Music at Grocery Store Catches Wall Street Journal’s Eye
The Wall Street Journal has an interesting piece about the lengths some indie labels will go to promote an album. In it, Amy Kaufman discusses the various marketing deals Vanguard Records has struck for Greg Laswell and his new EP.
Some of the tie-ins involve AMC Entertainment, Apple, Pepsi and Amazon. However, the story’s main thrust revolves around Laswell’s spot in the checkout lines at Whole Foods stores.
Mr. Laswell’s EP, released in March to promote the July record, became part of the Artist Discovery Series of Whole Foods Markets Inc., where customers in grocery checkout lines saw him compared with EMI Group’s Coldplay … Both Mr. Laswell’s EP and Mariah Carey’s latest record were released in-store in March. To date, Mr. Laswell’s EP has sold 52% more copies than Ms. Carey’s release.
Hard to believe. A singer-songwriter’s EP sells better than an over-produced album from a pop diva… at a store frequented primarily by hippies and the granola gang. Real shocker there. Maybe the WSJ isn’t as sharp nowadays. Then again, Rupert Murdoch’ll do that to you.
