Virtual street teams

Yesterday's Blog described how some "inadvertent" pre-release P2P filesharing might have contributed to the No. 1 Billboard debut of U2's new album:

Critics suggest that the theft of How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and its subsequent pre-release to the peer-to-peer sites might have been done for promotional purposes.

That quote is from Was New U2 Album Hitting P-2-P Networks on Purpose? in Audio/Video News, which went on to say:

Since the 1960's, FM radio was a make-it-or-break-it medium for new pop music. In the last 10 to 15 years radio groups, many of whom own hundreds or in one case over 1000 radio stations in the US, have very much lost their power to reach the young GenY, record buying public. They are better reached via email, on a cell phone or through a peer-to-peer network. Moreover, as much as the RIAA would argue the opposite, some suggest that the idea of an album getting on the Internet for illegal downloads actually boosts its overall sales.

But not all labels are leaving the guerilla tactics to their artists:

Record labels' street teams now online
Thursday, December 9, 2004
CNET News.com

Street teams have long been a key part of record labels' grassroots marketing efforts, … fans, students and paid marketing companies who post fliers, distribute sample discs, and talk up new albums among friends and scene members.

All the labels are now experimenting with download, subscription and even peer-to-peer tools for distributing digital versions of their songs. But digital sales still account for barely 1 percent of the U.S. music business, and labels are looking to the Net to help drive sales of CDs as well as downloads.

Some labels have begun offering promotional songs to bloggers, which post MP3s for download by members of their niche communities.

Labels are increasingly experimenting with instant messages and mobile text-messaging…. Individual computer users can be influential marketers and even potentially distributors of music -- a little like street teams pounding digital pavement in service of their favorite acts.

"A person who has 100 people in their (instant messenger) buddy list and who wants to tell people about a band is very powerful," said Syd Schwartz, vice president of new media at Virgin Records America.

And it seems like a good time to recognize another milestone:

iTunes hits 200 million download mark
Thursday, December 16, 2004
CNET News.com

Apple Computer on Thursday said it has now sold more than 200 million songs through its iTunes Music Store -- and it has new plans to keep the sales trend continuing upward.

It took the company 11 months to sell its first 50 million songs and then another four months to get to 100 million songs. Three months later, the company hit 150 million, and it took just two months to get to 200 million.

"I like the trend," Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of applications, said in an interview.

As I noted in Paying the Piper, each of those 200 million paid downloads could have been acquired for free out on the P2P net.

Maybe the labels are beginning to catch on.

Steve

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