Ask someone in the music industry how to sell a new single, and youll get rambling answers that go on for days but ask them how to sell a single that was released 25 years ago, from an artist whos only ever put out one five-track LP and since faded deep into obscurity, and youll get far fewer ideas. Thanks to the discovery-led nature of music streaming, however, older music is, for the first time, ripe with new opportunities. Record companies just have to be nimble enough to find them.
Tim Fraser-Harding oversees such out-of-the-ordinary initiatives as Warner Musics president of global catalog of recorded music, where hes helped shape new marketing strategies for legacy artists like Led Zeppelin and Fleetwood Mac. Fraser-Harding spoke with Rolling Stone about the trials and rewards of reviving old hits.
How do you view your role relative to the music industry at large?
Ive been in the music industry for 30 years and its a really fascinating time to be in catalog right now, because you have to figure out the balance. Streaming continues to build and build, which is helping our overall business grow but you have heritage acts who are strong in physical sales. In addition, youve got such a broad range of consumers: hardcore fans whove always supported particular acts, and people whove just discovered them.
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I think the catalog team has also got a very distinct job from the rest of Warner because so many of our key artists are no longer with us or have split up, moved on or are simply not interested or available. A lot of the time were figuring out ways to create a marketing buzz without the artist. We have to have other people talk on their behalf or share exciting new pieces of them that arent just rehashing the same things people have seen time and time again. Sometimes, its a question of how we make something out of nothing.
How has catalog changed over the years? Its no longer just straightforwardly selling box sets on anniversaries.
We now have to ensure were devoting our marketing and product development time evenly: We have to maximize the repertoire most amenable to streaming, which tends to have a younger audience, but also know that our heritage acts may have had 40 years of making music and are continuing to push the dials. Take Fleetwood Mac. Theyre one of the fastest-growing streaming artists, but still selling physical on the road. Theyre appealing to a more diverse audience than they ever have done, in terms of age. Theyve figured out how to educate a younger demographic and continue engaging their older consumers.
The younger demographic poses a better opportunity in terms of revenue, right?
What weve effectively got is a streaming environment where you can have a younger person fixated on whatever todays hot track is and needing to listen to that 30 times a day but their parents might have Hotel California as their favorite song of all time, yet only need to listen to it three or four times a year to get the same sort of fix. We know that younger demographic is out there, so we have to get them to access all our music.
Warners back catalog is immense. How do you tailor your strategy for different genres or types of music?
Its common sense for us to play to our strengths and support our major artists who we know are going to be listened to, day in and day out. But at the same time there are other artists from the 1990s or 2000s who may not have ever had, lets say, an iconic career but mightve had two or three enormous tracks that still stream very strongly. Its important were focusing on those tracks and getting them noticed on streaming services, figuring out where to remind consumers about those songs again. We end up with a track strategy and an artist strategy, depending on the breadth and strength of that catalog.
How do you translate physical marketing to digital marketing?
Were moving with the market, but we also have to keep one foot ahead of the market. We have to make sure were staffing up the right way hiring people who understand creative marketing and todays consumer, and how to engage people in different ways than before. If were making a vinyl box set, it doesnt mean just moving that music onto streaming is going to work. Weve got to think about how the consumer will react, weve got to be smart about how we sequence our products. The Led Zeppelin playlist generator we made this year was a recent success.
That include working on faster schedules than before, I imagine.
We have to react very quickly to events now. Tracks can suddenly pop up in a movie trailer or globally successful advertisement, or be linked to something culturally relevant. Its our job to be able to amplify that noise and then be able to educate about it. For instance, if theres a Ramones track in an ad going viral and getting millions of YouTube views, its important to then work with that brand to figure out how to communicate to their consumers what music they are listening to. So much of what we do is track-based now. It can apply to some of our biggest heritage acts or to an artist whos only had one hit.
There was a time last year when we discovered the Spinners Rubberband Man in Avengers: Infinity War on a Sunday night, and by Monday lunchtime, we had a brand new playlist of that artist ready to go. We were then able to work with the movie company and get them to promote the artists name. It was a fairly obscure artist and song. We would not have been able to do that in the purely physical age. In this day and age, so much more is happening. Moments can last for a much shorter period than they wouldve done before, and if you dont react quickly, youve missed it and youve got to move on.
What are some other ways youre working creativity to promote older music?
Weve been bringing other artists in. Sometimes youll see an artist wholl say their biggest influence is Joni Mitchell or Aretha Franklin. In the old days it was like, Okay, thats quite interesting, I wonder if people will read that and go down to their record shop and buy an Aretha LP. These days its, Lets get the artist to elaborate on that! If Green Day opens up their shows playing Blitzkrieg Bop by the Ramones and everybody in the auditorium is singing Hey, ho, lets go but doesnt know the band name, we have to create the right tools to educate them. Its great to have somebody whos genuinely enthusiastic about an artist who has influenced them to talk to their fans about it. Because thats the way were going to be able to transcend generations and speak to a wider group of people.
Something else that might be fairly obvious: Weve got incredible music and were so lucky in what it is were trying to transact that we just have to figure out the best ways to get it out. Whether its creating a new video, remixing a track, finding a track nobody knew existed like we did last year with a Prince song, these are the moments where people gasp and we feel were opening up to a broader base.
Do you feel renewed catalog discovery is leading to a change in modern music as well?
Certainly when you look at listening habits, the younger generation seems more open to consuming music they like. In the 80s, I was an absolute music snob. If it was the wrong genre, some people wouldnt listen. Nowadays people say: Do I like it? I like it. I want to hear it again. Thats why you can have some particularly weird things discovered from films or games that will appear out of kilter with what other genres that person listens to. And if they become musicians, they will sample a broader range of music than done in the past.