Music Marketing

Sadly Ministry Thinks 30 Sec. Samples Sell

I’ve always admired Ministry’s music even when I didn’t quite "get" it; and a new covers album showed real promise. But it’s now painfully obvious that being a forward thinking musician doesn’t necessarily translate into being a forward thinking music marketer. Here’s part of the press release I just got:

Ministry
"With the April 1st release of Ministry and Co-Conspirators’ Cover Up on the horizon, Al Jourgensen and company are giving fans a chance to preview the album before release date. Effective today, a
lengthy track featuring 30 second samples of every song on Cover Up is available at the official Ministry Myspace page …"

Come on Al. Radiohead and Trent Reznor are practically giving it away; and you think a "lengthy track" of 30 second samples  on your MySpace page is gonna get your waning fan base excited?

In fairness, this is a covers album so giving it away would be tougher to do. But The Rolling Stones and REM are doing full album online listening parties and I’ll bet imeem or iLike would pay the publishers. (Are you listening guys?)

Wake-up Al; it’s 2008. Radio doesn’t care. But the fans might if you give them a chance to hear the music.

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