Pete, cut n'paste from the MIS newsletter at the start of february - mark
bedford said
"
[3] - THAT MADNESS/VIRGIN PROMOTIONAL THING...
I thought that I might jump in and comment a little bit about the
whole Madness/Virgin promotional thing.
In some of the mailouts I've noticed that there has been alot of
rumblings about the promotion, by Virgin Records, of 'Johnny the
Horse' and 'Wonderful'.
As always, the band are really appreciative of the support shown by
everyone on the various lists and their determination to get Madness
records heard. We are all close to the band and the way it works -
but when it comes to 'promo', it is the convincing of people who
aren't so close that really matters.
Maybe, by example, I can give you some background as to how decisions
are made to promote our records.
I know that we have all been puzzled by the constant changing of
release dates for various singles. Well, let me try and explain by
telling you that 'Drip Fed Fred' will be released on Feb 28.
This was finally decided on for a number of reasons: Firstly, record
releases are now totally governed by appearances on TV! None of us
think that the Lottery Show is great television but it does reach 17
million people! This gets record companies very excited. So the
Lottery wanted us to go on, originally, Feb 12. So that, by rule of
thumb, sets the release date for two/three weeks later.
But then the Lottery turned around and said, we want you on Jan 28!
Now, that puts us in a terrible position. We know that if we turn it
down - they won't ask us on again. Tell them to get lost, you might
say but if we don't do it someone else will. And consequently their
single will get a jump. So if you follow the above formula - release
date February 14th.
But this doesn't coincide with the poster campaign! Slots have
already been booked for the original release date, with different
posters going up over three weeks. So the release date gets moved to
February 21st.
Now those of you with children will know that that is the week of
half-term! And, consequently, every boy and girl band on the planet
will release a single that week. (Hoping to take some of the poor
little mite's pocket money from their sticky hands).
Did you know that there will be 40 major releases on February 21st
alone? 40 is not alot, I hear you say! But we are taking about 40
records with big budgets for promotion from big bands that are
current, who are fighting for the same space in an ever shrinking
pool. (This is not forgetting all the dance and Indie label stuff
that will come out as well).
So with all this in mind that is why the single landed the release
date of February 28th!
But I've left the best to last. The reason why records really sell
is that they are heard by alot of people 6, 7, 8 times a day,
nationwide. Yes, RADIO!
To be honest we have had alot of trouble getting our records played
on the radio! I think people at radio stations are finding it very
hard to fit Madness into neat little playlists. 'Johnny the Horse'
suffered badly from this. Was it in the style of an old Madness song?
Was it a new direction? That has been the dilemma.
I can honestly say that the people at Virgin Records who work with
Madness really are fans and want all the records to do well -
hopefully you can see some of the problems that we/they are up
against.
>Someone wrote to the list saying that there was an explanation for why
>Virgin hadn't promoted the band, or something, but I deleted it before I
>could read what the link was, so could someone please re-post it for me,
>thanks.
>
>On The Beat Pete
>
>visit www.geocities.com/paris/maison/3671/
>or www.geocities.com/soho/park/4150/
>-
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-
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