Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG) may be in a lawsuit with online retailer AnywhereCD, but the company is doing something right, and that appears to be their advertising. With the coming summer music season, all of the major albums by big artists are being released. Warner will release Linkin Park's third album Minutes to Midnight on May 15th, a highly anticipated album by the rock sextet.
The company appears to have taken the enormity of that band into their consideration of how to best market the album. The biggest change in album marketing I've noticed is the appearance of TV commercials that feature the new single "What I've Done" over the album art, followed by the release date (I've rarely seen a new album by such a large band marketed this way). Additionally, the album has been available for pre-order on Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iTunes Store since mid-April, well before pre-orders are typically made available, and features "secret bonus tracks" that are exclusive to that store. In my local Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) store's weekly ad this morning, the album is also available for pre-order and carries special pre-order offers. The album is still two weeks from being released.
These rather minute advertising successes may not increase album sales, but they certainly increase the awareness listeners will have of the album and the release. That is what makes Warner's success this month vital for the company, especially as their prices slowly rise. Last week alone they increased steadily to gain nearly a $1.
Nuclear power is on the comeback trail
Apple backs AT&T in continuing spat with Verizon
Closing Bell: The recession is still over, still... do you feel it?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-01-2007 @ 12:24PM
DieterK said...
This focus on first week sales (the movie industry model) is exactly what is wrong with the music industry today.
5-01-2007 @ 12:25PM
50isnifty said...
Warner Brothers, like all record companies, is responsible for their own problems. Bad and limited selections and high prices have pretty much made me give up on most major labels these days. Warners hasn't even had the good taste to release several classis titles from their catalog (like Ashford and Simpson and Funkadelic) on CD yet.
5-01-2007 @ 12:32PM
Richard Driver said...
I completely agree with both of you. The first week sales should theoretically be the lowest of initial sales, but the industry does not see it that way. I'm always reminded of the British singles charts where they used to release the single and then several weeks later it would rise (hopefully to #1). Now, it's just release, chart and then it is never really heard of again. It's the same way here, I especially lament the fact that a band like Modest Mouse could do so well the first week out and then lose to Now 24.
Warner, I think, is starting to reissue the material that made them so successful. One of my previous posts talks about the reissue of the Traveling Wilburys by Warner this summer. Hopefully that could be a sign of future reissues to come. But we'll see.