Returning with their 18th studio album, Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds found themselves in new surroundings as they introduced the world to Wild God. Following previous industry partnerships, the record marks the first collaboration between Cave’s Bad Seeds Ltd label and Play It Again Sam and PIAS.
With global aspirations for the album – which gained 16 international Top 10s in its first week, including No.5 in the UK – PIAS MD Jason Rackham tells Music Week about working with Nick Cave personally, his label’s partnership with long-term managers ATC, streaming synergy, American success and what to do when a Gallagher brothers truce happens in the middle of your release week…
This is your first album with Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, how did PIAS come to work with them?
“Early on, our CEO and co-founder, Kenny Gates, got into a conversation with Brian Message at ATC and it became quite clear quite quickly that culturally PIAS would be a good fit for Nick. The partnership between ATC and us has been fantastic. And while it’s our first venture into working with Nick, we're a company populated by a team who have probably grown up listening to his records and loving what he does. There is a lot of passion, belief and support across the company for him, so everyone was pretty excited when we got the deal with Nick.”
So the focus for PIAS has been getting the record into the world?
“Absolutely. The team at ATC has worked with Nick now for a substantial amount of time and they've got a brilliant understanding of how he likes his campaign to roll out. For us, it's been about building a partnership with them and helping to amplify the aesthetic and the strategy internationally, while maintaining a level of integrity and purity to the campaign. What I mean by that is, if you look at the charts these days, they're a mixture of Best Of catalogue albums or, on a weekly basis, lots of albums that pop up at the top of the chart that are quite often bundled with tickets or driven by a nationwide tour of ‘in-stores’. Very early on in the discussions, Nick made it clear he is into a straightforward, non-gimmicky way of presenting his music, so I’ve been trying to construct an innovative global digital campaign while making sure that the traditional side of the campaign is robust too. Those two things combined to make it feel like a real event when the record landed. What's also been interesting is the way that Nick engages with his fans. He rolls his sleeves up and actively goes out there and engages with them as part of the promotion of the record. He’s been doing international Q&A sessions with the fanbase, tied into album playbacks and we've then seen from them a lot of UGC [user-generated content] stuff being created on socials, which has given a real oxygen to the campaign.”
You had the Q&As and album playbacks instead of the in-stores that you alluded to. How did that work for you and did you have any issues around chart eligibility with this approach?
“Over the years, Nick has developed his Red Right Hand Files site where he will engage regularly with his fans and answer their questions by writing to them, and quite recently, I went to see him play the Barbican where he was on stage with a piano, playing a few songs, and then really talking and engaging with the audience – no barriers or restrictions. He's very open to people talking to him about whatever they want to quiz him on, and those Q&As have been quite profound and have really resonated online, so we tried to then marry in with that.
“When Nick went to the States to set the record up, one of the key pieces of promo was an interview with Stephen Colbert on The Late Show, that was really emotive and it resonated across international press because Nick has a lot of important things to say. Also, he's got an arena tour happening and he goes out to America in the spring next year, so the idea of doing ‘in-stores’ just doesn't really feel appropriate – he likes to take his incendiary Bad Seeds show into big rooms and create these sizeable happenings. The intimate Q&A thing felt like an appropriate way to set this record up, but a lot of them weren't tied directly into charting, they were just events for fans to come along to, and some content has been created from them. We did do a Q&A at King's Place with Rough Trade shops that was tied into retail, you preordered the album for a chance to go, but on the whole, those events have been really about Nick interacting with the fanbase and getting them excited about the release. In parallel to those, we've run hundreds of ‘in-store’ playback sessions at shops. From Buenos Aires to Brussels, we've taken the approach of trying to own independent retail globally. So those independent record store events dovetailed nicely with the Q&A sessions and big tentpole promotional interviews.”
So far, you’ve had nearly 20 Top 10s across the globe, are you pleased with the international results for Wild God?
“It really does feel like it came together. It's an amazing spread of chart positions which is indicative of a truly international artist.”
Are there any territories where the charts surprised you?
“I’m pleased with Germany and France. They felt really good as they were key markets for the campaign. America was fantastic too – No. 4 in Top Album Sales, No.66 on the Billboard Top 200 and No. 2 in Vinyl Sales. We cleared 13,000 units week one in America. Nick went to the States and did a lot of promotional work to set the record up and now America's feeling really good. It has been a big priority for us, for Nick and the ATC team as part of the overall campaign. Our team in LA was very much part of the process when we were pitching for the deal in the first place and a big part of the international plan. They’ve been working really closely with ATC and our international team in the London office to deliver what is an impressive start to the American campaign.”
Your streaming numbers were strong too...
“That was really born out of ensuring we were going in and doing face-to-face presentations with the Spotify, Amazons and Apples of this world. Engaging them on the project really early, before we'd even really started sending music out. That's led through into some fantastic partnerships with them, like taking over Times Square and Piccadilly Circus. We had a huge outdoor profile, which we've really backed up internationally on the street with a billboard campaign to bolster the feeling of this record being a real event.”
There have been some suggestions DSPs are getting harder to speak with as automated systems are used to ingest material. How did you approach this?
“I think you need to start those conversations early. If you're going to forge a successful partnership with these streaming companies you need to work with them as early as possible. You need to engage them because they are music fans who get excited about the music too. So it was about really engaging with them, and looking at every sort of cross-marketing opportunity. From here, we're going to be entering into the world of Bad Seeds on tour and we are engaging an agency to help capture that and create some amazing live content. We're firm believers that this content is going to help drive streaming forward.”
So for PIAS, the Wild God campaign is ongoing?
“This is just a start. Nick's records always receive a great critical reception, as this record has, so we'll be heading into a Q4 with arena shows, and we'll be re-marketing the record as one of the most important albums of the year. Then, as I say, we move into spring with the American tour and awards season. I would very much expect Nick And The Bad Seeds to be picking up numerous international nominations so there will be other opportunities to market the record.”
We'll be re-marketing the record as one of the most important albums of the year
Jason Rackham
To look at the UK for just a moment, how did you feel about the release schedule of 1994 – the 30th anniversary edition of Definitely Maybe – having such an impact on the charts the week you released?
“Oasis was the big story when our record was launching. A lot of that seemed to be driven by streaming on Amazon, although interestingly in the UK all week, we were the No.1 bestseller on Amazon physically over the Oasis catalogue, which was great to see. We just stuck to our plan. It was obviously an exciting time with the Gallagher brothers gearing up for more activity but by the time they were launching, our plan was very much in place so we stuck to it and continued with all the activations, marketing activity and everything we were doing,”
With 15,927 units Wild God was the best weekly sale for a No.5 album for 144 chart weeks…
“That is a great stat. Let me write that down! And, it's another Top 5 record for Nick in the UK.”
Alongside the digital and fan-led elements you mentioned, you enjoyed some big traditional placements like the MOJO cover and more. How important was that element for the campaign?
“I’ve got really strong views on this. I think one of the most important things when it comes to social engagement and streaming success is cultural relevance. And cultural relevance is driven by media support. When we put this record out Nick graced the cover of 22 magazines globally. High-profile front covers of super credible music publications paired with front covers of broadsheet magazines. It is all part of eventising the record and hammering home the cultural relevance of the artist. Without that, what is your story? Without a traditional campaign, and without creating an audience outside of the internet, what are you? What are people putting on their pitch forms when they send music into Spotify? So I think it's incredibly important. There were three real pillars to the campaign when we sat down with ATC and put this together. A comprehensive digital campaign; wide-reaching traditional support – the release plan itself was very traditional – and then a comprehensive international approach. I feel they were really impactful. That's borne out by the chart positions, which has created a solid foundation for the campaign to move forward.”
You have alluded to their involvement, so how was collaborating with ATC from your side?
“It was a dream. They have a clear understanding of how Nick wants to present his music to his fans and to the media, and we very much tried to understand and amplify that. With Nick, there are always tons and tons of opportunities that come in. All kinds of things that people want him to do, or are used to modern artists doing. Maybe with someone as iconic as Nick, these are things he wouldn't consider and that's something we've been very respectful of. ATC have been very clear on what he will and won’t do and we've delivered and designed a campaign with them that has not compromised the artist or the music in any way.”
Finally, looking more widely, how do you see PIAS' year in general so far? What are you most proud of?
“We talk across the business about the challenges of breaking new artists in the environment that we find ourselves in now. For us and our label partners, that is something we're still very much focused on. We're focused on breaking new artists, whether that be working with someone like Transgressive and breaking Arlo Parks on an international level this year, or working very closely with Heavenly on the Kneecap campaign, which is starting to gather some impressive pace. I think that is another example of the right campaign, the right artist, the right approach, the right partnership and the right A&R. So that's something that I personally, and we as a company, are still super focused on and take an incredible amount of joy from. It’s also been a huge honour to be working with someone as iconic as Nick Cave. And we have a really strong schedule coming up for the rest of the year. For example, the posthumous Sophie album coming through our relationship with Transgressive is going to be a very special campaign, one that really resonates with a lot of people. So what is exciting us is all the incredible inventive music, and working with people who we are excited to deliver these campaigns for.”
Speaking of Kneecap, are you going to the Oscars next year?
“Well the film with Michael Fassbender has been submitted as the Irish entry. And it seems to be getting some real traction. With the film launching and what's happening streaming, it's amazing.”
Interview: Paul Stokes
PHOTO: Megan Cullen
