June 28th, 2007
Don’t Say I Never Gave Ya Nuthin’
I’ve always had a big problem with Soundscan. It tells you WHERE something was purchased, but not WHO purchased it. As stated in the comments on my previous post, labels often think of their main customers as the retailers, the press, and radio. Direct to sales with their customers is last on the list.
A few years ago (2003) I had a short lived customer-loyalty program at Blackout! that did pretty well. Due to financial reasons we didn’t keep it up, but I thought I’d share it with you all to see if this may help bridge the gap between the CD world and what will ulitmately become an exclusively digital world by creating that customer access.
Here’s what I did:
- In each release, I placed a registration card with a unique serial number (much like with software) in with each release. It basically read “register this CD at our website and get free stuff.”
- Fans would go to a special section on the Blackout! site and enter their information for the “network” which would keep track of their purchases and feedback. They also could opt-in to receive update emails on Blackout! bands.
- Each time they entered a serial number, it would be added to their account and we’d be able to sort and dissect the resulting data.
- Once they’d purchased X amount of stuff, we’d send them stickers, posters and other swag.
- We could contact them in the future with band or label updates.
The program was pretty successful in getting info, we had a few thousand names at the end of the first quarter of operation, and the response rate was actually pretty high. I simply didn’t have the sales or the release schedule to keep it running. Today, this could be coupled with mobile premiums as well. Free ringtones delivered directly via SMS to those who purchased CD’s, geo-targeted tour announcements based on zip or area code.
In an ideal world, labels would all get together to do this as a collective, sharing the information and creating a larger base of artists to work with. In fact, I thought about starting this as a little company, but I’m too busy with other tangential projects to make it happen. So, do with this what you will, don’t say I never gave ya nuthin’, and if you make money… at least do me a mitzvah in return and take me out to dinner.
Written by Bill Wilson
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On June 29th, 2007 at 8:02 am
LazyWeb: Gig To-Do Macros + Gig Matcher said:
[…] Bill emphasizes the importance of learning where your records are actually selling. Wouldn’t it be great if I could pay Amazon a fee (or maybe waive some of my associates payments) in exchange for an opt-in box on the checkout page that would add that purchaser directly to my mailing list? I’m almost shocked and surprised that record labels aren’t trying this with large retailers like Wal-Mart and Target who easily catalog purchases tracked with their store credit cards. Amazon.com has a one-way kind of offering with “Plogs.” If I got my act more in gear, I could easily push messages to folks who purchased my books through Amazon, but I still can’t get my hands on their personal information. (And that’s a good thing, from a privacy standpoint.) That’s why bounceback cards and special “registration” offers are still so critical. […]
On July 11th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Christian said:
Very thoughtful post, Bill! What do you think keeps them from doing this?
Christian
On July 11th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
Bill Wilson said:
Perpetual Luddism.