Jane’s Addiction Botches Direct-To-Fan Release
In conjunction with a special Lollapalooza after-show in August, the famed L.A. rock group Jane’s Addiction decided to celebrate by offering a limited number of free downloads of their most recent album, The Great Escape Artist. The group decided to partner with Dobel Tequila in a branded direct-to-fan distribution initiative where fans can download the album via Dobel’s website. Tequila and Jane’s Addiction? What could possibly go wrong?
First there are the little annoyances, like fans having to fill out an entire form (instead of just simply entering their email), or dealing with a potential pop-up window directing them to install the latest version of Java in order to download the album. But those are nothing when compared to the real issue here:
In order to get the free digital version of The Great Escape Artist, which is advertised to be available for “fans everywhere,” those downloading must confirm that they are over 21 years of age. In doing so, the band just blocked off an entire generation of people from accessing the content – a complication that comes along with partnerning with an alcoholic beverage company.
The band’s decision to release their album for free through a Tequila company effectively alienates a group of younger fans perhaps looking to discover the iconic band for the first time. Moreover, these music fans are the people most likely to embrace digital distribution methods, having been born in the digital era.
However, some may argue that the decision to partner with Dobel Tequila does in fact speak of an understanding of the band's fan base; that many may be of a slightly older demographic anyway, having embraced the group during their rise and prominence in the early 90s and again in the early 2000s. While potential fans under 21 can still purchase the album through conventional means, they’ll be more tempted to just download it illegally now that they know they could’ve gotten it for free had they been born after July 12th, 1991.
Either way, breaking down the barriers of access is one of the most important things a band can do in getting people to consume their content. While Jane’s Addiction may not be experiencing a monetary a loss by giving away their album for free in a brand partnership, they could be missing out on a new wave of younger fans- fans that can carry on the band’s legacy to their friends, and into the next several decades.
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Hisham Dahud is a Senior Analyst for Hypebot.com. Additionally, he is the head of Business Development for Fame House, LLC and an independent musician. Follow him on Twitter: @HishamDahud
No one under 21 can possibly like Jane’s Addiction. I honestly don’t get how anyone of any age can like them though. Yuck.
Are you assuming that those under 21 yo downloading the album will stop after encountering a check mark box online? Seems remarkably niave for a “Senior Analyst.”
Not at all, Alec.
But as someone who works in the digital marketing side of things (http://famehouse.net), I’m simply analyzing this campaign from a marketer’s perspective.
Hope this helps.
Agreed. This article’s title is quite sensational. I don’t know anyone under 21 who would say “Oh darn, I’m not 21. I guess that means I can’t get this download”
I didn’t know the digital marketing side of things was exempt from common sense..
I think the horrible way the UI is set up didn’t contribute to the success of the
Being Jane’s Addiction probably didn’t contribute much to their campaign’s success either.
boom, roasted.
Compared to the many well planned and integritous campaigns in recent times which do not exclude, annoy, or disappoint any portion of their audience, this campaign was botched.
This is merely a legal “check mark” to cover Dobel. I’d go as far as to say that the Dobel partnership is providing way more support to the band than anyone under 21 would anyway. Janes Addiction knows who their target is.
Misleading title. Lame analysis. “The real issue.” Wow, really Hisham?
If you want a link to the campaign to check it out:
http://www.emimusicpromo.com/janesdobel/
I got it from an article at Forbes that takes the same position:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/leorgalil/2012/07/11/janes-addiction-releases-an-album-for-free-and-does-it-all-wrong/
Honestly young people on the web are smart enough to give a fake birthday. This is just part of what comes with working with alcohol companies. It’s been going on for years. It’s a choice they made because they probably got paid quite a bit to do it. And since their demographic is probably largely composed of older folks, I doubt it was a difficult call.
Also keep in mind alcohol companies have a long history of designing products for adults that are clearly really designed for teens who will seek out the product illegally. So there’s a possible draw there as well though I doubt that’s as strong a factor here as it would be in a hip hop campaign.
In analyzing campaigns I think its important to have principals like “reach everybody” at work but recognize that they aren’t scripture.
I just tried downloading. The form’s not that big a deal and I see why they ask for the info. But the Java nonsense is a block and I stopped. It was asking me to enable some things that I think I disabled a while back for security reasons or some other concern
The thing is, I love early Jane’s Addiction. One of the great bands of my youth but the later stuff doesn’t really matter to me so that’s all it took for me to not download it.
I think that’s the real failure here.
Plus the dickish commenters that cause blog writers to not want to engage. But that’s an ongoing failure of human “communication.”
Free downloading is best offer for every one.Thanks
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The Dobel-Janes partnership goes well beyond this album giveaway. Dobel is also a Lollapalooza sponsor. So while this download promotion may not have been ideal, I think it’s obvious why a spirits company was involved.
The idea that a 20-year-old has just lost the chance to discover Jane’s Addiction is kind of silly. As long as YouTube exists, the youth of America has plenty of opportunity to discover bands that peaked before they were even born.
I was hoping to read an entertaining article about an actual “botched direct-to-fan release” — this was not that.
I was thinking the same thing exactly.
I asked my fourteen-year-old if a checkbox like that would stop him from downloading an album he wanted. He just looked at me pityingly.
lol – the disdain of a child!