Monthly Archive for May, 2008

Denny’s Adopts Up And Coming Bands — Billboard.biz

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Rob Stefaniak
on May 19, 2008
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Denny's logoDenny’s, the casual food chain, is getting into the music business via its just launched “Adopt-a-Band” program. The restaurant chain is offering free food and comfort to traveling bands, part of a broader promotional exchange. Participating bands can grab free food at any moment, and host after-show parties at Denny’s locations. “At a time when touring costs are high, Denny’s is here to help,” the company explained on its “Adopt-a-Band” program website.

Participating touring bands will have content featured on the Denny’s microsite dennysallnighter.com including photos, bios, tour dates posted, and one streamed song.

The bulk of participating bands are developing acts, but Denny’s also brokered broader deals with high-profile bands Taking Back Sunday (Warner Bros.), Eagles of Death Metal (Rekords Rekords / Downtown), The All-American Rejects (Interscope), and Plain White T’s (Hollywood Records) — they will create Rock Star Menus consisting of a dish concocted by one of the bands.

In return, the featured band will be expected to visit three Denny’s a month, mention their Denny’s visits on their respective Web sites and post pictures of themselves at Denny’s. Every two months six new bands will be “adopted” and added to the site.

“In value driven times, we know that bands obviously need to eat. We felt good about being able to offer support and have people out there drumming up support,” said Michael Polydoroff, director of sales promotion and licensing, Denny’s. “We looked at a myriad of bands, posted on Sonicbids.com back in March and worked with Filter [Magazine] to narrow down the list. We were looking for great brands who have a huge online following and who will work hard for us.“

Denny’s Adopts Up And Coming Bands — Billboard.biz

Denny’s Late-Night Grub Suddenly Sounds Nice… — Digital Music News

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Now playing: No Age - Cappo
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This One’s On Me: Reznor Just Gives It Away — Digital Music News

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Rob Stefaniak
on May 13, 2008
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NIN - The Slip (cover art)Last week Trent Reznor came out of nowhere (once again) and offered a new NIN album totally free, a move that is undoubtedly meant to boost fan loyalty. The album, called The Slip, is available without DRM and in multiple formats. “Thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years - this one’s on me,” Reznor wrote on the NIN.com site.

Fans can grab the album in a variety of formats, including MP3, various lossless (FLAC or Apple), or 24-bit/96-KHz WAV files (better than CD quality). Vinyl and CD versions will go on sale in July.

Not only is The Slip available for free, but it was released under the Creative Commons “attribution noncommercial share-alike” license. A note on the NIN.com site says: “We encourage you to remix it, share it with your friends, post it on your blog, play it on your podcast, give it to strangers, etc.”

Additionally, Nine Inch Nails announced a unique concert pre-sale that offers registered fans the best seats, a ticket imprinted with their name, early venue access and more. Simply put, Reznor is paving the way for the next generation of musicians who control their content and thrive via a direct connection to fans.

Lefsetz chimes in on the NIN promotion, and while I agree with many of his observations, I am at odds with him saying that Reznor did it wrong by offering an entire album at once:

“As for Trent dropping another album… I wouldn’t do it this way. Maybe he sees the record as a cohesive whole. But the key in the future is a little bit on a regular basis. Because this is what fans WANT! New music, more info, they want to feed their addiction. Rather than drop a load on them infrequently, give them something they can ponder for a few days or a week, then leave them hungry for a MONTH FROM NOW!”

Although this is a very progressive idea, one that Mark Cuban offered a few months ago, this isn’t what I would’ve wanted and I don’t feel like serializing the free tracks is all that compelling. If it was done that way, I probably would’ve waited until the entire album was available before I would bother visiting the site and downloading the tracks. I really have to disagree with Lefsetz on this one.

Recently, the band Coldplay offered a free download of the new single off their forthcoming album, and although I am a casual fan of Coldplay (which is to say I bought three of their previous albums), I don’t feel compelled to retrieve their free track. Why? There’s no perception of value present for me - definitely not like there is when an entire album is offered for free.

Radiohead - NIN - Coldplay

So, I ran across this article at Hitwise Intelligence (graph above) that measures the share of US Internet visits of Radiohead vs. NIN vs. Coldplay websites. I guess you can say it measures a free album vs. a free track as suggested by the size of Radiohead’s spike (back in September ‘07) vs. Coldplay’s spike (this month). It will be interesting to see going forward if Coldplay’s website visits remain higher after the release of the single than before and also NIN - The Slip spike vs. Coldplay’s spike (as I don’t believe that is represented on the graph).

Again, I don’t believe releasing a single free track for download is substantial enough to get me to make an effort to visit an Artist’s website. Very little perception of value - even when I am a fan. Thanks Trent for the free album - definitely worth my time.

Nine Inch Nails Gives Fans The Slip | Listening Post from Wired.com

Lefsetz Letter » Blog Archive » Trent’s Album

This One’s On Me: Reznor Just Gives It Away — Digital Music News

Hitwise Intelligence: Coldplay Compared To NIN And Radiohead

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Now playing: Nine Inch Nails - 1,000,000
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Hypebot: Microsoft Sends Indie Labels Bonus Checks

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Rob Stefaniak
on May 8, 2008
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Zune logoAs reported by Hypebot and in what is a very cool move in my opinion, Microsoft Zune recently sent substantial one time bonus checks to some digital distributors and independent labels. The checks appear to be the company’s answer to criticism of payments as high as $1 per player extracted by Universal Music Group and other major labels granting permission for Zune’s music sharing functionality.

The move is being categorized as “a corporate decision to demonstrate their commitment to the independent sector in a manner we all appreciate: rather than simple lip service, they wrote a check,” by The Orchard and “a smart move by Zune at a time when concerns are being expressed over treatment of the indie community,” by IODA CEO Kevin Arnold.

Listening Post points out the move could increase pressure on MySpace Music, which was built by the indie sector, to start treating indies with the same degree of respect (read: money) that it gives to the major labels. The recent equity position offered to major labels by MySpace Music and cash advances by some new music services have led to concerns that the indie sector was not receiving its fair share.

Check out the Hypebot post for Microsoft Comments as well as full text of The Orchard letter.

Hypebot: Microsoft Sends Indie Labels Bonus Checks

Microsoft Zune Pays Bonus To Indie Labels | Listening Post from Wired.com

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Now playing: Santogold - L.E.S. Artistes
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An Alternative Approach To Marketing Rock Bands — New York Times

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Rob Stefaniak
on May 8, 2008
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No Food - No Sleep - Just RecordsAn article in the New York Times highlights record label Fueled By Ramen as having a promotional strategy and using tactics reminiscent of the Motown era whereby its acts promote one another as well as the company itself.

When a Fueled By Ramen band becomes popular, it starts to endorse the label’s other bands - often touring together.  Many of the bands were discovered by Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy, and benefit from his implicit endorsement.

Label owner John Janick, is mentioned as someone who thrives on grass-roots promotion and not having any money. The label and its partners “know how to do things on the cheap.” The key quotes:

“Mr. Wentz set the pattern for Fueled by Ramen’s marketing strategy: blog often, tour hard and keep expenses down. When Mr. Janick signs bands, he tells them how hard they will work, not how rich they will become.”

“The main thing for me is making sure kids can go to one place and get everything from the artist. It’s a branding thing.”

While this might be considered a fresh and “alternative” strategy for the mainstream Rock genre, this type of endorsement has been happening for a very long time in the Hip-Hop scene. Additionally, this is something that happens everyday in music proto-markets when local bands put together gigs to play. No one ever really plays with a band they don’t like (or endorse). There is a social aspect to it - bands only want to gig with people they also want to hang out with for an evening.

An Alternative Approach To Marketing Rock Bands — New York Times

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Now playing: The Hush Sound - Honey
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