'World Peace Is None Of Your Business' publicity: a horrible misfire

[!Viva Hate!]

It all started off so well in February with the announcement of the highly anticipated tour dates. The inclusion of Tom Jones and Cliff Richard as "special guests" drummed up some extra publicity. Then in March we were informed of the completion of the new album, it's title, it's producer and that Vauxhall & I was being remastered for it's 20th anniversary. In April, the tracklist and tentative July release date for World Peace Is None Of Your Business was announced. Good so far!

But now, it's May...
We have an apparent cover art mock-up leak on a Twitter account no one visits. No publicity has been generated because it isn't actually the cover art and it doesn't feature Morrissey. There are some wheat poster ads up in New York City and Los Angeles that give absolutely no indication that they are advertising an upcoming album. You either know what it is or you don't...seeing a poster that says that isn't going to make anyone Google that phrase and find out it is an upcoming Morrissey album. So, fail. Apparently, in 10 days the first of 3 singles to be released weekly for the remainder of this month is going to be released with no publicity, no way of pre-ordering, no tracklist, no cover art, and no announcement from any source whatsoever other than, once again, a Twitter account barely anyone reads.

Instead of booking a performance on a late night talk show or doing an interview, the closest Morrissey has come to promoting any of his forthcoming endeavors is to get into a mud slinging match with Canada and mourn the loss of Bob Hoskins.

This just seems like another horrible publicity misfire on Morrissey's part that he is simply going to blame on Capitol Records when it inevitably fails.
Morrissey is not Bowie. If he thinks he has that kind of clout, he is horribly mistaken.

 

[No1uno]

In business, you need to grow it. You have to spend, be creative and try thing. In morrissey's case I feel that he wants control and believes everyone wants to rip him off. At this point, with no promotion machine to pay, morrissey will sell exactly to who he wants to, his fan base who was going to buy anyway. I really don't think he is looking for more fans, just make money. He's not a producer or collaborater. He is just a singer. Good points you brought up, ones that would be suicide for a young artist. For morrissey, it's the penny pinch, everyone who can make him more money are the leeches removing.

 

[Anonymous]

It all started off so well in February with the announcement of the highly anticipated tour dates. The inclusion of Tom Jones and Cliff Richard as "special guests" drummed up some extra publicity. Then in March we were informed of the completion of the new album, it's title, it's producer and that Vauxhall & I was being remastered for it's 20th anniversary. In April, the tracklist and tentative July release date for World Peace Is None Of Your Business was announced. Good so far!

But now, it's May...
We have an apparent cover art mock-up leak on a Twitter account no one visits. No publicity has been generated because it isn't actually the cover art and it doesn't feature Morrissey. There are some wheat poster ads up in New York City and Los Angeles that give absolutely no indication that they are advertising an upcoming album. You either know what it is or you don't...seeing a poster that says that isn't going to make anyone Google that phrase and find out it is an upcoming Morrissey album. So, fail. Apparently, in 10 days the first of 3 singles to be released weekly for the remainder of this month is going to be released with no publicity, no way of pre-ordering, no tracklist, no cover art, and no announcement from any source whatsoever other than, once again, a Twitter account barely anyone reads.

Instead of booking a performance on a late night talk show or doing an interview, the closest Morrissey has come to promoting any of his forthcoming endeavors is to get into a mud slinging match with Canada and mourn the loss of Bob Hoskins.

This just seems like another horrible publicity misfire on Morrissey's part that he is simply going to blame on Capitol Records when it inevitably fails.
Morrissey is not Bowie. If he thinks he has that kind of clout, he is horribly mistaken.

To be fair you are relying quite heavily on some sourceless twitter, and some wild speculation(that there will be no TV appearances). The rumored singles make no claim of a physical release do they? If not it may just be that these are the dates in which the singles will debut on various sites(Pitchfork etc.) with physical releases maybe or maybe not pending. I also think its a bit of a stretch to call a possible mock-up being put on the net "marketing" in any real sense of the word. As to the wheat posters I actually think just using the fairly provocative title might work. Granted, it would help to know where in NYC/LA these things have been placed, but I assume some research was done on that.

That being said we are two months out probably from the record's release. And considering that most marketing campaigns for records tend to roll out in the preceding month, puts us right about where things should be for a normal album marketing push.

 

[CrystalGeezer]

It all started off so well in February with the announcement of the highly anticipated tour dates. The inclusion of Tom Jones and Cliff Richard as "special guests" drummed up some extra publicity. Then in March we were informed of the completion of the new album, it's title, it's producer and that Vauxhall & I was being remastered for it's 20th anniversary. In April, the tracklist and tentative July release date for World Peace Is None Of Your Business was announced. Good so far!

But now, it's May...
We have an apparent cover art mock-up leak on a Twitter account no one visits. No publicity has been generated because it isn't actually the cover art and it doesn't feature Morrissey. There are some wheat poster ads up in New York City and Los Angeles that give absolutely no indication that they are advertising an upcoming album. You either know what it is or you don't...seeing a poster that says that isn't going to make anyone Google that phrase and find out it is an upcoming Morrissey album. So, fail. Apparently, in 10 days the first of 3 singles to be released weekly for the remainder of this month is going to be released with no publicity, no way of pre-ordering, no tracklist, no cover art, and no announcement from any source whatsoever other than, once again, a Twitter account barely anyone reads.

Instead of booking a performance on a late night talk show or doing an interview, the closest Morrissey has come to promoting any of his forthcoming endeavors is to get into a mud slinging match with Canada and mourn the loss of Bob Hoskins.

This just seems like another horrible publicity misfire on Morrissey's part that he is simply going to blame on Capitol Records when it inevitably fails.
Morrissey is not Bowie. If he thinks he has that kind of clout, he is horribly mistaken.

He's doing fine. He's doing it DIFFERENTLY which is refreshing. I think the guerilla wheat pastes that don't even mention his name are genius. I think the nephew leak is just a technicality, not part of his campaign. You'll see...it'll work. He's probably going to let youtube and twitter do a lot of work for him during the tour. It's all very indie which is appropriate, Morrissey is like the Grandfather of the Indie Hipsters, it's appropriate he settle in his new album this way. I love it.

- - - Updated - - -

In business, you need to grow it. You have to spend, be creative and try thing. In morrissey's case I feel that he wants control and believes everyone wants to rip him off. At this point, with no promotion machine to pay, morrissey will sell exactly to who he wants to, his fan base who was going to buy anyway. I really don't think he is looking for more fans, just make money. He's not a producer or collaborater. He is just a singer. Good points you brought up, ones that would be suicide for a young artist. For morrissey, it's the penny pinch, everyone who can make him more money are the leeches removing.

Are you going to his show tomorrow No1uno?

 

[Anonymous]

Everything Morrissey knows about music marketing is wrong; he lambastes the studio system for not giving him a fair shot, but he was never willing to do the little dance required to get the Top 40 hits he so longed for. This is the equivalent of spitting in the homecoming queen's Diet Coke and then furiously deriding her for not inviting you to the Sadie Hawkins dance.

So perhaps he has finally embraced the Long Tail (I do not mean that as any sort of punny reference to his still-murky sexual identity, although, heh) as it applies to the music industry. There is no point in spending money on a mainstream promotional campaign unless he's simultaneously announcing his engagement to Sandra Bullock. He's not going to be a mainstream success, partly because there no longer is a main stream, and partly because he doesn't have that kind of mindless, bland appeal. We who love and hate him with passions just like his are the only ones who will seriously buy his products--and that's ok. There is a living to be made there. Supplementing that living with judicious licensing of past hits (recent Smiths usage on HBO's Girls was canny and savvy; that's just the right market) is the path to financial security. He's got real capital, he needs to use it wisely.

I see some interesting things happening with this set of releases. Long may they last...

 

[BrummieBoy]

He's doing fine. He's doing it DIFFERENTLY which is refreshing. I think the guerilla wheat pastes that don't even mention his name are genius. I think the nephew leak is just a technicality, not part of his campaign. You'll see...it'll work. He's probably going to let youtube and twitter do a lot of work for him during the tour. It's all very indie which is appropriate, Morrissey is like the Grandfather of the Indie Hipsters, it's appropriate he settle in his new album this way. I love it.

Genius implies path-finding and original. This isn't. It's hardly 'indie' as it's on a major Corporate label, though it does seem to be trying to be 'street'. Is Morrissey really widely considered as a 'hipster'? Seriously?

Bowie and Beyonce did the 'surprise announcement', but Team Morrissey are doing the usual slow build. However, after a few shows it will be clear from fan footage if there's a new direction musically or if it's just Business As Usual. It's barely a year since his last arena show in Los Angeles. I'm sure it's a big deal to his core audience, including you, but I doubt if there's going to be much publicity beyond that core without a traditional campaign of television appearances and 'outrageous' statements/interviews.

I had hoped that his serious illness episodes last year might trigger an artistic re-birth. I'm still hopeful that these are new songs rather than stodge from the same archive as PATSE, KAL & AIMMN, but with his recent redundant re-hash outbursts about Canada and maudlin musings on other minor celebs now dead, I'm not optimistic.

Of course if the album is an instant flop, then we'll hear the usual complaints about lack of marketing spend, the failure to float life-size statues down the Thames like MJ did, etc. If Morrissey wants to 'make a splash' in the corporate music market, he needs to be clear that that's his goal and get his hands dirty with the marketing department of his chosen employer. If the music is another successful imitation of Adult Oriented Radio Rock/Pop like YATQ, then word of mouth will spread it to a wider bridge & tunnel audience. If it's cutting-edge and fresh, then it's likely to be critically acclaimed which will garner a wide audience also. If it's another pity party, then it will sink quickly with the usual suspects insisting that there's some 'plot against mediocrity' preventing dreck being foisted on the entire world. And the mocking will begin....

 

[No1uno]

He's doing fine. He's doing it DIFFERENTLY which is refreshing. I think the guerilla wheat pastes that don't even mention his name are genius. I think the nephew leak is just a technicality, not part of his campaign. You'll see...it'll work. He's probably going to let youtube and twitter do a lot of work for him during the tour. It's all very indie which is appropriate, Morrissey is like the Grandfather of the Indie Hipsters, it's appropriate he settle in his new album this way. I love it.

- - - Updated - - -



Are you going to his show tomorrow No1uno?

No I am not, I have seen him 30 plus times. There is nothing there for me to see. I want to hold on to that young morrissey that I saw so many times. The shows used to be so awesome when I was young. I got on stage three times and held him. I'm good with those memories. I don't need anything messing them up.

The travel and excitement I get now are from the things that ignite my passions today. Oh, I will be buying these singles, and album and probably find something relevant in my life today in them, so I'm not worried. He has always produced that way for me.

I do like the album title promotion ambiguity. Is he saying it to himself, to the USA, to people etc? You don't know so it can mean anything you want, it will fit with anyone's viewpoints really. That to me is clever. For me and how I think, he is saying it about himself, tongue in cheek, because I don't think it's any of his business from his singer perch.

 

[BrummieBoy]

I'm watching the semi-finals of The European Song Contest- Eurovision 2014 on BBC 3. If Morrissey genuinely wanted access to a world audience, he'd have followed through on the invitation to write/perform the UK entry. He didnt', he bottled it. Yet years later he suddenly finds a hero in Cliff Richard who had the bollocks to step on stage and face ridicule and humiliation and 'nil points'. If this album tanks, it's either because it's rubbish or Morrissey still has an entitlement agenda that imagines he deserves a global audience- without doing anything in particular to reach such an audience, such as being part of a sales/marketing team effort alongside his corporate colleagues.

I wonder how honest the conversations have been between Morrissey and Harvest? If he's seriously stated that he wants a mass audience for WPINOYB, then they have enough experience to have mapped out a corporate business plan/profitability model to make a serious attempt at mass sales. This is a company that helped launch "Dark Side Of The Moon" to 50million worldwide sales, ffs! They're hardly indie amateurs.

Edit: Having studied the form for Eurovision 2014, it's hard to see how either Morrissey or Kristeen Young alone or as a duet would stand a chance against the cutting edge talents on display. 30 years ago, the NYD's were 'transgressive'. Thankfully, the world has moved on and, in Europe at least, Conchita Wurst shows that 'faux-outrage' is dead and 'sincerity is the new black'. And no cracks about Russell Brand....I'd be delighted if Morrissey's career was able to "Rise Like A Phoenix" but if it crashes and burns, does it really matter?

 

[!Viva Hate!]

Everything Morrissey knows about music marketing is wrong; he lambastes the studio system for not giving him a fair shot, but he was never willing to do the little dance required to get the Top 40 hits he so longed for. This is the equivalent of spitting in the homecoming queen's Diet Coke and then furiously deriding her for not inviting you to the Sadie Hawkins dance.

Exactly. He feels his legacy and the songs are strong enough to get him there . They're not anymore. There is a reason he charted so highly during the Quarry days...he promoted himself like a street whore.

 

[Anonymous]

Exactly. He feels his legacy and the songs are strong enough to get him there . They're not anymore. There is a reason he charted so highly during the Quarry days...he promoted himself like a street whore.

Oh dear, there's so much rubbish on this thread, it's hard to know where to start.
There are two things that Morrissey needs to do for his new album to be very successful (it is bound to be quite successful due to the hype that already exists, and the 5 year gap since the last album).
One is just 2 or 3 great songs, and two is for those songs to be released as singles.
He will never get blanket airplay in the UK but there are three big stations who will play his songs AS LONG AS THEY ARE GOOD.
They are Radio 2, Absolute and XfM. The last time all those stations played his new material was for First of the Gang - it's no coincidence that that was his last truly great single.
It's hard to believe that the remnants of his songwriting team (post Alain's departure) can write sufficiently high quality music for these stations to agree to play it, but they might have done.
World Peace will outsell YOR - guaranteed.
But it will only outsell ROTT and YOR if there are 2 or 3 brilliant songs which get released as singles. Putting out 3 songs, if they are genuinely brilliant, seems unwise. It will generate hype to ensure high first week sales but (in the unlikely event that he actually has three brilliant songs) he would've been much better off with the usual 2 month gap.

 

[BrummieBoy]

Oh dear, there's so much rubbish on this thread, it's hard to know where to start.

So you didn't.

 

[Mozza220559]

Genius implies path-finding and original. This isn't. It's hardly 'indie' as it's on a major Corporate label, though it does seem to be trying to be 'street'. Is Morrissey really widely considered as a 'hipster'? Seriously?

Bowie and Beyonce did the 'surprise announcement', but Team Morrissey are doing the usual slow build. However, after a few shows it will be clear from fan footage if there's a new direction musically or if it's just Business As Usual. It's barely a year since his last arena show in Los Angeles. I'm sure it's a big deal to his core audience, including you, but I doubt if there's going to be much publicity beyond that core without a traditional campaign of television appearances and 'outrageous' statements/interviews.

I had hoped that his serious illness episodes last year might trigger an artistic re-birth. I'm still hopeful that these are new songs rather than stodge from the same archive as PATSE, KAL & AIMMN, but with his recent redundant re-hash outbursts about Canada and maudlin musings on other minor celebs now dead, I'm not optimistic.

Of course if the album is an instant flop, then we'll hear the usual complaints about lack of marketing spend, the failure to float life-size statues down the Thames like MJ did, etc. If Morrissey wants to 'make a splash' in the corporate music market, he needs to be clear that that's his goal and get his hands dirty with the marketing department of his chosen employer. If the music is another successful imitation of Adult Oriented Radio Rock/Pop like YATQ, then word of mouth will spread it to a wider bridge & tunnel audience. If it's cutting-edge and fresh, then it's likely to be critically acclaimed which will garner a wide audience also. If it's another pity party, then it will sink quickly with the usual suspects insisting that there's some 'plot against mediocrity' preventing dreck being foisted on the entire world. And the mocking will begin....

Here you speak the troof.

 

[Uncleskinny]

Here you speak the troof.

I've said it hundreds of times. There's one way this whole thing is going to end, no matter how much Moz hates the thought. You know it, I know it.

P.

 

[Mozza220559]

I'm watching the semi-finals of The European Song Contest- Eurovision 2014 on BBC 3. If Morrissey genuinely wanted access to a world audience, he'd have followed through on the invitation to write/perform the UK entry. He didnt', he bottled it. Yet years later he suddenly finds a hero in Cliff Richard who had the bollocks to step on stage and face ridicule and humiliation and 'nil points'. If this album tanks, it's either because it's rubbish or Morrissey still has an entitlement agenda that imagines he deserves a global audience- without doing anything in particular to reach such an audience, such as being part of a sales/marketing team effort alongside his corporate colleagues.

I wonder how honest the conversations have been between Morrissey and Harvest? If he's seriously stated that he wants a mass audience for WPINOYB, then they have enough experience to have mapped out a corporate business plan/profitability model to make a serious attempt at mass sales. This is a company that helped launch "Dark Side Of The Moon" to 50million worldwide sales, ffs! They're hardly indie amateurs.

Edit: Having studied the form for Eurovision 2014, it's hard to see how either Morrissey or Kristeen Young alone or as a duet would stand a chance against the cutting edge talents on display. 30 years ago, the NYD's were 'transgressive'. Thankfully, the world has moved on and, in Europe at least, Conchita Wurst shows that 'faux-outrage' is dead and 'sincerity is the new black'. And no cracks about Russell Brand....I'd be delighted if Morrissey's career was able to "Rise Like A Phoenix" but if it crashes and burns, does it really matter?

 

[BrummieBoy]

Fantastic singing voice.........

 

[Mozza220559]

Fantastic singing voice.........

"We wish you a disenfranchised Christmas and...a psychotic new year!"

 

[Anonymous]

the only publicity they gave us is the Kristeen and Tony bullshit, the cancelations, the rare illness and the awful cover. . .

 

[Oh my god. it's Robby!]

I think that when you reach a certain age the skills you, mostly, either have or don't are the ones your stuck with for the long haul
and Moz never really has had any business acumen and frankly, my guess is that he despises the type of marketing people that one relies in order to sell records
its a horrible business, now more than ever
however, it would have been nice if he had acted with a little more common sense when it comes to rolling out this new record
on the other hand, would he really be the artist that he is if he suddenly started saying and doing things from a place of rationality and thoughtful judgement?
I think not

 

[!Viva Hate!]

I think that when you reach a certain age the skills you, mostly, either have or don't are the ones your stuck with for the long haul
and Moz never really has had any business acumen and frankly, my guess is that he despises the type of marketing people that one relies in order to sell records
its a horrible business, now more than ever
however, it would have been nice if he had acted with a little more common sense when it comes to rolling out this new record
on the other hand, would he really be the artist that he is if he suddenly started saying and doing things from a place of rationality and thoughtful judgement?
I think not

He did fairly heavy promotion on the 3 previous albums...just not this one. So it isn't really like this is par for the course...he just suddenly decided to do absolutely nothing and see what happens it seems.

The sad thing is, he did more self-promotion when he didn't have a contract than he is doing for his new album. If he had issued one interview and booked one TV performance a week before the album was released, I'd wager he would have sold 15,000 more records than he will now.

 

[Anonymous]

He did fairly heavy promotion on the 3 previous albums...just not this one. So it isn't really like this is par for the course...he just suddenly decided to do absolutely nothing and see what happens it seems.

The sad thing is, he did more self-promotion when he didn't have a contract than he is doing for his new album. If he had issued one interview and booked one TV performance a week before the album was released, I'd wager he would have sold 15,000 more records than he will now.

But isn't he still sick? Isn't that why it's different this time?