Label and management teams behind Feeder and The Darkness have spoken about the benefits of Townsend’s Making Music Platform.
The two bands have signed up to the D2C firm’s platform, whose inaugural act was Gary Numan. Customers can pre-order an album and receive exclusive audio and video content, such as behind-the-scenes footage during the recording process, exclusive downloads of demos and track-by-track commentary videos when the material is mastered.
As revealed in the latest issue of Music Week, Cooking Vinyl said the D2C pre-order for The Darkness’ new album has improved on the previous record. The Easter Is Cancelled album is released on October 4.
“It’s been a great additional tool being able to utilise the Making Music platform as part of the D2C campaign with Townsend for the forthcoming new album from The Darkness, literally bringing the band direct from the studio to their fans with news and progress via audio-visual updates,” said Chris Farrow, head of marketing and production management at Cooking Vinyl.
It is literally bringing the band direct from the studio to their fans with news and progress via audio-visual updates
Chris Farrow
Artists can choose whether the content is available free on the store, or as a part of a subscription model as an additional D2C revenue stream for up to 12 months ahead of release.
“Since launching in March, Gary Numan’s Making Music store has quickly grown to become one of the top stores on our platform with the largest average order value in our top 15 stores,” said Lucas Barr, Townsend Music’s business development manager. “We can welcome any new artists to our Making Music platform, giving them the opportunity to extend the pre-release of their record and engage with their fans as often as they choose.”
Feeder release new album Tallulah via Believe on August 9.
David Rowell, Feeder’s co-manager and partner at Autonomy Music Group, said: "We always expect Townsend to be ahead of the D2C game. In reality, they have created their own. Their intelligence, insight and passion for music and their clients is a wonderful blend of new school digital knowledge and expertise, as well as old school customer service and access to team and facilities. Making Music is yet another well-constructed solution to improve their already developed D2C experience.”
Barr added: “Artists can choose to roll out blog or video updates from the start of the recording process all the way through to the release date and then continue to keep fans up to date post-release, extending into the album’s touring cycle. It gives artists a real opportunity to extend the life cycle of their releases in an engaging way for fans.”
To read the interview with Cooking Vinyl MD Rob Collins, pick up the latest issue – or subscribers can click here.
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