This month saw the release of R&B singer Miguel’s sophomore album, Kaleidoscope Dream. The release saw the singer adopt a new business model in the lead up to its release. With music sales dwindling year by year, both new and established acts continually have to find ways to engage the consumer with their music and brand. Following the current trend in the industry releasing a free mixtape or a Fre(EP) as a precursor to the release of the album. Miguel released the ‘Art Dealer Chic’ EP in three volumes, with each installment containing three songs.
The release was intended for promotional purposes and as an introduction to the artistic direction of the album. With some of the records later being featured on the album.
This project later provided thematic inspiration for the release of a further two official EPs Kaleidoscope Dream: The Water Preview and Kaleidoscope Dream: The Air Preview. The purpose of the EPs were just that; digitally previewing a total of 6 songs that were set to appear on the album. The thinking behind the strategy, according to the artist is to be different. Whilst I get this, and yes it’s true in today’s saturated market there needs to be difference to stand out. The skeptic in me believes that being different may have played a small part, I feel it is more so financially motivated. As aforementioned album sales are on a steady decline; digital singles continue to increase, due to the iTunes and other major digital outlets. As we know the ‘iTunes culture’ reformatted the consumption and the selling of music to the consumer. Leading to the adoption of ‘playlist listening’, where people select the songs they want, this is particularly true when discovering new music or artists. I had this discussion with friends recently that although iTunes sells albums it has been detrimental to the format. For someone who always took pride in buying an album and listening to the CD from back to front. Having an appreciation for the CD and wearing it out for months at a time (if the album was good). In recent years I have been guilty of buying an album and simply going through listening to the tracks I like, leaving some to grow and discarding the rest.
The preview EP offers a 'bite sized' middle ground to both the single and album format. Where the consumer may feel reluctant to spend money on an album, they may do so on a preview EP. The other proposition the EP offers is a means to maintain steady promotion, especially if there is a significant time period between first single and album.
This strategy by Miguel and his team is an indicative of trying to cover all bases by offering an alternative option, and perhaps generate lost revenue from illegal downloading or hoping loyal fans are willing to part with their money potentially twice or three times in this case. It will be interesting to see the sales of all music connected to this album after the era is complete, to determine whether or not the inclusion of the Preview EP in the promotional campaign had any real impact.
As Miguel is still a relatively new artist it would be exciting to see how this model would work with a more popular established artist, such as Flo Rida for example. As he is an artist who has built an incredibly successful and lucrative career driven on selling mostly digital singles but not so much with albums. The Preview EP could prove successful for this sort of artist. It will be interesting if this strategy is adopted widespread across the music industry.
