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rdwaynewrightThis is totally unrelated but before I get started, I gotta give a shout out to the New Hampshire Street Team, the Tokio Hotel Does America Street Team, and Hannah from Georgia, all three of whom are on myspace. They did some kick ass work recently and I'm totes impressed! Remind me to congratulate them on the THDA blog. ::is forgetful::
Now down to business. I x-posted this all over the place on our myspace street team pages, but there are people on LJ who aren't on myspace so this is for all you LJ peeps.
Ok, so I went out today andharrassed interrogated talked to the managers at the FYE and Borders downtown and here's the skinny: We need to continue seeking out store managers but we're also going to add a component to our plan of attack.
All decisions for ALL of the stores are made at their respective headquarters including what products to stock. Since these stores are chains, they don't determine what they sell. However, it's still worth it, IMO, to speak with the managers at each store about stocking Tokio Hotel products. The manager at FYE wasn't willing to put in a written request himself to headquarters (LAZY) but this doesn't mean that the result will be the same for every store that we approach. I totally forgot to ask the manager at Borders about the individual store requesting an item but she suggested that I call the customer service number.
In addition, when I asked, both managers thought it might be worth it for me as a consumer and customer to request in writing that the FYE/Borders carry Tokio Hotel cds. Remember, allowing for more imported music is potentially on FYE's agenda so suggesting a "new" foreign artist and actually getting the store to carry said artist's music isn't an impossibility at this point.
So what are our next steps in engaging the larger music store chains?
We need to go all out with a letter writing/email campaign to the headquarters of both chains. It's a tried and true method and if nothing else, this will at least get Tokio Hotel on the radar well before the band's American debut. If the stores see that there is already a fanbase in the US, they're more likely to spend a bit more effort with in-store promotions.
This is seriously going to require FULL PARTICIPATION from everyone because one or two letters just isn't going to cut it. There are 172 people on our street team's myspace friends list, most of whom are American. Most of them and most of you on LJ probably have other friends who are Tokio Hotel fans or you're at least aquainted with other fans. Tell them about this plan, spread the word! We're going to need everyone to pitch in. All it takes is like three minutes, a paragraph on a sheet of paper, one envelope, and one stamp.
I'm going to leave it up to you guys what to say in your emails and letters but here are a few suggestions:
*Tell the companies who Tokio Hotel is (that's an obvious one)?
*Tell them that the band's American fan base is sizable and growing larger every day.
*The band's album release plans include potentially arriving in the US by the end of the year and they apparently have visited NYC in preparation for their arrival. (yeah I know the NYC story is barely better than a rumor but the companies don't need to know that)
*Explain why selling the band's Scream album would be a good investment for the company. (the band has a distinctive sound and image, their musical style is a popular genre of music, and they already have a solid fanbase).
When does Project Tokio Hotel Assault begin?
As soon as I pick a date(s). Ideally on the same day within a specific time span we would email all stores on the Music Project list, which can be found at the bottom of this entry (this is a really short list but we need to concentrate our efforts). The range of time would allow for the fact that we're all in different time zones. For the manual mailing, we would need a range of dates in order to ensure that all letters arrived on or around the same day. Different geographical regions would have to send their letters first, others would send theirs last in order to accomplish this.
I'll find the appropriate addresses for all companies on the Music Project list, figure out the appropriate dates, and post an entry with instructions.
--------------------------------------------------------
Borders
FYE
Best Buy
Virgin Megastore
Target
ETA: I just discovered that Tower Records is still online even though they no longer have any physical stores. Tower is a great store and probably the most likely one with which we'll have success. I'll get the contact info for them too.?
Now down to business. I x-posted this all over the place on our myspace street team pages, but there are people on LJ who aren't on myspace so this is for all you LJ peeps.
Ok, so I went out today and
All decisions for ALL of the stores are made at their respective headquarters including what products to stock. Since these stores are chains, they don't determine what they sell. However, it's still worth it, IMO, to speak with the managers at each store about stocking Tokio Hotel products. The manager at FYE wasn't willing to put in a written request himself to headquarters (LAZY) but this doesn't mean that the result will be the same for every store that we approach. I totally forgot to ask the manager at Borders about the individual store requesting an item but she suggested that I call the customer service number.
In addition, when I asked, both managers thought it might be worth it for me as a consumer and customer to request in writing that the FYE/Borders carry Tokio Hotel cds. Remember, allowing for more imported music is potentially on FYE's agenda so suggesting a "new" foreign artist and actually getting the store to carry said artist's music isn't an impossibility at this point.
So what are our next steps in engaging the larger music store chains?
We need to go all out with a letter writing/email campaign to the headquarters of both chains. It's a tried and true method and if nothing else, this will at least get Tokio Hotel on the radar well before the band's American debut. If the stores see that there is already a fanbase in the US, they're more likely to spend a bit more effort with in-store promotions.
This is seriously going to require FULL PARTICIPATION from everyone because one or two letters just isn't going to cut it. There are 172 people on our street team's myspace friends list, most of whom are American. Most of them and most of you on LJ probably have other friends who are Tokio Hotel fans or you're at least aquainted with other fans. Tell them about this plan, spread the word! We're going to need everyone to pitch in. All it takes is like three minutes, a paragraph on a sheet of paper, one envelope, and one stamp.
I'm going to leave it up to you guys what to say in your emails and letters but here are a few suggestions:
*Tell the companies who Tokio Hotel is (that's an obvious one)?
*Tell them that the band's American fan base is sizable and growing larger every day.
*The band's album release plans include potentially arriving in the US by the end of the year and they apparently have visited NYC in preparation for their arrival. (yeah I know the NYC story is barely better than a rumor but the companies don't need to know that)
*Explain why selling the band's Scream album would be a good investment for the company. (the band has a distinctive sound and image, their musical style is a popular genre of music, and they already have a solid fanbase).
When does Project Tokio Hotel Assault begin?
As soon as I pick a date(s). Ideally on the same day within a specific time span we would email all stores on the Music Project list, which can be found at the bottom of this entry (this is a really short list but we need to concentrate our efforts). The range of time would allow for the fact that we're all in different time zones. For the manual mailing, we would need a range of dates in order to ensure that all letters arrived on or around the same day. Different geographical regions would have to send their letters first, others would send theirs last in order to accomplish this.
I'll find the appropriate addresses for all companies on the Music Project list, figure out the appropriate dates, and post an entry with instructions.
--------------------------------------------------------
Borders
FYE
Best Buy
Virgin Megastore
Target
ETA: I just discovered that Tower Records is still online even though they no longer have any physical stores. Tower is a great store and probably the most likely one with which we'll have success. I'll get the contact info for them too.?
