In the 1980s, there was a sign in the Island Records offices as you walked onto the promotions and marketing floor.
Over the label’s distinctive palm tree logo painted large were: “What happens to good music without good promotion and marketing?”
At the bottom of the design in tiny lettering was the word: “Nothing.”
Forget talent, it said, music goes nowhere without those two ingredients.
The great conceit of Danny Boyle’s ‘2019’ film ‘Yesterday’ was to imagine a world where The Beatles didn’t exist. In this world, all Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) needed to do was to appear and pass off old Lennon & McCartney songs as his own to have the audience eating out of his hand.
The irony, of course, was that film spent £57.3 million pounds on promotion.
Beatles without promotion went nowhere
When The Beatles first emerged their music was not enough. Mark Lewisohn’s superb book ‘Tune In’ deals with the early years. Before the guiding hand of Brian Epstein The Beatles were persuaded by an enthusiastic fan to play a showcase for record companies in the South of England. Talent scouts were invited but on the night none showed up. Without management, promotion and marketing they were nothing.
The great overlooked hero in The Beatles story was a man called Kim Bennett, a radio plugger who fought to secure radio plays. He worked for early Beatles music publisher Ardmore & Beechwood. He got the Beatles’ demo in front of EMI. Derek Taylor was their press officer. Dick James was instrumental in constructing Northern Songs which went on to publish Lennonj and McCartney’s music. Without these figures and Epstein The Beatles would have stayed merely big in Liverpool.
Since 2015, The Beatles have repackaged and release eight of their albums and released four films. They are poised to re-release 1995’s ‘Anthology’ series tracing their history ahead of Sir Sam Mendes’ ambitious release of not one but four films about the four Beatles.
Overall, The Beatles have sold more than 500 million units across the globe. Their talent is undeniable but their off-stage talent for marketing and promotion has also been peerless. No Christmas passes without Beatle product in the shops.
The Stone Roses legacy without promotion
When I was 21, my band was The Stone Roses. I’d tried to ignore them but falling in love with them was indeed as Ian Brown had said inevitable.
Yet, in 2004’s Observer Music Monthly best British album of all time poll, it was The Stone Roses that beat The Beatles’ Revolver to number one. In 2010, when the NME repeated the exercise it was The Stone Roses’ debut album. They rank at 31 on The Rolling Stone’s greatest album of all time.
I say this not to suggest that The Stone Roses are better than The Beatles. The Beatles released 12 studio albums in eight years and revolutionised music.
What I’m suggesting is that The Stone Roses’ legacy is all the more remarkable since they consciously rejected so many forms of marketing and promotion. They stopped giving interviews at their peak and only gave one interview for the launch of their delayed second album in 1995.
They have no Apple operation to back them up after their demise as recording artists. They have no website, their Twitter was last updated in 2016 and their Facebook is token.
They are the model of how not to do it.
When they finished their last tour in 2016 there was no press announcement to announce their end. Instead, singer Ian Brown bade farewell to the crowd: ‘Don’t be sad it’s over, just be happy that it happened.’
The Stone Roses’ bass player Mani died last week.
I rewatched Shane Meadows’ 2013 tour documentary ‘Made of Stone’ to remind myself what was lost.
The love for the band from those audiences in the film was overwhelming.
Reading the tributes to Mani it still is.
The Stone Roses are the act that seem to defy the Island Records’ marketing and promotions motto.