Downloading music is really hurting these guys <g>
Rock Band's Web Giveaway Turns Marketing on Its Ear
latimes.com
SNIP:
> Offspring, unlike Metallica and other musicians suing Napster, says it views unauthorized Internet file swapping as a useful promotion tool that can help boost CD sales. The band's last collection, "Americana," has sold nearly 12 million copies since 1998 even though the album's hit single, "Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)," was downloaded without authorization more than 22 million times on Napster and other sites. <
SNIP:
> As soon as the song became a hit on radio and MTV, fans began posting and pilfering unauthorized versions on Napster and other Web sites. In a Web chart published by Rolling Stone magazine at the time, Offspring was listed as the No. 1 downloaded band in the country. Wired magazine said 22 million computer users had downloaded the track.
Nonetheless, sales of Offspring's "Americana" CD shot through the roof. The band dominated U.S. and foreign sales charts throughout the period, selling nearly 5 million copies in the U.S. and about 7 million more overseas.
"Digital downloading was not hurting our sales. In fact, it may have been helping," Holland said.
Instead of joining much of the rest of the industry last year in threatening Napster, Offspring chose to tease the company by publicly championing its cause in a tongue-in-cheek promotional campaign during the band's own concerts.
Offspring printed up unauthorized "Save Napster" T-shirts and began selling them at shows and at its Web site. Initially, Napster sent Offspring a cease-and-desist letter, but it quickly reconsidered and allowed the band to continue poking fun at it through the promotion.
While Offspring may have a friendly relationship with Napster, the same cannot be said for attorneys at Sony Music. When Guerinot and the band informed the company in March that Offspring planned to put up its next album on the Internet, Sony officials adamantly opposed the idea.
Industry attorneys have told the band that they are afraid that the download promotion could jeopardize the industry's legal case against Napster and its 25 million users, who download unauthorized MP3 music files on a daily basis.
"What these industry attorneys fail to realize is that MP3' has replaced 'sex' as the most sought-after thing on the Internet," Guerinot said. "It's our job to figure out how to market, promote and sell music in cyberspace--not just unplug 25 million potential customers." <
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Something big is happening here and it's going to turn the industry upside down. |
