Thursday, December 11, 2003
How to Market Music 101
Picked up my copy of Kelis's Tasty yesterday afternoon from J & R Music World. Tip for New Yorkers: f-ck the "Big Box" music retailers like Best Buy or Circuit City. J &R has all the same CD's on sale as them and normally for a lot longer than a week so support a local indie, albeit very large and successful, business. (The Kelis CD was $9.99 at J&R plus I got a free DVD, but more on that later).
No joking though, this album is gonna be a problem. Missy's This is Not A Test! is hot but she's got some real comp this time around courtesy of this crazy-hot album by the future Mrs. Nasir Jones. I'll post some more detailed thoughts on Tasty soon but I already played it three times in a row last night (while knocking out a very nice yardstyle beef curry stew in the kitchen for dinner), which I almost never do, so that should give you an idea of how much I'm feeling this album.
But on top of some great music, I was also surprised when I got home and opened my bag to find a DVD/CD from BMG (the distribution company for Kelis's label). I don't have the energy to get into writing a list of every artist on this disc but you can click here for more details. For those who can't even be bothered to click and see for themselves, trust me when I say that, despite the completely generic super-wack artwork (above) on the DVD case, just about every hot urban song or video from the last couple months distributed by BMG for their J, Arista and Jive imprints is on this promo including both of the incredible videos from the new Outkast album and the Youngbloodz's "Damn."
Now this DVD freebie is clever, non-traditonal marketing that works: cut out the middleman of the radio chains (who hardly play any new, unproven artists any more as they homogenize and tighten up the playlists on their stations) and get impressions for your artists directly to proven active music buyers. This is an especially on-point promotion for a consumer like me who still buys a lot of albums but maybe doesn't have time to sit around all day watching MTV and BET or listening to commerical radio to get exposed to new music. Finally, a value-added from a record company that actually has some value. Click here for a list of participating retailers in this promo DVD giveaway.
BTW: how did I miss the fact that No Doubt's "Hella Good", which was playing at J&R while I was copping the Kelis, from their recently-released The Singles 1992-2003 (and originally on their comeback Rock Steady album) is a great dance record? Now I'm looking for a copy of that track on 12" to spin the next time I'm DJing.
