The Story of James Blunt

Originally written 9/20/7

So in honor of the new James Blunt CD coming out, I thought I would take this opportunity to tell you the story of James Blunt, and why this release just might be WEA’s most important. And I guess this can technically count as an Industry Rant as well.

James Blunt was an artist that was already happening overseas. I wanna say Britain or some such backwards land. Regardless of land of origin, he had a buzz that was making its way to the US. If we are to believe the story, Sylvia Rhone, former honcho of Elektra caught wind of him. Somehow, he ended up on Atlantic. Maybe because Atlantic eventually swallowed what was known as Elektra. So he was now signed to us. And we got the “big overseas” hype. Vets know to take this with a grain of salt. The British charts are full of artists who are huge acts there, but don’t do shit here. Yea, I’m looking at Robbie Williams, Kylie Minogue, etc. I can’t tell you how many artists we got hyped as “going platinum in Australia” (yea, Kasey Chambers & Silvechair, I’m looking your way, mate). That’s great and all, but I think going platinum in Australia means you sold like 5000 copies because Australia is so small. Going gold in Ireland means you sell at least 200 pints per live performance. Every country’s got their own thing.

I heard the Blunt Cd, and just kinda thought “eh”. Wasn’t my thing, but that certainly didn’t mean it would strike a chord with customers. OK morning music, kinda reminded me of early John Mayer. At least Blunt threw a few cuss words in there. When stores would ask me my opinion (because it’s better than anyone else’s, ya know) I would be honest and tell them, “If my friend was writing pussy lyrics like this, I would have to physically beat some sense into him.” But, hey, chicks seem to dig that kinda thing. And for what it’s worth, the record didn’t sound overly British or imported. Some records we had to work over the years just struck me right away as far too British to ever connect here. (An act like Junior Senior is a perfect example. They were the shit over in the UK for Move Your Feet. I remember the new release call we were discussing them, and one of the mahoffs was fawning over them and called them the B-53s. Good lord, man. Ultimately, despite a cool video, the song was a minor hit at best.) It was typical, bland, adult contemporary stuff. The single “You’re Beautiful” was the song that broke it overseas, and was the lead single here.

Credit where it’s due, it is a catchy song. I can see where it can melt a girls’ heart. But trust me, there was no guy ever caught blaring this tune in his radio and singing along. Before release, this CD became very political within WEA. Word came down that this was a “favorite CD” of one of the Ivory Castle heads. Throw in that it was a hit overseas, and imports here were starting to sell, and this became an “all hands on deck” CD. We had to break this artist. Had to. This got pushed down our throats. Just hype and pressure and hype and pressure.

If you’re a regular reader of mine (and there’s only like 12 of those, so you’re already elite), you know I have a good BS meter, and am very jaded. Guess what? So were a lot of people at WEA. I mean in a “overhype this record to us, and we will start to resent it” kind of way. Sure, it’s my job to push the label’s priorities, but don’t fucking hype me on bullshit. And what better way to hype the field than a contest?

Now I admit, I am a bit foggy on all the exact details of this, and might confuse this with the Paolo Nutini (1,2,3-who?) contest we had earlier this year. I will do my best to get this as accurate as possible. Personally, I am turned off, because I don’t get this record. I can’t get myself up for foisting this on you, loyal record store warriors. In addition, I am jaded, because with the Ivory Castle behind it, and now a contest, its’ the over riding priority when I go to stores. I mean to the point of really having a hard time justifying working on other bands in the WEA family. You just don’t know the amount of time we IMO wasted on just one artist. It clearly came at the expense of other artists, be them developing acts, or big names. Call after call, both locally with Team Philly and NY, going over ideas, who’s doing what, etc, etc, etc. Blunt is an Atlantic artist, so you can imagine that Warner Bros can’t be happy we’re wasting so much time on one of their artists. For the last few years, WB has been the hot label within WEA, breaking artists and selling big names. Atlantic was definitely runner up. (For the record, it wasn’t always that way. Most labels go through cycles of being hot, then cold. And during my stay, Atl had a ton of big selling records, like Hootie, Jewel, Matchbox 20 etc) I didn’t think this was a very rational way to do business, but hey when execs like Montreal get behind a project, their ego comes through.

I believe I properly recall 2 things about the contest that were generally hallmarks of most WEA contests. 1) No money to work with. Again, I might be confusing this with another contest, but I believe this was the one where we had no money to work with. In the record biz, you generally need money to make an impression in the stores. For example, I can get my indie chain to feature the Blunt on their endcaps in all their stores in exchange for a fair amount of money. Or maybe I want to run a contest for the customers where they can win, say an iPod. It costs money to buy the iPod. Giving the iPod away isn’t the point; it’s using it as a tool to generate some awareness on Blunt. Or with some bucks, we could get some promo pieces made, like t-shirts to wear out, or use as a giveaway. Maybe buy out a bar for a few hours, and have a listening party for our accounts to create pre-release buzz. Our hands were tied with no money. With no money, we were left to use our charm and good looks to get shit done. I know Team Philly was respected in all our accounts, so we were able to get stuff for free. Free positioning in our indies, maybe even a chain like FYE or Tower (RIP). We could use our relationships in stores to get the CD played overhead. Stuff that might cost the label money, but since we had good reputations, we were able to get it for free. In essence, the Blunt and Atlantic got a ton of free placement.

From the field. Not from the Ivory Castle (outside the national programs they might have set up). With no money and a bit of buzz, it was up to the field to generate the action. The field. It wasn’t like the Ivory Castle was out in the stores working for their favored son. The field. The 400 or so who were axed in May.

Secondly, and again, I believe I recall this correctly, IMO, the prizes weren’t worth my time. (I confess I might be wrong here, I know WEA did run a contest where the winner got to fly to like Ireland, but I’m thinking that might have been Damien Rice?) Aside from being the origin of all things Blunt, I still had Targets and Best Buys to check. Endless emails about the 100 other or so records we had out at the time. Spreadsheets to delete. 90 accounts to deal with. In my mind, I worked for my accounts. They were my bosses, if I did right by them then I would be fine. My 40+ hour week was increasing, and I had to look at the gamble. Focus my energy into a contest, where by I might do, say $300 worth of extra work, to win $150? I’d rather do my job, focus on JB where appropriate, let the chips fall where they may. I wouldn’t say I did the bare minimum, but I did what made sense, with the tools I had, to keep juggling all the other priorities I had.

Other reps didn’t share that theory, and that’s fine. Others did elaborate things like start street teams or MySpace pages. They went above and beyond the norm I guess you could say. I’d imagine they worked a lot more hours than me. They deserve more, but I question the amount of time spent versus actual result. Is the time and hassle of assembling a street team going to affect sales and be worth it in the end? Is a MySpace fan site going to translate into additional sales, or just another cyberhut for fans to occasionally drop in to? Maybe I’m wrong here, but I don’t think it does. I must be wrong, because reps did all kinds of that shit, and won the prizes. I have no problem they worked harder than me, they deserve it. I just question if they worked smarter.

Another incentive would be if the record went platinum, we would all get plaques.

Blunt starts to sell. The single started to get some radio. Buzz was on the Net and in the press. A few TV appearances. Before all of that, though, there was the field, setting the project up, cajoling accounts to bump up their orders. In my mind with minimal amount of bitterness, the field set this record up.

The contest ends, and we have to do a wrap up. These were a major pet peeve of mine. We had calls on how to properly prepare the wrap up. Make it all pretty like in PowerPoint. Include pictures and have them move. Include music. I lie to you not, I believe I spent the total of three whole days. On a wrap up. That about 5-6 people would ever see. For one artist. I don’t question the necessity of doing a basic wrap up. But it got to be like dressing up a pig. That was three days I could have been effective out in the real world.

The record took on a life of its own. The single reacted. SNL and more TV shots. JB starts hitting the scene, and dating models ridiculously out of his league if he didn’t have a hit. The single’s huge, has a pretty long life at radio. All right, we’re hot now, let’s go with a second single. Quick trivia, can you name it? Probably not. It was High, followed by Goodbye My Lover (Again, if he was my friend, I would be beating the piss out of him for these songs.) They do OK, but no where near the level of Beautiful. In fact, Goodbye’s highest honor is being named one of the top new songs to have played at a funeral. No lie, I can’t make that stuff up. What’s next to keep the record going? The Ivory Castle sends down another great idea. Put out a “special edition”. In other words, let’s screw the fans who got in early, and make them buy the disc all over again for a handful of new material. And, hey, it’s just in time for Xmas, too! Wowee, how ironic!

As will be detailed in another Industry Rant post, collectors/special editions are money grabs. Without question, beyond a shadow of a doubt. On the JB cashgrab, it’s some covers, alternate takes, live stuff. Hmm, suspiciously stuff that’s on an import that’s selling? And that’s not to be confused with an earlier released live CD and DVD. OK, wait, now I have confused myself. I think the live CD DVD stuff was from an import, while the cashgrab was newer stuff? Cripes, man, you can see if I’m confused, Joe Consumer would be confused. Anyway, that shit’s bad pool in my book.

During the summer, an unconfirmed, gossip board posting has word that one of the Ivory Castle residents throws a small listening party for the new JB at his NY pad. (Yes, he can still expense everything.) Word is the new CD is not very good. Again, this is unfounded internet rumor, but hey it’s the first thing that came up when I Googled “bad early press for new James Blunt CD”.

Flash to September 2007. The new CD is released. I see cable ads for it, which I think is something labels should do more of anyway. I do not know what the buzz or anticipation in stores for a new Blunt is. Hell, I couldn’t even tell you what the name of the first single is. The first one was a very field driven record. I am anxious to see what the sales are next week. I am sure the first week it will do OK, as all the diehards snap it up. But I’m curious to see what kind of legs it has on the charts.

So that’s the James Blunt story. Just don’t get me started on the Paolo Nutini story. That’s a post for another day.

Post script The first CD did end up going platinum. Regardless of how I feel, it is one of the bigger artist development stories of recent WEA. Atlantic lived up to it’s promise and sent us platinum plaques. Mine is proudly displayed in the floor of my closet. It is the only (of the few) plaques I ever got that I never felt the need to put up.