Last week I ran a story on the Kottonmouth Kings and their Pre-Launch strategy. I reached out to the man behind Suburban Noize Records, Brad “Daddy X” to talk about their relationship with their fans as well as how they determine their price points and the power of engagement. Below is what he had to say:
GYRS: You guys have always placed a premium on rewarding fans that take action early through pre-ordering. What is the affect of taking care
of your fans that are so vested in the KMK and Subnoize brand?
x: We have always strived to maintain a special connection to our core fanbase, the preorder packages give the fans a chance to get product and variations of a release that retail stores don’t offer. There is also an upside for subnoize , we sell direct to customer without a middle man. The fans take pride in knowing that thier purchase directly supports the band & the label.
On a good pre-order we can cover a lot of our costs associated with the release. So it’s a win ,win,for the label and artist.
GYRS: You have used 3 videos in the pre-launch process – Stomp/Rampage, Mushrooms and Let’s Go. What are your goals with the videos and what impact do they have on the brand?
x: Video has always been a strong tool for promoting songs and records. We know that our videos are not gonna be played on MTV so we don’t spend alot of money making videos. We just try to get creative and use our own resources. It is guerilla filming for sure. We use a lot of the Internet outlets and website to get videos viewed. Videos will also pop up on bonus or compilation DVDs we release.
GYRS: Typically, what % of sales come from the pre-launch/pre-order vs traditional sales? Are you expecting anything different this go around?
x: It really varies, but maybe 5 percent of total sales, on a record. That is in an albums duration, that percentage is higher on opening week.
GYRS: You have 4 tiers of products in the pre-launch. How did you get to the levels and why did you choose those price points?
x: We sit in a room with the subnoize staff and evryone puts in ideas. We run prices and all agree on interesting packages. We try to give alot of value to the customer, we understand the state of our economy, so we try to incentivize our fans with great value. Plus you can never put a price tag on the pride and personal connection that fan has to the band!
GYRS: How important is online fan engagement to the success of KMK today -Â from ustream to Twitter, Facebook and other channels?
x: I would say our strongest marketing tool is social networking sites. Word of mouth is still our biggest asset! It is real grass roots marketing, we do use commercial marketing campaigns also (commercials, radio & television, magazines, websites ect..that raises awareness but word of mouth is the key!
GYRS: What is the goal of the membership site past this initial release? Are you looking at recurring revenue, increasing engagement with “super fans” or building something bigger?
x: we have been talking about the premium membership site for a while. We just launched kingklick.com for premium and fan club members. It is just a site to get more personal and exclusive content that does not exist on our main sites. We hope to grow it into something really special, it is in it’s infant stages right now! Our goal is to generate revenue with the site as well as stoking out our members.
GYRS: Anything else you want to add about the new record and the way you are releasing it?
x: Long Live The Kings is in stores everywhere with different bonus discs and songs. Subnoize has one set of songs, Best Buy has another and iTunes has another. We recorded 45 songs so you can find them all if you look hard enough!
If you want to learn more about the Kings, check out:
- Daddy X on Twitter
- Kottonmouth Kings website
- Kottonmouth Kings on Myspace
- GRYS KMK Pre-Launch Article
-Greg
Note from Greg (Checking their site, they have launched 2 more videos on April 22nd, 2 days after the release. That is a total of 5 videos that are all of high quality, in addition to 45 songs, plus the pre-order specials. What are you doing that even comes remotely close to this?)
Tags: daddy x, kottonmouth kings, Music Marketing
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