• Why read Direct Hitz?
• Trendwatch: R&B Goes Retro
• No More Singles? Or if you've got the ablum, you've got the singles

Welcome to Direct Hitz!

 Welcome to the first issue of a newsletter about happenings in the music business that affect small labels like us. We, at PMG Records, read a lot of industry publications, trying to find out how best to eke out opportunities for our artists. Sometimes we run across trends, issues and policies whose discussion we think would benefit all independents. That's why we've started Direct Hitz. Because, if real independents become stronger, we think it makes the music business more diverse, and in the long run, more creative for us all.

We hope that you will find something in Direct Hitz that is of value to you.

Feel free to drop us a line and let us know what issues you've heard about or what issues you'd like to hear more about.

  TRENDWATCH: R&B Goes Retro

 

R&B crooner Maxwell

Sticky Ricky of Bourgeoisie Paper Jam

The majors are trying to breathe new life into the stale "Babyfaced" format of urban radio. And all the industry sources are abuzz about the retro takeover.

Take a soulful voice, a few retro grooves and add the sexy 90's lyrical twist and voila!, you've got the new formula to get R&B listeners interested again.
Acts like D'Angelo, Maxwell, and Eric Benet have been introduced into the fray trying to test audience response to a retro soul sound. This new trend reinforces a fact that we at PMG already knew; that the R&B market was ready for something new, and that listeners longed for strong bass groove and melodies of days gone by. That consumers were tired of vocalists who oversing half-finished tunes written by some big name producer. That fans were ready once again to hear lyrics that are more than about the star's big car and money.

That's why PMG's top act Bourgeoisie Paper Jam is working on its third album, while the major labels are just now sampling audience response with these acts' first albums. This goes to prove, once again, that its the independents that lead the way that the majors will eventually follow.

No More Singles?
Or if you ve got the album, you ve got the singles

 Did you say you wanted that new version of" Betcha By Golly Wow"? Well, you'll have to buy the entire album to get it. From the Artist Formerly Known as Prince to Alanis Morissette, major labels are moving away from pressing individual singles off of albums. And pretty soon, there won t even be a cassette singles section at your local record store.

What s happening?, you ask. Major labels are finding that the costs of having singles mixed, pressed, packaged, distributed, displayed and promoted are becoming too much to bear. Not to mention, the time involved in juggling the singles in and out of stores. Let s face it, the expense of pressing a single is almost just as much as an album and the chances for retums* are much greater.

All of this is great news for the struggling independent label. What it means is that we have a better chance of competing with the majors in the record business game. Because the costs and time of promoting an album are being cut by eliminating the multiple singles that are expected off each album, an independent s potential gain is greater, while the investment is smaller.

Just like the majors, small labels can promote singles by writing tailored press releases that tell folks to pay attention to specific songs off the album. Or stickers can be applied to the CD cover instead. Either way, all we have to worry about pressing and distributing is the actual album and not those other expensive little offspring (which incidently were designed to help boost album sales by generating interest in the product—that is, if you can ever afford to get them pressed!).

It's about time something on the marketing/promotion side went our way! And we'd better savor it and use it to our advantage, because God knows what will be the next expensive major label promotion tactic we ll have to compete with!

*Returns are the number of unsold singles sent back to the record company from retail outlets.