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Promotion for Bad25

Does anybody know how The Estate can be contacted or does some of MJJ Community have contact to The Estate?
 
Gregershansen;3711899 said:
Does anybody know how The Estate can be contacted or does some of MJJ Community have contact to The Estate?
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You can try this:
MJ OnlineTeam
@MJonlineteam
The Official Online Team of the Michael Jackson Estate™
 
I'm a bit confused about this talk about promotion lacking.
Where, how and what is expected for promotion wise from Sony/Estate?

I read it in these threads that BAD 25 is promoted during the X Factor (UK/US version) both side of the Atlantic.
That'll cost a lot of money as X Factor is popular music program at the moment.

If you do search in Google news with key words BAD 25, you will get tons of articles about it.
In my opinion, promotion in online is well done. All most important music mags have an article out about BAD 25 and did I see full page advertisement on some LA paper?

They have Spike Lee's document coming out to support the sales. I bet that cost a bundle for the estate.
Unfortunately it is not out the same time as album. Reason could be that networks couldn't get it out any earlier and if primetime spots already sold, there is nothing can be done about that.

The only place I see promotion lacking is the physical music stores. No posters or stands, but recently I went to music store to ask Deluxe, I noticed there is no stands or posters for any other artist either. Isn't up to shops to put up all the promotion stuff in their stores? If it is not there, shouldn't we blame the stores for lacking promotion. Those stores are not owned by Sony or estate, so we cannot blame them for not doing their job. Also, if independent music store owner thinks BAD 25 is not worth of stocking and is not going to sell, they don't order BAD 25, therefore no albums in their stores.

The last paragraph is my own idea how things works in music business, if there is someone who works in music store, please correct me if I'm wrong.

What else could/should have done for better sales? Ideas?





@respect77
I cannot say much about Pink and BAD 25 other than BAD 25 is kind of re-release and Pink is new and currently active artist.

Where there posters and stands for Pink's newest album is stores?
 
OK, I move my post here as well:

"I think they should have found a way for the Spike Lee docu to be aired on some big, major channel before the release. Maybe it will boost sales in Nov/Dec, I don't know, but by then IMO it will be too late as Bad 25 will probably be off the charts.

I don't know how things are in the US/UK, I can't speak for that. All I know that in my country there's no promotion for this at all. Actually it's VERY difficult even to buy it. Four days after its official release I'm still waiting for my copy, along with many other fans I know. In fact, I do not know any fan from my country who already has it. And we are fans. We are actively looking for it. Now, imagine how much those who aren't fans know about it. Meanwhile the new P!nk album is EVERYWHERE. I know she's a current artist and I do not expect the same attention for Bad 25 by either Sony or the public. But the contrast of how these two releases are handled by the same record label couldn't be bigger."

@respect77
I cannot say much about Pink and BAD 25 other than BAD 25 is kind of re-release and Pink is new and currently active artist.

Where there posters and stands for Pink's newest album is stores?
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Yes, I said I understand it that P!nk will get more exposure. That's not the problem but that Michael doesn't get any at all. I don't know about the posters and stands in stores, but on websites here you see ads about the P!nk album but not about Michael.

The point is, answering to what should have been done differently: as I said, I think they should have aired Spike's docu now as opposed to later this year. Also maybe they should have released a part of the concert as a video (I'd say APOM) and play it on TV channels, music TVs etc - that would have reminded people of Michael's greatness more than a TV ad during X Factor.

PS: My main frustration right now is that I'm getting it sooooooo slowly. I thought I'd be able to enjoy it by this weekend but it's not looking good. This makes me real mad at the retailer/Sony/my country which feels like the end of the world sometimes. LOL.

PS2:

I just checked the retailer's website (which is the largest online retailer in my country). They have ads up on the following albums:

- Pink: The Truth About Love (Sony Music)
- Alanis Morrisette: Havoc and Bright Lights (Sony Music)
- Nelli Furtado: The Spirit Indestructible (Universal)
- The Killers: Battle Born (Universal)
- And there's one local artist by EMI Music.
 
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I agree with you about Spike's document should have aired the same time, but then again we don't know the reason why it will be aired later.

As for airing APOM or any other part of concert on TV channels, music TV etc. I see the problem is with MJ's fan base. He has international fan base. There are about 195 countries in the world, and I say MJ has fans in every country, some countries has more fans, some less. I think it would be difficult and expensive for them to do promotion for so many countries, so perhaps they concentrate their money reserved for promotions to biggest ones i.e. UK, US, Japan where the biggest fan bases are.

As for promotions in local music stores. Aren't they generally run by rather young adults, at least in my music stores they are youngsters:D If they have no idea who is MJ, perhaps they don't bother doing any promotion for MJ products for some oldie goldie (this is me trying to step in their shoes and think like they think:).
Also music stores like HMV, isn't up to them to put up posters and stands and order the stock?

Again, I'd like to hear someone who works in music store how these things works in generally.


Note, estate or Sony should have asked us fans to handle promotion, Michael would be everywhere:)
 
Bubs said:
I agree with you about Spike's document should have aired the same time, but then again we don't know the reason why it will be aired later.

As for airing APOM or any other part of concert on TV channels, music TV etc. I see the problem is with MJ's fan base. He has international fan base. There are about 195 countries in the world, and I say MJ has fans in every country, some countries has more fans, some less.
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But what about making it a video for music TVs to play? If not APOM (because we already have a similar APOM video - which is also a live performance) then another song of the concert. Probably the quality would make that problematic though. Oh well. :(

And c'mon, young people working in music stores not knowing who MJ is? You're kidding, right?
It's not like this board or other MJ boards is full of 50 year olds and only that generation is interested in MJ, let alone knowing him.

Of course, MJ has a major handicap in how he is perceived by younger generations: decades of media campaigns against him, making him "uncool" and stuff. But expose them to his music: that will make them wanna dance like any 80s kid. ;)
 
respect77 said:
And c'mon, young people working in music stores not knowing who MJ is? You're kidding, right?
It's not like this board or other MJ boards is full of 50 year olds and only that generation is interested in MJ, let alone knowing him.

Of course, MJ has a major handicap in how he is perceived by younger generations: decades of media campaigns against him, making him "uncool" and stuff. But expose them to his music: that will make them wanna dance like any 80s kid. ;)
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Reply to first paragraph. :hysterical:
So soo, don't take my words too literally, I didn't mean that we are oldie goldies here and the only ones that listen MJ.
I cannot see by looking at them at music stores do they know MJ and his music like we fans do.
I just assumed that generally youngsters today are more interested in music that is current (I know, I'm generalising youngsters and seemingly digging myself deeper in the hole:)), some of them knows MJ, but they don't have the same passion to him as we do.

I'd better stop now before I bury myself any deeper:D and I sincerely apologise any youngsters on board for my assumptions:flowers:
 
Thanks for the reminder, I add Pepsi thingy to promo list too as well as remixes. Remixes are promotion to BAD too. I know not everyone likes them, but I do and that what counts:chillin:
Edited to add that then we have Joe Vogel promoting the hell out of BAD and Michael with his posts.


respect77 said:
Of course, MJ has a major handicap in how he is perceived by younger generations: decades of media campaigns against him, making him "uncool" and stuff. But expose them to his music: that will make them wanna dance like any 80s kid. ;)
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I think the estate is trying to bring out Michael the artist, singer the man he was before this whole tabloid rubbish started. They do it in Spike Lee's documentary, we all hear the glowing reception it got from critics and it is all about Michael and how he did his music. That is very important thing to remind people that Michael was brilliant artist and he took his "work" seriously.
That is why I wonder the reason why doc wasn't released the same time as album.
Maybe they have a good reason to push back documentary release, something they know but we don't?

To expose youngsters to Michael's music, wouldn't the remixes do that? As far as I know, at least Speed Demon is doing great, made me want to dance like 80's kid:rofl:
How else they are going to expose these kids to Michael's music? I don't think any amount of posters in music stores makes them to want to listen his music, I wouldn't buy any music by the look at the poster. It has to be something else.
 
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^^ Remixes are not Michael's music IMO, even if they are based on his music. I did not mean that. But when people hear Michael's music (his original music, not remixes) they can hardly contain themselves and they start to dance. Look at little children: that happens all over and over again. They surely don't count as "oldie goldies", yet they like MJ's music when they hear it. Admittedly it gets more difficult with older kids, teenagers, who are already conditioned into what counts as "cool" and what is not and what they should like and what they should not to remain cool with their peers.
 
Remixes to me are like, lets say I love mashed potato, but sometimes I like to add onions, chives or even cabbage to my mash to get change, but I always go back to my normal mash (can you quess what's cooking:)). Same thing with Michael's music. Sometimes I like to spice it up by listening remixes, but they never beat the original.
 
Bubs said:
The only place I see promotion lacking is the physical music stores. No posters or stands, but recently I went to music store to ask Deluxe, I noticed there is no stands or posters for any other artist either. Isn't up to shops to put up all the promotion stuff in their stores? If it is not there, shouldn't we blame the stores for lacking promotion. Those stores are not owned by Sony or estate, so we cannot blame them for not doing their job. Also, if independent music store owner thinks BAD 25 is not worth of stocking and is not going to sell, they don't order BAD 25, therefore no albums in their stores.

The last paragraph is my own idea how things works in music business, if there is someone who works in music store, please correct me if I'm wrong.
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I don't think this is the case, at least in my country. There are people I know who ordered it from local e-shops, but they still don't have it in stock, nor it is available in physical stores. The stores keep apologizing that they still don't have the album from the distributor. And the release date for our country was 14.9.

And yes, it doesn't make any sense to promote something you can't sell because you don't have it... so it is Sony's or Estate's or whoever-is-responsible-for-this's fault.

Now that I'm thinking about it - actually, a week or two long delay does not matter with the general public. Hopefully there will be some promotion when the album is finally available.
 
Saw a TV ad on the UK but that's it. I'll upload the ad on youtube later on :)
 
Nothing of note here in the state of Utah, but that isn't all that surprising. Gotta say I was shocked when I actually found the Pepsi cans locally here awhile back, that WAS a pretty big surprise. Only were around for a little while though, then back to the norm. Granted, I actually ordered the deluxe version from Amazon several months ago and sadly forgot to get quicker shipping so I am apparently going to be waiting till the 25th to get it along with the new Jackson 5 set in the mail. Oh well, waited this long, I'll wait a little longer. Haven't even been to any store that sells music for quite awhile, so maybe there is some more promotion out there that I am unaware of.
 
TheSilentOne said:
I don't think this is the case, at least in my country. There are people I know who ordered it from local e-shops, but they still don't have it in stock, nor it is available in physical stores. The stores keep apologizing that they still don't have the album from the distributor. And the release date for our country was 14.9.

And yes, it doesn't make any sense to promote something you can't sell because you don't have it... so it is Sony's or Estate's or whoever-is-responsible-for-this's fault.

Now that I'm thinking about it - actually, a week or two long delay does not matter with the general public. Hopefully there will be some promotion when the album is finally available.
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Seems to me there are huge problems with the distribution. There are news like this from too many places. I don't know anyone from my country who already could find it...
 
i saw a AD at my target, i took pictures, ill post them later. i was able to see BAD25 at best buy and target, and ive seen MJ pepsi cans at my meijer and Wallmart...however promotion is VERy limited. Sony needs to f***ing step it up dammit.
 
Sony has nothing to do with how much Wallmart or target stores choose to order or stock on its shelves. It's not Sony its individual stores who order how much they want in stock and they can also request displays. I see promotion from Sony on Major TV networks and populars TV shows such as xfactor idol, BET etc. I see discussion about on morning talk shows with Pics of the album etc. There will be more on other Award shows this fall. It rolls out in stages. There will also be a big push for the holidays for gifts etc.

Spike Lees documentary was and is a huge promotion for BAD25 when its is shown on major networks and released. And all the promotion and reviews abouts is premiers all over the inte net had adds and purchase links for BAD25.

There are BAD25 adds all over videos on youtube that reaches millions. . Anyone with interest in music on youtube will see them. There are adds place on every music network and website. Adds on reviews and articles about BAD25 on Huffington Post and other news outlets. There are promotional updates on twitter facebook etc etc for fans to forward. More will come through the holidays into next year.

Sony gives stores and online distributors press releases and the tools and adds to promote BAD25 its up to them to use them. If the record stores or major stores in your city are not promoting BAD25 its not Sony's fault it up to fans to demand the products -- free enterprise works on supply and demand - If there is no demand interest for the product (BAD25) in your city/ community the store isn't going to stock or do huge promotions to promote.

I'M wondering what other type of promotion some of you are you looking for. as in your town or city ????
 
I think publicity wakes up the demand in people! This is Michael Jackson we're talking about, of course there would be a demand. But since he's no longer with us the general public is not actively expecting new products from him so they might not have their eyes open for any new releases. Sony would need to invest in huge exposure on TV and create a moment on Award shows. When I say a moment on award shows, I'm not talking about adds in the break, but for example a dance number in the middle of the show. A high profile performance a la MTV 2009 (minus the Janet part) - but only with songs from the opriginal Bad album (well, maybe even with one or two new songs - why not? Let's try it!). Find your way into the Spanish speaking world with Todo Mi Amor Eres Tu and into the French speaking world with Je ne Veux Pas La Fin De Nous! Put adds for the Bad Tour DVD into cinemas, visual adds, teasers from the show, so that every movie goer can SEE it!

A lot can be done and I still don't see how the Estate & Sony wouldn't care to make the best out of this release.
 
qbee said:
Sony gives stores and online distributors press releases and the tools and adds to promote BAD25 its up to them to use them. If the record stores or major stores in your city are not promoting BAD25 its not Sony's fault it up to fans to demand the products -- free enterprise works on supply and demand - If there is no demand interest for the product (BAD25) in your city/ community the store isn't going to stock or do huge promotions to promote.
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When Amazon.co.uk is out of stock of the DVD, when Amazon and HMV and others delay deliveries because there's not enough on stock, I don't think it's a matter of no demand. I also know for a fact that many fans in my country pre-ordered at this online retailer, so they knew about our demand in advance. I'm guessing their problem is that whoever is their wholesaler is they are unable to deliver it to them at this point for some reason. I don't know why is that and whose fault it is. All I know this is pretty frustrating.
 
Has anybody thought about this:

Two years ago when 'Michael' was released, Sony shipped millions of copies of that album to stores around the world. It became a flop and there are still dozens of copies of that album for sale in the biggest record store in my town for example. Nobody bought it and nobody buys it even though the albums are almost free. I think there is a possibility that stores just don't want to get MJ records to their shelves anymore after that 'Michael' flop. That was the first thought that came to my mind and it makes me sad to think about it. I hope I'm wrong though.
 
Jarza, this is very possible and after that fiasco the Estate and Sony should have invested 2x the amount of time and money to make it betterin the eyes of the public & record stores.
 
Yes, I think you're correct. 'Michael' did less well than expected but that is Sony and the MJ Estate's fault. Not just because they included tracks like 'Monster' that caused a massive fan backlash and lots of negative media coverage, but because they didn't include any songs that could attract the public's attention. There was no radio friendly material on there that could be a hit on the singles chart. Nothing. Hold My Hand was too weak to be a lead single and didn't get people interested. With BAD25 they had the opportunity to correct that mistake and they have issued remixes on the album, but they were giving the 'BAD' remix single away for free so it could never count on the charts.
Anyway, I digressed from the point. 'Michael' didn't do as well as expected and stores have a lot of stock left over, which they had to deep discount and it's still not selling. They probably assumed that the MJ mania period after his death had ended. They're probably right in so far as it is far less than it was, but I think this time they have under estimated the demand. Sure, it's not gonna set records but people are still interested, even without decent promotion. In some cases the wholesalers don't have stock, which indicates the suplpy problem is not just because stores didn't order enough stock but also because the wholesalers didn't order enough, or even because Sony didn't manufacture enough. In any case, somebody somewhere has under estimated the demand and it will impact overall chart positions. That in turn will affect overall sales IMO. An album without any (current) hit singles can only ever start with a peak in sales and then decline. Without a strong start (whether due to stock problems or not) the album is not going to do well in the long term.
This BAD25 project sounded good to begin with, what with the documentary and Pepsi promotion and all, but in the end it's been a disappointment. Even fans struggled to find the cans in those countries where they were released. The Pepsi promotion was too short and many countries (e.g. England) didn't get the cans at all. A waste of time.
 
bobmoo79 said:
Anyway, I digressed from the point. 'Michael' didn't do as well as expected and stores have a lot of stock left over, which they had to deep discount and it's still not selling. They probably assumed that the MJ mania period after his death had ended. They're probably right in so far as it is far less than it was, but I think this time they have under estimated the demand. Sure, it's not gonna set records but people are still interested, even without decent promotion. In some cases the wholesalers don't have stock, which indicates the suplpy problem is not just because stores didn't order enough stock but also because the wholesalers didn't order enough, or even because Sony didn't manufacture enough. In any case, somebody somewhere has under estimated the demand and it will impact overall chart positions. That in turn will affect overall sales IMO. An album without any (current) hit singles can only ever start with a peak in sales and then decline. Without a strong start (whether due to stock problems or not) the album is not going to do well in the long term.
This BAD25 project sounded good to begin with, what with the documentary and Pepsi promotion and all, but in the end it's been a disappointment. Even fans struggled to find the cans in those countries where they were released. The Pepsi promotion was too short and many countries (e.g. England) didn't get the cans at all. A waste of time.
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I agree. I'm sure the Michael album disaster does affect how many copies of new MJ products stores want to order, but I don't think the problem here is just individual stores not bothering to order copies. Music store owners thinking that there's not much interest in MJ anymore would explain why there are not tons of copies available or huge advertisement in stores for the album, but it doesn't explain why there are no copies at all in any stores, or why online stores were out of stock soon after the album was released. It seems clear to me that there's a serious problem with the supply.

I guess it wouldn't be so bad if it was just about some people getting their albums late, but my worry is that the media will look at Bad25's poor first week sales and label the album a flop. And they are not going to report about distribution problems, they're just going to say that nobody cares about Michael's music anymore. And if this album gets widely called a flop it will make the general public even less interested in buying a copy when copies are finally available.

I know that's a very pessimistic way to look at things, and it's entirely possible the distribution problems won't affect the sales that much in the long run. But I'm just really frustrated. I was so excited and happy about this release, it seemed so amazing, with the new tracks and the concert dvd and the documentary and the Pepsi thing and everything. And now this is happening - fans can hardly even find a copy. It's just really frustrating.
 
I went to Media Markt today. They had Bad 25 but only the 2 CD version. No Deluxe, no standalone DVD. There was no special stand or posters for this. In fact, it wasn't even placed on the stand of new releases! It was just put among the rest of the CD beside Thriller 25.
 
I went to Germany last weekend to visit family, and Pink was basically on every radio station there, doing interviews, concerts... And now for Michael: there was one station (I think it was HR3, but not sure) that mentioned the release of Bad 25, but they didn't play any of his music. Also, I have never seen any kind of advertisement for any artist at Media Markt. No posters, stands, nothing. I wonder how many ppl out there still bother with physical releases. It's probably not worth pumping money in that kind of advertisement.
The main reason why Bad 25 hasn't sold as many copies as we all hoped it would is simple: Unlike Pink, Michael isn't alive to promote his album, that makes a huge difference. The Estate could plaster every street with his posters but if the artist isn't here it's very difficult. Nevertheless, let's stay positive, this has only been the first week.

@respect
reminds me of that time when I went to Media Markt and simply exchanged MJ's CDs with whoever was number 1 at that time :D
 
I've surprisingly seen a commercial for BAD25 on the TVs on a flight I took recently :D
 
qbee said:
I'M wondering what other type of promotion some of you are you looking for. as in your town or city ????
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I think an old fashion one. :rollin:
tv ads, radio play and posters here and there.


you very right with the rest you said. I knew some will start to complane about 'lack of promotion' again.
soon as the release was announced, there were news articles. as the docu was announced, again.
this time there really is no reason to.

Its just an anniversary release. I don't remember other anniversary releases of other artist to have bigger promotion.
why Michael always has to be bigger, then the rest?

@bj78
that kind of promo was done for TII, cause there was alot of money that had to be gather back. Sony spend 60mio on this. AEG and the dancers were all jobless after Michels death. so they took that way to promote cinema release and cd. there were many reasons for such big promotion.

this time, why? what for? who's going to do it? casting dancers, finding choreagrafer and on.
what you suggest cost alot of money, that won't be earned back.
 
lom kit said:
@bj78
that kind of promo was done for TII, cause there was alot of money that had to be gather back. Sony spend 60mio on this. AEG and the dancers were all jobless after Michels death. so they took that way to promote cinema release and cd. there were many reasons for such big promotion.
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Well yes, but it shows that it CAN be done! And I don't understand why the Estate AND Sony wouldn't be interested to make this release as big as possible. Cinema release would have been possible with the Bad concert, the Documentary could have been used to promote, if released at the right time.
 
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