From: owner-precious-things-digest@smoe.org (precious-things-digest) To: precious-things-digest@smoe.org Subject: precious-things-digest V7 #53 Reply-To: precious-things@smoe.org Sender: owner-precious-things-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-precious-things-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "precious-things-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. precious-things-digest Saturday, March 9 2002 Volume 07 : Number 053 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: precious-things-digest V7 #52 [JNe9027355@aol.com] Re: Promote Tori's next album--how? ["Mike Gray" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 8 Mar 2002 05:36:15 EST From: JNe9027355@aol.com Subject: Re: precious-things-digest V7 #52 In a message dated 3/7/02 10:22:17 PM Pacific Standard Time, owner-precious-things-digest@smoe.org writes: > So: does anybody here have any bright ideas as to how she can get more > airplay with the coming album? I'd be most interested to hear anyone's > specific ideas to address this situation. Pretend you work in the > promotion department of her new label. What do you think needs to be done? > How can anyone sell anchovies to the masses? > > I think it's impossible. She's said she's a medium-size vineyard. I think > for the most part she needs to learn to accept that and move on. Hundreds > of thousands of us appreciate the craftsmanship and quality. That's not > such a bad place to be. > > I want someone to show why I'm wrong. Thanks. > > Be seeing you, > > Richard Handal, H.G. i really dunno what you're lookin for here -the only way to promote an artist is to promote them the same way they promote anything else. u either do it, or u don't. i really wouldn't think tori would care about expanding a fanbase anymore...if people want good music, let them find it. if general public intelligence raises, tori should become mainstream effortlessly. aj ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Mar 2002 10:27:39 -0000 From: "Mike Gray" Subject: Re: Promote Tori's next album--how? Hi Richard / All > So: does anybody here have any bright ideas as to how she can get more > airplay with the coming album? I'd be most interested to hear anyone's > specific ideas to address this situation. Pretend you work in the > promotion department of her new label. What do you think needs to be done? > How can anyone sell anchovies to the masses? As a UK Tori fan, I have one message, it's a simple one for her new record company. What you do, and please - disregard what East/West may have told you - is press CDs, and then (and here's the novel idea) you send them out to *retail outlets* where people *purchase* them. :p Sorry. I'm still bitter. With Tori there's a ready-made fanbase, where all you have to do is release and it'll sell copies to the devoted fans. Same with the tour, you send her out there to a certain size of venue, and she'll sell enough tickets, no problem. Increasing the size of Tori's audience is problematic for one simple reason - apart from the fact that she isn't to everyone's tastes, there's a vicious marketing circle, in that people don't buy Tori's records as much as others, so they don't play them on the radio, but if they don't play them on the radio, Tori doesn't get the exposure for new people to go and buy her records. The thing is with Tori is that I've found roughly 1 in 5 people you introduce to her music will "get it" and if they do, then they're hooked. She might be an aquired taste, but she's *very* moreish once you're hooked. Frankly, if the last guy I introduced to her asks me for one more bootleg... ;) ... but no, seriously, it's a case of reaching those people who might be receptive to her music, and that's the challenge for the record company. Targetted marketing seems the thing. No use targetting R&B magazines or Playboy. Here in the UK, get her into "Q", and "Mojo", in the US, "Spin" and "Rolling Stone" - both of these things seem eminently possible. The issue is choosing a good first single, getting it played, etc... it's a very difficult task, and *will* doubtless require some creative marketing on Epic's part. Perhaps they can use some kind of drug-dealer style promotion, finding some way to give people their first hit for free, if you will! Get her on free cover-mounted CDs, get it played in stores, give away the first single as an MP3 (perhaps even deliberately leak it so it's all over major pirate MP3 sites... it's been done before - Barenaked Ladies did a hilarious thing with their single "Pinch Me" by putting out a 'pirate' MP3 and having them talking half way through it, informing the listener they'd been had), target colleges, have giveaways in campus bars, whatever. A thought which you'll all hate is to get her to be a support act. No, seriously. Whether people like it or not, it's a good way to pick up fans who wouldn't ordinarily listen to an artist, and there's no shame in it - look at acts like Garbage who supported U2 recently (with Matt Chamberlain on drums, stepping in when Butch Vig got Hepatitis, eagle-eyed viewers may have noticed). Or maybe another 5 1/2 weeks style arrangement with another Epic signing, Fiona Apple... there's plenty of scope for both sets of fans buying each other's records. There's been a move towards so-called "street teams" among the market in recent months, using the power of the internet fanbase to attempt to spread the message in the real world. There's been street teams for Natalie Merchant, Lisa Loeb and Sophie B Hawkins to name just three. I'm not convinced of their efficacy, but as I'm not eligible to join any of them (being in the UK), I really wouldn't know. Wouldn't hurt to give it a go. A bit of exposure via posters in the real world is a good idea. Overall, though, it's hard to promote Tori, yes, but there's also a certain amount of reliability with her stuff that it'll sell at least a certain number of units. OK, that's just my quick (!) thoughts... Mike ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Mar 2002 10:51:15 -0500 From: ekrone1 Subject: RE: Promote Tori's next album--how? TRL on MTV, or risk enduring improbable situations arising such as the bizarre duet with that MTV flavor-of-the-month four years ago , So Sasha & Digweed were in the studio? Is there a copy of this floating around anywhere?? I wonder if they were there for different reasons? Pretty cool... E ------------------------------ End of precious-things-digest V7 #53 ************************************