[ old news archives. . . ]
Wednesday, November 29, 2000
Backstreet Boys Claim Int'l Record with New Album
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pop idols the Backstreet Boys sold five million copies of their new album in its first week of worldwide release, setting a new international record, the group's publicist said Tuesday.
In the United States alone, ``Black & Blue'' (Jive) sold 1.6 million units in the six days from its Nov. 21 street date, enough to replace the Beatles at the top of the charts.
However the U.S. tally paled next to the first-week record of 2.4 million units set in March this year by their boy band rivals, 'N Sync, or Eminem 1.8 million bow in May.
The Backstreet Boys can lay claim as the first act to achieve million-plus first-week U.S. sales with back-to-back albums, said publicity firm Mitch Schneider Organization (MSO). Their last album, ``Millennium,'' debuted with a then-record 1.1 million copies in May 1999. Its worldwide sales stand at more than 30 million, MSO said.
Details of the previous international record for an album's first week sales were not given in the statement.
``Black & Blue'' is already multi-platinum in Canada (5 times), Japan, Korea, Mexico and Venezuela; platinum in Arabia (Gulf), Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Denmark, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand and the United States; and gold in Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.K. Different countries have different definitions of gold and platinum.
Backstreet's Back At No. 1
The Backstreet Boys' third Jive album "Black & Blue" didn't break the first-week sales record of 2.4 million copies set by fellow Jive act 'N Sync's "No Strings Attached" earlier this year. But the set did move nearly 1.6 million units this week according to SoundScan, easily debuting at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 and besting the 1.13 million copies the Boys' "Millennium" album sold in its debut week last year.
The only other album in front of the Backstreet Boys' new set in terms of first-week sales is Eminem's "The Marshall Mathers LP" (Web/Aftermath/Interscope), which sold 1.76 million copies earlier this year.
"Black & Blue" was buoyed by a huge promotional blitz at Wal-Mart stores. The retailer was the sole U.S. merchant to stock a version of the album with the bonus track "What Makes You So Different (Makes You So Beautiful)," and last Tuesday carried a special satellite broadcast performance from the group on its Web site and in the entertainment centers of 2,000 of its stores.
Backstreet falls short of record
The Backstreet Boys are back on top of the Canadian album chart, but they failed to break *NSync's U.S. record for first-week album sales.
Prior to the release of "Black & Blue," band members had confidently predicted they would eclipse *NSync's "No Strings Attached," which enjoyed first-week U.S. sales of 2.4 million last March. While "Black & Blue" did manage to end its first week atop the U.S. charts, the record sold a comparatively modest 1,5911,191.
On a brighter note, "Black & Blue" entered the Canadian album charts in first place, selling 156,307 copies in its first week of release, according to retail sales data compiled by SoundScan Canada.
That represents only a modest drop from the opening week sales of Backstreet's last album, "Millennium," which sold 191,791 upon its first week of release in May, 1999.
By comparison, the biggest-selling debut since SoundScan began measuring record sales in Canada belongs to Celine Dion, who sold over 230,000 copies of her 1997 album "Let's Talk About Love" during the album's launch week. *NSync's "No Strings Attached" enjoyed first-week Canadian sales of 104,897.
The Backstreet Boys' sales were enough to nudge "Beatles 1" from top spot this week, although the Fab Four's singles collection still managed to sell more records during its second week of release than its chart-topping debut. SoundScan Canada reports that "Beatles 1" sold 58,268 during week two, compared to 54,668 during its week of release.
Source: Yahoo!
Source: Billboard.com
Source: JamMusic
Tuesday, November 28, 2000
Backstreet Unlikely To Top Sales Record
The Backstreet Boys may soon be calling for a recount.
The group's new album, Black & Blue, will top the Billboard 200 albums chart this week, but it appears to have failed to break the first-week sales record set in March by 'NSYNC's No Strings Attached, retailers said Monday.
"It fell short of 'NSYNC. My guess is it'll do 60 to 70 percent of what they did," said Scott Levin, director of marketing for Musicland Stores Corporation, which owns the Sam Goody chain. "It's still a huge album, though."
'NSYNC sold 2.4 million copies of No Strings Attached in its first week, breaking the record of 1.13 million that the Backstreet Boys set with 1999's Millennium.
At the Tower Records chain, Black & Blue has sold about 15,000 copies nationwide since its release last week, while No Strings Attached sold more than 45,000 copies in its first week at the chain, company spokesperson Sara Hanson said.
"I'm really disappointed with the first-week sales — Sade and the Beatles far outsold the Backstreet Boys," said Howard Krumholtz, buyer at a West Hollywood, California, Tower Records store.
But Black & Blue, which includes the hit ballad "Shape of My Heart," exceeded expectations at another major retail chain, Best Buy.
"They did very well — we doubled the sales you usually do on a high-profile new release," spokesperson Donna Beadle said.
A number of retail insiders said that "Shape of My Heart" was not as strong as "Bye Bye Bye," [RealVideo] the first single from No Strings Attached.
"The faster they can get a second single out, the better," Musicland's Levin said.
In e-mails to members of the group's online street team, Backstreet Boys representatives had unabashedly touted the goal of topping 'NSYNC's sales record with Black & Blue.
Group member A.J. McLean recently told Teen People magazine that he expected to "break 'NSYNC's record and our record combined the first week out," but the group backed away from that prediction in a press conference last week.
"I was trying to think optimistically. ... It's not about quantity, it's about quality of the actual music. But materialistically, it'd be nice to break new records and start a whole new trend again," McLean said.
Shelby Wheeler, southeast marketing coordinator for Virgin Megastores, said that while the Backstreet Boys were not outselling 'NSYNC, their album should still be considered a success.
"They're #1 on the charts, but everybody wants to compare them to 'NSYNC," Wheeler said. "It's too bad."
Also on Monday, the Backstreet Boys announced dates and venues for their upcoming North American tour.
Backstreet Boys tour dates:
Source: MTV.com
Saturday, November 25, 2000
'Black & Blue'' One Million Sales!
Happy Backstreet Boys
Have you gotten your copy of "Black & Blue" yet? Well, "Black & Blue" has reached the one million sales mark in the Asia Pacific region!
Below is the "report card" from the boys!
Japan: 2x Platinum (and debuted at No.2 at the Oricon chart this week)
Other than the good sales record, the Backstreet Boys also won "Best Group" at
the MTV Europe Music Awards held in Stockholm, Sweden on November 16.
Furthermore, they have just finished their grueling "Round The World In 100
Hours" tour that saw them visiting six continents to promote their new album.
Store's Sales Report Out of Sync With Rivals
By Robert Hilburn and Randy Lewis
Times Staff Writers
Is the pop music world going to end up with calls for its own re-count?
In a week when the original teen-favorite male rock band, the Beatles, entered the national album chart at No.1, the Backstreet Boys' new "Black & Blue" album, which was released Tuesday, got off to such a blockbuster start that one major retailer, Best Buy, projects that it could sell 2.4 million copies during its first week in stores.
That would put it into a virtual dead heat for the first-week sales record with 'N Sync, the Backstreet Boys rivals for the hearts (and album dollars) of teen and preteen girls. 'N Sync's "No Strings Attached" sold 2,415,859 copies during its first week in March.
But there's a debate over the reliability of the first-day projection.
Buyers at Tower Records and Wherehouse Entertainment said Wednesday that they believe that figure is overstated because Best Buy is selling the album for $9.99, nearly $2 less than the wholesale price. Elsewhere the price ranges from $12 to #15.
BEST BUY HAS BEEN OFF BEFORE
Best Buy shot too high last month when it estimated that Limp Bizkit's "Chocolate Covered Starfish and Hot Dog Flavored Water" another album it sold for $9.99, would sell 1.3 million copies. It sold 1.05 million.
A chain spokeswoman said she didn't know whether Best Buy revised its projection system after the Limp Bizkit experience.
"I wouldn't doubt that [Backstreet Boys] will be our number 1 album, but we're not selling the volume we would have if we were all operating on the same page," says Bob Feterl, a buyer for Tower, which is selling the album for $13.99.
If there is a chance "Black & Blue" will approach 'N Sync's record, it could give Backstreet fans a chance to demonstrate just how deep their loyalty runs: Will they rush out to buy additional copies this week as a way of voting for their favorite?
"I don't really expect that," says Wherehouse buyer Bob Bell. "I don't think the fans are as comcerned about SoundScan as those of us in the industry are."
The Backstreet Boys news overshadowed the fact that the Beatles' new compilation, tittled "1" and containing 27 No. 1 singles, sold an estimated 595,000 copies last week according to SoudScan.
Korea: Platinum
Taiwan: Platinum
Singapore: Platinum
Malaysia: Platinum
Australia: Platinum
India: Platinum
New Zealand: Gold
Thailand: Platinum
Philippines: Gold
Indonesia: Gold
Hong Kong: Gold
Monday, November 20, 2000
BSB tour the world ... with worldpop
The Backstreet Boys' brand new album Black And Blue is released across the globe today and the Boys have been speaking exclusively to worldpop about their mammoth 100 hour, six continent trip to promote the record.
Kevin Richardson told worldpop that the group came up with the idea of travelling across six continents in just four days because they wanted to do something that had never been done before. 'For our last album we had a mock countdown to the millennium in Times Square in New York,' Richardson explained, 'so we were figuring out a way we could do something cool for this album.
'We haven't been to South East Asia and Australia since 1995,' he continued, 'so we wanted to see the people who have continued to support us out there.'
Since leaving Stockholm after performing at the MTV Awards, Backstreet Boys have travelled to Tokyo, Sydney, Cape Town and Rio De Janeiro, and worldpop's very own Michelle Garnett is the only journalist to accompany them every step of the way. The Boys are travelling on a privately hired Boeing 767, captained by Danny Burke, the pilot who used to fly Elvis Presley on trans-global engagements.
When you're travelling 26,000 miles in four days and spending 55 out of 100 hours on a plane, comfort becomes a top priority. Not that that's a problem for the BSBs. The Backstreet jet boasts a spacious bedroom complete with vibrating double bed, a lounge big enough for the Boys to play football in, leather walled toilets and a fully-stocked kitchen. 'It's immaculate, beautiful, a dream come true,' gushed AJ McLean. 'It has a whole dining-room table with silver service and the most delicious food served up by a personal chef.' And with a choice of no less than nine deserts each day, worldpop will also be sorry to say farewell to this home from home.
'We've never travelled in this kind of luxury before,' added Howie Dorough. 'It's a shame we can only afford this for four days!' Brian Littrell even described the plane as the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen, apart from his wife of course!
Backstreet Boys' trans-continental trip comes to an end tomorrow when they jet into their sixth destination, New York. But Backstreet fans can enjoy more BSB exclusives on worldpop with a week of interviews, reviews and live footage to celebrate the release of Black And Blue. Check out our exclusive video interview with the Boys on site tomorrow.
Black And Blue, the BSBs' fourth album, is out now.
Source: Worldpop
Sunday, November 19, 2000
The Hardy Boys?
Get ready to cast your vote again. On Tuesday, Nov. 21, the Backstreet
Boys unleash their third U.S. album, Black & Blue, and the pollsters want to
know: Will fans help them win the pop presidency? In May of '99, BSB
claimed a sales record with Millennium, which scanned 1.13 million copies in
its first week. But rival N Sync's No Strings Attached beat the Boys last
March, selling 2.4 million copies in week 1, and raising the stakes in an
increasingly sticky bubblegum battle.
"Even if they're only a little bit over N Sync's (record)," says Tom
Calderone, MTV's senior VP of music and talent programming, "the Backstreet
Boys are put on a platform where people are expecting them to double (N
Sync's sales)." The Boys' chart prowess may no longer be larger than life:
Their first single, the six-week-old "Shape of My Heart," had yet to enter
the top 10 at press time. Still, Frankie Blue, VP of operations and
programming for New York's WKTU, calls Backstreet "the General Motors of boy
bands," and dan Bowen, program director of Atlanta's Star 94, says "They have
a good shot at breaking (the record). I'm sure the pressure's on at the
lable."
If it is, Jive Records isn't saying; the label offered no comment
about Black & Blue except to say it shipped "north of 5 million
copies"--topping Strings' initial 4.2 million shipment. "We don't hype our
albums," states a label spokesperson. Riiiight. At least the Boys are doing
their part, embarking on a 100-hour, six-continent publicity tour that ends
in New York City on the 21st. "it's going to be hit-or-miss with this
record," says Nelson Gomez, a CD buyer at a Manhattan Tower Records outlet.
"I have a little sister, and she's not raving about the Backstreet Boys."
Until the final returns are tallied, this race may just be too close
to call. "it's up in the air," says Gomez. Here's hoping nobody asks for a
recount.
With Black & Blue, the Backstreet Boys attempt to reclaim their teen-pop crown, but hardly put up a fight
by David Browne
When the history of teen pop is writeen, this will be seen as the
year of the New Audacity. N Sync's No Strings Attached was ridiculously
overblown, but the quintet's attempts at R&B and sci-fi concept fiestas did
have a certain daring, and Britney Spears' take on "(I Can't Get No)
Satisfaction" was equally brazen. At the very least, it was fascinating to
watch these acts break out of their expertly taiored wardrobes, even if they
did so without busting too many seams. In this scenario, the Backstreet
Boys' new single, "Shape of My Heart," is especially curious. Compared to
the brassy moves made by their peers, this predictable ballad is safer than
their new, hirsute image. As such, it's also an unfortunate preview of their
third album, Black & Blue. Other than Hanson, the Backstreeters are
responsible for the few pieces of aural magic to emerge from the teen
boom--musical massages like "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)" and "I Want
It That Way." But with N Sync hot on their heels, they needed to solidify
their creative dominance. Instead, Black & Blue merely maintains a holding
pattern, recycling their past and doing little to establish a firm future.
Although they haven't commented on it, it's possible that the album
title is a nod not to any closet S&M tendencies but to their two musical
sides: "black" (as in the R&B inflections of their upbeat tracks) and "blue"
(their inclination toward mushy crooning). For the former category, the Boys
and their multitude of producers and songwriting partners have come up with
production numbers that feel belabored and hammy. "The Call" is
educational--how to cheat on your mate by telling her your cell-phone
battery's low!--but it also has the blowsy feel of a rejected show tune.
Another clunky foot-stomper, "Everyone," continues the self-congratulatory
tradition of their earlier "We've Got It Goin' On" and "Larger Than Life,"
songs in which they celebrate themselves and the power of their audience.
But do their fans really want to hear them whine in that song that "We've
been inside the circus/We've took the pleasure with the pain"? In the
deepest irony, these tracks, like the petulant "Get Another Boyfriend,"
uncannily mimic the R&B moves on the latest album by their archrivals, N Sync.
In these dance-pop tracks, the group present themselves as bad boys
on the prowl who either regret it ("The Call") or don't ("Get Another
Boyfriend"). But as they grow older--and, in the case of Kevin Richardson
and Brian Littrell, settle down to married life--these stances are beginning
to sound disingenuous. The Boys are much less affected whien singing
ballads, when they're the sumissive, sensitive mail who will do anything to
salvage a relationship and apologize for his misdeeds. But even in this
category, they stumble. "Time" (a collaboration with Babyface) is piffle,
and "I Promise You (With Everything I Am)" and "Yes I Will" appear to be
vying in a contest for Next Big Wedding Song. The latter's lyrics, like "The
way you make me feel inside/You complete me, girl," are a succession of
hackneyed groaners; you'd think they could afford better. To glean moments
of the aural gratification we expect from them, one has to dig deep to find
the graceful way their voices blend on the chorus of "More Than That," the
spunky way they vault into "Not for Me," the suave manner in which they
engage in their trademark vocal swapping in "Yes I Will."
As they croon these forlorn laments, the Boys mature into Backstreet
Men before our ears. In their case, that means supper-club balladeers,
hardly the most enthralling of directions. And if we all agree that the
Backstreeters have been the best of the pop parade, one has to wonder what
lies ahead for boy bands overall. Black & Blue mostly leaves you with the
somber impression that in the future, the Backstreet Boys are in for a
bruising.
Source: Entertainment Weekly 11/24/00
-- Nicholas Fonseca, with additional reporting by Rob Brunner
Source: EW
Friday, November 17, 2000
Picture special from the boys' visit to Sweden!
Press Conference - Stockholm
The Backstreet Boys are going to shrink the globe like no other pop group the US superstars are going round the world in 100 hours on a whistle stop tour of six continents to promote their new album.
"We figured it would be cool to do something that no one has ever done," said Kevin Richardson, who at 29 is the elder statesman of the Backstreet Boys who are now billed as the world's biggest pop group after their record sales topped 55 million.
Before flying off from Stockholm in their personal jet to Tokyo, Sydney, Cape Town, Rio De Janeiro and New York on their 26,000 mile odessy, Richardson confessed that The Beatles inspired their promotional brain wave. "I look back at old footage of the Beatles getting off the planes at the airport and having all the fans there. That is cool to me, that is a cool vision to me," he explained before Friday's big lift off.
"We are one of the few groups right now that is successful other than Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson or the Rolling Stones, U2 or Madonna who could do something like this. And I don't want to look back on this in 10 years' time and say why didn't we do that?"
The Backstreet Boys will spend 55 hours flying and 45 hours on the ground, giving them a fleeting glimpse of Tokyo's Bay Area, Sydney's Bondi Beach, Capetown's Table Mountain, Rio's Copacabana Beach and Time Square in New York.
The logistics for the ultimate album launch took four months to work out. "It's monumental man," said fellow band member A.J. McLean "We're going to pace ourselves. It is definitely a first for us or anybody in the business."
"This is not all about America. We have had success all around the world," said Howie Dorough, reflecting on the rollercoaster ride to fame. The Backstreet Boys get easily riled if you call them a boy band. They wholeheartedly agreed with Elton John and George Michael's complaint that the record industry was overrun by talentless, manufactured groups that appealed only to pre-pubescent children.
Richardson said, "We came to Europe and saw these pretty boys that were put together and maybe one of them could sing half was decent. The pressure made us sick to the stomach. We wanted to be the group to end all this. We are vocalists, all five of us have been singing since we were little kids."
"We hate to be compared to a boy band and thrown into that category,' he said. But they ain't changing their name. "You do have the Pet Shops Boys and the Beastie Boys and they are older than us. We will never change our names."
Nick Carter Talks About the Future
Backstreet Boy Nick Carter talked about their
new management with saving the group's future, all the
while hinting solo projects are in the boys' futures.
Backstreet Boys signed with The Firm earlier this
year, the PR powerhouse that looks after Michael
Jackson. Carter said that after months of
disagreements and legal wranglings with their former
management company, BSB may have split up by now if
not for The Firm. 'If we would've kept going the way
we were we'd probably have self-destructed by now.' he
said. 'Things are more professional now. It's more of
a controlled environment.'
Despite the group's new found solidarity Carter
refused to rule out solo projects. 'I think we've all
come to an agreement that if we individually want to
do something in the future we'll collectively decide
when's the right time.' The 20-year-old already
manages a rock band called Born To Kaos.
Carter blamed his rejuvenated work ethic for the
break-up of his relationship with longtime girlfriend
Mandy. 'Yes I'm single again. Right now I'm really
focused on the group and I want to concentrate on
making this the best it's gonna be. So that's the
reason why we're currently taking time apart.'
Backstreet Boys perform at tonight's MTV awards before
embarking on a 100-hour six-continent promo tour to
launch their new album Black and Blue, out 20 November.
The U.S. band The Backstreet Boys accept their award for Best Group at the 2000 MTV Europe Music Awards, November 16 in Stockholm, Sweden.
click for bigger picture
Photo from Yahoo!
Howie being interviewed by swedish MTV presenter Ulrika Eriksson after the 2000 MTV Europe Music Awards
Photo from Aftonbladet
Nick outside the hotel in Stockholm Sweden, November 15 2000
Photo from Expressen
Source: Zomba official Site from Asia
Source: Worldpop
Thursday, November 9, 2000
Chat with the boys live from Stockholm Wed. November 15 2000 @ MSN
Congratulations to the Backstreet Boys, MSN Live's First Artist of the Month! Join MSN around the globe as we celebrate LIVE from Stockholm with Howie, Kevin, Nick, Brian and A.J.
In this first ever chat with the Backstreet Boys we ask the band YOUR questions, so get here early! You won't find them anywhere else, so join other Backstreet Boys fans and help them launch their new CD, Black and Blue!
Cheiron Hit-Makers Plan New Production Companies
Details are emerging on the new outlets being
assembled by the main producers of Cheiron, the
Stockholm-based production and publishing joint
venture with the Zomba Group that will close its
eight-year-old operation on Dec. 31, just as a
three-year contract with Zomba expires.
Cheiron's production team, helped create the sound of
Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, and 'N Sync. The
company was founded by producer Denniz PoP, who died
of cancer two years ago.
Billboard Bulletin reports that producers Tom Talomaa
and Max Martin will on Jan. 1 launch the new
Stockholm-based company Maratone. On the same date,
David Kreuger and Per Magnusson will initiate A Side
at an undetermined location, while Kristian Lundin and
Jakob Schulze will start an unnamed firm at Cheiron's
studios in Kungsholmen.
Each producer holds a 50% equity stake in his
respective company and no clients have been announced.
Talomaa, business affairs manager of Cheiron, is to
advise all three companies. Publishing deals are being
negotiated.
Source: MSN
Source: Billboard
Friday, November 3, 2000
BSB to perform live on the Net
Backstreet Boys are planning a live cybercast on the Net to allow fans to watch them perform songs from their new album Black & Blue on 20 November, the day of the CD's release.
It's reported in the States that the group have signed a deal with top US retailer Wal Mart to give a live performance of songs from the album to will be webcast to more than 2,000 Wal Mart stores across the US. BSB fans around the world won't miss out ... the performance will be streamed on Wal Mart's website, www.wal-mart.com, for one week following the album's release.
It's understood the group will perform four songs, two from the album and two previous releases. The location of the performance is being kept secret.
The move is the latest marketing ploy by the group in a bid to outdo the 2.4 million first week sales in the US of Jive Records stablemates and rivals 'N Sync with their No Strings Attached album released in March. Last month it was revealed that a 'street team' of fans, known as the BSB-OOST (Backstreet Boys Official Online Street Team), are currently hard at work promoting the album.
It's estimated there are 20,000 members of the street team in the US using chat rooms and newsgroups on the Internet to promote Black & Blue as well as voting on radio request lines for the group's new single Shape Of My Heart.
Along with Shape Of My Heart, the fourth Backstreet Boy album will feature The Call, Get Another Boyfriend, Shining Star, I Promise You (With Everything I Am), The Answer To Our Life, More Than That, Time, Not For Me, Yes I Will, It's True and How Did I Fall In Love With You.
Launch.com reports that the cover will not portray the boys' faces and group member Brian Littrell confirms, 'The cover is just going to be half black and half blue with the words Black & Blue on it. We decided not to go with the picture on the cover just to differentiate ourselves once again from the normal picture on the front.'
Last weekend, worldpop announced that Backstreet Boys will launch their world tour in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on 23 January. For further Backstreet Boys details you can visit their official site at www.backstreetboys.com.
Source: Worldpop
Thursday, November 2, 2000
Backstreet Boy Talks About Extensive Black & Blue World Tour
(10/30/00, 6 p.m. ET) - The Backstreet Boys will kick off an extensive world tour in support of Black & Blue (due November 21) with an eight-week North American run starting January 23 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
Backstreet Boy Brian Littrell explained to LAUNCH where the tour will take them. "We are starting the tour the third week in January. I think we are starting in the South and Florida and we plan to do the first eight weeks straight in the United States as well as Canada," he said. "And then we will take a little break and we'll go over to the Far East and tour over there for about a month and a half. And then we'll take a little break. And then we'll come back to Europe, and do Europe for about a month and a half. And then we'll take a little break and hit South America. And we'll end up this time next year in the matter of a blink of an eye, I'm sure."
Littrell added that for the Black & Blue tour, the group will return to an "end-stage," rather than performing in the round like they did on the Millennium tour.
/Jason Gelman, New York, and Neal Weiss, Los Angeles
Street Teams Get A Black and Blue Mark
Inside.com reported on a marketing strategy behind Backstreet Boys' forthcoming "Black and Blue" album. An L.A.-area marketing firm and the group's management company have rounded up a reported 12,000 fans--dubbed the Backstreet Boys Official Online Street Team--to assist them in promoting the album. ("Street teams"--in which fans literally take to the streets of their neighborhoods to promote a band--have been around for some time.)
The fans receive newsletters that importune them to do things like write about the new album on chat rooms, vote for the first single on MTV's "TRL," and pre-order the new album. One goal is to create in the minds of the fans the idea that they are BSB insiders.
One of the marketing jagoffs, referring to a similar effort on behalf of 'NSync, was quoted as saying, "The kids themselves started to challenge one another within the group, not to just buy one record or two records, but to buy three and four copies because they were so focused on beating the Backstreet Boys' first-week SoundScan record."
Whoa. What?
If any member of 'NSync's or Backstreet Boys' "street team" is reading this:
It's A Cult.
You Must Bail Immediately.
Marketing People Are Not Your Friends. They Laugh At You During Lunch. That Laughter Masks Their Virulent Self-Loathing.
And What The Hell Do You Need More Than One Copy Of A CD For?
And Why The Hell Do You Care About Someone's SoundScan Record?
Bail.
Spread The Word.
Be Your Own Street Team.
From staff reports, compiled by opinionated James Woster.
Source: Launch
Source: Live Daily
Wednesday, November 1, 2000
BSB prove they have the write stuff
Backstreet Boys' forthcoming album, Black & Blue, aims to re-establish the lads as the world's most respected boy band, as seven of the 15 tracks are written or co-written by the band members.
The five have written two tracks on the album without any outside help - The Answer To Our Life, a better-than-average uptempo track similar to their previous hit The One, and Time, a love song that is weighed down by heavy production by Babyface.
Howie Dorough has stepped forward as the band's main songwriter, co-writing three further album tracks - the ballads What Makes You Different (Makes You Beautiful) and How Did I Fall In Love With You, plus the Rodney Jerkins stunner Shining Star, on which Nick Carter also helps out.
AJ McLean's bad boy reputation is brought into question on the track he co-wrote, Yes I Will, a schmaltzy ballad on which he declares to a girl that he wants to start a family. Kevin Richardson helps out on It's True, the preview track released on promotional CDs to American Burger King restaurants earlier this year.
Brian Littrell was obviously two busy getting married to contribute further to the album, though as he's one of the group's lead singers, we'll let him off. Instead, he found time to comment on the group's concerted effort for a more diverse sound on Black & Blue. 'On Millennium we had a few songs that sounded the same - fast songs that would sound similar to fast songs, as well as ballads that would sound similar to other ballads,' he said. 'On this album it's a little more diverse song for song on every track, you'll find out.'
Black & Blue is released on 20th November. The album's first single, Shape Of My Heart, is released on 6 November.
Source: Worldpop