Interesting article on Julie's Bicycle talking about how switching to digital promos can reduce CO₂.


"The way forward is clear. All companies should switch to digital promos now, as far as is possible."
- Alison Wenham, Chairman and Chief Executive of AIM

I'm not going to name names, because all we really care about, is making our easy to use software and bending over backwards for our customers.


Labels, when researching digital promo services, please use caution:

An "Industry Leader" in media delivery charges $1.95 PER RECIPIENT for digital promos. You gotta be fucking kidding me! We've got customers who have 2,500 media contacts. So, that would make one digital promo going out to all contacts $4,875?!

At Haulix, you can send promos to an unlimited number of recipients, as long as you are within your bandwidth quota.


Isn't one of the main reasons for going digital, to save money you would normally spend on physical CD mailings? There are services out there that are overpriced and overrated at the same time. Research wisely my friends.

We keep a close eye on the music industry and it's blatantly obvious to us that DJs and Heavy Metal labels are the majority adopters of digital promos. My theory on why that is goes like this:

1. DJs tend to be on the more tech savvy side.

2. Metal Labels (like everyone else) got hit by the downward economy and like a big wave, they realized the value in going digital with promos and how much money could be saved. (We're wondering when other genres will catch on.)

3. As more and more albums are being sold in digital format, it makes sense that digital promos would be a natural byproduct.

4. Many DJs and Metal labels operate in small teams. They are lean and can make quick decisions and strategy changes. The larger labels have the corporate bloat that makes turning the ship a much bigger endeavor.


We're curious to hear your thoughts. Why are DJs and Metal labels the early digital promo adopters?

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/