Something Stevie & Reprise Should Consider...
 

I think the smartest thing for Stevie and Reprise to do is to create a huge MTV splash along the lines of the Dance, one of the biggest re-introductions of a rejuvinated group of older performers. Without the anticipation and allure of that video project, I don't think a live CD alone would have been half as successful.

They would be foolish not to use the footage that Dave has been compiling to create a preamble and short term capaign for the new CD with a huge airing on MTV or VHI a couple of months before the release. A teaser of sorts.

Though Stevie typically hates the whole video thing, she has to realize that her visual persona has been one of the most appealing things about her throughout her career. Look at how many fans were born (or born again) after The Dance.

I believe this could easily happen again and it would be a waste not to use this opportunity. If anybody hasn't noticed, Stevie has even commented lately that she has actually had fun dressing and putting on makeup for the studio and the filming while recording.

Just my opinion, but I think this would be a smart way to start the ball rolling on what could be an extremely successful year ahead.

Bob

That's been done, Soundstage.
I see that as Stevie's Solo Dance

I think that'd be a fantastic idea if all the strings could be pulled to make it happen! I don't see how it could be orchestrated, though. Comparing Stevie's new album to the Dance reunion is apples to oranges, too. Fleetwood Mac is one of the biggest bands in rock history, and had violently disbanded (Rumours line up, that is), a decade before. They were known for their enormous excesses, drugs, and inter band sex. It was all the perfect makings for TV. Drugs, sex, and rock all roll. Excess, hatred, love, and forgiveness. Stevie hasn't recorded an album in a decade is a matter of choice. There's no big sexy story behind it. No intrigue. Just a woman who is nearly old enough to draw Social Security making an album. :sorry:

Plus, does MTV do ANYTHING musically related these days? I don't think they've played an actual music video in a decade or more. All they have are trashy reality TV shows. Or have they changed since I stopped paying attention? :shrug:

I will say though, with Dave Stewart at the helm, it seems like he's getting Stevie to do things out of her comfort zone. It appears he's shaking up her formulas. Maybe there will be more surprises. Time shall tell! :D

The could at least give her some publicity on VH1 or MTV. After every show on MTV they are always saying "Check out this artist..." and they could do that with her. Not to mention air this documentary they are making.

It would have to be on VH1 Classic (since neither Vh1 or MTV have much if anything to do with music these days, in fact MTV has changed it's logo and dropped the "music" part from it's name).
But if they did a VH1 Classic thing or an updated Behind The Music (as they have done in recent months with "Behind The Music Remastered") the word would get out there. I don't really see it being as big as "The Dance" roll out was but they could do something.

I have to say I miss the days of MTV, for those that don't remember or weren't born yet, back when "Tango In The Night" came out Fleetwood Mac was ALL over MTV. The weekend the video for "Big Love" premiered was called "The Mac Attack Weekend" and every hour on the hour they showed a new interview clip with one of the five, plus a classic video either solo or group related. They also played the promo all weekend This went on round the clock until the Sunday night premiere of "Big Love". I taped a bunch of the segments and was bummed that Stevie wasn't featured in that many of them.

She should;

1) Have VH1 Classic air the footage as a documentary that Dave's been making a month and a half or so before the album's release.

2) PBS should air Stevie's Soundstage again (even though it is no where as spectacular as The Dance)

3) Stevie should record an hour long block on MTV2, which does nothing but play music videos and they also do what they call artist countdowns where artists can play their favorite music videos from current/past artists and feature a few of their own as well. Would be a perfect platform to get Stevie's new video (if there will be one) airtime as they air those artist countdowns a lot.

4) Make the nighttime round-up. Dave Letterman and Conan's show on TBS. Screw Leno, his ratings are dropping anyway.

5) Morning show round-up. Like Today show, her (I believe it was Today Show) Stand Back performance was pretty brilliant a few years back.

6) Release two to three songs from the album on iTunes ahead of the albums release every two weeks as part of their "Countdown to Release" thing they do, like they are doing right now with Katy Perry.

And finally....

6) MTV/VH1/Rolling Stone/other website first listen... Put up the entire album, for stream, a week ahead of it's release up until the night before.

If Stevie and her management can pull any or all of these, I bet the album will do just as good, if not better, as Trouble In Shangri-La. In fact, I'm pretty confident it would.

I totally agree with you; I think it almost seems like it's "expected" these days.

Agree with everything except #6, I think streaming albums is a bad idea, all you have to do is record the stream and there's no need to buy the album. Sort of counterproductive for sales. As long as you have a sound recorder on your computer you can record streaming content.
I also agree with ditching Leno. The guy is only as good as his guest, but if he doesn't know the guest forget it. Stevie's '94 appearance was really bad because all Leno could think to ask was how her hair looked like that. Really awkward!

Stevie's SoundStage and The Dance are hardly comparable.

The Dance built up anticipation. I rememeber the teaser clips/commercials. They built up an anticipation in the longtime fans and an intrigue in the casual music fan. By the time it aired, people had made plans to watch it. After the airing, people couldn't wait to get the CD, which debued at Number 1.

For Stevie, the usual circuit of evening and morning talk shows will not do anything more than they have for all previous solo albums. Of course, adding a full episode of Oprah dedicated to Stevie as well as Larry King Live wouldn't hurt.

This, what could be the final album, needs to be different. And the fact that MTV doesn't have much music programming these days could even make it that much more a winner. A standout program that will catch the younger crowd as well. Look at how many younger fans The Dance recruited.

I feel strongly about this. It has to be a big forum. Without building any anticipation and just pressing the crap out of the CD for 2-3 weeks will make us see it come and go after a few weeks on the charts.

Just my honest opinion.

But, It will stay our precious gem and lie in our hearts forever ......THE END.

The only way stevie could ever get on mtv again is if she tanned herself brown and poofed up her hair and started runing around saying ''the party's here''

Definitely a must for this album. Oprah is huge and since Stevie has never been on it and the show ends sept 2011, she needs to get her ass on it! It would be great promotion and provide for a great interview.

You're right -- and this is precisely the reason that Stevie would never go for it, whatever about the other proposals.

What was the promotion for TISL like?

I agree that I miss how MTV used to be. Why they have the kind of shows they have now is beyond me! I remember MTV promoting Tango In the Night very well. I was 12 years old at the time. We didn't have MTV at my house, but my grandmother had it and let me watch it. MTV had Big Love, Seven Wonders, and Little Lies on heavy rotation!
Even in the next few years, they played Rooms On Fire and Save Me a lot. I noticed a big change in 1992-1993. MTV did little to promote 25 Years: The Chain or Out Of the Cradle.
In fact, I saw very little FM related material from 1992-1997, until The Dance. At the time, I felt a little angry at MTV for benefitting from The Dance when they had done so little to promote any material from the Mac or any members in the prior five years.

The promotion for TISL was non existent on MTV. However it was promoted on VH1 and the Sheryl Crow connection, despite upsetting many Stevie fans, really helped. Plus Stevie made the rounds, she was on Rosie, she was on Letterman, she was on lot's of different TV shows. She also did a ton of print interviews usually discussing her klonopin addiction and how she survived it. There was some internet talk as well, the album became the most downloaded album the week it was released. Also in terms of promo materials there was a full on attack with a decent press kit issued (complete with color slides, lyric book and 8x10's).
Again, having Sheryl Crow (who was a media darling at the time) involved with the project did nothing but help. Also Stevie was riding a wave that began with "The Dance", carried on with "Enchanted" and "Practical Magic". So when the album was announced she was already on the radar.
If this album is planned to be released in the spring Stevie needs to start putting herself out there this winter. Start getting word out that she's got something coming and just create the kind of buzz that was around her back in '01.

Keep in mind that The Dance was supposed to be an MTV Unplugged show. The original intent was to do with Fleetwood Mac what had been done with The Eagles three years prior. They brought in the same producer and wanted the Mac to do a full unplugged hits set and several songs were arranged to be done acoustically (the ones that worked out best stayed that way, "Landslide", "Big Love", "Say You Love Me"). But Lindsey was having trouble making the others work so they plugged in and MTV let them go ahead and do the show that way. Also, the band had picked several album cuts they wanted to do, but MTV wanted nothing but hits.
MTV did promote the hell out of this because they were backing it. In fact it was 13 years ago this week that The Dance was all over MTV. The original show aired on August 12 and was repeated on August 16th and 17th with the album being released on August 19th.

You can't make someone promote an album. I'm sure they tried to get it on MTV and it was rejected.

That's all pretty encouraging, really. Hopefully Dave Stewart will have a similar effect, boosting Stevie's appeal and encouraging her to, as you say, put herself out there.

For TISL VH1 had a presale on their website that if you bought the album online from them (the days before iTunes) you could listen to the album streaming until it came out.

1. She should do a huge televised concert "Stevie Nicks and Friends" the night before the album drops (get the mac, sheryl, dixie chicks, taylor swift, tom petty, dave stewart, etc)
2. Release a single weeks ahead of time with a kickass video
3. Hit all the tv show appearances she can (Letterman, Leno, The View, Ellen, today show etc)
4. Have a huge release party in LA and NYC
5. Coincide the 30th Anniversary of Bella Donna with footage released from the tour

Connecting the new album to the 30th anniversary of "Bella Donna" would be REALLY smart. What she could do is combine the two, make a 2CD set, the first is the 30th anniversary edition of "Bella Donna" with outtakes etc. The second disc could be the album.
At the very least for the new album, don't be surprised if a DVD is included that contains the making of the album videos she's been shooting and other behind the scenes stuff. That's something a lot of older acts are doing with new albums. Heart's new album is supposed to include a DVD of a show they did this past March. Meat Loaf's new album has a bonus disc with live material from his last tour. KISS's most recent album contained a second disc of newly recorded versions of their hits.
So I expect Stevie will include a bonus disc of something.

Thanks, I never knew this. So really, the only new arrangement Lindsey (or the band) was able to really complete was Say You Love Me, since Landslide's always been acoustic, and Lindsey was doing Big Love like that since the OOTC tour.

I have a feeling Oprah is not that big of a fan of Stevie's to have her on for a full hour.

There may have been others, but they just didn't work well enough to where Lindsey was happy with them. As it was I recall him saying something about having to lower the key on Stevie's songs which he said took some getting used to.

Every once in a while Oprah will do music shows, especially when there is a story to tell. Some years ago, Carly Simon was on Oprah, but she had maybe a 15-minute segment including a live performance. I think there were a couple of other female singers on that episode too... Mary J. Blige is the only one I can remember right now.

I think there is enough of a story for Stevie to do an hour. We all know how much Stevie loves to talk about her past addictions/recoveries- that alone could take up an hour. But the fact that she is in her 60s and still rocking and still looking fabulous should be story too. And Stevie fits perfectly with Oprah's core demographic- middle-aged women- who grew up listening to Stevie and Fleetwood Mac. She's certainly more interesting than Raquel Welch or Kirstie Alley, who both recently had full hours devoted to them.

I think the Oprah thing would be awesome.

Also, the "Stevie Nicks and Friends" idea is great, and also a hell of a lot more likely to happen than a Stevie solo television program. Stevie has friends who are both Billboard veterans and relatively fresh in the music scene. Imagine if she had a show that featured Tom Petty, the Dixie Chicks, Lindsey, Vanessa Carlton (gag, but hey... if it's promotional), Sheryl Crow, possibly Don Henley?

It was only shown in its 90 minute commercial-free entirety on August 12th. August 16th & 17th were truncated versions only an hour long WITH commercials (so only 42 minutes of music).

...or Sarah Ferguson (former Duchess of York)

Yeah, the only way Stevie could get on MTV now would be if she were dueting with Snooki!!:laugh:

Sounds a lot like an AHI show!

Michele

Exactly, but televised.

.....completely forgot about the Arizona Heart Institute shows for a second, but hey! It could work haha

Who's going to pay for it? Somebody wants to invest in the ultimate junk bond?

NEXT TOPIC.

I've seen a lot of references to MTV. In '97, I was working for publicists working with Time Warner. ( Yes, Time Warner certainly had "in-house" publicists, but also sought out specialty agencies for certain 'launches'). 'The Dance' was one of those instances.
I swear it was years before it became 'Time Warner AOL' but a former colleague tells me I'm incorrect. Which happens. I am getting fuzzier on details than I ever expected. What I remember may or may not be exactly correct- But I believe 'The Dance' deal was actually with VH1, and that both MTV and VH1 aired the televised 'special' simultaneously, but that the lion's share of promotion and future programming was exclusive to VH1. Like, MTV never showed anyone's 'Behind The Music' -- I am relatively sure that the whole Fleetwood Mac reunion was VH1 driven, with MTV just along for the premiere airing. The people I directly worked for all were working with VH1, not MTV, and I remember their efforts were on Fleetwood Mac almost exclusively that spring and summer, which wouldn't have been the case had it been an MTV thing. Or, maybe it all fell under the Time Warner umbrella.
I do think it's certain that VH1 sold 'The 'Dance' cd and tour far more so than MTV did.
Correct where I'm wrong, this is just how I remember it.
EDIT: At that time, Vh1 was 'owned' by MTV, which was owned by Time Warner, so maybe it's all the same. I just remember a lot of work for and with Vh1 and little with MTV. (and now I can't even remember the correct capitalization for sure- Vh1, or VH1. So, you know, there are some factual errors, likely).

AOL didn't merge with Time Warner until 2000... and that merger wasn't completed and operable until '01.

My memory is getting fuzzier too, but I remember The Dance being aired solely on MTV for the first couple of years. It was rerun quite a few times, and the Silver Springs and Landslide video clips were played quite often on MTV. I don't remember seeing the reruns of The Dance on VH1 until a couple of years later. I could be mistaken myself though... that was nearly a decade and a half ago now. :shocked:

THANK you for the confirmation that it was after the year 2000 that it became 'Time Warner AOL'- it probably won't mean a thing to anyone, but ha-- I still got some marbles left.
I don't want to be blatantly incorrect, but to my memory (which I've admitted is s*cka*s)--
it's a certainty that MTV and VH1 both aired the very first airing of 'The Dance' on both channels, at the same time. It was a big, huge deal.
If I'm wrong about that, I'll accept it, but would rather have been wrong about when Time Warner became 'Time Warner AOL'. And is it still?? Hah! Poor AOL. Talk about blowing a monopoly out of greed!
I don't know anyone who still uses AOL. Maybe Time Warner killed it?

Both MTV & Vh1 were doing a lot of Mac promotion in '97. "The Dance" was originally supposed to be an Unplugged special, but became a regular concert special, so that was an MTV thing (all the press releases only mention MTV). However over on sister channel Vh1, they had two Mac specials that aired right around the same time, "Classic Albums: Rumours" (which premiered the end of July) and the Mac "Behind The Music" (which premiered the first week of September).
Basically MTV had "The Dance", Vh1 had everything else. So you're not wrong in recalling Vh1 doing a lot of Fleetwood Mac stuff.