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Lisa,
Perhaps it is wishful thinking. However, unless this approach has been tried before and failed, we will never know how it works out. If people are willing to buy a few extra copies to support Blake, why not do it. If that would boost his sales that week, perhaps similar pushes might be launched in the future. One step at a time, there is nothing to lose at this point. With no label support or efforts to help out, I personally think it is better than doing nothing. Just my opinion.
perfectly stated Kasia
I left the equivilent of a flier showing Toys R Us endorsement of the album on people’s MS, in case wandering eyes saw it and thought it might be worth trying, or as a gift idea, or something.:-) Many people have friends who are not Blakers, or family that wanders in…eh.
I dunno Lisa, but I think we all would feel better knowing we really did try everything within our means to help Blake. Maybe it’s just a bucketful, but it may help get things on people’s radar again.
About the ADD Train idea– my daughter says that won;t work with younger people esp, HOWEVER, if they try it and love it, they’ll tell a few friends and they’ll rip it and try it too, you know? It’s still positive impact, and may cause more requests! I am petitioning my Spouse to try the Give a Copy Away technique on his adult friends, and he is considering it. They still may rip it, but again, some kind of positive impact would be helpful.
Album Sales is the biggest idea at the Moment, and another 2,000 will have him at 300K right? Let’s just keep trying to cause some good ripples.
Bully,
Going by the figures that Ken Barnes put out on Wednesday, he will need to sell another 11K to make it to 300K.
I don’t have a clue about how the record industry works. I don’t know what would be effective or pointless in promoting A.D.D. at this point. I do know there is a very dedicated group of people here and on other boards who love B and his music and will do what is in their power to support him. If it accomplishes nothing more, it will remind him that his talents are appreciated. I agree with Kasia it is better than doing nothing.
Maybe Ethan can help also? Maybe he could make an “Ethan’s adventure” that promotes the ADD day? Everyone loves his videos! Just another thought.
Everybody
Guys I can make a youtube video to support ADD week! I just need to know when we plan on having it so I can put dates in the video! I can you the song HMW or BA or a diffrent song from his CD just tell me and I’ll try to put a vid together! :)
Yup. Vicki, ITA.
As for Ethan and Blake’s other friends– I have been reluctant to “spam” them with any Blake-related material. I just don;t know how I’d go about doing it, without it seeming like a user. Seems not-kosher.
Ethan might do something in way of a shout-out, since he seems tied still to Blake’s situation. Maybe he could find a way of expressing himself comically, that would rally those not-Blaker fans. An interview? One of his parody songs? Maybe he would be inspired, if we asked. (It would have to be someone who was on pretty good terms with him tho, because it sure isn’t me.)
I understand Lisa’s points, so there are a few things we can do to be more successful.
(1) One thing is push the date later because you need a lot of Blake fans to get the message. You need about 10,000 people to participate for anyone to take notice. Less than 25K in sales is not going to get anyone’s attention, and may only get backfire bad publicity.
(2) Advertise on Blake Friendly sites which sounds like the plan already.
(3) See how many people you can get to register that they will participate to get a sense of what the outcome will be. People are unreliable, but if only 200 people register, it means probably only 100 people will participate. Only advertise the registered number if above 5000.
(4) Price Matters: Direct people to ITunes, the biggest seller of music and the cheapest. Direct them to Walmart if they want to buy a hardcopy as it is the cheapest hardcopy. 20$ buys me 2 at Walmart, but only 1 at the Toys R Us 16.99 price.
The more you make it easier for people to do something, the more they will do it.
The used CDs on Amazon are not helpful and don’t count as no money goes to Blake/Record Company. It is just like selling your old CDs at a garage sale.
(5) The Save A Drum …. a Beatboxer slogan is a major turnoff as it comes off as crude rather than sexy. I would avoid any crude ads or promo. (Example: Blake Lewis is ________ in my bathroom genre stuff. Does not help.) Blake’s crudeness does not appeal to the record buyer public and has seriously cost him numbers of fans. Particularly when you can’t get your songs played on the radio, and you have not received virtually unanimous critical acclaim, people are not going to try to overcome their dislike and buy it anyway.
(6) Choose Blake Noise is better but again the connotation is that he is the beatboxer who makes noise rather than being a real singer or musician. Something that presents him as a well-rounded musician would be better.
(7) I like the QVC idea, perhaps even during the Blake Lewis week. However, Blake should study his performances on Idol. They were well choreographed resulting in smoothness. He certainly didn’t just stand there, but the choreography complemented each song. Honestly, the spazzy jerky performances with arms flapping, doing whatever comes to mind at the moment or giving the impression that is what he is doing, disengages him from the audience and the song so people turn off. Never forget your audience.
(8) Another option is to chuck this album now. Blake records a new song, and promotes that in a professional manner highlighting him as a musician, not using the limiting beatboxer title. I always thought he could work the jazz angle a bit. Rehab was played on the Jazz stations where I am before the HAC started to pick it up.
Chucking ADD would be foolish, because if ONE song makes it big on radio, than the people that would buy his record will get to enjoy all the great songs on it. Getting rid of the album that blake has been planning his whole life would not be good. Know My Name should be the next single, and the record company should actually invest in it.
“With all due respect, I’d say the likelyhood of finding 1000 fans willing to buy multiple copies at this point is wishful thinking.”
Lisa, thats not true. I think finding 5000 people to purchase multiple copies is possible as well. The bottom line is, something has to be done SOON or else this record will fail… which would be a terrible shame. I appreciate you being realistic, but theres no need to be negative here. I think we should start a website for ADD day where fans can make the committment to participate, and we can have a list of exactly how many people will be involved.
I think if we can get all the major blakes sites together (within the end of the weekend) we can do this. Think about it each fan site has tons of friends - we just need to get the promo going!! If we get the promo moving SOON I think we can do this!!!!
I think we just need to keep mushing on with our plans of the ADD day. However many people we get will be better than nothing. We have some momentum going, so let’s just continue. If we feel we need a little more time, we could do May 12th - May 19th instead of May 5th - May 12th. May 12th is the official Blake Lewis Day, so we could kick it off on the 12th and continue the promo for a week?
That sounds like a plan to me. :)
So based on what everyone has posted here so far and some that I added, here are the websites to hit:
Teamplaid (duh!)
Blake Lewis Multimedia
Idol Bored
Idol Forums
Blakes World
American Idol boards
David Cook Fansite (david-cook.org)
Myspace
Blakergirls
EmilyRichett, in MI
blakelewis official
Maybe MJs?
I also thought we could email the electroqueer website where Blake gave the nice interview. The runner of the website really seemed to like HMW and Blake. Maybe he could make a blog out of the event.
Just a first attempt. Any others?
I have to agree with this comment. Listing just a few sites where it is the cheapest seems to make the most sense. Then people could spend their money buying more copies….which is of course the overall goal. So iTunes (to get the bonus track), Amazon, Best Buy and Walmart probably make the most sense. We could just link to those popular sites.
melissa,
I will add Blake-lewis.org. Thanks. I agree about Jordin fans. Does anybody here post on any Jordin sites?
No. MJs isn’t the place for something like this.
Also…Bshorty4L
Don’t tell others how to post, please.
I guess when I suggest this list of sites, I am talking about sites where we will be posting the actual message for the start of the ADD day event (whatever day we choose that to be…May 5th or May 12th).
star,
Thanks for the info about MJs. I wasn’t sure.
“Don’t tell others how to post, please.”
Star, i wasn’t telling anybody how to post. I was being polite and saying that I APPRECIATE that she was being realistic, but that she was also being negative at the same time. How is that “telling others how to post?” Chill out.
Walmart is not the cheapest, and not cheaper than ToyS R Us. They are still $14.99 plus tax at Walmart here. iTunes is def the cheapest option, but not everyone is internet savvy. I still don;t have a MP3 player of my own, altho I will admit that my teenaged children do ALOT of shopping there of late, because of strictly SELECTION.
Catalog sales are still a huge draw for those looking to buy on a whim. Esp if they may have a hard time finding it places. If they wait and lok to find it, they may not get it at all.
Secondly and most importantly– we can NOT afford to wait. Waiting past May5th is dangerous, because HMW is losing spins and being taken out of rotation places. Once it’s already dropped, it will be difficult if not impossible to make a dent enough to win the stations back. We need the exposure asap.
Blake doing a QVC thing on May 11th tho? That would be SWEET promotion, if his label/reps got on board! That even gives them time enough if they wanted to print more copies of the cd. It takes less than 2 weeks, if there’s print time available. That is def doable.
I have been thinking about the concept someone mentioned yesterday, that there are only about 70K cds out there in the world to find. iTunes is a fabulous option for people looking to get it immediately, for sure. The coolness of the cd itself is, you buy it and give it as a gift, so target one’s audience to that aspect– ie older people and moms. The concept of a kid-friendly cd in a year where everything is talking about sex and getting-wid-dat and shorty every other verse is a nice option for those looking. My kids have actually started looking more in the christian genre, because of all that, and I do monitor the radio.
Yesterday Youngest whose 12, was fishing around iTunes and asked me, “What does this red sign mean?” It said EXPLICIT on it, and so with exclamation points over my head, i went to see what she was looking in. It was wherever Avril Lavinge was.
So, kids music can be troubling to adults, yes.
Great idea!! :-) I was pleasantly surprised to see how excited the writer was about Blake and the video for HMW. That could be very good, and may get picked up for other publications.
At my local best buy store, ADD (and all other Cd’s) are only 9.99, so i would have no problem spending 30 bucks on 3 copies.
Star was doing her job as a mod here. You telling her to “chill out” is also telling someone how to post. “Negative” vs “realistic” is a matter of perception. Please read the guidelines. Also, why do you insist on posting under multiple handles?
Thanks pj. :)
Just to add to that, it might be a good idea for peeps to re-read the guidelines (specifically 4 and 5 as it relates to this issue), which have been in effect for months now and haven’t changed.
EOTW
I’m confused are we doing ADD week may 5-12 or 12-19…
It’s wouls help me to know cuz I’m gonna make a youtube vid to help promote it!!! :) also should I have like clips of all the songs or just use HMW??? (it’d be easier to use HMW.. but I can do clips from them if you want)
That’s a good question dani. What does everyone think? I have heard peeps say the sooner the better and also peeps saying we should wait a little more to get more people. But we need to decide. Mods….Maybe a quick poll for tomorrow?
EOTW
I think prsonally that wwe should wait a little… gives us more prep time and we can get more people!
I was checking out Kate Voegele because of her appearance with Blake on May 9th. She has a LOT of appearances shceduled and one especailly was interesting - she was appearing at a CD signing and in-store appearance at a CD center. I think this type of promo could work well for Blake.
NBNN
If Blake had a cd signing I’d proball go nuy another copy to get him too sign both of them (even tho I really don’t have the money… I have 30$ but I owe a friend some money.)