A new Australian label has today announced a plan to 'slow-track' international releases to build hype for the artists. Reacting to recent pay-TV deals that will see shows fast-tracked within hours to Australian screens, the label says that their inventive approach will “put the magic back into buying albums”.
Based out of Yackandandah, Exploited Records says that a band's hype needs time to grow. The label's founder, John Exploited, told SPA Confidential today that he was, “Astounded by the rush to import music and TV shows in this digital age. It defeats the purpose of being on the arse-end of the world – Australians love waiting and you've taken that away from us.”
The label has signed deals with a number of bands in Europe and America who will be releasing albums before the end of the year – but the label said that we shouldn't expect to see a release date in Australia until Christmas 2013.
“We might even hold fans' anticipation even longer than that,” he admitted. “We'll get them all excited for Christmas next year and then delay it until January 2014. That way when the record is finally released people will be lined up around the corner of record stores to get their hands on the CDs.”
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The bands singed to the label, including The Carmen Cop Off, Fling With A Boyband and Staci From Preston, are just as unknown in the Australian market as they are in their own, and will likely tour Australia next year to “start the hype-ballz rolling”, as the label put it.
“We won't be releasing anything to coincide with the tours, nor will we be telling anyone about the shows. We want people to stumble upon the gigs unexpectedly in places like drive-through car washes and fish-and-chip shops so these bands can have a really natural and measured growth. Together with not allowing anyone to buy – or hear – the band's music until months after the tour is the perfect recipe for creating demand in the music industry.”
The label head added, “To be honest – we can't believe no-one has thought of it before! They'll call me the great reformer before I'm done!”
One definite upside of the label's release structure is that the 12 month lead-in time will give them time to reach up to 12 percent of their Facebook fans under the current algorithm for posts.
