'The Beautiful Secret' How to promote a debut album

A friend of mine came to me last year to seek some feedback and advice on their recently finished debut album. I am always open to being approached like this, but will explain at the outset if anyone asks my advice I will give it, no quarter given, it will be how I personally feel, it doesn't make my views right, but...... it will be my opinion !

I initially listened to the album, not knowing what to expect, with the dread that I might have to give some negative feedback to friends: well it's bloody brilliant. Rachael and Ash's late 70's through to mid-80's concept album sounds like a hybrid, never a pastiche; between Kate Bush's 1978 The Kick Inside, Bonnie Tyler's 1983 Faster Than the Speed of Night and Barbra Streisand's, Barry Gibb produced 1980 release, Guilty. It's an album that should & would have been discussed in great depth at Championship Vinyl (Nick Hornby's fictional record store) in the film High Fidelity where staff Rob, Dick and Barry armed with an encyclopaedic knowledge of all things musical compiled "top five" lists for every conceivable occasion. I am convinced this album would make their TOP FIVE in so many lists. On further listenening to the album I conclude that this could easily be the soundtrack to a Tony Award winning musical on Broadway. As the album unfolds track by track it conjures classic scenes from West Side Story through to Chess, so many potential acts for Andrew Lloyd Webber to get his teeth into! So suffice is to say I AM NOW A FAN.

Tell Me More

I sat down with the duo to tell them I love what they have created and wanted to know more about the album, the back story to the songs and the journey to get to the finished, master now in their hands. As Rachael and Ash describe their songs in depth it only confirmed my initial thoughts that their body of work had more truthfulness and integrity than many of its major label big budget counterparts purport to have. The two of them had poured all their passion, talent, money and spare time into a stunning debut album and I wanted to help.

Their Release Plan

The band told me they had an amazing opportunity to play on the main stage at Victorious Festival (Portsmouth's premier festival event) on a slot just after world renowned Will Young and planned to release their single 'What's Inside' and album alongside this beautifully shot music video by Nifty50films starring 14-year-old dancer Sophia Rose Turner at the event. That pretty much was the plan. In normal circumstances this was a good opportunity but as I said to the band, this album and their long term career demanded a far more forensic look.

Don't Do It

In my opinion the single 'What's Inside' and this superb album really needed to be given the best possible chance of getting maximum exposure to the mainstream audience. Having personally (back in the day) been involved in releases without any defined strategy and planning behind the release I had learned the harsh lessons from those poor choices I and so many musicians make on a daily basis. I explained that after the initial excitement they would feel from their album being on ITunes it would soon fade away and be replaced with self-doubt and the awful question of 'what do we do now?'. My advice to the band DON'T DO IT.

The Plan

I suggested I could (subject to budget) be prepared to take on project managing the entire release, to include looking at setting up distribution, PR, TV & Radio teams helping them cope with the minefield of setting up with PPL, PRS, to look at their live show set-up and to mentor to the best of my ability all aspects of their life's work. I explained in no uncertain terms that spending money on this project came with no guarantees at all. Both Rachael and Ash understood the risks associated with the potential investment and after all the hard work and years of getting to this point they decided they would back themselves. A really brave and fearless thing to do. I told them I would project manage this as if it were my own money. GAME ON !

The Team

Next steps were to get the best team we could for the band. I had met Catherine Hockley from Fifth Element PR when I was looking for PR representation for another of my artists Jerry Williams. That meeting 3 years ago stuck in my mind and I reached out to Cat & we all met and discussed the project including the single 'What's Inside' which was inspired by lead singer Rachael’s niece Katie-Rae who has Asperger syndrome (a condition on the autism spectrum). Rachael told us that Katie-Rae said to her 'no-one ever listens to me', which they adapted into the opening line. It became obvious at that meeting that this inspirational song should be sent to The National Autistic Society whose official World Autism Awareness Week was coming in March. In the meantime we needed a great Radio/TV Team. Cat introduced us to Lisa and Mike at Lisa Davies Promotions (whose roster included lots of heritage and classic artists) the perfect partner for this artist and album to be sat alongside. They loved the album from the off. The team was born and the release date set.

Assets, NAS and Unexpected Help

We produced all the assets needed, PR, bio, pictures, promo singles and albums, joined PPL, PRS, set-up ISRC codes and secured worldwide distribution with our friends at Republic Of Music distribution. After several discussions with The National Autistic Society the song became The Official Anthem for World Autism Awareness Week with all proceeds going to the NAS Charity. Once 'What's Inside' was confirmed as the Official Anthem the band and Katie-Rae decided to shoot a second video to show the true meaning of the song through simple lyric cards. This video had an incredible emotional reaction to everyone we showed it to and it was time to add this as part of the campaign. What's Inside Katie Rae Video The single would be released on March 23rd to coincide with the World Autism Awareness week and the album the same time.

This is the moment where some unexpected help came in. Richard Seymour at Inmusicbrands who was a friend and a fan of the band said he would ask his online expert Simon Bangs to help with the release. Simon willingly got to work becoming part of the team, volunteering all his spare time to the project. He quickly secured support from Amazon who offered a ￡1 credit to anyone buying the 99p charity single and also advised on many aspects of on-line marketing - a Godsend as we didn't have budget for his on-line skill set.

Building a Fanbase

With only friends and family as fans, I asked the band to find a couple of carefully selected covers to not only show their talent off, but to help build a fanbase whilst we were waiting for the release timeline to commence on their own original material. They recorded LP's lost On You and the Jack Savoretti ‘Catapult’ - if there is another better version of Catapult anywhere on-line please send it to me. Rachael's vocal is simply world class.

As we all know the income from sales of music is one side of the business, but the live side is where bands can also make their money. To try and gain the all-important local Superfan we needed to find a venue in their hometown of Portsmouth for their album launch. It soon became apparent that all the usual venues were either unsuitable or unavailable. Eventually, even though it stretched the budget to the absolute limit, the band chose The New Theatre Royal a beautifully restored theatre in the heart of Portsmouth. An incredible financial risk for their first ever headline show and an album not yet released. Once again, the band show bravery & a willing not to compromise. They needed at least 300 people to break even...........

Cat from our PR secured a premiere with The Daily Express for the original dancer video. Lisa and Mike started rolling out the Radio Promo campaign, introducing this brand new band to National, Regional Radio and TV. I reached out to my contacts at Spotify and VEVO. We were off and running.

Two weeks prior to the release date we had our first major breakthrough. Radio 2's Clare Baldings Good Morning Sunday Show gave 'What's Inside' a play (without any ref to the charity angle), this track had picked up a play based purely on its musical merits, a real moment for the band. This had followed on from Mike and Lisa securing countless regional radio plays, many guest live sessions and tel interviews - things were building really well.

Week of Release

When it came to the week of release the team secured some massive wins. VEVO were fully behind the charity song and promo-ed both videos on their Social and VEVO channels, securing thousands of extra eyes on the release.

Spotify supported the single in its new releases section featuring the song next to Drake, Kasabian and Soulwax.

The Industry Bible Music Week featured the band under their 'Presents' section.

This is on top of loads of celebrity supporting tweets including British Gold Medal Olympian Helen Backshaw and her equally well known husband the survival guru Steve Backshaw, masses of coverage on line and in print.

SUPER SUNDAY

Just days before the release we had 3 pieces of the best news we could hope for...

1) Due to the overwhelming reaction by the public to the tracks first play on Radio 2 the team at Claire Balding's show told us that they were going to play the track again and this time Clare would talk about the band and the cause live on air.

2) The Sunday Express ran an article called First Look

3) Sunday Brunch Channel 4's big daytime tv weekend show had selected the video and for the first time (I had seen) decided to show copy about the band and cause in the about section that runs alongside the video snippet.

This big win was quickly followed on by the news that Amazon had run out of CD's and had to reorder and tickets sales for album launch show the following week were over 400.

The band and all the team were ecstatic.....

The Album Launch

With only a week to go before the live show, we reached out to Riverside Community Special School which teaches children experiencing a complex range of needs associated with learning difficulties, including children on the Autistic Spectrum. The School is run by the amazing Head Teacher Catherine Marsh and her team. Catherine fully supported the band and their cause and invited Rachael and Ash to come and play to the pupils at assembly. The atmosphere and emotion on the day amazing and in a twist of fate I hadn't realized my nephew Albert attends the school. When he saw his uncle at his assembly, he was so surprised to see me he continually waved across the room smiling and laughing; it truly was a moment I’ll never forget ! The band offered all of Catherine’s team, the hardworking carers and parents free tickets to the New Theatre Royal show to have a night off from their day to day life. Speaking with the parents and teachers after was a humbling experience. Many took up the offer to come and see the bands live show and have the night out they all deserved.

The Live Show

A packed out New Theatre Royal audience sat in anticipation of the bands debut hometown show. From the first note Rachael, Ash and the band of top musicians had the crowd eating out of their hands. It was a spectacular success, seriously these guys are very special.

Here is the LIVE version of the single ‘What's Inside’

The reaction at the end of the show from the crowd was crazy

So what next?

What a 6 months' journey it has been, a pleasure to work with such talented musicians and friends and it's just the beginning. The Beautiful Secret have laid a marker down and introduced themselves to the entire music industry. They are currently choosing the next single, looking at video options and are actively seeking a live agent. They filmed the entire album launch show and will be releasing high quality live videos for each of the album tracks throughout the next few months, giving them valuable content to represent their amazing album, live show and help them continually grow their fan base. Rachael and Ash in true artist tradition are doing what all artist do and are already halfway through writing new material for album two, slated for release in 2018.

Please spread the word - The Beautiful Secret are a secret no more.

BIG HUG Jeff