Here Today... Gone To Hell!

Rock band Guns N? Roses is seeking an advertising agency to promote their long-awaited next album in a major break from music industry tradition.

Sources suggest that Universal Music has already contacted several London advertising hotshops to launch a marketing communications programme ahead of the global release of ?Chinese Democracy? on November 25.

The move is the latest in a string of new initiatives by the music industry to encourage people to continue buying music, particularly albums, rather than illegally downloading or just buying singles for 79p.

Last summer, Prince gave away free copies of his new album with The Mail on Sunday; and Radiohead launched its own pay-what-you-like download experiment for their latest album.

Declining sales of music have prompted many bands, including Coldplay, to give away their tracks free. Last month Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher said he would ?embrace? the growing free music culture by allowing fans to listen to the band?s new album on MySpace, ahead of its official release. The album was posted on the social networking site so that fans could listen free.

It will be the first Guns N? Roses album since ?The Spaghetti Incident? in 1993 and was initially scheduled for release in March last year.

The delay prompted Dr Pepper in the US to ann-ounce that it will give a free can of its soft drink to ?everyone in America? if the album is released anytime during 2008.

http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=62884&d=254&h=260&f=3

15-Oct-08

(Taken from other forum  :beer:)

hmmm, at leats they are looking for more innovative ways to promote. tahst exactly what the band needs.

I CAN'T see the band giving the album away free, just won't happen with the record company looking to get $$$ back

Cool, this is no ordinary album so a more innovative marketing campaign will "hopefully" be the way forward.

No, but they might give a single away free or attached to some commercial item, i.e. newspaper, magazine or something else.

It seems like they're looking for a way to do it in the UK, like the equivalent of the BB deal in the US.

Seems like yet more confirmation that it is really going to happen. Surely this week there will be the announcment.

Yes.

This is what I feel they need; a marketing blitz.

This needs to be EVERYWHERE. Not just a single on the radio and an album coming. People need to know that the biggest band in the world is putting something out.

Kind of late in the game for this isn't it?  Shouldn't that already been in place and the ad campain already in the works?

I guess the american market is number one.

I don't work for a record company so I couldn't tell you.

this better not mean the UK gets the album after america (a long time after..)

Well if they are looking to do a Prince style release through a big name newspaper/magazine then they would still make a lot of money and a more guaranteed figure. Instead of relying on consumer sales they would just get a fixed sum from whichever company they would choose to release it, not to mention the free publicity as it would then be that newspaper/magazines job to promote it. But unless they get offered a huge amount of money it would probably be best to sell it through a big name retailer.

Yeah its just a month left, but a campaign like this can even start after the album i released to push the sales... commercials on busses, trains, TV, RADIO etc.  I reckon the reason for the "late" involvment of agencys is to avoid leaks etc... and there is still 3 more albums to promote as well..
...Well just som thoughts anyway...

Yeah, i think that is also the main reason for the silence in the GNR camp.
But im pretty sure hell will break loose with the annoucement. Mysteron said there wont be anything before Thursday! So, what means anything can happen from tomorrow! MaybeFriday? Early next week?

that's how i see it :headbanger:

I got internet on my cellphone because I won't be home tomorrow night, and Friday is also going to be very busy. I'm prepared! Bring it on! :hihi:

i always just assumed that this was the hold up anyway, atleast from 07 til now. with the internet and everything, you really need to be creative to find a way to make money off of a multi million dollar tab that the album ran up.

and its not just gnr, but everyone nowadays is stuck wondering 'ok, well i got this music, now what the hell do i do with it?'

I wonder if that Dr. Pepper promo includes fans in Canada as we are considered North America? or was it plainly USA?

Here in the U.S., Best Buy traditionally begins their holiday commercial season on November 1st, so there's no doubt in my mind that in the weeks leading up to November 23rd, Chinese Democracy will get a huge push in television spots.

What I do wonder is if Best Buy will dedicate a full 30 second spot SOLELY to Chinese Democracy.

November 1st is a Saturday, so I would bet that during college football games on that day, as well as NFL games on November 2nd, a lot of Best Buy ads will be airing.

This is going to be the key to the success of the album and this version of the band. They need to come with something innovating which has never been done before. I think they should come up with some kind of charity show, festival, or gimmick show that has not been done before. Then they can get it televised on a major network, in order to get major ratings.

Remember David Blaine did his special a few weeks ago on ABC and it had huge ratings although the ending was terrible. Maybe GNR can perform on The Great Wall of China... How appropriate would that be! A concert televised on ABC, NBC, or CBS from the Great Wall of China would definitely have HUGE ratings. Plus I am sure networks around the world would want to televise the concert like they did the Olympics.

About a year ago they had a skater jump over the great wall... why not a GNR concert? Audioslave even played in Cuba a few years back. This concert will give huge exposure and great publicity plus giving away a CD for people who go their concerts, plus peope buying the CD on their own would bring in big numbers.

I was looking at the UYI tour information... it says that more than 7 million people went to those concerts. If they do a similar type tour and give away a CD at their shows, plus the purchases other fans make... they could reach really high numbers. That would be incredible for today standards.

This will bring instant credebility to this band.

no chance China would let GNR play "Chinese Democracy"

Uhm, I guess we'll have to see how the album is doing before planning a world tour for 7 million people.