14 DAY TRIAL // Music sales continue to drop, which leaves artists and record labels thinking of new ways to boost revenue. Island Def Jam Music Group seems to have found just the means to overcome this obstacle by including lifestyle ads in the CD booklet, in a new initiative designed in collaboration with Elle magazine. The first album to come with brand advertising is Mariah Carey’s “Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel,” out on September 15, Billboard informs.
According to the music magazine, the campaign has been designed as a form of treat for Mariah fans because the booklet will actually be a mini-magazine with a Carey-centric editorial, including photos and interviews. However, the booklet will also include ads for brands like Elizabeth Arden, Angel Champagne, Carmen Steffens, Le Métier de Beauté, and some for the Bahamas Board of Tourism, in a bid on the label’s part to make more money with each copy of the album sold. The 34-page booklet, as noted, will also offer several surprises for fans.
“The booklets were created for the first run of US CDs (1 million) and the first 500,000 overseas, said Jeff Straughn, svp-strategic marketing for Island Def Jam Music Group. It will also be available in a digital format for those who buy music online. A condensed version of the Mariah mag, sans the 14 pages of CD-specific material, will be inserted into 500,000 subscription copies of Elle’s October issue, which arrives mid-September.” Billboard says.
If the experiment pays off – literally – Def Jam is considering doing the same with materials from other artists signed on the label, such as Rihanna, Kanye West and Bon Jovi. Mariah, as far as she’s concerned, was very open to the collaboration, Antonio Reid, chairman at Island Def Jam Music Group, says, since she too understood that a partnership was what she needed to move albums the way she used to do once. The music industry is taking a serious hit in terms of sales these days, Reid explains, and Mariah’s album was just the ideal vehicle to make this initiative happen.
“We don’t have music retailers any more, so a smart consumer products company that understands the value in distributing music is going to restore the vitality of our business. If we distribute music properly and if it’s done tastefully, it could be a huge profit center for all of us. That is the missing link – we need partnerships.” Reid says for Billboard of the unique campaign.