Bull Market

9/22/1995 

Have you felt that cool breeze that’s been blowing through the record industry lately?  You know the one…that tropical number that wafts across your face, gently brushes your hair and filters through your clothes for a brief moment until it backs away for a second or two.  It never really leaves…it just hangs around and occasionally, it will remind you that it’s still there.

I’m not talking about the whistling hawk that’s swept through our industry, leaving bodies buried under piles of sleet and slush.  Nope.  What you’re feeling now is the same wind you can experience on the rocky cliffs of Maui or the southern point of Key West.

Close your eyes and breathe deeply.  Smell the hint of mint juleps?  Maybe a bit of fresh sea air?  Of hope eternal?  Of change?

That breeze is about to fulfill its promises.  No more teasing.  The score is at hand.  The winds of change are about to bring on a tropical storm.  Tropical storms are magnificent.  The wind howls…brilliant lightning flashes through the clouds…booming thunder shakes the ground…the skies open up and rain comes down in torrents.  Your average tropical storm is beautiful, at times scary, but seldom destructive.  And whatever mild disruptions occur in the short term, the end result is always positive, because a tropical storm brings with it food and water for the environment.  It makes things grow.

Get ready to rumble, bud.  The record industry is about to shake, rattle and roll!

What’s it all about, Alfie?  It’s about expansion.  It’s about free agents.  It’s about long-term contracts.  It’s about signing bonuses.  It’s about performance clauses.  It’s about “Who’s next?”

Does it sound like the NBA?  Sorry, Charlie, we’re talking record business here.

I’m talking promotion…right here in record city…with a capital “P” and that rhymes with “T” and that stands for trouble.

What’s the problem with promotion?  There isn’t enough of it and there aren’t enough of them (qualified promotion people) to go around.

The new labels that are busting out all over, combined with those that have undergone sweeping changes of late, have now upped their periscopes and are searching for qualified senior promotion people to run the departments that will make or break the records…and ultimately make or break the companies that sign the acts and sign the checks.

In the next few months, qualified senior promotion people are going to be in the catbird seat.  The money offered is going to be obscene.

Why?  Three reasons.

#1:  The number of new record companies have created a demand unlike any other time in our business.  This, coupled with the fact that there are new heads at many labels who want to make changes in the promotion departments they inherited, means a great many jobs are going to be up for grabs now and in the very near future.

#2:  The collapse of the great marketing theory.  With the growth of the Alternative format came the belief that promotion wasn’t that important.  The Alternative format was all about music, dude.  Heavy promotion to those cool programmers wouldn’t work.  They needed to be “marketed,” not promoted.

Surprise.  They need both.  It’s easy to spot the companies that put all their eggs in that marketing basket.  They are the ones without the hits.

Warner Bros.  Records, perhaps the original innovator of marketing as we know it, has always had one of the largest and most aggressive promotion teams in the business.  Don Ienner, who knows marketing and promotion as well as anyone, said it best:  “It’s all about marketing.  Until Tuesday.”

The companies that relied too heavily on marketing are now scrambling to beef up their promotion departments.

#3:  The lack of qualified senior promotion people.  In the past two days, I spoke with five record company presidents, all asking basically the same question:  “Who’s out there?”  It’s a short list.  Who is (a) qualified to run the promotion department at a major label, (b) isn’t already under contract or (c) wants to leave his or her present situation?

The next question is even tougher.  What good number two people are ready to move up?

That list is even smaller.

The general perception within the industry is that the talent pool isn’t very deep.  Perception is reality in our business, so if you are currently in the shallow end, you need to move out past the breakers and into the deep water with the sharks.

What makes the step from number two to the top spot easier?  Several things.  Your ability to lead and direct a staff, of course.  Confidence from those above that you can do the job.  A good track record.  All of these are important .  But the most important factor is perception.  Does the industry think you are ready to move up?

How do you gain that perception?  Relationships.  Relationships with those in the record industry are important.  Relationships with those in radio are invaluable.

Too often, the number two people in many promotion staffs are bound to their desks, directing traffic around the national office.  They become so tunnel-visioned that they see and interact only with those directly around them.

You want to move up?

Break the chains.  Get on a plane.  Become a road warrior.  Meet and get to know the important people in radio.  Establish relationships with the programmers who dictate the perception about you.  The real weight falls from the lips of programmers.

Those Sr. VPs who are on the short list got there because of their ability to deliver the goods.  You  can’t deliver without relationships.  And the only way you’ll establish relationships is by face-to-face meetings with programmers who make the decisions.  Promotion is about closing.  You can’t close the door until you’re allowed through it.  It takes more than the occasional phone call.  It’s politics, bud.  Kissing babies, shaking hands facilitating and working hard.  What ever it takes, whatever the time.

You want to do marketing?  Take some night classes, learn how to draw and present innovative campaigns.

You want the number one promotion job?  Deliver!