Brian Wilson Album Gets Multimedia Boost

The latest album from legendary pop composer Brian Wilson will be streamed on Gannett newspaper and TV station Web sites in the run-up to its September release.

In an unprecedented multimedia campaign, the Gannett media outlets will run print ads and 15-second TV spots plugging the new music release, “That Lucky Old Sun,” pointing readers and viewers to more than 50 Web sites to sample the entire album from Capitol Records/EMI.

The album will be streamed on 19 Gannett TV stations sites and a host of newspaper sites starting tomorrow and continuing until the album’s Sept. 2 release on CD, limited edition CD/DVD and in digital format. Capitol made a limited edition vinyl LP release of the recording this week.

Wilson’s work in the classic Beachboys rock albums from “Pet Sounds” to “Surf’s Up,” is best known to baby boomers. And they’re the prime target for the Gannett multiplatform campaign.

“We felt the newspaper connection would be a great way to reach the boomer audience,” marketing consultant Herb Agner, who devised the campaign for Capitol/EMI, said.

The emphasis in media coverage of releases produced by relatively new musical artists prompted the strategy, according to Agner.

“In that sense, the media coverage is not very consistent in covering legendary artists like Brian Wilson,” Agner said. “There have to be ways for the music business to get great albums to people who want them.”

EMI and Gannett collaborated on a customized media player to stream Wilson’s new album. Agner minimized piracy concerns, saying the importance of streaming the music in advance of the album’s street date outweighed the risks.

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