It's WMG again.

[DazedOblivion]

I'm thrilled about the single and album release being announced but honestly was hoping for a change in distribution and marketing.

Since I have been following the Corrs' and Andrea's solo records, I have been underwhelmed by WMG's lackluster efforts at promotion. To me, the involvement of Warner Music is a bit of rain on the parade, given their dismal track record in promotion in the U.S. ever since Borrowed Heaven. Maybe Warner UK will do better in the U.S. than Warner U.S. or Rhino did. They can't do much worse. Those subsidiaries basically plopped the CDs on the shelf many months after the buzz had died down in the rest of the world, and that was about it.

I do wish it will be different this time.

[magnficentfan]

Warner may not be the worst way to go, Steve. I know exactly what you're saying... but if the people there already know Sharon and know her track record with the Corrs, they may be more willing to work with her.

When it comes to promotion for BH, I always wondered how much was lackluster promotion on behalf of the record company, and how much of it was the band not being willing or able to do what the record company wanted them to do. Certainly, if promoting in the US meant giving up previously scheduled engagements in Europe, I can understand not wanting to change things. But I wonder if the record company at some point wanted the band to go back and do more leg work in the form of interviews and performances on smaller radio stations in smaller markets across the States, and they didn't want to do it because they'd done it so many times earlier in their career. They may have felt that it was taking a step backwards.

And as far as Rhino in the US goes - it's my understanding that they pretty much put out compilations and special market discs. Being that Home was an album of Irish songs, Rhino made perfect sense. But I don't think they do much promotion for anything - it's more or less a label to release something on and put it out there.

-- Marie

[DazedOblivion]

You're probably right that WMG - for worldwide release as a whole - may not be that bad. I didn't get the impression that they were so bad in other countries.

I was mainly recalling how things went in the States. I find it unforgivable of WMG-US that, to this day I have never heard a single track from Borrowed Heaven, a masterpiece album in my estimation, played on radio - except for "retail radio" in supermarkets and hardware stores. The Corrs toured, they made TV appearances but their label did not find a way to push the music onto radio.

When it came to Home and Ten Feet High (and Live in Geneva for that matter), the U.S. release dates were half a year behind most of the rest of the world. All the die hard fans had already purchased imported CDs from the UK or Japan, and so the committed fans had no impact on initial chart position.

I just wish WMG would be as aggressive in promotion as they are in copyright protection on YouTube. I've had a few friends banned from YouTube by WMG initiative, though they were simply trying to promote the band they love. It's a complicated thing, I know.

I'm sure that the execs at WMG remember the Corrs (who can forget?), but my understanding is that the original key supporters from the label are gone, like Jason Flom at Lava, who left for another label.

It may work out all right, but I can only say that news of the involvement of WMG didn't have me very elated.

[cw]

I think the die was cast due to Sharon still being contractually a Warner artist. Quite obviously, I am not privy to the nature/terms & extent of her contractual situation but I definitely recall reading the sleeve details of Bryn Terfel's CD which indicated she appeared with permission of Warner Music.

Record companies do make convenient fallguys, often with considerable justification, but it is a two-way street & it is always easier to hit the fallguy rather than examine the part of the artist(s) in the commercial success or failure thereof.

There can be some fertiliser to be thrown at Warner over BH but you can only "shop" a product so hard for so long if radio ain't going to bite. Targetting maybe a factor but there were some major changes in prevailing (or dictated) music tastes in the main charts during the Corrs semi-haitus after IB & a convincing case could be made that there probably was no "sell through" hit single in the album.

Were the Corrs themselves as committed to selling the product themselves ?? The changes within the parent company & loss of familiar faces (esp those like Jason Flom) were definite factors in play. Caro on baby duty cut into things & certainly cut into any real worldwide promotion especially old powerbases in S.E Asia & Australia. Then again, who made the call to "pull up sticks" on BH at the end of 2004 .... all evidence points to the band themselves but are we privy to their private motivations or whether the budget from the label had dried up ??

Re Home, by then it was clear they WERE no longer favoured children with the label. I could see the attitude of the label that this was not realistically a "commercial" project, more of a "personal" exercise. In hindsight I take a fairly neutral view as the Corrs themselves expressed the view that this was more a "pleasure" artistic exercise & showed little indication of touring it.

My views re the Andrea debacle have been aired previously. We don't know the full story & people on either side may be done an injustice. On the surface, I can see potential grounds for censure for Warner's part in things but has Andrea shown sufficient introspection on HER part in this going awry. Did she abdicate artistic control to others .... did she have sufficient security in her artisitic vision to hold her ground .... just how committed was she to getting out & promoting something she ostensibly beleived in ??

We may never know the full answers to questions 1 & 2 but I feel she has to look at herself regarding issue 3. The perception (accurate or not) was that she did the "contractual obligation" but was not proactive. Labels can facilitate/open doors to markets & create opportunities but it is the artists themselves who have to "close the sale". It was as if she forgot the lesson from the band days "of going country to country, door to door" to sell their music. TFH was released in my country but with zero promotion & no evidence that Andrea was going to follow up .... at best evidence of major disconnect between artist & label.

Reason for concern over the Sharon/Warner linkage .... maybe although one can be heartened by the time taken to strike a deal. Clearly she (or her resident legal advisor) have played hard. We can only hope she gets the opportunity & support to access the markets where she could do well.

[leslie]

Hi Folks!
Decided to do a bit of 'Corr-BB touring' and found myself here. Some very interesting discussions going on in these parts.
I noticed on Sharon's OW that Rhino is listed for the album's UK release. It seems an odd choice, no? Or is it just a typo? Rhino seems to me mainly Warner's collectors/nostalgia label.
If Warner UK was willing to do the worldwide release it seems especially curious that they weren't interested in doing the UK release as well.
The only thing I can think of is that Team Sharon wanted better terms and got them with Rhino.
Thoughts?

[Nyoman]

I don't think we can't blame everything to the artist for the "flop" of an album. I think Andrea didn't forgot anything. She did just like what every other artist did, wrote the album, promote it the best as she can.

And the record company can be cruel sometimes. They didn't even sure they want to support the artist with their own work even when they listen the demo. And the other reason also it can be people just had different taste of music, and in my opinion a lot of the buyers of Andrea's solo work is The Corrs Fan, and hoping desperately that the album had more Corrs elements on it, which is very clearly Andrea said it in the first place that "it would be different to The Corrs". People can like it or hate it, it doesn't matter to her. In this case, a lot of Corrs Fans much prefer that she's back with Corrs style.

And about Sharon's album, I'm gald she finally made it so far. But I'm really not sure about the choice of the single. I don't like the song, although Sharon sang it beautifully in one of a TV Show, but that's just my personal opinion. I much prefer her own songs, but whatever it would be released, I hope she can be no. 1 in every corner of the world, because she "did" work hard for it.

And looking forward to that worldwide releases too, Sharon!

[cw]

1. Nyoman, with all due respect PLEASE do not take it upon yourself to deliberately misquote what I wrote to suit yourself. Much as I feel that that the "poor little Andrea" meme has very large holes in it; at NO stage have I ever stated that she wear the entire blame for the commercial failure of TFH. Merely that dumping ALL the blame onto the label is a convenient way of avoiding having to look at what SHE may have done better, maybe not so much creatively but as regards artistic control & "selling" it.

2. On the other hand, I totally concur on Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime. NOT a favourite of mine; an album cut yes, live number yes but a very curious choice for a 2nd single.

3. Leslie, very interesting about Rhino viz Warner UK for UK distribution. Have been out of Sydney for most of the past few weeks. When I'm back, I might go burrowing around Warner Australia & see what they know.

[cw]

A very prominent lurker has been reading this thread (waves hello) & sent the following Tweet

"read ur piece. The magnificent Mr Christian Tattersfield, Warner, who took over last summer, is behind her. Need I say more."

This IS some good news. Christian Tatterfield took over as CEO of Warner UK last August. Rather than being just a corporate head, his background has been in A&R & was also the founder of 14th Floor Records. IF he truly is "in her corner" then I have considerably more confidence that she will get the backing/promotional assistance.

[Nyoman]

Sorry to say this, but I think you're really missed all my points. I'm just responded about what I read here. If you don't like it, you can ignore it as much as you want. I never said you're always have to agreed with me at all, so how come I MISSQUOTE your post to suited mine?

I accept what other's thinking here. If people think Andrea didn't do much on her album, fine..they're entitled to their opinion, but also the others is entitled to disagree.
It just a shame that people looked it as a Missquote.

[DazedOblivion]

I think that there may be a bit of a misunderstanding going on here.

Jul 16, 2010 15:11:50 GMT 1 Nyoman said:

...in my opinion a lot of the buyers of Andrea's solo work is The Corrs Fan, and hoping desperately that the album had more Corrs elements on it, which is very clearly Andrea said it in the first place that "it would be different to The Corrs". People can like it or hate it, it doesn't matter to her. In this case, a lot of Corrs Fans much prefer that she's back with Corrs style.

Nyoman, I think you make a good point that Andrea's album represented a major departure in style from the style of the Corrs. Inherent in that was a tougher sell to her base among Corrs fans. I didn't read your post as blaming the label entirely.

I seem to remember that Andrea's web presence (the official website and forum and her MySpace profile back when MySpace dominated ) was delegated to a young, apparent low-level employee at the label, and Andrea herself abdicated responsibility for that web presence. The ball got dropped and the official forum was allowed to be overrun with spam and had to be shut down. I don't know who should be blamed for that, but I know many were disappointed by this.

Now back to Sharon's album. Gavin has tweeted some additional information that gives us more hope that Warner is truly behind Sharon's project.

Regarding the support of Warner, Gavin states, "It's quite amazing the support. They just LOVE the album, as will you, and millions of others worldwide."

Regarding Christian Tattersfield, who became CEO of Warner Music UK in August 2009, Gavin remarked in reply to The Wombat, "Yeah, he is amazing, and as CEO of Warner his word is law there and he, like me, you, and a billion others...loves Da Missus."

I feel a whole lot better knowing that Sharon has key support at the top of the label.

[Mathias]

Jul 17, 2010 2:58:40 GMT 1 cw said:

2. On the other hand, I totally concur on Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime. NOT a favourite of mine; an album cut yes, live number yes but a very curious choice for a 2nd single.

I agree it's a curious choice.... but I get why it was chosen.. What I don't get, is why they didn't go for "Small Town Boy". Both are covers, both were hits. They're going for something familiar, yet new and fresh. Something Sharon represents too (she was part of The Corrs, but now she's doing her own thing). It's a little extra exposure. Normally I kinda disagree when *new* artists release a cover as their first single, but Sharon already released "It's Not A Dream" last year, plus it's a song that she has performed numerous times over the years. It's also a song to which people can sing-a-long, witch makes it a bit catchier.

I really hope it will get noticed, especially outside Ireland and the UK. Music video's aren't that important anymore (unless you're Lady Gaga), but showing your face is. Appear in TV and radio shows, let people know you're out there. Organise unique stuff. There were some artists in Holland earlier this year, who organized a "Twitter concert". It was only promoted through Twitter and was for followers. Something like this gets noticed, as it's something unique and not done (often) before.

In the case of Internet, the way Sharon has embraced it (and social media) has been absolutely fantastic. This is the way to go in 2010. Get personal, get interactive, get involved...it will make your fans even more dedicated and it's just plain fun on both ends.

But not only Sharon, but also Warner has to embrace it. While support is good, they also have to (really) show it. She doesn't have to get a enormous marketing/promotion budget, they just have to do it a little different then everyone else.... fingers crossed!!

[Nyoman]

Jul 17, 2010 15:03:15 GMT 1 DazedOblivion said:

Nyoman, I think you make a good point that Andrea's album represented a major departure in style from the style of the Corrs. Inherent in that was a tougher sell to her base among Corrs fans. I didn't read your post as blaming the label entirely.

Thank you, Steve. You're understood me well and I really appreciate it.

No, I'm also not fully blaming the record company, in fact I don't even know anything about the truth. And I think it doesn't matter anymore who's to blaming because that's not the point to making music. As long as the artist really enjoyed the work and happy with the result, no matter it would be success or not, that's more important. I would support them no matter what, especially if I'm a fan. I'll buy the album even if the only buyer probably is "me". Sorry for the off-topic post, btw.

Back to the original topic now, as much as I don't like the single choice, I'm really interested to hear the remix version (as other said) which probably could change my mind about the song.

Off to bed now.

[magnficentfan]

Jul 16, 2010 5:56:05 GMT 1 cw said:

I Were the Corrs themselves as committed to selling the product themselves ?? The changes within the parent company & loss of familiar faces (esp those like Jason Flom) were definite factors in play. Caro on baby duty cut into things & certainly cut into any real worldwide promotion especially old powerbases in S.E Asia & Australia. Then again, who made the call to "pull up sticks" on BH at the end of 2004 .... all evidence points to the band themselves but are we privy to their private motivations or whether the budget from the label had dried up ??
...
Re Home, by then it was clear they WERE no longer favoured children with the label. I

Your point about how willing the band was to promote BH in 2004 was exactly the point I was trying to make. Obviously things were going to change with one of the members being on maternity leave. But I've also often wondered how much the band really felt like taking on at that point. Or were they just frustrated with the way things were working out, and really burnt out from working so hard and not seeing much success? The US is a funny market.

I also question how wisely things were done. Thing biggest blunder that comes to mind was the 2004 Jones Beach concert in NY. I was at that show, and it was wonderful. (That was actually the first time I heard Sharon sing No Frontiers live and I was blown away by how well she could sing. From listening to CDs and DVDs, I really had no idea.) Anyway, that show was at maybe 25% - 35% capacity. The orchestra was filled, but that was about it. They actually closed off the entire top section of the ampitheater and had people come down and sit in other seats. Now.... if tickets were selling that poorly, why on earth would that show not have been moved to another venue? And what would have made those in charge of these decisions think that the Corrs could sell an ampitheater that seats 15,000? They sold out Radio City Music Hall in NYC at the peak of their popularity here on the night before St. Patrick's Day - and that has a capacity of 6,000. Big, big difference.

As for Wombat's other point about losing favored child status - actually, I never got that impression at all. I figured that they wanted to put the album out in the States and Rhino was the way to go. And I also figured that it was done with the understanding that there wouldn't be promotion, and therefore a negligent budget. Of course, I don't know any of this - it's pure speculation.

-- Marie :-)

[magnficentfan]

Jul 16, 2010 15:11:50 GMT 1 Nyoman said:

I don't think we can't blame everything to the artist for the "flop" of an album. I think Andrea didn't forgot anything. She did just like what every other artist did, wrote the album, promote it the best as she can.

And the record company can be cruel sometimes. They didn't even sure they want to support the artist with their own work even when they listen the demo. And the other reason also it can be people just had different taste of music, and in my opinion a lot of the buyers of Andrea's solo work is The Corrs Fan, and hoping desperately that the album had more Corrs elements on it, which is very clearly Andrea said it in the first place that "it would be different to The Corrs". People can like it or hate it, it doesn't matter to her. In this case, a lot of Corrs Fans much prefer that she's back with Corrs style.

Like Wombat already said, we don't know all of the particulars about Andrea & the record company did and did not do with her album. My personal opinion is that there was a lot more than what met the eye. Andrea seems to have not been too happy with the record company's lackluster promotion, but if the record company didn't believe in what she wanted to put out, why would they spend a bunch of money promoting? And we don't know how much she wanted or was willing to do on her own to sell her record.

The promotion seemed very garbled at best. On the one hand, Andrea was very clear that she wanted to make a very un-Corrs like album. And she did this. But for many of the promotional performances that she gave, she played acoustic versions of these dance-y tracks that were on the album. The acoustic versions were OUTSTANDING and most fans seemed to prefer them. I don't remember hearing any comments about, "Oh, man, why didn't she play the dance mix!?!?" It was just the opposite. But, as good as these performances were, they weren't promoting the versions of the songs on the album.

-- Marie :-)

[Nyoman]

Jul 18, 2010 1:48:23 GMT 1 magnficentfan said:

Jul 16, 2010 15:11:50 GMT 1 Nyoman said:

I don't think we can't blame everything to the artist for the "flop" of an album. I think Andrea didn't forgot anything. She did just like what every other artist did, wrote the album, promote it the best as she can.

And the record company can be cruel sometimes. They didn't even sure they want to support the artist with their own work even when they listen the demo. And the other reason also it can be people just had different taste of music, and in my opinion a lot of the buyers of Andrea's solo work is The Corrs Fan, and hoping desperately that the album had more Corrs elements on it, which is very clearly Andrea said it in the first place that "it would be different to The Corrs". People can like it or hate it, it doesn't matter to her. In this case, a lot of Corrs Fans much prefer that she's back with Corrs style.

Like Wombat already said, we don't know all of the particulars about Andrea & the record company did and did not do with her album. My personal opinion is that there was a lot more than what met the eye. Andrea seems to have not been too happy with the record company's lackluster promotion, but if the record company didn't believe in what she wanted to put out, why would they spend a bunch of money promoting? And we don't know how much she wanted or was willing to do on her own to sell her record.

The promotion seemed very garbled at best. On the one hand, Andrea was very clear that she wanted to make a very un-Corrs like album. And she did this. But for many of the promotional performances that she gave, she played acoustic versions of these dance-y tracks that were on the album. The acoustic versions were OUTSTANDING and most fans seemed to prefer them. I don't remember hearing any comments about, "Oh, man, why didn't she play the dance mix!?!?" It was just the opposite. But, as good as these performances were, they weren't promoting the versions of the songs on the album.

-- Marie :-)

That's why I said we can't put everything only on one side, because we don't know the truth. Even the comment about Andrea have not been happy with the "support" of the label is taken by the media only we can read online on the net but do we really can trust that source? How we can know that she's really saying that just like that quote from the media. I just responded about the one side who said "oh she forgot about this, or she should do more and then she's avoided the image that she's not doing better with it by blaming the record company".

Of course, we don't know why would they spend a bunch of money promoting and we don't know how much she wanted to sell her record. But I think I can add a few things. We don't how much the support she get and why people liking or hating her type of music and then decided to buy/didn't buy the album.

The reasons of the flops (which I hate that word, because I don't think it's really is ) can be vary, NOT only one side.

And, I agree that all of this is still speculations.