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# Mobilizing The Army Of Tool Fans
- URL: https://www.hypebot.com/mobilizing-the-army-of-tool-fans/
- Published: 2019-09-17T08:57:51.000Z
- Updated: 2019-09-17T08:57:51.000Z
- Description: Here we breakdown how OneLive and Single Music helped TOOL land the coveted number one spot on the Billboard 200 following the band's release of a new album after a. Continue reading [https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2019/09/mobilizing-the-army-of-tool-fans.html]
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Music Business, Music Marketing, Streaming, DIY, DIY musicians, indie, music industry, music marketer, Music Tech, musician, musicians, tool, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-01-21 09:55

[![Screen Shot 2019-09-16 at 8.08.51 AM](https://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e20240a4d269e6200b-200wi "Screen Shot 2019-09-16 at 8.08.51 AM")](https://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e20240a4d269e6200b-popup?ref=hypebot.com)

Here we breakdown how OneLive and Single Music helped TOOL land the coveted number one spot on the Billboard 200 following the band's release of a new album after a 12 year hiatus.

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*Guest post from [Single](https://singlemusic.com/blog/posts/tool-single?ref=hypebot.com)*On June 6th, Maynard James Keenan of TOOL [officially announced](https://www.instagram.com/p/ByYcLa1FhLt/?ref=hypebot.com) a new album. Considering the band’s 12 year hiatus – TOOL fans [were thrilled](https://tonedeaf.thebrag.com/tool-artwork-new-album/?ref=hypebot.com).

![tool_tswift_drop.png](https://storage.ghost.io/c/3a/95/3a957c06-c825-4057-9939-0a274cc16d23/content/images/5CLT67/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kPq1h9oQWqPHV3Dt54hwYKd7gQa3H78H3Y0txjaiv_0fDoOvxcdMmMKkDsyUqMSsMWxHk725yiiHCCLfrh8O1z5QHyNOqBUUEtDDsRWrJLTmMMzO8-dplENIt9nseW_HqBTM-qFxU9emKL5Xcm1PRfTeDCkWWlCiDuT7a6p-5slN/tool_tswift_drop.png)

Flash forward to the 5th of September, almost a week after the long anticipated release date of [Fear Inoculum](https://bstlnk.to/fear-inoculum?ref=hypebot.com), TOOL’s new album. Taylor Swift was dominating the [Billboard Charts](https://www.billboard.com/charts?ref=hypebot.com) following an [unprecedented pre-sale campaign](https://dailycaller.com/2019/08/20/taylor-swift-lover-million-copies-pre-sale/?ref=hypebot.com) leading up to her August 23rd release date. With her week two sales forecasted to be upwards of 200,000 – TOOL needed to act fast to earn a number one spot.

### Sell Direct

But they had just the plan. The TOOL team, with major merchandiser [OneLive](https://onelivemedia.com/?ref=hypebot.com), scheduled an additional 25,000 copies of a special CD pressing of Fear Inoculum. These would be sold in an 11 hour flash sale, **directly to fans** [from TOOL’s own web store](https://store.toolband.com/?ref=hypebot.com), in the final hours of the week 1 chart.

![tool_tweet_drop.png](https://storage.ghost.io/c/3a/95/3a957c06-c825-4057-9939-0a274cc16d23/content/images/RANM39/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kKDPCkZ167STKfuFe_NDc1h7gQa3H78H3Y0txjaiv_0fDoOvxcdMmMKkDsyUqMSsMWxHk725yiiHCCLfrh8O1z5QHyNOqBUUEtDDsRWrJLTmiavJE-6IvKLT3sxcs2txQgjGtdy9-ImAP2ZyutAr7o8WZcVMJZnPzk0RX6X_o80i/tool_tweet_drop.png)

And by “special” we mean a CD offering unlike any other. As if the long-awaited album wasn’t impactful enough – they created an [entire audio-visual experience within the product packaging](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHjRbKUhLI8&ref=hypebot.com). Included in this $45 CD tri-fold package was a 4” HD rechargeable screen with exclusive video footage, a 2 watt speaker and a 36 page insert book. For die hard TOOL fans, this was an absolute must have.But there was problem. Sales are submitted to the official [Billboard Charts](https://www.billboard.com/charts?ref=hypebot.com) upon *fulfillment* to customers, rather than at the time of purchase. As the CD’s wouldn’t be shipped until late September, this meant these sales wouldn’t be included in the first charting week.

### Enter Single Music

Even though the CD’s wouldn’t be ready – **digital music is fulfilled instantly**. [OneLive](https://onelivemedia.com/?ref=hypebot.com) partnered with Single Music to [attach the digital album](https://singlemusic.com/blog/posts/why-bundle?ref=hypebot.com) to each of the 25,000 CD’s – which were sent to fans immediately after completing the purchase.And to everyone’s amazement – this instantly fulfilled digital album could be downloaded in a [lossless format](https://singlemusic.com/blog/posts/mp3-v-lossless?ref=hypebot.com).

![reddit_1.png](https://storage.ghost.io/c/3a/95/3a957c06-c825-4057-9939-0a274cc16d23/content/images/pDm48kKu6SEFaADRh-CZU0y310CIUqsxRUqqbr1mOJYKfIPR7LoDQ9mXPOjoJoqy81S2I8N_N4V1vUb5AoIIIbLZhVYy7Mythp_T-mtop-vrsUOmeInPi9iDjx9w8K4ZfjXt2dkgIeiRcAfpIhRI-Lqom-QRbkyI0urGn9rIdGdXfFl4mCjLISwBs8eEdxAxTptZAUg/reddit_1.png)

![reddit_2.png](https://storage.ghost.io/c/3a/95/3a957c06-c825-4057-9939-0a274cc16d23/content/images/pDm48kKu6SEFaADRh-CZU0y310CIUqsxRUqqbr1mOJYKfIPR7LoDQ9mXPOjoJoqy81S2I8N_N4V1vUb5AoIIIbLZhVYy7Mythp_T-mtop-vrsUOmeInPi9iDjx9w8K4ZfjXt2dkgIeiRcAfpIhRI-Lqom-QRbkyI0urGn9rIdGdXfFl4mCjLISwBs8eEdxAxTptZAUg/reddit_2.png)

To put this in perspective – those who downloaded the album from iTunes, a service that has dominated the digital music sales space for over a decade, received a [compressed version](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced%5FAudio%5FCoding?ref=hypebot.com) of the new record.By 11 PM on Friday, 25,000 albums had been successfully delivered – in time to be included in the first week’s chart. A few days later, [Billboard announced that TOOL had successfully overtaken Taylor Swift for the #1 album on the Billboard 200](https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/chart-beat/8529417/tools-fear-inoculum-debuts-at-no-1-on-billboard-200-chart-rock-album?utm%5Fmedium=ios%5Fapp&utm%5Fsource=share). This marked the **biggest rock album week one in over a year**.

![board_charts.png](https://storage.ghost.io/c/3a/95/3a957c06-c825-4057-9939-0a274cc16d23/content/images/pDm48kKY-rZRM78CG4ALLKNDSZCJ7gQa3H78H3Y0txjaiv_0fDoOvxcdMmMKkDsyUqMSsMWxHk725yiiHCCLfrh8O1z5QPOohDIaIeljMHgDF5CVlOqpeNLcJ80NK65_fV7S1Uf5RfGcJ71WfWYnYsv__5-026wMS1Qf7QINZUepFa3FqW07ycm2Trb21kYhaLJjddA/board_charts.png)

Not only did Single help TOOL, we ran digital campaigns for **2 other top 5** [Billboard 200](https://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200?ref=hypebot.com) **artists this week**, [Lil Tecca](https://bstlnk.to/wlyt?ref=hypebot.com) and [Lana Del Rey](https://bstlnk.to/NFR?ref=hypebot.com), as well as the frontrunner of the Reggae Charts – [Stick Figure](https://stickfigurestore.com/?ref=hypebot.com).

![stick_drop.png](https://storage.ghost.io/c/3a/95/3a957c06-c825-4057-9939-0a274cc16d23/content/images/pDm48kFFs_NIDX9j2mpzEO5QowjJ7gQa3H78H3Y0txjaiv_0fDoOvxcdMmMKkDsyUqMSsMWxHk725yiiHCCLfrh8O1z4YTzHvnKhyp6Da-NYroOW3ZGjoBKy3azqku80C789l0sXC7mwOJ02xjUw3zNLbr4d2uj08OFTyMDwr1ERRk_PSNwnjaWHcaMQRXpwn7x2MbA/stick_drop.png)

Single also powered a digital / bundle campaign for artist [Witt Lowry](https://wittlowrymusic.com/?ref=hypebot.com), who earned a #1 spot this week on the [R&B/Hip-Hop Album Sales Chart](https://www.billboard.com/charts/randb-hip-hop-album-sales?ref=hypebot.com) for his record “Nevers Road”:

![witt_chart.png](https://storage.ghost.io/c/3a/95/3a957c06-c825-4057-9939-0a274cc16d23/content/images/D096G4/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kICQre2HFg4yu0EuSG-6eScUqsxRUqqbr1mOJYKfIPR7LoDQ9mXPOjoJoqy81S2I8N_N4V1vUb5AoIIIbLZhVYxCRW4BPu10St3TBAUQYVKcILKHUWb-SVs3NI4CpGvpfBELPT0SKO64c9R_KfO7-ahrVIEK1RRL2n14rrPbqPmf/witt_chart.png)

And we can’t forget about our up-and-comers. We ran digital bundles for [Wage War](https://pressure.wagewarband.com/?ref=hypebot.com), who landed at #10 on the “[Emerging Artists](https://www.billboard.com/charts/emerging-artists?ref=hypebot.com)” chart:

![wage.png](https://storage.ghost.io/c/3a/95/3a957c06-c825-4057-9939-0a274cc16d23/content/images/pDm48kGNE40xtYf2CSEBhUqfHVmEUqsxRUqqbr1mOJYKfIPR7LoDQ9mXPOjoJoqy81S2I8N_N4V1vUb5AoIIIbLZhVYy7Mythp_T-mtop-vrsUOmeInPi9iDjx9w8K4ZfjXt2dshK50fzghVPsr8veUq9pqY833HDKSB0Js1gU_vXA2RcCjLISwBs8eEdxAxTptZAUg/wage.png)

To learn more about the ways that Single can work for you, [check out some of our past blogs](https://singlemusic.com/blog?ref=hypebot.com). And as always, [our digital team is standing by](mailto:support@singlemusic.com) to chat about how to make your next release a success.