Terri Koggenhop
Mack Ave Records

One point you made was particularly interesting to me:

“…Nadir’s ability to fuse different music styles…may be a nightmare to any major label’s promotion department, who don’t know how to handle quality and multifaceted music…”

I have been frustrated with major labels for a long time, both as an artist and as a consumer. I agree that most often they do not have the vision to imagine the potential of recordings that challenge the norm or are outside the tiny little boxes that marketeers have created.

I am hopeful, however, that there may be a slight shift in this regard because of two recent examples where major label marketing crossed those lines. One was with the last Outkast record, “Speakerbox/The Love Below”. It was almost a novelty that they released the first two U.S. singles simultaneously in two different markets - “The Way You Move” to urban and “Hey Ya” to pop. This strategy was a huge success, and helped launch the duo to a new stratosphere.

Of course, they were an established act with a big budget who had a big fan in then Arista CEO L.A. Reid. Reid was subsequently fired from that position, possibly because he was taking such risks with BMG’s money.

Another example that is probably a more appropriate analogy is with Van Hunt. Capitol has also been marketing him to urban and adult alternative radio simultaneously. They even put him on a short U.S. tour with Boney James to introduce him to the smooth jazz audience.

Though Capitol hasn’t spent a ton of money on Van, they are showing a great deal of patience with his project by working to build a grassroots following from the ground up. Wow! What a novel concept from a major label - artist development!

Is this the beginning of a larger trend? Probably not, but perhaps there are a few more label execs out there who have the guts to accept the challenge of marketing “quality and multifacted music.”

Your site proves that music lovers often have different and divergent tastes that defy these narrow categories. By marketing quality products to consumers who appreciate quality, a company can build a larger more loyal audience which could ultimately lead to a stronger, more robust industry.