When I first posted about how Music Today was working with bloggers to sell Christina Aguilera’s new CD, Back to Basics (iTunes), I knew that their initiative was sub-par. It’s cool that they’re reaching out - but they’re not making nearly enough use of all the technologies that have emerged since Stripped (iTunes) came on the scene in late 2002. (Incidentally, Stripped was the last physical media CD that I ever purchased.)
Then Mack Collier came along, commented on my post and smacked me over the head with what I think should become the immediate best practice for engaging bloggers when promoting a CD.
In brief, the artist’s label would send 100 CDs (pre-release, of course) to 100 bloggers culled from a fan mailing list. The bloggers would get the opportunity to listen to the CD before it was available in stores. If the artist took the time to personally autograph the 100 CDs, the theory is that there would be 100 glowing reviews floating around in the blogosphere by the time the CD hit stores.
Obviously, sending out a sample of anything to a carefully chosen group of bloggers is a good way to promote a product. Of course, those sorts of plans can backfire if not planned and executed perfectly, as we saw with the recent Guerilla Marketing and PR fiasco. The advantage with the record label scenario is that the bloggers in question have already been established as fans. What’s more, they already have a business relationship with the label, so there’s no way that the communication could be unexpected or treated as spam. The whole situation is really a gimme.
There are a million possible spinoffs of this, including an initiative involving the iTunes store. For some record labels, that scenario would be preferable because the DNR technology installed in the sound files would prevent widespread piracy of the songs before their official release date.
Update: Of course, we’ll be discussing blogger engagement strategies like this one at our next conference.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Mack Collier 08.01.06 at 5:58 pm
Thanks for the kind words Teresa, and I think it’s just a matter of time before we see this promotion executed. I blogged about it on Daily Fix a few weeks ago, and as soon as I did, I started getting emails from record labels wanting me to explain exactly how the promotion would work. The sense I got from talking to them was that they were excited about this idea, and sensed that it would work, but were hesitant because ‘no one’s done this before’. Ironically, that’s EXACTLY what would make it such a big hit for the FIRST label to do it.
I think you’ll see this promotion executed in the next few months, hopefully by year’s end. Thanks again for helping to spread the word!
Teresa Valdez Klein 08.01.06 at 9:37 pm
Mack: I think you’re right. Is it too late for me to hope that Christina’s label (RCA) will make this happen?
vaspers the grate 08.01.06 at 10:44 pm
Another good method is to let the whole world have some free samples, via free mp3 downloads, on the record label site, at net labels, and at Amazon Music Downloads.
I have discovered lots of good bands via these methods.
vaspers the grate 08.01.06 at 10:46 pm
ps…and I bought their CDs later, after hearing and saving free mp3s, in the local record store.
vaspers the grate 08.02.06 at 9:14 am
Also, according to the Wall Street Journal’s just released amateur New Media Moguls list, stereogum is the top rated music blog, so send free sample mp3s over there.
Mack Collier 08.02.06 at 11:35 am
Teresa I would say probably so ;( Odds are this promotion will come from a major label, and one that’s already interacting with bloggers, and that understand this space.
Vaspers, sending CDs/MP3s to music blogs is a completely different idea from this promotion. ‘Blogs’ such as Stereogum get free CDs and MP3s all the time. If you send them one CD and they hate it, you’re dead before you get off the ground.
Where ‘100 CDs for 100 Bloggers’ differs is that you target 100 bloggers that WANT to promote your artist and their CD. Let’s say you send a blogger a free copy of Christina’s new CD, and have it be autographed and inscribed to them. As for the CD itself, every blogger is going to like it or not.
So the 2 possible reactions from each blogger will be ‘Oh man I got the new Christina CD from her AUTOGRAPHED to me! And let me tell you, it RULES!’, or they will say ‘Oh man I got the new Christina CD from her AUTOGRAPHED to me! Granted, the CD itself isn’t that good, but man it was SO cool of them to do this!’. And of course you have to consider that the fact that these bloggers are being given such a great gift, is going to make them more likely to give the CD a better review. Either way, the promotion itself WILL get a glowing review.
So your option are: Send 1 CD to Stereogum, or send 100 inscribed CDs to 100 anonymous bloggers.
If you go the Stereogum route, then the BEST CASE scenario is that Stereogum loves the CD, gives it a great review, and a buncha other bloggers talk about it. The WORST CASE scenario is that Stereogum pans the CD, and a buncha other bloggers talk about it.
If you go the ‘100 CDs for 100 Bloggers’ route, then the BEST CASE scenario is that most of the 100 bloggers love the CD, they blog about it, the story of how RCA reached out to bloggers catches fire, Stereogum and other music blogs pick up on it, and then even MSM sources report it.
The WORST CASE scenario is that most of the bloggers hate the CD, but they still blog about what a great promotion it is, and that promotion still gets most of the same attention and MSM attention.
So really, the WORST CASE senario for the ‘100 CDs for 100 Bloggers’ promotion is about the same as the BEST CASE scenario for just sending 1 CD to one blog.
Again, if you understand how blogs work, and the mentality of bloggers, then you realize that there is VERY little, if any downside to executing this promtion, and on the upside, the sky is literally the limit.
The problem is, very few labels understand blogs and bloggers well enough to realize what a potential bonanza this promotion would be.
Ah well, they’ll come around, eventually.