Listen Up! 2013 perspective

[30CamdenSquare]

Just a side note, because Interscope doesn't learn. See if this story sounds familiar...

Interscope signed Jessica. Released a single in March..that was a poor choice for a single. Gave her little promotion besides local stuff and a performance on idol. (A performance that wasn't going to charm the older audience) and now her debut, released a year later, is expected to sell about 20K in it's first week.

But you would think Interscope would have learned...

The biggest, most obvious, mistake Interscope made in the early promotion of Haley & now Jessica is they should've used the Idol performance AFTER the album comes out NOT to promote a single's release.

If they want to release the single a few weeks or a month before the album comes out to get a little airplay going that's fine, but the Idol performance isn't going to make a great deal of difference when it comes to how much airplay radio stations are going to give that single.

What it does do is reach a HUGE audience, once, that's already familiar w/ them, so if the album is available it always, always results in a huge, very meaningful spike in sales. In reality what it's doing is allowing them to pick up their casual (might not have even voted but liked them) fan. Kind of like an impulse buy. If they would've had Haley &/or Jessica on the show, after the album came out, you're easily talking an additional 10,000 in sales.

[Miguel]

The biggest, most obvious, mistake Interscope made in the early promotion of Haley & now Jessica is they should've used the Idol performance AFTER the album comes out NOT to promote a single's release.

I absolutely agree with this. It's such a dated approach.

1) Release single
2) Promote single
3) Get radio play
4) Hope song is on fire when album is distributed to stores

Ordinarily, an artist would have to have a hit before they ever appeared on television before so many people.

That's not the case with former Idols.

They squandered the chance to goose album sales overnight through digital sales. The only excuse for it is if their contracts with physical retailers forbid online sales before physical sales.

---

Hey, have been lurking but haven't posted in ages! Hi all.

...All contracts are different, but I can tell you that my newest novel was just optioned for television. In the contract, there is a stipulation that ...another company...would have to reimburse the first company all the money they've outlaid in production.

Hi Bill. Good to hear from you again. Congrats on having your novel optioned.

I don't think it's unreasonable for a company to want to be reimbursed for the expenses they incurred. In Haley's case, they would also probably want to be compensated for the loss of any future sales. Or, perhaps more likely, guaranteed a cut of future sales.

Unless Haley's original contract with Interscope forbid it, she could simply record new versions of the songs. If the contract does not allow that, she might consider approaching them about buying the rights to a few songs if they fit in with her new sound. Say: "Oh MY!" "KCB" and "Spiderweb."

[midnightblues]

Spider web would do well. song's bad ass has a good hook and a retro rock jam to it, BTW Mr Bill you KCB good to see ya

[kaypea]

One thought I had when news broke that Haley had been dropped and that she was one of 65 acts in the same boat is that she couldn't have been the only artist there(especially among new artists) that would have had reason to be disappointed in poor promotion.

Its likely that things weren't all hunky dorry at Interscope by the time Listen Up was released-or even when it was recorded .It was only six months after it was released that the axe came down(with a new president at the helm to boot)We'll never know what went on beyond the scenes but it could very well be that during that period they weren't in a frame of mind to go out of there way to promote any new artist if things were in the state of flux they might have been in.

[mercfan3]

I don't think there was any ill will towards Haley. They put some valuable resources into her.

But I don't know if it was the "bad timing." Because they went and did the exact same thing to Jessica.

[Tusk]

I happen to think that 'the decision' was made before her album's debut.

Sure, Haley's debut is the first time I've ever experienced anything like this (following a new, unknown, artist from the beginning), but I couldn't shake the feeling that the bare minimum was being done, but it was her debut, so in my excitement, it was easy to ignore the thought.

That feeling, bare minimum, followed me to Lollapalooza, as well. Ridiculous they spent nothing to highlight her participation before and after such a significant 'get' in a young, new performer's career.

So no surprise at the abscence of a 'highlight' for Haley from Interscope for Carnegie Hall.

I know, it's Haley's nature to always be grateful, find the positives of every experience and don't look back, but if I, a humble fan, had that sense, I would have to believe that Haley too had a notion, so maybe why she decided to take control of what she could, learn what she did, meet and impress all she could before the 'hammer fell'.

Maybe it's her nature to be so proactive in the direction of her career... l would not be surprised if, in this case, she knew something was up, so gathered as much experience as she could in the time she had left with Interscope.

[My Alter Ego]

I happen to think that 'the decision' was made before her album's debut.

Sure, Haley's debut is the first time I've ever experienced anything like this (following a new, unknown, artist from the beginning), but I couldn't shake the feeling that the bare minimum was being done, but it was her debut, so in my excitement, it was easy to ignore the thought.

That feeling, bare minimum, followed me to Lollapalooza, as well. Ridiculous they spent nothing to highlight her participation before and after such a significant 'get' in a young, new performer's career.

So no surprise at the abscence of a 'highlight' for Haley from Interscope for Carnegie Hall.

I know, it's Haley's nature to always be grateful, find the positives of every experience and don't look back, but if I, a humble fan, had that sense, I would have to believe that Haley too had a notion, so maybe why she decided to take control of what she could, learn what she did, meet and impress all she could before the 'hammer fell'.

Maybe it's her nature to be so proactive in the direction of her career... l would not be surprised if, in this case, she knew something was up, so gathered as much experience as she could in the time she had left with Interscope.

Or maybe Chiara or her attorney had "caught wind" of it and worked with her so that she could prepare herself ahead of time

[kaypea]

I just think that -with the benefit of hindsight- that Haley-(and her fans) coldn't have imagined how everything went down.In the beginning when it looked like she was gonna sign with Interscope the only concern I ever saw about Interscope on the forums-and these were from people who had follwed these kinds of thing more that I ever had-was that basically they wouldn't let her make the record that she wanted.And Haley must have had some of those concerns too when she was feeling them out.

But that didn't happen.They gave her everything she could have hoped for and had enough confidence in her songs to send her all around L.A. with these different engineers and producers and make the record she wanted to make.

So by the time the record came out it was probably the last thing that anyone expected that she wouldn't get promoted properly.This was Interscope,afterall.I remember that everyone at that point EXPECTED that she was gonna be on Leno and all the rest and that she'd have a band and go out on tour and all that.

I'm satisfied with the benefit of hindsight that with whatever was going on with Interscope during that time that it just wasn't the ideal time for Haley-and alot of the others that were let go- to be with them.

[Tusk]

We definitely should be grateful that Interscope gave her so much input (her words too) .... It could be MUCH worse, at least she could say she made the best album she could at the time and it was all hers (basically).

Can you imagine if this all played out the same way and Haley is left with some maudlin pop dreck written by 20 songwriters that she had no hand in writing???

She would have to go on singing songs that she never wrote, making money for others

---

In thinking about this, I came upon a realization....(If I'm honest with myself) in a lot of ways, this is kind of the way I (secretly), in my 'fondest wish' mode for Haley, wanted it to play out.....

I remember way early in this Shindig...two things I wanted the most, that Haley could make an album that was all her AND that I would be able to see her in an intimate venue.... I refused to go to the AI tour and have my first Live Haley Experience be in that circumstance....

(Actually, three wishes, the other being that she would tend towards 'Rocker Haley' than 'Jazz Haley'...but I 'Jazz Haley' so it's all good )

I was sure she would be a smash right away so getting to see her in intimate performances, where she shines the most, was probably going to be impossible. That's why I was so adamant and made the crazy decision, last minute, to drive 300 miles to Spokane ... I knew it might be the only time I get to hear her in an intimate situation, enjoy the purity and clarity of her voice.... Little did I know I would have more opportunities, the ultimate example in LA, recently

Now I'm feeling guilty that I wanted it so bad

.... I'm ready for her to go big now...as far as her talent takes her

Maybe I should start wishing for LU to be given an honest, enthusiastic effort, a chance to reach it's abundant potential. I want a resurrection for LU, like Averett's Haley/Buffy in Haleyloonies

Yup, an LU resurrection story arc to build anticipation for her new album.... That's what I want now

[Miguel]

PJ ‏@PJ_HaleyRfan 4h

Listen Up! deluxe plus Sweet Something shows up on my Spotify