Pre-release promises of extras – expected, but enough?

Earlier this spring, Trustkill Records started offering artist-branded trading cards along with albums in an effort to spur sales and break some of its artists (Yahoo News). Said the label’s founder, Josh Grabelle: "It's getting harder and harder to break a band and develop an artist, and kids are getting spoiled…They expect something extra if they buy a CD." Whether “spoiled” is an appropriate choice of words is certainly arguable; however, with so much media and entertainment competing for consumers’ attention, not to mention ubiquitous access to free music and video content, consumers are certainly in a position of power as the holders of limited attention and money. With music sales in a slump, the battle over copyright and P2P as hot as ever, and the true value of an album – digital or physical – unclear, indies and majors alike have been forced to provide all kinds of extras in the hopes of selling records to music fans. While such add-ons aren’t a new concept, they are increasingly becoming a requisite component of all purchased music. In particular, artists are hoping to entice fans into committing their money to purchase an album prior to its release date. A recent article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette points out some recent examples of pre-order incentives offered up among Indies: ●Comets on Fire (Sub Pop Records) offered pre-ordering fans a free concert DVD in addition to the CD; ●Portland-based band The Thermals offered a free copy of the “Burn to Shine” DVD with live performances from other Oregon bands like the Shins and Decemberists with a pre-order of their CD; ●Merge Records offers relevant band-themed gifts with all pre-orders – for example, pilot wings from Camera Obscura and a beer-bottle opener from well-known "consumer" Robert Pollard; ●Yo La Tengo is offering a season pass to those who pre-order their album. Pre-ordering fans will get to listen to a stream of the full album prior to the release date, and will receive an interactive booklet with album art, photos, liner notes and other interactive features, along with some bonus mp3s. ●And, in a particularly personalized example, Eugene Mirman rewarded 25 fans who pre-ordered his comedy CD by giving them a personal phone call. And major label acts are experimenting with various extras and pre-release promotional strategies, as well. Christina Aguilera just released a double disc, Back to Basics, offering fans what seemed to be a large number of tracks at a price far below what a 2-disc set usually goes for. In addition to the built-in “2 discs for the price of 1” strategy, Christina’s label offered up another pre-order incentive through Music Today, the company that handles her fan club. The company offered members a 5% discount on pre-orders and allowed club members to pass along this discount to others, encouraging viral promotion by rewarding the fan with the most pre-sales with an iPod (Blog Business Summit). As it turned out, what seemed like a fair deal for all of the extra tracks turned out to be less of a good deal than if fans had waited and bought the CD at local retailers. While the CD from Music Today sells for $16.98, fans could buy it at Walmart, Amazon, Best Buy, etc. for under 12 bucks. (Check out Lefsetz for an interesting commentary on her CD sales). In this case, what seemed like a good deal may not have been for some consumers due to discrepant pricing across some online and brick-and-mortar stores. And, most recently, even Bob Dylan has joined in the pre-order marketing push as a pre-order of Modern Times at iTunes comes with five videos and the chance to pre-order concert tickets for his summer tour. Fans pre-ordering the CD through Sony get a sample CD of his satellite radio show on XM. But, understanding that extras alone may not fully drive sales in the absence of sufficient promotion, Dylan’s label (Columbia) has tried to entice consumers to take advantage of the offer by releasing many rare and never-before-seen Bob Dylan videos exclusively on Google video leading up to the album’s release (PR News). Given the NPDs recent findings that consumers are interested in video extras along with CDs, as well as other multimedia, interactive content, the general strategy of providing extras as incentive to buy has merit; however, not all extras are created equal. Here are three things to keep in mind. Make it meaningful. Extras should foster a closer relationship between fans, the artist, and their music. Static tchotchkes are mere candy – give them sustenance. Though what is meaningful will vary across artists and will depend upon the interests of their fans, a few possibilities might include: ●providing a documentary of the artist – let fans follow them on tour or watch them tell their story about how they are making it as a band; ●providing behind-the-scenes, exclusive footage from concerts, video from rehearsals, or even low-budget, fun videos developed for promotional purposes for certain tracks on the album; ●making the album a collectible by offering special packaging, photos, artwork, etc. (Here’s a creative example) Make it interactive. What can fans DO with the extra material you provide them? Can they put it on their mobile phones? Share it with friends? Play with it, remix it, upload it, or otherwise turn it into something of their own? Offer them tools to make a video for one of the singles and submit it to a contest. Give them exclusive access to an online community in which you as an artist are an active member and where they can reach out and network with other fans. Lower the Price. Consumers expect additional content beyond standard CD tracks – but they are not necessarily willing to pay more for it. Many consumers feel that standard albums are inappropriately priced as it is, and that is unlikely to change. Additionally, as mentioned previously, music is competing with a variety of other media (particularly DVDs) for consumer dollars, and prices must likely go down in order for fans to justify more album purchases. Anyway, for you Dylan fans, feel free to enjoy the clip below, check out Google video for many more, and pre-order the album if you so desire… Technorati Tags: music,digitalmusic,CD,marketing,promotion,video,mp3,album,indie,majorlabel