These guys haven't even launched yet...

With a writing staff of 18 people, 40,000 unique readers per month and non-stop physical promos coming in the mail, the adoption of digital promos was hard at first for the ezine giant, but has now become a smooth and essential part of the review publication process.

Here is how digital promos fit into the equation:
Traditionally, promo packages would come in the mail in homebase Woodbury MN. Hundreds of those packages would then get mailed to Goshen KY, where they are entered into the system database by a staff member. A normal box of 100 promos costs approx. $250-$300 to process from mailbox to database and then to published review.  There is also a 3-4 week timespan for this processing to take place.

Now introduce digital promos. Staff member in Goshen KY gets an email invitation to download a promo. Staff member downloads it and inputs the album information into the database. Part of this information, is a publicist contact email address.  A journalist staff member logs into the system, views a screen that displays all albums in queue that are ready to get reviewed.  Upon the journalist reserving the digital promo that just got entered, he will see the contact email address.  He then emails the publicist and requests an invitation. The publicist replies with an email invitation and the journalist downloads the album.

The record label feels safe in knowing that all tracks are watermarked and the journalist gets instant gratification in being able to download the album and transfer it to their iPod immediately. Time spent mailing out a physical package is eliminated, processing money is saved and hail the "green" movement, there is no physical waste. Even with the journalist spending a week listening to the downloaded promo (taking it with them wherever they go), the review publication turnaround is must faster.

The journalist reads the promo's biographical information sheet, views the photo gallery which has images for each page of the CD booklet that ships with the final product, and watches an attached teaser video. They have had the entire album for a week now and with all of the combined information, they feel good about writing their review. They submit their review to the system and it goes into a holding tank.  A staff editor gets an email notification that a review was submitted, logs in, and proofreads the review. The review is then published to the world and an automatic email is sent to the record label's publicist and the artist, informing them of the newly published review.

REPEAT.

I could go through every argument in this blog post, and counter back with the good that comes from what journalists think is "bad."  I won't though.  I think this is just a natural reaction to how the music industry is evolving.  Journalists want to make it sound like labels can't survive without their reviews and labels know that journalists won't have content for their websites/magazines if they don't send them promos.  Guess what?  You both need each other.


http://newsblog.thecmuwebsite.com/post/7525-of-UK-music-journalists-against-digital-promos.aspx

"Sony Music is becoming the first UK major to abandon CD promos, in favour of an all-digital system."

“Digital promo is set to become an industry standard as other major and independent music companies also make the switch,” Doherty writes in an email to contacts."


http://kerascene.blogspot.com/2010/03/sony-set-for-digital-promo-switch.html

Outside of all of the pessimistic journalist views of digital promos, it's nice to read a refreshing, somewhat optimistic view:

"Now everything is digital, and quite honestly, I struggle with it. I feel like it has really devalued music, and in turn, the way I listen to it. Primarily on my shitty lap top speakers. But, what I have noticed, is that it has made me more critical. And with the excessive rubbish output of dance music these days, that’s really not a bad thing."


http://lukesolomon.wordpress.com/2010/03/09/5-stars-songs/