Warner Brothers' Blog Blunder
Commerce and blogs don't always mix.
Earlier this week, Robin Bechtel, VP of new media at Warner Brothers, had what she felt was a cutting-edge marketing idea to promote a new band -- the Secret Machines.
She had a Warner employee send out e-mails to several MP3 blogs (blogs that post music files with an accompanied review), asking the bloggers if they would post the band's single. Nothing wrong with this, although most bloggers are very protective of their "musings turf" and relish in the non-commercial spirit of their tomes.
Of the bloggers Warner Brothers contacted, only one, music (for robots), agreed to post the Secret Machines' MP3.
Where the story gets sneaky is that Bechtel allegedly had four Warner staffers post anonymous comments to music (for robots), saying things like "I never heard these guys before, but they're awesome," and "I went to their Web site and you can listen to a lot of their other stuff, very cool and very good!"
Mark Willett, a contributor to music (for robots), did some checking and found that each of the four comments had come from the same IP address and that it was the same IP address Bechtel had used to send separate e-mails to reporters. In other words, the "anonymous" comments saying good things about the Secret Machines came from Warner Brothers staffers.
Lame, huh?
Indie music fans love their bands because they're built from the ground up, through word of mouth and file sharing. When a major label tries to use an indie medium as a complementary marketing tool, its intent is transparent and unwelcome.
Bottom lone: Don't mess with bloggers if you're trying to sell something. Especially if you're already a media behemoth. Bloggers are aligned with an indie mentality and have an inherent suspicion of all things corporate.
typo in post: "bottom lone" should probably be "bottom line". Otherwise - stick it to them!
Posted by: George | March 25, 2005 at 11:40 AM
you think that is bad? Now they're pretending to be indie podcasters!! http://digg.com/music/Major_record_label_attempts_to_be_an_indie_podcaster_ends_up_a_poser
Posted by: Bob Willard | August 03, 2006 at 12:38 AM
Make sure you always [ warn a brother ] :D :D :D
Posted by: Warn a brother | September 10, 2008 at 03:13 PM