Beggars Archive

Pre-release promotion

There’s currently a debate in the UK music industry regarding early servicing of records to the media (especially radio) who play the music whilst it’s still unavailable to purchase – (some argue that this creates a demand for illegal downloads; a fair point) – but this has also created the culture of ‘first and exclusive’.

I become aware of most catalogue releases when I read about them in the press, especially the monthlies. Again, most of these are reviewed prior to release when they aren’t available. The other problem is that there are probably 20+ titles each month that get above average reviews and look interesting but let’s face it, who has the money or time to invest in them?

I’ve come up with my own solution. All the magazines are purchased at our office then discarded when the next issue arrives. Rather than get my copy on the day of issue I wait for the week / month old discards. So I’m not first with the news but actually that’s jurassic thinking – I get my news before publication from the internet.

No, what I want is to read a review then, if something looks interesting, check it out on Spotify. Leave it a month and most releases are available there.
Where does this leave the monthly publications? For years they have insisted on reviewing albums prior to release (sometimes we even have to lie about release dates) otherwise they are unwilling to look ‘out-of-date’. My point is, from the catalogue perspective, it would be much better to service everyone with the complete finished copy (possibly a week or so prior to release) rather than asking them to download the tracks for review or sending out a CD-R two months earlier.

In the modern world the monthly music magazines can’t hope to compete with the internet for breaking news. What they can do is become a digest of the previous couple of months and rather than worry about being first with reviews they could provide the most considered, most insightful and best reviews. There’s a challenge. I respond to literate, entertaining. informed writing on a broad front of music related articles and I still prefer to read a magazine casually over the month.
So guys, don’t worry about being first, just be the best.

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