| In my series of "Doing Your First Record" I outlined how a
marketing and promotional campaign could be done for a local release. As you
probably know, the "real" circumstances are seldom ideal. Bob Dennis and I
thought that you, the reader, could benefit from an actual report of how a
"real" release is handled. |
|
| The group we are promoting an marketing is called
"GifTvS" and the nine-cut release is called :Sturgeon General Warning."
The name "GifTvS" is Latin for "Gift" and spelled with the
Latin "U" which is the same as the modern "V;" The name is pronounced
GIFT US. The "Sturgeon General" is a character thought up by Bob, who proclaims
"The Sturgeon General has determined that smoking dope is hazardous to your health -
DON'T GET HOOKED" The group has a couple of cuts referring to drug use.
One cut "Stoned and On My Own" reefers to someone wanting to be alone
because of smoking pot and the tune "Cocaine Lies" is self-explanatory." |
| The group is a three piece rock group from Clarkston,
Michigan. The group has a commitment from Holland Group, a record company in
Hollywood, to nationally press, promote and distribute the release, providing it tests
well in Michigan. The release is on a local label established by Bob Dennis called
"Motortown Internet Records." The group is extremely talented and has
literally hundreds of tunes written. |
| I would have like to get the release out at the end of July,
but we are shipping to stores the day after Labor Day. The idea is to get out the
release before major companies release their fall product. We're beating them by a
couple of weeks, where I would have preferred 6 weeks. Time will only tell if adversely
effects the release, but we do have a shot. In order to compensate, we are doing the
first three steps of the campaign at the same time. The first steps are: |
| WEEK 0 |
Before the campaign begins, you need to target the areas and target
the "push cut" for radio airplay. A Record Release Party is scheduled,
optimally the 3rd week of the promotion. CD singles on the "push cut" are made
for radio. You try to get gigs lined up in the targeted secondary area. |
| WEEK 1 |
The first week involves distributing the full product to retail
outlets. All stores should have initial sales copies before radio is introduced to
the product. Additionally , the group needs to mail out notices of when and where the
release party is and press releases to the media. |
| WEEK 2 |
The second week involves presentation of the CD single to radio in
the major market as well as the targeted secondary market. You let the station know
that you will be happy to do a "presented by radio station..." gig when the test
bears fruit. The group should confirm attendance for the release party. |
|
| The first thing that became obvious we we looked at the group
and at the product is that they really appeal to two kinds of audiences. Some of their
cuts, like "Autumn," "Itchin'" and "I'll Get High With You,"
are commercial mainstream cuts that could be classified as hard rock with pop overtones.
Other cuts like "The Fish Song" and "Stoned and On My Own" are more
alternative in nature. Our "push cuts" are therefore "Autumn" and
"Fish Song" with the first being presented to the mainstream rock stations and
the other being presented to College Radio. The radio promo copies have both tunes.
|
| The records are being shipped to 36 Harmony House stores that
cover much of the Michigan area as of September 9th. Warehouse Records, the other
main chain in Michigan get shipped next week. |
| The college station we are first targeting is the CMU station
in Mt. Pleasant, MI. We have a date of September 15th for the "release party" at
Rubbles in Mt. Pleasant. The same day, the group performs live at the CMU radio
station. The station is already playing Fish Song. |
| We identified the target mainstream market as Flint,
Michigan. By asking other rock DJ's we determined that radio station WRXF in Lapeer
Michigan as an influential station in the area. We have an appointment with the music
director September 9th to present the product. |
| Well we are out of room for this week. Next week we
plan to report our progress and try to give you more insight into the process. |
