December 15, 2016

New Music

I'm driving my car, heading to the vet. I hear this song, from the Chainsmokers (click here).




It's been played more than 859,000,000 times on YouTube alone ... and the song didn't exist in mid-summer. The song is your classic "reactivation" story ... boy and girl are estranged for four years until a random meeting at a hotel bar. Kinda like you and your 37-48 month online buyer segment.

This is an example of a "winning" new song ... it's new merchandise, and the public is gobbling it up.

The Chainsmokers have been nominated for three Grammy awards.
  • Best New Artist.
  • Best Dance Recording for "Don't Let Me Down" featuring Daya.
  • Best Pop Duo / Group Performance for "Closer" featuring Halsey.
Yes, there's an award for the Best New Artist.

There is a whole big whoppin' system out there for new music. You discover new music via Spotify or Radio, you create playlists on Spotify or YouTube, Spotify has playlists so that you know the new music that is popular, YouTube displays counts of plays so that you know that something is popular.

Then you have radio and 23 minutes of commercials per hour. If you think about radio in terms of specialty catalogs or vertical sister-websites, then things make even more sense. In Seattle alone ...
  • New Music on 92.5 and 93.3.
  • New Music and Recent Music on 106.1.
  • New Music, Recent Music, Older Songs on 101.5.
  • Adult Contemporary on 106.9.
  • New Music and Alternative on 107.7.
  • Classic Rock on 102.5 and 98.9 and 99.9.
  • 70s and 80s and 90s on 95.7 and 96.5.
  • Country Music on 94.1 and 100.7.
  • Old-School & R&B on 103.7.
  • Countless Others, Too.
But think about this ... there is a process in Pop Music ... new stuff is generally played on 92.5 and 93.3 and 106.1 ... then is passed along to 101.5 and 106.1 and 106.9 ... and then oldies (i.e. long-term winners) are played on 95.7 and 96.5. Not much new stuff going on in Classic Rock, so those stations appeal to older Baby Boomers (sort of like how catalogers appeal to older Baby Boomers).

Ok, this brings me to your business.

What is the graduation process you employ for new merchandise?

What is the award you give for Best New Merchandise?

Do you have a ranking of Best New Merchandise that you publish, so that your customer base knows what they should buy? Is it published via email? Facebook? Twitter? Instagram? Who is your version of a "D.J." who has passion for New Merchandise, who creates a great customer experience that brings customers back over and over?

2017 begins in a few weeks.

Why not designate one person as New Merchandise Evangelist?

Why not let that person go crazy talking about and promoting New Merchandise? And no, I am not talking about the catalog. I am talking about everything but the catalog. I'm not talking about a dot on the catalog that says "New Merchandise".

I am talking about one person who is the public face of New Merchandise. Somebody with a Personality. Somebody Creative. Somebody who is out in the digital (and offline non-catalog) world talking about New Merchandise every single day.

Every Single Day.

Who is that person in your company?

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