Gothic metal band Type O Negative split in 2010 but have been increasingly referenced by a new generation of metal acts. Their vinyl box set None More Negative was originally released in 2011 and limited to 1,000 copies as a Record Store Day exclusive, but second-hand copies were selling online for huge sums of money. It was re-issued in September this year (with a run of 5,000) and the remaining band members were heavily involved in its promotion. AARON NEIGHER, VP of marketing at WEA, explains how it was an internal collaboration between The Pit, Run Out Groove, Rhino and Roadrunner (all part of Warner), how a premium physical product is sold in the age of streaming, where a new generation of metal bands were involved in introducing the band to new fans and what catalogue marketing lessons can be learned from live streams.
A cross-label project within Warner
I look after all of the marketing strategy for Warner’s agnostic content brands. One of those is a metal genre brand called The Pit. The Pit specialises in creating metal-specific news, memes and content generally for the metal community. We partnered with a number of the in-house labels here at Warner [on this campaign]. Rhino and Run Out Groove are the two record labels specifically that were releasing this Type O Negative vinyl box set in partnership with another label here, Roadrunner Records.
Building on the band’s legacy
Type O Negative are considered a legendary band in the metal genre. The singer, Peter Steele, passed away in 2010 and the band broke up. The legend has only grown over the past few years. Throughout the majority of their career, Type O Negative were a Roadrunner Records act. A few years back, Roadrunner released a vinyl box set for Type O Negative that was in high demand and quickly sold out.
As a result of that, the set was fetching between $1,500 and $1,800 on secondary markets. It was a very coveted piece of metal music history. Run Out Groove Records here recognised the demand and re-released the set in early September. This campaign was all about banding together with the other labels and coming up with a fun and creative way to get word out about this box set. It was also to introduce the band, who were mostly active throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, to a younger generation of metal fans.
Marketing a premium physical product in the age of streaming
We had the past historical sales data to show that the demand was still there for this set at that price point and that demand was also still there for the band. It skewed to an older audience at first. We knew that would be the core base but then we also knew that, because this was a coveted piece amongst all metal fans, if we could skew a little bit younger we might also be able to introduce that audience to the band.
Crowdsourcing demand for releases
Run Out Groove is a boutique label that is unique in the sense that essentially they turn the records they press over to the fans and the audience out there online. Periodically they will put up a few potential records that they plan to press. Then it is up to the crowd response and fan voting to determine what actually does go to press and go to market. It is a unique spin on what older classics get a reissue in this modern era.
Setting up the campaign
There was a merchandise line that the label launched over the past few months and there are plans for other similar vinyl releases. It just seemed like this was a time where the surviving members of the band were most active and the [fan] demand was still there. So it was the right time to strike. 100% goal number one was all about driving sales revenue. It was about creating a campaign that would directly impact pre-order sales for the boxset. That was definitely number one. There were two big insights that drove the strategy for how we would promote the whole campaign. Knowing the price point and knowing the demand, we wanted to take a lead from the sneaker unboxing sub-genre and really do something special to take this set apart live on air and show the fans that this is really where the value is and this is where their money’s going. Part one was about getting the band to go live on Facebook to literally take out each record of the six-record set with some extra goodies – like posters and laminates – and go one-by-one through them to show the fans how gorgeous the set looks; but we also wanted to use this opportunity to go back down memory lane and regale the audience with some behind-the-scenes stories that might not have previously been published about each of the records. It was basically an opportunity to unbox the set but also to do a deep dive on some of the band’s legendary stories and the backstories behind each record. Insight number two relates to a popular newer metal band called Code Orange , who are also on the Roadrunner Records roster. We’ve been noticing that Code Orange were big fans of Type O Negative. They were wearing their merch in really highprofile settings, such as on the Grammys red carpet last year as well as when opening for Slipknot at arenas overseas. Code Orange were, in our eyes, the torch bearers that have been playing a big part in introducing the newer generation of metal fans to Type O Negative. So this was the other big insight driving the campaign. Because of that, we knew we would be able to extend beyond just the core base of Type O Negative fans and bring in a new audience. We also knew it would be amazing if we could get Code Orange members themselves to be involved in the campaign.
Keep the fans regularly engaged
The band have a very respected back catalogue. A lot of the content to keep the fans engaged was really around anniversary dates for these pivotal albums. In the weeks leading up to the date of an anniversary release or a single release, that was a great opportunity to stoke the flames, get fans to revisit those records and talk about how much they meant to them. The band’s manager had a lot of amazing past memorabilia, so there was a lot of good visual content posting around that sporadically to get fans to lean in. Some of the remaining members, Kenny Hickey and Johnny Kelly, are also active in a new band, Silvertomb. Because of that, they themselves would personally take to the platform to give updates about their personal lives and how they’re still involved with music. Those were the main pillars that were keeping all the engagement going. The fans were already engaged. It wasn’t a community that was left hanging; weekly and monthly, they were doing nice little content tentpole events where they were bringing the core audience back to engage on different platforms.
The unboxing and band Q&A We knew that there was a ton of mystery and intrigue around the band. From my perspective, as a fan myself, we noticed that fans never really felt satiated with knowledge about the band. There were always questions, rumours and stories from back in the day that were semianswered – but no one ever really knew if they were fact or rumour. A big part of the campaign leading up to this unboxing stream, spearheaded and hosted by The Pit, was that we told fans that there would be an opportunity to have a Q&A with the Type O Negative band members during the stream. Because of that, we started gathering fan questions in advance on Facebook. In the week before the stream, we collected thousands upon thousands of questions from fans. Every question you could possibly think of, fans would come out of the woodwork to ask. That was a really great way to reengage the Facebook community in the week leading up to the stream. We were also leveraging that to drive the [boxset] information because, at the same time, the fans were submitting the questions that they wanted the band to answer during the live stream and they were also getting pushed with this information and the D2C link for the boxset pre-order.
The premium approach
It was primarily a premium approach [to the campaign]. It is an older audience who missed the first wave of the vinyl resurgence and these records mean a lot to them, but they just didn’t get a chance to swoop in and get them at the time. It was a revered catalogue. Plus knowing that this was a high-quality pressing – and knowing that there might not be another opportunity to get your hands on this thing – was what really drove the sales and the desire here. My focus around this was leading the campaign from The Pit metal brand. The Pit was the host of the entire livestream activation and The Pit worked across the different labels to get the talent on board and to get access to the different channels.
Timing is everything
One of the big things that we learned was about timing. We were really concerned about not alienating the band’s overseas fanbase. We knew that they’re equally as big in Europe and the UK. So we really tried to find the mid-point time for the North American audience as well as for Europe and the UK for the stream. In hindsight, I think that there’s a better sweet spot. We did the live stream in the middle of the afternoon for the US audience. So we got a lot of questions and comments saying, “OK, this is amazing, but it’s the middle of my working day so I wasn’t able to tune in.” What that means for us is, I think, in the future being a little bit more methodical about what time we do the live stream. It is also really making sure that we have a video-on-demand strategy immediately and making sure that anyone who wasn’t able to tune in right away [could see it]. Almost instantly now we’re able to publish the full video across our YouTube and socials and have a Phase 2 consolidated push with the VOD asset. With this campaign, we’ve been able to get upwards of half a million additional eyeballs on the stream after it happened using the content. It has been a great way to extend the shelf life of one live stream activation. I think the biggest takeaway lesson for all the other labels here is that you need to have a VOD strategy that knows that not all your core base is necessarily going to be able to sit down immediately for the live stream. [That means you have to] have a plan that hits right afterwards and extends for a few weeks to make sure that you really leveraging that content and getting it in front of as many eyeballs as possible without being live.
Tentpole releases and capitalising on this for other releases
As it relates to more of the legacy acts like this, I think the key takeaway here is that having a special tentpole event is critical. We saw that sales increase by a little over 30% the week of the stream versus the week prior. Because of that, we know that it might not necessarily be enough just to have one sustained push week-over-week, month-over-month in the lead up. There really need to be tentpole events that pull fans in and get them excited. So for me, the biggest takeaway is that we need to figure out ways to replicate this kind of big event but to do it in a way that is organic and natural for each of these different acts and records moving forward.
Learnings for the future of catalogue marketing
The honest answer is that not every catalogue record is going to have this built-in insatiable demand in the same way that we saw with this Type O Negative set. It is really important with the future of catalogue marketing to have these steps and these re-releases be more and more special. So that means having more features as well as having more compelling reasons to have a fan lean in and open up their wallet. I really think that’s going to be the biggest selling point because a lot of these fans already have the records – although maybe they don’t have the complete collection – in various forms. Whether it’s really leaning into more exclusive tracks that make up the records or there’s a lot of fun augmented reality stuff that can work as Easter eggs inside the packaging that the fans are excited about. I think there just needs to be more and more special features and exclusives as part of the actual physical catalogue that’s going to draw in people and entice them to buy it.
Reaching younger fans
We’ve been monitoring Code Orange’s social channels in the week prior to the stream. One of the things that we’ve been most excited about seeing is that a lot of fans have said, “Hey, I tuned into the live stream because I love you guys. I heard about Type O Negative but never really paid attention.” And some of the comments go so far as saying they will go out and buy some records because of the stream. That was the first amazing thing that we saw. The other thing that was really interesting to us is that a lot of the comments we’ve seen from younger kids have been things like, “I can’t believe you guys did this. My two favourite bands in one place!” That was interesting. We really didn’t expect a lot of the younger fans of Code Orange to necessarily already be big fans of Type O Negative; but I guess it’s proof of how much they’ve been pushing the band and getting that in front of their audience as well. A lot of the social comments have been super positive and surprising in the best way.
