I wasn't sure if I should put this thread here or in the the general Off Topic section, so Mods please move it if you see fit.
I'm starting this thread to continue the discussion that started in
this thread. While it started in regards to comparing the marketing of Bruce Springsteen to that of Meat, please feel free to talk about any artist as long as it pertains to the subject. Discuss by all means, but please play nice.
I'm going to start by responding to stretch's comment here.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by stretch37
Hitting #1 on itunes and amazon proves that record companies will market the "old guys". He had a week on Jimmy Fallon and has had tons of promo as well as great branding. The album is good - but no more good than Meat Loaf's album. I'd say HIAH and HCTB are greater achievements at this stage in Meat's career than Wrecking Ball is for Bruce in terms of his performance, NOT and i repeat NOT the quality of the songs.
So I think this should end the debate on whether or not the record companies will shell out for the senior most artists....they will...they just need to spend more on Meat because he is worth every penny.
|
Regarding the Fallon appearances, Bruce wasn't on for the whole week, he was on 2 nights. The other three nights had other artists covering his songs, and that was it. Jimmy is a big Bruce fan, but he's done this for other artists in the past, so this wasn't a unique situation. Jimmy's show is also a late-night program (it's on at 11:35 or 12:35 at night, depending on the time zone), and while I don't know exact ratings figures, I'm sure not nearly as many people watch it as watch The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, for instance. In addition, Bruce's appearances on the show were sponsored by Budweiser, so it's not Sony putting up the money in that case.
In terms of other promo, I have honestly seen very little except for online, and I'm sure that's mostly because it's the targeted type of advertising that you get based on the sites you visit. People in other parts of the country have said they've seen TV ads, but I haven't seen any. I have seen more promo for this album than the last, but I disagree with the "tons" part, at least where I live.
Regardless, Sony has a vested interest in Promoting Bruce's album because they gave him a very large dollar contract a few years ago, and I'm sure they want to recoup their money. They also want to keep the back catalog, as there are many potential sales there as well.
Whether one album is "better" than than the other is a matter of opinion. From the record company's view, it's all about the Benjamins; in other words, they are going to invest the dollars where they're going to get the most return.
So, the question is: how does one market an "old guy", given how the music industry has changed?