Mar 3rd, 2006, 03:35 PM
music biz sucks....
(Below is a message that was sent out to the Hawthorne Heights myspace
members and street team over the weekend to try and boost sales for the
release this week. The second section is another email that was sent
out today to ALL Victory Records street teams. If you haven't got time
for the pain, just scroll down to the VERY END and read the last couple
of paragraphs. They'll make the hair on your neck rise.)
Feb 27, 2006
Tomorrow, our second album, "If Only You Were Lonely" will be in
stores. We are reaching out to you because Hawthorne Heights can use your
help. We need you, your friends and anyone else you know that likes ROCK
music to buy our album tomorrow. The only reason we are able to be a
band is because of your support. Without you we would not be able to do
what we do.
You buying our album tomorrow has much greater meaning than simply
supporting Hawthorne Heights. ROCK music needs your support. Our society
and culture has put rock music on the backburner. If our album can debut
at #1 all of us will have taken ROCK music back to the top of the
charts where it belongs. You might ask, how has ROCK been put on the
backburner? A current example is an artist that we are up against called
Ne-Yo. Many people are saying that Ne-Yo is going to outsell us because
Ne-Yo has had a tremendous amount of over the top, mainstream media
coverage. His album will be in stores tomorrow. Radio has played his single
160,000 times. Our single has been played 3,800 times. We know that does
not seem possible but it is the truth. Ne-Yo is on a major label.
Hawthorne Heights is on an independent label.
ROCK music needs to win tomorrow.
Independent needs to beat Major tomorrow. If all of you take action we
can create history. The mainstream media may not choose to fully
embrace this ROCK band from Dayton, Ohio but all of you have. No one can take
that away from us. It cannot be bought because it comes from the heart.
That is what makes us different. Your support means everything to us
and is the most valuable thing that we have. You are the people that we
depend on. This is as much about you as it is about us. You hear our
voices every night. Now, we need to hear yours. You see us at our merch
table every night. We need to see you in the stores tomorrow. We cannot
come out on top without you. Passion and music with real meaning has a
chance to beat out what the media forces down our throats. No one
expects us to win. We need to prove them wrong. They underestimate us. Please
help us create history tomorrow. This is a `call to arms', a `battle
cry', not just for Hawthorne Heights but for all of the other great ROCK
bands and independent labels that we all love. All of us deserve this
and it is something that we can do together.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
March 1, 2006
Happy Hawthorne Heights day everyone - street date has finally arrived!
It all comes down to the next six days and maximizing our sales at as
many stores as possible. We are neck-and-neck with this Ne-yo character
on Universal and we need everyone out there tilting the tide in our
favor. Our projected numbers for first week sales are about even so we
really need to make every unit count if we want to win.
We do this first by selling more Hawthorne Heights, hitting as many
stores as possible, making sure Hawthorne Heights stock is in the front
and very visible in every store we visit. Get inside, do what
you need to do, and move on to the next store. Move Hawthorne Heights
into as many key positions as you can. Remember there are two covers so
not only put them together, put them in different places. HH should
have spots in all the new release racks toward the front of the store but
we can always increase our presence by dropping a few in another
displays.
If you don't see our product on display at the front of the store,
particularly later in the week, then go to the bin and move what you
can. There are a lot of stores that are not as on top of this as they
should be, especially something as hot as Hawthorne Heights, so we
need to give these people all the help they can get.
Also look for HH in the areas where stores keep overstock. Sometimes
this is below the bins or on the top of the rack. If you find any
CDs,particularly under the bins, try to move those out first to the otherareas
of the store.
On the off chance you find a store that doesn't have any copies of the
new Hawthorne, find a clerk and ask him why they don't have it. If it's
sold out, find out when they have more coming in. If it's showing as in
stock, let him know that you can't find it so he knows to order more.
Here is a list of the best chain stores to go to:
Best Buy
Target
Wal Mart
FYE
Coconuts
Wherehouse
Circuit City
Sam's Club
K Mart
Sam Goody
Virgin Borders
Borders
Barnes & Noble
Fred Meyer
Hastings
Meijer
As for Ne-yo, the name of the game is to decrease the chances of a sale
here. If you were to pick up handful of Ne-yo CDs, as if you
were about to buy them, but then changed your mind and didn't bother to
put them back in the same place, that would work. Even though this
record will be heavily stocked and you might not be able to move all the
stock, just relocating a handful creates issues: Even though the store
will appear to be out of stock, the computer will see it as in stock and
not re-order the title once it sells down and then Ne-Yo will lose a
few sales later in the week
This is most important in stores were we are competing with Ne-yo,
which is in the big chains that sell pop and urban product. The stores
listed above are in the order you should hit them up.
The main thing is to keep the pressure up all week. First day sales
are important but keeping our sales going and having a strong weekend
are equally important to grabbing the #1 slot that belongs to us.
Please be sure to email me this week and let me know which stores you
have gone to and worked your magic at.
Thanks everyone,
Abby
Victory at all costs, Victory in spite of all terror, Victory however
long and hard the road may be; for without Victory, there is no
survival.
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I don't get it. I mean, why did they fuck with the formula? Where are the car songs? There's only one song about surfing and it's a downer!
Linear Mode
