Member-only story
The Death of the Album Campaign
Almost everyone remembers where they were when Beyoncé released her self-titled fifth studio album. It was one that made a significant impact, albeit having been brought upon the world without any sort of warning. Following its release, many artists repeated Beyoncé’s method and put out projects with little to no prior notice. Within the first three days of its release, Beyoncé had sold over 828,000 digital copies worldwide and topped the iTunes charts in 104 countries. Despite not being accompanied by any sort of promotional campaigns, Beyoncé broke records and forced record labels to change the way they market albums.
Was releasing an album without any prior notice a risky move? At the time, yes. Before Beyoncé pioneered the art of the surprise release, artists would announce their album titles and release dates months before the release would take place. During the time between the release date announcement and the release itself, the artist’s record label would allocate money towards campaigns and promotions to build up anticipation for the album. For example, Miley Cyrus’s Bangerz album had come out two months before Beyoncé. The album’s title and release date had been announced earlier that summer. Promotional campaigns for Bangerz included a scavenger hunt across Los Angeles to find puzzle pieces of the album’s artwork, an MTV documentary, and a Saturday Night Live performance.
