p2pnet.net News:- Remember when Sony tried to promote its own movies through fake reviews?

Now it looks as if Warner is trying to do much the same through mp3 blogs.

Both companies are part of the Big Four record label cartel – Sony-BMG (Japan and Germany), EMI (UK), Warner (US) and UMG (France) and in March, Sony Pictures Entertainment agreed to pay the state of Connecticut $326,000 after it (Sony) used pseud-reviews in a local newspaper.

"Sony also has agreed to stop fabricating movie reviews, and to stop using ads in which Sony employees pose as moviegoers praising films they have just seen," as an Associated Press story put it here. Nor is this Sony’s first excursion into lying. In 2001 it also dreamed up a fake fan letter for its then new Sony Formula One PlayStation game.

But back to Warner, its new owners may now have inadvertently taken the Big Four lead by officially recognizing and promoting p2p as a, if not THE, major force in online music.

Music For Robots Sell Out, is the header for a Robots post here, and it goes on:

"The Secret Machines – Nowhere Again. I know what you’re saying. The Secret Machines, this is old news. Well, actually, it’s not. This is a new development, because not only do we have permission to post this track, but Warner Brothers Records contacted us and wanted to help out. Crazy, right?

"[...] This isn’t to kiss Warner’s ass, they probably get enough of that from their executive assistants. No, this is just to keep you guy’s from getting scared. We have no idea where this is heading, but it’s nice to have the support of the major labels (take that RIAA!) and to know that we’re not operating in constant fear of being shut down (not that we were)."

Support of the major labels? Don’t count on it.

Anyway, They, Robots, weren’t alone. A couple of weeks back, at least eight mp3 bloggers "received an e-mail message from Ian Cripps, a Warner employee," says a New York Times story here, going on that the messages – all identical – came with an mp3, and, "Mr. Cripps told the bloggers that he loved their sites. ‘We are very interested in blogs and I was wondering if you could post this mp3, he wrote. It’s by one of our new bands – The Secret Machines. They are an indie rock band and we would love for people to hear the band’s music from your site. Here it is, listen to it and let me know if you will post it. Thanks’!"

The "pitch" to mp3 blogs, "was part of an ambitious online campaign that was the work of Robin Bechtel, vice president for new media at Warner Brothers and Reprise Records," says the NYT. "The campaign’s first unusual component was a decision to start selling the Secret Machines album through Apple’s iTunes store and other online outlets last February, nearly four months before it was available on CD. The move drew attention to the album, which received strong reviews."

Indie Bands use guerilla marketing all the time. And Sony (again) tried that too. "Executives at the music giant Sony yesterday promised not to commission illegal poster campaigns after being threatened with legal action normally used to tackle unruly teenagers," says a Guardian story here.

So will the blogs soon be swamped by music spam from the Big Music?

Stay tuned.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 16th, 2004 at 4:22 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

HOME

Viewed 2694 times