Don’t call it a comeback…vinyl has been here for years.
However, it appears that lately vinyl records have experienced a resurgence in popularity. In 2016, more than 3.2 million vinyl records were sold, according to Sony Music, demonstrating a new wave of demand and love for the old-school format.
In the spirit of this return to the record, Sony Music’s Legacy Recordings wanted to launch a campaign focused on the format and the community of music.
Back to the future
Founded in 1990 by CBS Records (rebranded Sony Music in 1991), Legacy’s original mission was to preserve and reissue recordings from the extensive catalogs of Columbia Records (including ARC, Brunswick, OKeh and Vocalion), Epic Records (including Philadelphia International Records) and associated CBS labels.
Following the creation of Sony BMG Music Entertainment in 2005, however, Legacy assumed responsibility for the preservation and ongoing availability of recordings from the archives of the BMG family of labels including RCA Records, Arista, J Records, Jive, Profile, Silvertone, Sony BMG Nashville and Windham Hill, as well as imprints including American, Bang!, CTI, Mainstream, Monument, Ode, and others.
With this assumption, Legacy Recordings became and remains to this day responsible for producing and maintaining a catalog of historic reissues of thousands of digitally remastered archival titles representing virtually every musical genre.
The challenge, however, with such an extensive library though is figuring out the best ways to market a wide-variety of music to a wide-variety of listeners.
Headphones to hear the consumer
With the goal of launching a new campaign, Sony Music’s Legacy Recordings partnered with Wyng, a marketing platform for brands and agencies.
The campaign, called the “30 Day Vinyl Giveaway,” required a scheduled, automated countdown format, whereby a new album would be revealed to consumers each day for a chance to win.
“Our countdown calendar is a format in our platform that allows marketers to essentially create an experience where content, offers, or a valuable asset is unlocked based on a predefined schedule by the brand,” says Wendell Lansford, co-founder of Wyng.
The format gives brands and marketers the opportunity to control the visual treatment of the unlocked and locked content, which allows for greater customization and personalization.
The Countdown Calendar also employed unique design elements such as a daily album cover reveal and related trivia and facts.
Sony created this 30-day scheduled format campaign on the scalable Wyng platform that leverages consumer and data APIs to deliver real-time campaign metrics in a customized dashboard.
“The standardized metrics across all different formats, gives brands and marketers the chance to compare the performance of the campaign on a variety of levels,” says Lansford.
In April, Legacy Recordings launched the “30 Day Vinyl Giveaway” with David Bowie’s Legacy!, and followed with offerings from lesser-known albums from popular artists, Bruce Springsteen’s Hammersmith Odeon London ’75, a 4LP recording of the band’s first European performance.
Success on the speakers
The “30 Day Vinyl Giveaway” ended at the of April with an impressive list of successful statistics.
Most notably, the “30 Day Vinyl Giveaway” resulted in 81.7K clicks, 61.2K visits, and 29.9K form entries to the album of the day. Additionally, the conversion rate for this campaign is 48.85%, which is significantly higher than the industry standard of 36.4%.
