Artist News Business News Digital Releases

Kobalt unveils new pre-save button with Laura Marling release

By | Published on Wednesday 30 November 2016

Laura Marling

In this new-fangled age of streams and sustained listening and repeat micro-payments over an undefined period of audio re-engagement, the savvy music marketers know that the old fashioned declaration of “buy my record now!” has no currency.

Oh no, in this brave new world the marketing message artists need to shout at every appropriate opportunity is “save me, save me!” Even though that could back fire somewhat when the ‘cry wolf’ effect kicks in on the day the artist is actually really drowning. But, then again, these are the harsh realities of the modern music business, I’m afraid.

By the same logic, the notion of the album ‘pre-order’ is starting to become an out-dated concept too, what we need here is a ‘pre-save’. And on my Lord, if the super savvy music marketers at Kobalt haven’t only gone and thought of that. Save me, save me!

So, yes, when pre-orders starting being plugged for the new Laura Marling album earlier this week, some people noted that amongst the menu of plug-buttons on the artist’s own website was one saying ‘pre-save’, which will automatically save the new long player to a user’s personal Spotify library as soon as it is released next year.

Marling is self-releasing new record ‘Semper Femina’ via her own label More Alarming Records in conjunction with Kobalt, which reckons that – with its pre-save button innovation and the proprietary software that powers it – it “again positions itself as a pioneer of technology, data and the digital streaming revolution by optimising creator opportunities and ensuring fans have the power to maximise their listening experience”. Yeah, maybe.

Says David Emery, VP Global Marketing Strategy at what they’re now calling Kobalt Music Recordings: “For an artist of such talent as Laura Marling, we wanted to come up with a way of making sure that her fans – a lot of whom are using streaming services now – didn’t miss out when the new record comes out. As we’re a technology company as well as a music company, we have the power to create something that solves this problem in a simple, innovative, easy to use way”.

Promising other super smart marketing innovations for artists working with Kobalt’s label services business and/or its distribution platform AWAL, Kobalt Music Recordings President Paul Hitchman adds: “This is one of a series of innovative marketing tools that we will be rolling out over the coming months for our Kobalt and AWAL clients. Our services are powered by technology that enables artists to take control of their careers and maximise the opportunities presented by global digital platforms like Spotify”.

‘Semper Femina’ is out on 10 Mar, and as Marling herself is prone to say on occasion, “save me, save me… now for next March”.



READ MORE ABOUT: |