The album campaign - is it 3 weeks too early?

[Maurice E Maher]

The new album 'campaign' seems to be going pretty well (in the UK at least).
The single has had considerable critical acclaim, and it's attracting more airplay than any Morrissey song since First of the Gang. A batch of new songs has been showcased on national radio (6 Music) and TV, and they've all gone down reasonably well (although a bit hard to be objective about this).
The timing of all this would make sense if the album was coming out in about two weeks e.g. 27th Oct or even 3rd Nov. So why the wait until 17th Nov? Maybe they're hoping to bring out another single the week or two before. Perhaps that was what the Joey Barton video was for. Otherwise, it's a little baffling...

 

[Raphael Lambach]

It's going pretty well. It was a shame what Harvest did to "World peace is none of your business". That poor promotion ruined Morrissey relationship with the record label.
And BMG is doing all the things very well - as EMI did once.

Morrissey's trully back, dudes.

 

[mcrickson]

They were playing "Spent the Day in Bed" in Joey Barton's instagram story about shooting the video.

 

[Anonymous]

The new album 'campaign' seems to be going pretty well (in the UK at least).
The single has had considerable critical acclaim, and it's attracting more airplay than any Morrissey song since First of the Gang. A batch of new songs has been showcased on national radio (6 Music) and TV, and they've all gone down reasonably well (although a bit hard to be objective about this).
The timing of all this would make sense if the album was coming out in about two weeks e.g. 27th Oct or even 3rd Nov. So why the wait until 17th Nov? Maybe they're hoping to bring out another single the week or two before. Perhaps that was what the Joey Barton video was for. Otherwise, it's a little baffling...

I was thinking they might release another song around the time of the album drop especially if that's what the videos for. That makes sense to me. Release a promo song and when the album comes out release another to keep the momentum talking and visibility going. Yor refusal had its first single out and then four months later came the second. I know they were playing spent the day in the video with joey Barton guy but that could just be them plugging the newest song everywhere. I don't know. If the video is of spent the day then they might release it when the seven inch comes to help promote that maybe. Bmg seems to be doing a good so far so I trust them to have a good plan

 

[Maurice E Maher]

I'm not sure Harvest were entirely to blame for the failings of World Peace although putting out 4 of the albums more average songs a week apart (with those spoken videos) seemed a bit bonkers. Yes, I heard that 'Spent' was being played in the J Barton thing but just as background music so, presumably, the footage could be used for something else. I don't know how feasible it would be to bring the album release date forward but a 3rd Nov release would almost guarantee a number 1 as it's the week before the new T Swift album. She'll hold the top spot for a good month after her album comes out (maybe losing out one week to Noel Gallagher).

 

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure Harvest were entirely to blame for the failings of World Peace although putting out 4 of the albums more average songs a week apart (with those spoken videos) seemed a bit bonkers. Yes, I heard that 'Spent' was being played in the J Barton thing but just as background music so, presumably, the footage could be used for something else. I don't know how feasible it would be to bring the album release date forward but a 3rd Nov release would almost guarantee a number 1 as it's the week before the new T Swift album. She'll hold the top spot for a good month after her album comes out (maybe losing out one week to Noel Gallagher).

I didn't mind the spoken word teasers but putting out four songs so closer made them compete instead allowing one to build buzz and be talked about shared etc

 

[SuedeMoz]

I didn't mind the spoken word teasers but putting out four songs so closer made them compete instead allowing one to build buzz and be talked about shared etc

The spoken word promos were OK but it should have been part of something larger - not the extent of the promotion. We only heard Morrissey's side of things, but I'm sure he did plenty to sour the relationship with Harvest. In any case, BMG seems to be doing a much better job with Morrissey and it's nice to see him actively promoting on TV shows. It would be nice to see some proper interviews but maybe that's asking too much.

 

[Cornflakes]

It's going pretty well. It was a shame what Harvest did to "World peace is none of your business". That poor promotion ruined Morrissey relationship with the record label.

I'm not saying Harvest's promotion was great, because it wasn't. But the amount of TV appearances etc that Morrissey does is mainly down to Morrissey. Last time, he was turning stuff down (e.g. Jonathan Ross), and seemed to have a policy of only appearing on shows fronted by vegetarians (although he made an exception for Larry King, who has a friendly relationship with PETA). There's only so much a record label can do for an artist who doesn't want to promote themself.

 

[Anonymous]

The spoken word promos were OK but it should have been part of something larger - not the extent of the promotion. We only heard Morrissey's side of things, but I'm sure he did plenty to sour the relationship with Harvest. In any case, BMG seems to be doing a much better job with Morrissey and it's nice to see him actively promoting on TV shows. It would be nice to see some proper interviews but maybe that's asking too much.

I agree about interviews but it seems like he really doesn't want to or can't deal with it (maybe some of both, I dunno). It's the best cheapest promo. Even if he answered some fan submitted questions on Facebook or twitter it would go a long way. I think I remember the tipping point with harvest was over, or started over, a music video. At least that was the gossip

 

[joe frady]

Just found this piece of Fufkinery on monorail music's page for 'LíHS'; gee, it's like 2004 all over again...

"A massive return to form for Morrissey and a key record for him and for BMG. Major media partners already on board in R2 and 6music with the campaign launching with Morrissey performing at 6music Live at Maida Vale week in October. Further major BBC event already confirmed for later in the campaign. Great press campaign including The Sunday Times Magazine Cover. Mainstream TV performance confirmed. There will be a substantial marketing campaign to support this key album release."


.

 

[Maurice E Maher]

Just found this piece of Fufkinery on monorail music's page for 'LíHS'; gee, it's like 2004 all over again...

"A massive return to form for Morrissey and a key record for him and for BMG. Major media partners already on board in R2 and 6music with the campaign launching with Morrissey performing at 6music Live at Maida Vale week in October. Further major BBC event already confirmed for later in the campaign. Great press campaign including The Sunday Times Magazine Cover. Mainstream TV performance confirmed. There will be a substantial marketing campaign to support this key album release."

.

Interesting stuff, thanks. Magazine covers and the odd TV appearance don't do any harm (has anyone ever actually bought an album because they read an interview with the singer?) but having great songs on the radio is the only thing that really makes a big difference. Quarry was going the way of all the other Morrissey albums (flying out the chart in 5 weeks) until First of the Gang was picked up by radio, and brought the album back into the top 30 (possibly the top 20). The question is, is there a song as good as FOTG on the new album, and will it get released as a single?
Realised today why the campaign seems to be 3 weeks too early. The Queen is Dead re-issue comes out on October 20th and I guess they just wanted to give that a gap of a few weeks. Otherwise would have made sense to bring out LIHS in late Oct/early Nov.

 

[mcrickson]

Interesting stuff, thanks. Magazine covers and the odd TV appearance don't do any harm (has anyone ever actually bought an album because they read an interview with the singer?) but having great songs on the radio is the only thing that really makes a big difference. Quarry was going the way of all the other Morrissey albums (flying out the chart in 5 weeks) until First of the Gang was picked up by radio, and brought the album back into the top 30 (possibly the top 20). The question is, is there a song as good as FOTG on the new album, and will it get released as a single?
Realised today why the campaign seems to be 3 weeks too early. The Queen is Dead re-issue comes out on October 20th and I guess they just wanted to give that a gap of a few weeks. Otherwise would have made sense to bring out LIHS in late Oct/early Nov.

I was just think that I could see him dropping the ball and choosing "When You Open Your Legs" as the next single - both for the 'shock value' of the title, but also because it's not terribly far-off from "Kiss Me A Lot" in terms of quality (although, personally I think "Legs" is a little more interesting musically).

 

[dotmatrix522]

Just found this piece of Fufkinery on monorail music's page for 'LíHS'; gee, it's like 2004 all over again...

"A massive return to form for Morrissey and a key record for him and for BMG. Major media partners already on board in R2 and 6music with the campaign launching with Morrissey performing at 6music Live at Maida Vale week in October. Further major BBC event already confirmed for later in the campaign. Great press campaign including The Sunday Times Magazine Cover. Mainstream TV performance confirmed. There will be a substantial marketing campaign to support this key album release."


.

Wow great find, thanks Joe! I wonder if this is from a press release?
I hope everything is still on as planned.

 

[gordyboy9]

sunday times magazine cover,must be an interview inside.