From: owner-velvet-station-digest@smoe.org (velvet-station-digest) To: velvet-station-digest@smoe.org Subject: velvet-station-digest V2 #5 Reply-To: velvet-station@smoe.org Sender: owner-velvet-station-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-velvet-station-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk velvet-station-digest Tuesday, January 12 1999 Volume 02 : Number 005 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [VS] Promoting Velvet Belly [Philippa.Demonte@bmg.co.uk] [VS] another bunch of tidbits [Yngve Hauge ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 00:03:14 +0100 From: Philippa.Demonte@bmg.co.uk Subject: [VS] Promoting Velvet Belly FINALLY found 5 seconds to write to you! Yngve, you're doing a really good job already - BUT HERE'S WHAT YOU ALL CAN DO TO HELP VELVET BELLY: * Tell all your friends in every country about how wonderful Velvet Belly are. People are more likely to buy music which their friends recommend than something which is advertised in a magazine or on tv. * Don't give your friends a cassette with a whole Velvet Belly album on it - pick 3 really good songs just to get their interest and coming back for more (it's like food - if you just give someone a mouthful of food and they like it, they'll want more) * Create links on the internet to Velvet Belly's web page (does anyone know how to get a band onto the Ultimate Band List?) * Write a review of Velvet Belly's music for a music magazine * Go to your local record shop - - if you haven't already got their music, buy it - V.B. create classic music - - you won't get bored of it, so it's a good investment - - if Velvet Belly's music isn't on the shelves, order it - even if you live outside of Norway, a good record shop should still be able to get it in on import. - - if you already have their music, look through the shelves of CDs and put Velvet Belly's at the front so they can be clearly seen (it might remind someone else about the band!) - - also - take the album to the counter, and ask a member of staff if you can listen to the album first - even if you don't buy it afterwards, the person at the record shop will still have to put the CD back on the shelf (and it will remind them about Velvet Belly) - - if you work at a record shop, play the CD on the loud speakers (but only as long as it doesn't get you into trouble with your boss, TINE!) * IF YOU LIVE IN NORWAY - - contact your local radio station and ask them to play something by Velvet Belly as a request - it reminds both the radio station and the listeners that V.B. make great music - - if you have Blackout (the interactive game) - tell people about that, because it features Velvet Belly's music. - - use your contacts - do you know a film producer who needs music for their soundtrack, someone who needs music for a fashion show they are organising, people who sell hi-fi stereos & sound engineers at concerts who need music to test their equipment, cafes & restaurants which play background music..... * IF YOU LIVE OUTSIDE OF NORWAY - - order Velvet Belly's albums through your local record shop - a good shop should always be able to get the music you want on import if it is not available in your country (unless it is something really obscure or if it's been deleted!) - - send me an e-mail saying how much you like Velvet Belly, how you first discovered their music, and asking how you can get hold of their music in your country - I will then pass on your e-mail to the relevant people at BMG UK and BMG Norway and to Benke Berg at BMG Sweden (he is the Nordic A&R Exploitation manager, which means that it is his job to promote Scandinavian artists like Velvet Belly to BMG offices around the rest of the world) Time to let the cat out of the bag (unless you already know this) - I work at BMG in London (not in the music department though) and before this I used to work with my good friend Jason (see V.B. guest book) as a music buyer for Virgin Megastore. So, in between our proper jobs, we're busy trying to influence the record company people and music retailers to get Velvet Belly's music out onto the shelves in the record shops (as well as telling our friends about the band)......because the main problem is that Velvet Belly's music is not going to be released anywhere outside of Norway/Scandinavia until BMG UK actually release their music first. If Velvet Belly came to London to do a gig (concert) it would be a big help - - we could contact all the Norwegians that we know in London asking them to come - they would bring their English and other foreign friends with them, so we could fill out a venue - Once people hear for themselves how good Velvet Bellys music is and how amazing they are live, they will show more interest (including BMG, the music retailers and the media!) Anyway, enough of what I think - Velvet Station is a place to swap ideas - has anyone else (as well as Yngve!) got any brainwaves for promoting Velvet Belly's music? Do any of you have Norwegian friends in England who I could contact so I can set up a network? Or have you got the details for the magazine produced for Norwegian students in England (another way of contacting old V.B. fans)? - Philippa :) Philippa.Demonte@bertelsmann.de tel (mobile) +44 411 31 99 80 > -----Original Message----- > From: Yngve Hauge [SMTP:onealien@mo.himolde.no] > Sent: 08 January 1999 19:33 > To: Velvet Station > Subject: Re: [VS] first non-norwegian on the list > > > ... the reaction I get when playing their music outside > Norway is amazing. The problem is that BMG doesn't know how to market > them (especially in the US) as they are not very much into alternative > music. That is what VB say themselves at least. It is a combination of > that and being cowards I guess. At least we are trying to do our best > to spread the word. I do that both ways actually - I promote american > indie artists here and VB over there. Easier to pay a CD with a CD to > say it that way. > > > ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 01:17:44 +0100 (CET) From: Yngve Hauge Subject: [VS] another bunch of tidbits Hi, One of the reasons I think Velvet Station is such a nice name for this mailinglist is that stations are connection points on a string leading somewhere. And it is somewhere we really want to bring the music of VB. About UBL - I'll add an entry there right away. If I can figure out how to do it that is. And I got another item to the promotion list - direct them to the Ecto Guide to Good Music ... they'll find everything they need there - reviews both by me and by others. You should get an entry in there. ok, I'm off to fight the UBL thingy :) *hugs* - -- Yngve n.p. Fleetwood Mac - Bare Trees (an album that should have been better known) n.r. Thieves World ------------------------------ End of velvet-station-digest V2 #5 **********************************