Spotify's Public Relations: Crisis Management and User Retention

This report analyzes Spotify's public relations strategies, particularly in response to the conflict with Taylor Swift. It examines the importance of retaining users, maintaining brand image, and acquiring new customers during a crisis. The report highlights the need for transparency and effective communication. It uses the Johnson & Johnson Tylenol crisis as a case study to illustrate successful crisis management. The analysis emphasizes the need for proactive measures to sustain a positive brand reputation and market share. The report concludes that Spotify must actively engage in public relations efforts to overcome the negative impact of the conflict and maintain its market position. The report provides an overview of how PR campaigns are crucial for maintaining customer satisfaction and loyalty during crisis management and in the long run.

Running head :PUBLIC RELATIONS
Public Relations
Student’s name
University

1PUBLIC RELATIONS
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Retaining users.................................................................................................................................2
Retaining brand image.....................................................................................................................3
Keep gaining users...........................................................................................................................3
An example......................................................................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................5

2PUBLIC RELATIONS
Introduction
Public relations refers to an organization’s efforts to maintain external and internal
relations with the relevant internal and external stakeholders of the company, for the purpose of
ensuring long term sustainability (Wynn, 2016). The main aim is to make sure that the customers
and the people working for and with the company are kept satisfied through various touchpoints
with the organization for the purpose of achieving sustainability of the company (Wynn 2016).
The case that has to be studied in this essay, is regarding what Spotify has to be achieving
through public relations, following the infamous conflict with Taylor Swift.
Retaining users
The first and foremost objective that Spotify would be aiming at achieving is to make
sure that they do not lose out on the number of users as a result of Taylor Swift withdrawing the
rights to her music from Spotify. As per the case study itself, Spotify revealed that 16 million of
their 40 million users listened to Taylor Swift’s songs, one week leading up to the artist
withdrawing the rights. Therefore, it could be said that not only would a lot of users be
discontent over the brand, they might also boycott the brand altogether, considering the massive
fan following of the artist. It is for this reason that the main thing that has to be done is to make
these users stay through public relations efforts.
One of the main purposes of using public relations campaigns is to sustain a given
customer base. During times of conflicts or disasters, the first thing that has to be done is to keep
the customer base informed and keep them satisfied in whatever way possible, through

3PUBLIC RELATIONS
interactions (Sheehan 2019). Therefore, at the time of this conflict, the brand has to make sure
that the fans of Taylor Swift are retained.
Retaining brand image
The brand image of Spotify has been significantly downgraded as a result of the conflict
between Taylor Swift and Spotify. It is for this reason that the main thing that has to be done is
to make sure that the brand image of the company is retained. Being accused of not paying
enough to the music community is a serious ethical violation that the brand has to be effectively
dealing with and it is for this reason that Spotify has to have transparency in its communication
process with its users.
Spotify has already come up with a statement that they utterly respect the artists and the
music industry and that they would never be taking anything away from the community, and
would rather be giving back. Lily Allen’s statement in the conflict further backs this up. What
has to be done however is to come up with a proper evidence through proven documentation that
the revenue streams of the brand are justified and appropriate, that supports the authenticity of
the brand, against the accusations. According to Thimothy (2016), having transparency in
communication processes during disaster managements immensely helps in solidifying the
credibility and authenticity of a brand, which is one of the main reasons why Spotify should be
looking towards accomplishing this goal.
Keep gaining users
Crisis management refers to how an organization deals with a particular situation of
urgency that poses threat to its overall brand identity and image (www.forbes.com 2017). An

4PUBLIC RELATIONS
organization has to be able to be swift in keeping the public informed about the latest
developments that have been taking place regarding the conflicts with respect to the
organization. It is for this reason why the main thing that has to be done is to regularly update the
customer base with the relevant updates regarding the case (www.forbes.com 2017). This is an
effort that immensely helps in keeping customers satisfied, which in turns helps in retaining the
brand image, which further makes sure that no hindrance is posed towards acquiring new
customers during and following the crisis management (www.forbes.com 2017)
Communication is the key during any disaster management program as it helps in making
the customers of the company believe that they are believed, and thereby, works like a catalyst in
brand image retention, which further makes sure that the organization does not face any threats
in increasing its market share, owing to the sustained reputation in the market (www.forbes.com
2017).
An example
In 1982, Johnson and Johnson faced a crisis in which Tylenol, which happened to be one
of the leading analgesics in the US, and one of the most trusted ones, was contaminated by an
individual with cyanide that happened to kill 7 people. Johnson and Johnson lost a significant
market value and share as a result. Therefore, when the same situation arose in 1986, Johnson
and Johnson were swift react, having learnt their lessons from the previous incident (Wang et.al
2017)
Each of the products of Tylenol weretaken out from the supermarkets across the states,
throughout the country, and not just in the areas affected. The company officially announced that
there would be no Tylenol in the market until solution was come up with by the company.

5PUBLIC RELATIONS
Extensive efforts were made by keeping the public informed about the developments and
warning them of possible mistakes, In fact, it ran a nationwide media campaign through which it
warned the public from buying any Tylenol product during the period (Wang et.al 2017).
It extended support by providing direct query addresses. Following a few months, the
company successfully came up with a tamperproof packaging for Tylenol that prevented any
such case from recurring. During this time, the company had successfully captured the market
share effectively, by keeping its reputation intact in the market, due to which it recovered more
market share than it lost during the time. Evidence suggests, that people who used to be
customers of other painkillers switched to Tylenol (Wang et.al 2017).
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above discussion, it could be concluded that Spotify has to retain
existing users, keep gaining new users and also protect its brand image, post the conflict with
Taylor Swift, through public relations efforts. The same has been supported through a real
example of the crisis management case of Johnson and Johnson.

6PUBLIC RELATIONS
References
Sheehan, M. (2019). [online] Lib.oup.com.au. Available at:
http://lib.oup.com.au/he/PR/samples/sheehan_prcamp2e_sample.pdf [Accessed 31 Aug. 2019].
Thimothy, S. (2016). Council Post: Why Brand Image Matters More Than You Think. [online]
Forbes.com. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2016/10/31/why-
brand-image-matters-more-than-you-think/ [Accessed 31 Aug. 2019].
Wang B, et.al (2017). Evidence-based safety (EBS) management: A new approach to teaching
the practice of safety management (SM). - PubMed - NCBI. [online] Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Available
at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29203020 [Accessed 31 Aug. 2019].
www.forbes.com (2017). Council Post: 13 Golden Rules Of PR Crisis Management. [online]
Forbes.com. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/06/20/13-
golden-rules-of-pr-crisis-management/ [Accessed 31 Aug. 2019].
Wynn, R. (2016). Five Things Everyone Should Know About Public Relations. [online]
Forbes.com. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwynne/2016/01/21/five-things-
everyone-should-know-about-public-relations/ [Accessed 31 Aug. 2019].main purpose of PR
campaigns