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October 27, 2005

Record Labels Take Note

Ryan responds favorably to Merge including an mp3 download coupon along with the new Clientele vinyl album and adds some advice to quash album leaks:

Anyway, also, Merge, since you seem open to these new ways of thinking w/r/t this digital music stuff, here's another idea: You know how labels send out promo copies of an album months before the official release? And then those copies inevitably end up getting ripped and shared digitally (months before the official release)? How about this: At the same time promo copies go out in the mail, you immediately also make the album available for purchase from iTunes. You don't need to stop any of that other normal prep work that may be going on, like finalizing artwork, putting together PR stuff, etc. -- just make the album available on iTunes *in addition* to all that.

Here, here! I know that labels want to have all their press and magazine coverage in order, which requires a few months of lead time, but with the speed of the Web, a lot of buzz that could be capitalized on is lost by the time the album comes out. Who in the Hell reads magazines to learn about music releases anymore anyway? In the case of artists with large fanbases, fans will buy the album regardless of press commentary, and if the album does receive bad reviews, you can make mucho sales before the public reacts to them.

And when did this release tradition happen anyway? The Beatles used to record an album one month and release it a month later. The White Album was completed on Oct. 14, 1968, and released in the UK on Nov. 22, 1968.

According to this report, Eminem is one artist that reacted to leak pressures when releasing his last album:

"Eminem will finish his highly anticipated fourth album, ‘Encore’, days before it is to go on sale, according to published reports. This tactic is to be used by parent label Universal to crack down on pirating of the album which is due in November, a problem which affected ‘The Eminem Show’ in 2002. This resulted in its release date being brought forward by one week."

I'm sure accelerated download release schedules will become standard practice someday. But hurrah to Merge for being so forward thinking with mp3 coupons.

Posted by timothompson at October 27, 2005 01:10 PM