Stick it to the man for only 99 cents
”Bum Rush the Charts” is further proof that some of the best marketing ideas these days come from non-marketers with passion. The passion in this case is for podcasting, which traditional media has not exactly embraced. Sure, some media outlets are producing podcasts, many simple recordings of content played on the radio, and others are delivering original content. But by and large, podcasting is contemptuously dismissed by, for instance, the Recording Industry Association of America.
The folks behind “Bum Rush the Charts” want to change that, and they want to do it all in one day—March 22. On that day, the organizers want you to go to Apple’s iTunes store and plunk down $.99 for a song by an independent artist. Not just any independent artist, or any song. They want you to buy “Mine Again” by Black Lab. Here’s the pitch:
...on March 22nd, the podcasting community is going to take an indie podsafe music artist to number one on the iTunes singles charts as a demonstration of our reach to Main Street and our purchasing power to Wall Street. The track we’ve chosen is “Mine Again” by the band Black Lab. A band, mind you, that was not just dropped from not just one, but two major record labels (Geffen and Sony/Epic) and in the process forced them to fight to get their own music back. We picked them because making them number one, even for just one day, will remind the RIAA record labels of what they turned their backs on - and who they ignore at their peril.
It helps that Black Lab is a terrific band and “Mine Again” is a fine track. But for $.99, I’d support this effort if I hated the band and the track made me cringe. You don’t have to listen to the track, after all. You just have to spend a penny shy of a buck to stand up and make a statement.
To make it even more enticing, the “Bum Rush the Charts” folks have arranged for the commission on every sale to be donated to college scholarships, “partly because it’s a worthy cause, but also partly because college students are among the most misunderstood and underestimated groups of people by big media.”
There’s a PDF version of a flyer you can print out and pin to your wall to remind you or to give to someone else. Heck, become a one-person street team and hand them out on a corner somewhere. I’m fully behind this effort, and impressed as hell that it didn’t take a Leo Burnett or Burson Marstellar to come up with it.
Hat tip to P.W. Fenton who alerted me to the Bum Rush on his wonderful podcast, Digital Flotsam. In fact, I’m going to get PeeDub’s permission to play that segment on For Immediate Release.
But, a question for those of us who prefer not-iPod audio players-- will there be DRM on the track?
Posted by Doug Haslam on 03/07 at 06:35 AMGood question, Doug. Maybe you could drop by the initiative’s blog and post your question as a comment, then let us know what you find out!
I suspect the answer is “yes,” but, of course, there are ways around that.
Posted by Shel Holtz on 03/07 at 08:20 AMOh yes,I know the standard workarounds, Shel-- and I will drop over to the blog per your suggestion. And I didn’t mean to pour cold water on a great idea (will buy the track regardless), but sticking it to the man (music industry) by running into the arms of another “the man” (Apple) strikes a funny note with me.
Have a great time at New Comms Forum-- say hello to my colleague Adam Zand if you get a chance
Posted by Doug Haslam on 03/07 at 09:09 AMWhile I understand the plight of the indie artist, this is not a band that one can reasonably call “indie.” They were signed to not one, but TWO different major labels. This means that they were entranced by the rock star dream, and for all their faults, no set of companies delivers the rock star dream for artists better than the four major record labels. So it’s obvious this is a band that wasn’t, in the baseball parlance, “all field and no hit.” This is a band that was shooting for the home run. How that dream got derailed is another story. But I refuse to accept the premise that this was a band major labels ignored.
Posted by Peter Kohan on 03/07 at 01:52 PMWhy do I have a sneaking suspicion that Black Lab is behind this?
And what happens on March 23? Business as usual?
I’m trying to connect the dots here, and I really can’t figure out what the purpose of this is.
Posted by Andy Curran on 03/07 at 08:53 PMPeter and Andy, did you read the post? Here’s the explanation of the choice and the intent:
“The track we’ve chosen is ‘Mine Again’ by the band Black Lab. A band that was dropped from not just one, but two major record labels (Geffen and Sony/Epic) and in the process forced them to fight to get their own music back. We picked them because making them number one, even for just one day, will remind the RIAA record labels of what they turned their backs on - and who they ignore at their peril.”
What’s more, Paul Durham from Black Lab has commented on exactly this suspicion:
http://www.pacificcoasthellway.com/podcasts/PaulDurhamBRTC.mp3
Not every effort is a conspiracy, guys.
Posted by Shel Holtz on 03/07 at 11:25 PMBands are like entrepeneurs or start-up companies. At some point they decide they may need some venture capital, or to go public, to achieve their goals. Sometimes labels, acting as venture capitalists, offer the right combination of support and financing to help drive that artist’s career to the next level, but in other cases they might act as bullying board members, or want to stick their nose into the books a little too much, just like some venture capitalists might do. They might want to replace a key exec (or drummer) because they feel the current guy isn’t talented enough. They may want to bring in some consultants (songwriters) to collaborate with the band. Sometimes the band/company just isn’t going to find the right venture capitalist/label so they choose to go indie.
Music consumers really don’t care about record labels per se, they care about artists. It is very rare and fleeting for a particular label in and of itself to represent something in the culture of value. So whether a band is “indie” or “major label” doesn’t mean anything to the listener, so the only reason to seek to promote indie for indie’s sake is to try and make an abstract point the market power of major labels.
It should be noted that just about every major independent label is distributed through one of the major label distribution companies. There are plenty of smaller, important labels, but it’s not as if being indie doesn’t mean channeling (physical) product through the most efficient distribution networks.
Shel - the “major labels suck and must be undermined/destroyed” rant from the indie community is the conspiracy theory operating here. I don’t think Black Lab and “Bum Rush the Charts” have much to do with each other. I agree there is PLENTY of crap being released by major labels, but that doesn’t necessarily make indie music better per se. I am glad indie music will be getting more radio airplay just for variety’s sake, but there are also plenty of major label acts who receive minimal radio airplay because radio determines airplay based on research, so I’m not sure if this will result in more robust content on my radio dial or iTunes.
Posted by Peter Kohan on 03/08 at 04:39 AMPeter, you miss the point entirely. This is about getting respect for podcasters and podcasting, not promoting indie music. Indie music is the vehicle to make that happen.
Posted by Shel Holtz on 03/08 at 06:00 AMHi Shel,
I just finished FIR #221 and blogged about the Bum Rush efforts everywhere I have blogging privileges. Thanks for getting the word out. If successful, I think it will be a big boost for podcasting.
Even if big labels don’t notice, it might help some artists become podcast friendly who are not today.
Keep up the great work and thanks for playing the Black Lab bit at the end of FIR 221. I liked it.
Posted by Daniel Cornwall on 03/14 at 07:04 PM
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