Music audiences respond to a new pitch

Back - Index - Submissions - - What is RSS? Date: Sep 21, 2099 Source: Boston Globe Submitted By: MolleeF@aol.com This story ran on page A01 of the Boston Globe on 09/21/99. By Joan Anderman, Globe Correspondent, 09/21/99 When the Backstreet Boys take the stage at the FleetCenter tonight, 18,000 fans will bear shrieking, swooning witness to the fastest-selling event in that venue's history. The concert sold out in 8 minutes. Seats for tomorrow night's Backstreet Boys show were snapped up in 12 minutes. All 750,000 tickets for the group's 11-week, 39-city US tour sold in under an hour - about as fast as they can be printed. The Backstreet Boys do, in fact, rule - and not just in the hearts of pre-teen girls. The wholesome, harmonizing dance-pop quintet and a tidal wave of like-minded, like-sounding young stars who've arrived in the Backstreet Boys' wake dominate the music industry. Along with 'N Sync, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, among others, they're moving product in staggering numbers, with striking speed, thanks to a new generation of starmaker machinery. While traditional career-driving forces - radio, press, and MTV - are still prerequisite to mega-success, the increasing use of new electronic media is pumping up the pace and sheer breadth of these young artists' careers. The Internet, with its MP3 technology, is widely hailed as a revolution in music delivery. But record industry strategists are now recognizing the potential of the Internet not just as a commerce opportunity, but as a powerful promotional tool, especially with computer-savvy youngsters. ''It's allowed us to reach many more people at once, and in a completely new dimension, than print media,'' says Janet Kleinbaum, vice president of artist marketing at Jive Records, home to Spears, the Backstreet Boys, and now 'N Sync, which left RCA this month to join fellow teen sensations at Jive. ''The kids are on line.'' Case in point: Peeps.com, a Web site developed by the entertainment company BMG - which distributes Jive's music - offered song samples of 17-year-old Spears eight months before her debut album was released in January. During that time it collected the names of 100,000 people who said they were interested in her music; more than 80 percent of them bought the CD when it came out, and Spears has since sold 6 million copies of ''... Baby, One More Time.'' Britney Spears is the fifth most popular search term on the Web, according to Searchterms.com - ranked above Yahoo!, chat, eBay, and porn - and on Aug. 30, the singer launched The Official Britney Spears Web site, www.britneyspears.com, where fans can post photos they've taken at concerts and autograph signings, and send an e-mail on Spears' personalized stationery. It's a far cry from the days when Tiger Beat magazine and television's ''American Bandstand'' were the primary outlets for marketing a generation of teen idols. Direct connection ''The idea is to connect fans with a band in a way that has no filter,'' says Steve Rennie, president of UBL (Ultimate Band List), flagship site of the ARTISTdirect Network, one of the earliest and most successful music sites on the Web. UBL hosted Backstreet Boys Direct, a worldwide event on the release day of ''Millennium,'' the Boys' second CD. The show, broadcast live over the Net from Studio 54 in New York, was hosted by a 12-year-old Canadian girl - the winner of UBL's contest for the best fan-built Web site dedicated to the Backstreet Boys. Twenty other contest winners, who wrote essays explaining why they were the biggest fans, conducted mini-interviews with the band. ''We had a million-and-a-half page views that day,'' says Rennie, who was general manager of Epic Records before coming to UBL. ''That's a 30 to 40 percent increase in traffic on the UBL.'' ''Millennium'' sold 1,134,000 copies that week, shattering Garth Brooks's record for single-week sales, and has since sold more than 7 million copies. ''It was a living, breathing example of fans connecting with the band,'' Rennie said. ''When I was at Epic, from 1994-1998, I told the marketing folks that there's nothing crazier than a bunch of 40-year-olds trying to think like a teen. `Go to a chat room. Let's listen and do what they want us to do.''' The Disney factor It's no surprise that the other significant new force driving the teen-pop genre is the Walt Disney Co., perhaps the most powerful purveyor of children's entertainment and commerce. In 1997, the Disney Channel began televising concert specials and music videos geared toward kids. ''The record labels were stuck in a pattern. There were about five program directors and one guy at MTV deciding everything,'' says Rich Ross, general manager and executive vice president of programming and production for the Disney Channel. ''Disney went out and said, `We're into young performers, we're into pop.' MTV wouldn't touch 'N Sync.'' Within two weeks of the Disney Channel's July 18, 1998, airing of '''N Sync In Concert,'' the group's self-titled debut rocketed into the Top 40 on the Billboard charts, and ultimately reached No. 1. ''That's when MTV and the radio stations circled around,'' Ross said. MTV now embraces the teen pop acts who were well represented at this month's MTV Video Music Awards. The Disney magic is not limited to American bands. UK boy band Five jumped from No. 127 to 95 to 27 on the Billboard 200 during the two weeks following its appearance with Irish girl group B*Witched on a Disney concert special last year. The Disney Channel airs four concert specials a year, and repeats each one an average of five to seven times during the first month it's televised. Fans, of course, tape them. ''If she watches that Disney special one more time ...'' groans Quincy resident Pascalina Valachi, who was reduced to tears when she won concert tickets for her daughter, Juliana Iglesias, on MIX 98.5's morning show giveaway. ''You do so many things for your kids. And that song `The Perfect Fan,' it's the most beautiful song, about what their parents did for them. We all dance to it around the living room.'' Close attention A massive youth generation with unprecedented purchasing power is being supported in their choice of entertainment by their parents - an unusual cross-generational consumer opportunity that isn't lost on the savvy folks at Disney. ''Parents are very concerned about what their kids are watching and listening to,'' Ross agrees. ''Grunge and rap have been sending hard messages. Parents look at this and support it. They're not shouting `Turn down that noise!''' The network airs approximately 30 music videos each week - often custom-edited by labels to meet the Disney Channel's rigorous standards for a pre-teen audience. ''We didn't play `Livin' La Vida Loca','' Ross explains, ''and you can imagine the pressure there. I thought it was electric, but you can't explain to kids about pouring wax on people.'' The Disney Channel, like the Internet movers and shakers, is keyed in to the fans' craving for connection with their musical heroes. The ''Backstreet Boys In Concert'' special, which had its world premiere on July 10, is like a fanzine come to life, chock full of documentary footage chronicling the members' real lives: the Backstreet Boys go shopping, shoot hoops, ride horses, bowl. They reminisce about wearing hand-me-downs before selling 27 million albums afforded them a generous clothing allowance. ''At first, the label wanted to know why we cut the Backstreet Boys down to eight songs,'' Ross says. ''We understand their job. But ours is not to sell records; it's to create programming.'' The programming does, however, sell records. ''It is a powerful marketing tool,'' Ross concedes. ''The boys tell their stories, things like growing up as one of five kids. Other kids are dealing with these issues. It's reality programming. We're breaking this genre for this age group.'' Surveys conducted by radio stations, however, show just how broad the genre's appeal has become. ''The Backstreet Boys have gone through all the demographics,'' says John Ivey, program director for Boston radio station WXKS (KISS 108). ''It's got a 12- to 44-year-old demo, which is how they can sell so many records.'' WBMX's (98.5) morning DJ, John Lander, concurs. ''This is New Kids On The Block to the 10th power,'' he says, referring to the phenomenally successful Boston boy band of the '80s. ''Adult men and women apologize for liking them, because they're a teen thing.'' Stephanie Powers of Fitchburg, who won a pair of tickets from MIX 98.5, discovered the Backstreet Boys while watching a video with her 3-year-old daughter. ''`That's them, Mama,' she shouted, pointing to the TV. So I bought her the CD, and we listen together. She and I both like Brian the best. Her second favorite is Nick, and mine is AJ. I'm trying to potty train her,'' Powers confesses. ''I told her if she did it, I'd take her to the Backstreet Boys concert.'' Comment on this item. 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