Oh well, TWIMTB failed to get into the top 75 singles... which probably means it sold about 10 copies or something.



I can't help but think it might have been better to release the single just as the tour ended, instead of a month after it.

Ho hum.

My only guess then, is that it isn't getting enough radio play. That song will hook anyone who listens to it a few times.

All I know is that come March 16th, I'd better be hearing it on 102.9 the Buzz. If they can play that gay stereofuse song to death, they'd better play some features goodness.

With corporate stations like that, it's a toss-up. I am not hopeful.

Ok, this is where I get confused in all the music industry politics. Universal is releasing this, right? Universal is a big time label with many HUGE artists. Of course a lot of them are unknown too, but how do the radio stations decide who to play and who not to?

Yeah, you'd think if a local band has a shot at getting big (and is on a major label), the Buzz would give them some play.

is the buzz really still around?

Yeah, you'd think. But in reality, the people that work there don't even have ears! Can you believe that? And what's even crazier is that they don't NEED ears - they make the decisions on what to play with their eyes! With things like Billboard magazine and corporate memos and oh yeah, dollar signs, they don't need to be able to hear!

Payolla...

For the new Beginning EP release, for example, Universal has told the band that they are in charge of promoting it. They will put it out, and the band has to promote it. I bet that they will use that to gauge how much $$$ to put into the promotion of the album.

Oh...shit.

no kidding... That kinda pisses me off that they wouldn't at the very least pitch in for promotional expenses.

question: Who sent out the TWIMTB singles to the radio stations in the UK? and what kind of stations will get the single here in the U.S.

It's such bullshit. Aside from having a big fancy major label logo slapped on it (which isn't worth much), the treatment they're getting (at least for the EP) is no different from what Spongebath did for them.

That isn't true. Spongebath didn't have distribution in stores. It was only available by mail order. Remember also that the Beginning EP is still something recorded out of someone's basement. The band recorded it with no label prospects in sight. Putting money into it is a long shot for Universal. There will be more to do with the album.

I must admit that I get tired of something on this board. Go buy a soundtrack to any film put out on Universal. On any given one, how many bands on there can you expect that you will never have heard of? Probably at least one third on any of them. With this first album, the Features are essentially one of those bands. It will be by careful marketing and some really good luck for the Features to break that. Yes, I know we all love them and want the best for them. We all have our own notions of how much we love those certain songs of theirs for whatever reason. But that doesn't mean that the simple release of this album will catapult them into super-stardom. My current prediction is that it will be their 2nd or 3rd album to break them out. I don't think the material they're playing now (assuming their current sets reflect the album) is strong enough for a blockbuster-selling album.

The best thing to do is request it on local college radio stations.

You're so wrong, dude. The Features are the best band EVER! Don't you realize this? Who's going to hear the first single and not LOVE THIS BAND??? Can't you see this? I mean, have you even listened to The Features? Get a clue.

Well, if what you say is true about this EP being the yardstick by which they measure how much money to put into the album, then I still don't think this situation is fair.

I'm very likely to call The Buzz and request, but also may call some of the other stations around town, like The River, etc. just out of curiosity, to see if they even have the record. The Features are pop/rock, if it's sold in Sam Goody someday, it'll be hanging around with the likes of Matchbox 20 and Lenny Kravitz...just the kind of crap The River plays.

And thats precisely my point. I used that stereofuse song "everything" for a reason. I think it was made popular by either the buzz or the river one. And one of the things they mentioned every time they played it was that the band "took off in TN." And that was a terrible song!

Anyway, let me know who you're going to call and when you're going to call them b/c I'd like to follow it up a day or so after you. Word of mouth can be powerful, especially if they are getting flooded with calls.

Well the only station that added them to their playlist (to my knowledge) is BBC 6music. They're still on the B-list. And you can still vote to keep them there

Actually, I kind of like The Features in the same list as Belle & Sebastain and The Shins. Of course I voted for them anyway, but I think that's a kind of popularity the band can really achieve....

i'm not sure who sent out the single in the UK, but i know that a few hundred college radio stations received the new version of the beginning ep a few weeks ago.

I bought the single, so I am hereby absolved of any guilty feelings. And I played it at a club on Friday night

I don't think that Universal's treatment of this EP will serve as any kind of indicator for how they will treat the album. Either the label or the band (or maybe both) wanted to get something out quick. So they used the previously recorded EP to fill the void and perhaps to start generating a little buzz before the full-length came out.

Come to think of it, I can't think of an EP behind which a major label ever put the full weight of its marketing machine. Don't worry too much about the EP.

Believe me a label wants to recoup the money it spends on a band to record and promote an album. The promotion behind an EP and a full length should not be comparable.

I see the re-release of the Beginning EP as simply a bonus. The supplies of the original are gone and no longer available for sale, so this refreshes supplies. Also, it's going to be in most major chains in most cities across the US. Big change verses when the original Beginning EP was released. Sure, you might not be impressed with what money or promotion seems to behind the EP, but believe me, there's a big difference over what happened when the EP was released locally a few years ago.

Put the buzz in the buzzes ear,or if it's true that they have no ears stick it up there nose!
Hound them hard they will play it I promise!
Call the buzz,call 106.9,call 98.5,call 105.5
These are all clear channel stations,should be listed in cookeville!
Damn sure cant wait on management to do it now can we!!
If a call request is made as often as these post they cant be denied!
Im trying very hard to get this giant migit out of this mayonaze jar!!

haha, perhaps calling a station should be the new requirement for each post here.

The really big key is for the folks who aren't in Nashville that post or read/lurk here (there's a bunch of you!) to call their radio stations to request the song. Yeah, we need Nashville playing it, but this is our home turf. Let's get more and more cities playing the song.

Is this thing being sent out to radio stations nationwide? I'll request it in Virginia.

The Beginning EP which is out in stores in a week or so now contains the bonus track, The Way It's Meant To Be. The EP was sent out to a ton of (mostly) college stations a month or so ago (see Ray Davies post about getting a copy down at MTSU). Therefore, yes, the song should be available to a lot of stations across the country to play. Please do request it in Virginia. Do you listen to a college station up there much? They'll most likely already have it.

By the way, the Features are showing up on a lot of top 30 lists of college radio station playlists across the country.

Wonderful news! It will most likely be #1 on the WMTS charts this week.

(Edited by iwantelvis at 2:58 pm on Mar. 10, 2004)

Sometimes it takes something a while to get exposed. I think Fountains of Wayne's album "Welcome Interstate Managers" had been out like a year before it REALLY started getting popular and garnering attention for the band.

J

One of the endearing aspects of the Features as a band is how they incorporate their fans into their music via interaction (fist in air, clapping, etc.). I don't think that this will translate very well to larger venues, so it's going to take alot of time and patience for the music to grow on new fans.
Hopefully they will get lucky and end up opening for a major artist, like The Strokes or Weezer.

J

Anyone know if WNUR got it here at NU? etc and I could request it. Hell, I could bug some dj friends of mine to play it during their shows...

Will

that is key

This is not really an answer to your question, Will. But let me just say that WNUR might be the most pretentious radio station I have ever heard. I don't mean that as an insult! But I heard some things, man. Some things that I would hesitate to call "music." The Features would sound like N*SYNC by comparison.

Is it always like that?

Indeed... and I remember interviewing them about seven years ago... so it's not always as quick as we'd like, is it?



Well, I bought two copies, so my guilt is also absolved...

I just think if they had released it at the end of the tour instead of three weeks after it then they would have sold more copies.

Andy, I think they sold as many copies as were produced.

Yes and no. They are the most pretentious radio station *I* know of. I don't listen very often. They have alot of set programming, including alot of jazz, and I know there are alot of restrictions on what the rock djs can play during peak times (they cannot, apparently, play the same song twice in the same day).

In off-peak times, the djs are free to do what they want, shy of breaking FCC regulations. I knew a guy that had an all Zappa show Saturday night / Sunday morning for at least a year.

My friend in Boston has a radio show at Emerson where they play two records at once and do crazy stuff like that (play one of the records backwards, play 45s at 33 etc). THAT has to be pretentious, but due to lack of webstreaming, I've never heard his show.

Will

I sure hope so, it's a great single. I played it t a huge group of friends over the weekend and they all liked it, though they tended to like "Someway, Somehow" almost as much as TWIMTB (as do I, it's a great recording of "Someway...").

Just so long as they're not crashing failures over here I am happy, as I've been spreading the word to everyone that will listen, and I'm sure they can go on to bigger things.