkets and music stores
• All singles and albums could be bought on ITunes
• They released a single which could be downloaded for free from their
own website
• They did a few TV appearances to promote the album like This
Morning along with TV adverts
• They did an album signing tour to interact with fans
• They had a sell out tour performing all the songs from Chapman
Square

14. Consumption
▪ Lawson’s album was available as a physical CD to be bought in stores
however it was also available to digital download
▪ This could be played on formats such as iPods, phones, cd player,
etc… computer
▪ Many listeners made the album into a playlist on sites like Spotify or
Youtube

16. Reception
▪ When she was mine reached number four on the UK Singles Chart.
▪ Taking over me peaked at number three.
▪ Standing in the dark reached number 6
▪ Learn to Love again only reached 13
▪ Broken Hearted reached number 6
▪ Their latest single Juliet reached number 3
▪ Chapman Square reached number 4 in the album charts