FEATURE:
Hackneyed or Diamond?
Can The Rolling Stones’ New Studio Album Help Shine a Light on the Value of the Compact Disc?
_________
FEW people would have expected…
PHOTO CREDIT: Mark Seliger
The Rolling Stones to put out a late-career gem in 2023. Not that it ranks with their very best albums, though Hackney Diamonds has received some rave reviews. Most sources I have seen give it a four-star nod of approval. Quite fresh in some ways, there are moments that they hark back to their 1970s peak. It is a fun and at times edgy album that shows there is plenty of life in them. There is no decision as to whether it will be their final album. If it is, it is a hell of a way to depart! The Guardian shared that view; Variety felt that The Rolling Stones produced something magnificent; The Independent got the impression Hackney Diamonds was a career closer; MOJO gave a positive verdict when assessing the band’s twenty-fourth (British) album. The Times gave Hackney Diamonds five stars; The Telegraph also did. In a year where the most essential, memorable and impressive Rock has been made by younger and newer artists, The Rolling Stones – whose debut album came out in the early-1960s – show that you can never write off artists based on their age and past. Hackney Diamonds will nestle alongside the best albums of 2023 when critics publish their lists in a couple of months or so. You can buy Hackney Diamonds here.
Rather than write a feature about the album, its success, or even the endurance of iconic bands and artists – though I may do that in a few weeks -, I wanted to pick up on something that appeared in a Music Week about C.D. sales. There is always talk that the format is in decline. I think that it may be exaggerated slightly: there is a stable hold at the moment but no real upturn and boom like we are seeing with vinyl. It is a format that will always struggle when we pit it against vinyl. The chart success of Hackney Diamonds undoubtably will boost C.D. sales for this month. Many of The Rolling Stones’ fans have got the album on that format. I wonder whether at least the appeal of the fantastic C.D. version of Hackney Diamonds will at least put the decades-existing format in a more positive public headspace. That it has value. I will continue on that thought soon. Here are parts of the feature and interview with Polydor’s head of marketing Ali Tant (who was discussing the long-term ambitions for Hackney Diamonds):
“Polydor’s head of marketing Ali Tant has spoken to Music Week about the the Rolling Stones’ campaign for Hackney Diamonds – their first album of original material in 18 years.
The Stones played a surprise show in New York last night at Racket NYC. The album launch featured a guest appearance by Lady Gaga during the encore.
The band have just unveiled their huge partnership with Spotify for the Stones lips logo on Barcelona shirts. It’s just one of many components to a global campaign that includes DSP partnerships, branding deals and international pop-up stores.
The Rolling Stones revealed their comeback plans with a Hackney Empire launch event last month, which was broadcast globally on YouTube. Lead single Angry became their first Top 40 hit since 2005.
Within the huge global campaign, there will be a lot of attention on the week one UK sales. The Stones’ 2016 covers album Blue & Lonesome was released in December that year and opened at No.1 with sales of 105,830.
Hackney Diamonds has been released alongside Polydor and Universal Music’s catalogue campaign for the band, following the release of 40 Licks on DSPs in the summer. It’s all part of a wider strategy to boost streaming for the band with big DSP partnerships set to roll out for the campaign.
With 12 tracks over 48 minutes, it’s a substantial new body of work…
“Yeah, you've got the more single tracks, Angry, Mess It Up, Depending On You, which is a really strong track that feels a little more fragile in terms of subject matter. It's about relationships, it's about friends, it's about the relationship that they've had with each other. When we sat down and heard the album in full, I wasn't sure what to expect. You go into these situations and you're nervous because you want it to be brilliant. You're also conscious that you're being looked at because your reaction to the songs is being monitored. But yeah, it was just incredible. I came out smiling for about four days.”
In terms of a career highlight, what was that like listening to the record with the band?
“It just didn't feel real. I've met a lot of people in my career, and I never take it for granted. I came back and told my wife, ‘I've just been sat in the studio listening to the record [with the Stones] and I can't tell anyone!’”
The UK is actually leading on this campaign, which is fantastic for an iconic British band. How are you working with international partners?
“The UK has, historically, always led on the Stones. The UK isn't necessarily the biggest market for the stones – arguably the US and Germany are bigger, Germany's a massive market for the Stones. The work that Victoria [Fonfe] and Nickie [Owen] do in the international team is incredible to make sure that everyone feels super-served and gets what they need. It's just been an absolute honour to work on this one. When Tom [March] went over to Geffen, it was a very natural place for the Stones to go. The Stones have been with Interscope anyway, so Tom, Adrian [Amodeo], Steve Berman [vice-chairman] and John Janick [CEO/chairman], are incredible and bring a huge amount to the campaign in terms of partnership activations.”
Although you said it’s not just a week one record, what ambitions do you have for the opening result, particularly with the vinyl?
“We’ve made sure that we've got a really good suite of products. Each key retailer has got their own exclusive, be it Amazon, HMV, indies, e-commerce, they all have exclusive products. I'm very intrigued to see how CDs sell on this record. Whatever people say about the CD market going into decline, the Stones audience always buck that trend. Yes, vinyl is going to do well on this record, but the CD is going to do very well. So we needed to make sure that we had good products for both vinyl and CD.”
What do you think is going to be key to keeping this album going into next year? It sounds like the band are hungry for success as well…
“Yeah, they expect the best. They expect us to work really hard on it. They're working really hard as well. We're sort of getting into the plans for next year. But the plan really is that this is 18 months [of activity] that will keep this album buoyant – but not just the album it’s the catalogue as well. The Stones’ catalogue has ticked over nicely, it's done well. We've had moments like the Goats Head Soup reissue and Tattoo You reissue, where we've seen spikes and brought new audiences in. But if you take Blue & Lonesome out of the equation, this album is the first time in 18 years since they have put out a studio album. It’s the first time in the streaming era that they have put out a proper studio album. I genuinely think this album is going to be a rocket for the catalogue. This album will bring new fans in, but everything we’re doing is not just about this album. The Spotify-Barcelona partnership is about exposing the Stones and their iconic branding to a billion people. It’s not just going to be all focused on the new album, it’s going to be focused on everything”.
PHOTO CREDIT: cottonbro studio/Pexels
The fact is that artists really do have a love for all physical formats. It is not only the case that they want to put stuff out on vinyl. I think the success of The Rolling Stones’ Hackney Diamonds on C.D. will show that there is an appetite out there. Fans of all ages are still buying them. Even if they cannot realistically compete with vinyl, it is not only an act like The Rolling Stones helping to boost C.D. sales. They, at the very least, show that there is very much life left in them. The C.D. version of the album is less than half the price of the vinyl equivalent. The Stones released a £50 Limited edition boxset, which includes the standard album on C.D., a Blu-ray disc with hi-res 24/96 audio and Dolby Atmos versions of the album, plus a 64-page book with exclusive essays and photos of the band, and lenticular cover art. It shows that they really want to get people invested in compact discs! I do hope that there will be this debunking around attitudes where people feel C.D.s are obsolete or crap. Even, if by their sheer lack of size and physical presence, few are going to say they are more appealing than vinyl, they still provide the cheaper alternative. I do not know how many units Hackney Diamonds will shift on C.D., as I this feature is going out two days after the album was released. It is expected to be very high numbers. The label and marketing team would not put so much effort into pushing the C.D. and providing multiple versions if they felt it would fail. Even though there is more of a push on the various vinyl options, you can see that the C.D. is very much there too. I am surprised they did not put out a cassette option. Maybe feeling that would be overkill and too expensive considering how many options there are already!
I guess vinyl always does well and unites people because of the browsing experience. You have these big items that you can hold. Scanning through the shelves and racks. There is this tangible and sensory experience. The physical product itself is satisfying and has that sense of feel and value. C.D.s are different. Not quite as exciting and on the same level, fewer people have the technology and means to play them on too. I do think there will be more of a revival soon. If a major band like The Rolling Stones helps to increase C.D. sales and there is a lot of thought into giving various price options, I feel this could continue with other acts. In fact, look at kylie Minogue and Tension. Not only did she provide a range of different C.D. options with some extra tracks on one, there was also a real push for cassettes. Having different colours helps, though there are other ways to make C.D.s appealing and engaging. Various tiers in terms of prices where you get slightly more the more you pay; the ways you can add something cool to the packaging (a holographic cover or something interactive makes it quite engaging and cool). Including a detailed booklet too. The combination of range and lower price (compared to vinyl) will mean the C.D. is an essential alternative if you want an album but can’t spring for a vinyl. Artists who are really proud of their albums and want them to be as accessible and available to as many people as possible will have C.D.s in mind. Maybe a lot of smaller acts will not have the chance to do as many versions and coloured options. Although I sound like a broken record, the only way C.D. sales cannot only hold on and even see a steady increase is to make sure there are the means to play them on. Artists are making them available and offering a range of C.D. choices for fans. This needs to be met with commitment and drive when it comes to manufacturing devices to play them on. The C.D. has a lot of value and longevity. There will never be a huge boom, yet I think that recent examples like The Rolling Stones and Kylie Minogue really making the format attractive and accessible means they can never be seen as hackneyed or old-fashioned. I think that the compact discs is…
A pure diamond!