God bless the Beatles. Or, more precisely, God bless the Beatles' promotional staff.
Not a month goes by without some artist re-mastering and re-releasing his (or her) back catalog. It's a fact of life in the ever-dwindling CD market. In fact, Neil Young just unveiled a twenty-years-in-the-making box set ($300 for the BluRay version!) this summer. It was big news within the usual music magazines and blogs. Everywhere else, not so much.
But when it's THE BEATLES doing the ol' back catalog re-release, people pay attention. Not that I am complaining in the least. By setting aside a unique date (9.09.09) and dropping the "Beatles Rock Band" video game on the same day, the good folks at AppleCorps managed to create a true event... something that rarely happens in the music world anymore without tragedy being involved. (See my June blog immediately below.)
The immediate, (semi-) selfish ramifications of this full-out marketing blitz? For the first time in a long time, the media was interested in good ol' fashioned music stores again. Specifically, the local media in Charlotte, NC gave a lot of great press to the store I've worked at for over ten years, Manifest Discs, a fantastic indie record store that is very much alive and kicking. And it was especially gratifying to field phone calls from newspapers or let camera crews roam the stores, because they were just pointing out what we already know: People still love music, and people still BUY music. Thanks to the Beatles for reminding us, once again!
Links to the local features running today are listed below. I also appeared on the local morning show FOX News Rising in a "Beatles round table" discussion... wonderful group of folks there. No video link online, but I recorded the segment and will try to upload it in the next couple days.
Charlotte Observer article
(This appeared on page 2A of the 9.09.09 paper! Lovely shot of Kyle. Not staged at all!)
WBTV story and news segment
(A nice segment highlighting our store and our customers. Unfortunately, out of my 15 minutes of interview footage, they used about 5 seconds where I look like I'm having a seizure. Can't win 'em all!)
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