Edgar Bronfman loves Madonna
p2p news / p2pnet: Warner Music’s Edgar Bronfman jr, “was particularly edgy,” says CNN Money. “Madonna’s last record had bombed, and the onetime undisputed diva, now 47 years old, seemed perilously poised between one last shot at clawing back into the limelight or sliding further into faded stardom – and, more to the point for Warner, commercial oblivion.
“Yet as he listened, Bronfman was relieved, then thrilled. Track after track sounded like classic Madonna, the kind of music that had made her a global superstar, selling roughly 200 million albums for Warner over her career. When the CD ended, Bronfman stood up, turned to Madonna, and said, ‘You are our queen’.”
Apparently, all variations, “jumped to the top of the charts – in the physical world as well as the digital. Remarkably, this happened as Confessions got less than half as much radio play as releases from other top artists, according to Warner research. Even more encouraging for Warner was that many fans paid $3 extra to download the video from iTunes along with the album. Now, just four months after its release, Confessions has sold more than 7 million CDs worldwide, generating by analysts’ estimates roughly $100 million for Warner – and that doesn’t include the tens of millions in additional revenues from digital downloads.”
CNN details how Warner, a member of the Big Four Organized Music cartel whose game plan is to sue consumers into buying low-quality, high-priced ‘product,’ has, “cracked the code” of how to sell high-priced downloads from the likes of Madonna.
Warner, “pushed the pop queen’s Confessions on a Dance Floor with an array of digital marketing gambits,” namely:
- Sold ringtones and ring-back tones a month before release of the single.
- Prereleased a 90-second streaming audio clip available from France Telecom.
- Made the single available early to fans who preordered the digital album.
- Offered a premium-priced bundled album with a digital booklet, bonus track, and video.
- Released a downloadable dance-mix version of the entire album.
According to Warner and its Organized Music brethren, Vivendi Universal, EMI and Sony BMG, p2p downloads are “devastating” the corporate music business. Confessions has been on the p2p networks and deeper underground since November last year. Yet this p2p presence notwithstanding, it somehow still managed to become a “smash”.
Meanwhile, “When Bronfman was in London in January 2005 watching videos of Warner International acts,” he was, “blown away” by Blunt. In an e-mail to Lyor Cohen, “an entrepreneurial whiz who began his career as a road manager for Run DMC and went on to head what’s now Universal Island Def Jam,” Bronfman proclaimed, “James Blunt is a star,” says CNN, going on:
“Blunt’s album, Back to Bedlam, was the top seller in the United Kingdom last year, and Atlantic was preparing to promote it in America. But with Bronfman’s personal endorsement, there was no doubt that the 29-year-old Blunt would win the full Warner treatment, complete with street-marketing campaigns, digital videos, and ringtones, plus a handful of tieins [sic] with television shows.”
And, “After Blunt appeared on Saturday Night Live, Atlantic’s marketing team launched a keyword campaign on Google to ensure that Web surfers typing in names of Blunt’s songs would find information about the singer.”
When Blunt made his first-ever L.A. appearance at the House of Blues, “Up in the balcony, Bronfman perched on a stool and leaned against the railing. His arms folded, he showed little expression, but every now and again he looked almost blissful – eyes closed, body swaying to the beat.”
The next day, his album hit No 9 on the Billboard charts, “great news for the company, since Blunt has just launched his first-ever U.S. tour as the headline act”.
Bedlam has been unofficially around online in FLAC, as well as other formats, since September last year, at the least.
Translating a European artist isn’t a, “slam-dunk by any stretch of the imagination,” the story has Bronfman saying.
“But I honestly believe James is someone who we’ll be writing and talking about five albums from now, even eight albums from now.” And if that happens, and if Bronfman’s business bet is as spot-on as his musical bet, perhaps the next time he and Madonna are hanging out among scented candles, they’ll be raising a glass not to her comeback, but to his.”
(Thanks, Masha)
Also See:
CNN Money – Warner Music the Remix, March 16, 2006
