Can someone clue me in as to why, in 2020, we are still going through this old school routine?
I know the Springsteen demographic may be more partial to buying physical product than, say, Taylor Swift's fan base. Is the six weeks needed to press and package the CD's and vinyl? Or would that already be done by now?
If the latter, then why the 6 weeks? I get that they intend to drop at least another single between now and then, but what does this achieve? The average person in 2020, glued to their social media feeds on the phone, has the attention span of a gnat. The first single drops, it gets shared around for a few days, then it's gone. Three weeks later a second single drops, same thing. Then we go through the process a third time a few weeks after with the album.
Wouldn't a quick fire two or three week campaign work better these days? First single dropped one Friday, second single the Friday after, the album the Friday after that. Possible three weeks of consistent social media buzz and momentum leading into the big day.
Maybe someone who knows more about these things can correct me,
(*Disclaimer- this post may be entirely motivated by me wanting to hear the whole album in three weeks time, not six)
I'd love for it simply appear with no fanfare.
Old habits die hard.
I'll buy the album when released. For the pre-album "single(s)" I rip the audio from the youtube-video(s), convert to mp3 and listen on my ipod. I am a hard-core fan. I can't imagine the "causals" or members of the general public - I guess the actual target of the campaign- pay for the single(s) either. I doubt this campaign will help them sell more albums or "singles".
I’m not even convinced that just releasing the album out of the blue wouldn’t generate a similar effect, sales-wise, to a 2, 3 or 6 week marketing campaign.
I have no idea either, but I agree with you. One 'single', two weeks later the album would be so much better. It's not like we are rushing down to the record shop to buy a 45! Are they even singles anymore or just early releases of album tracks? I want to hear the whole album now, in its proper order, rather than another random track.
That's a really good question. I think in 2020 it'd be almost impossible to keep news of a new Springsteen LP from leaking once the physical media starts being produced.
As for lead time, in 2020, again, I'd be very surprised if they need to produce more than, what, 100k CDs and a 50k vinyl LPs? If even close to that? Maybe more like 40,000 or less of each? (Western Stars apparently sold 62,000 copies of vinyl and compact disc together its first week.)
Disclaimer much appreciated Boss ..... And when do tickets go on sale ? 😄