1999-09-11 Billboard
They Might Be Giants Make Big Strides Without A Label
By Dylan Siegler, Billboard, September 11, 1999
Archived from: https://web.archive.org/web/20031019023643/http://www.tmbg.net/articles/billboard1999.html
NEW YORK--Rock duo They Might Be Giants has spent more than 15 years building a fan base from its own unusual recipe. The band's unconventional approach to marketing and merchandising has not only resulted in one of the broadest, most loyal fan bases in the country--lately, it's also begun to make money.
The duo's John Flansburgh and John Linnell have made their mark with fans largely because they've never left marketing up to a team of experts. Whether that means dispensing versions of new songs via their Dial-a-Song answering machine or nurturing their rabidly loyal following through a glossy newsletter-cum-merchandise catalog they publish themselves, "we turn what could be construed as marketing into part of our project," says Flansburgh. "The idea is that we go to great efforts to have the spirit of the duo included in anything that has our imprint on it--T-shirts, the newsletter, etc."
This summer, the Brooklyn-based Flansburgh and Linnell again challenged convention by releasing a long-awaited new album, "Long Tall Weekend"--on the MP3 format only. In another move certain to resonate with an unusually Internet-savvy fan base, the album is available through a partnership with the digital download Web site Emusic (formerly GoodNoise).
"We have to think about promoting ourselves in a grass-roots way all the time," explains Flansburgh. "But at the same time, people like us because we re not obviously packaged by someone else."
Adds Linnell, "The key thing is that John and I are the ones selling what we're doing, and we're the guys who write the songs."
The duo left Elektra Records in 1997 after a four-album run that included the well-known "Flood," which sold 638,000 units, according to SoundScan. In 1998, they issued a live album, "Severe Tire Damage," through Restless.
Despite the promotional neglect They Might Be Giants says it felt during its last years with Elektra, its fan base endured. Dubbed "young brains, wallflowers, and aspiring individualists" by The New York Times, fans were energized by the band's frequent touring, enduring songs, and, most important, a feeling of personal identification with an act seldom seen outside the Grateful Dead.
"They've made smart decisions about promoting themselves, which means not waiting around for a record company," says their manager, Jamie Kitman.
The Internet's role in maintaining the fan base--exemplified by Net surfers voting Linnell into the No. 9 spot in People.com's 1998 Most Beautiful People list as a write-in--gets a nod with the release of "Long Tall Weekend."
In promoting the release, Steve Grady, VP of marketing at Emusic, says, "The duo has suggested a lot of ideas to us for things we can do to reach out [to online fans]. The Internet is about the fan having more of a connection with the artist, and that's what these guys are all about."
Grady says the album is Emusic's best-selling release yet. Exact figures were not available at press time.
But like Dial-a-Song and the duo's Hello record club (which offered music from its side projects and other new acts), the album is "a way to reach out to people," Linnell says.
Adds Kitman, "Writing newsletters and selling T-shirts is not a huge profit center. But it helps pay for being able to stay in touch with their fans," which is the duo's goal. "It's reinvesting in the franchise and the brand, to use the ridiculous rubric," he says.
Some would call that "imaging," or maintaining brand identity. But Flansburgh, Linnell, and Kitman all insist that marketing and merchandising the duo as a brand was never an overt concern--instead, it happened organically.
Flansburgh notes that today, in contrast to the early '80s when the duo began, "everyone is more coiffed--it's hard to tell whether a duo is working on" imaging on a conscious level or not.
Aside from undeniable talent and, as Kitman proclaims, "a really serious work ethic and a bottomless pit of good songs," the duo can largely credit its low-key un-profit-centered marketing for the wellspring of lucrative work it is experiencing today. As the act's fan base regenerates among students, fans have grown up and moved into positions of power all over the entertainment industry.
Katurah Clarke, the duo's agent at Zomba Screen Music, says, "They've been getting a reception around town like I've never seen before, particularly for folks who don't have a long list of big studio composing credits. They Might Be Giants have fans across the board-it's not just the younger generation."
This summer, alongside the Emusic album release, the duo contributed the "Austin Powers" theme song "Dr. Evil" (handpicked by longtime fan Mike Myers). This fall, the duo's TV-scoring career takes off with the theme and incidental music to the Fox sitcom "Malcolm In The Middle."
They also figure prominently on Ted Koppel's ABC series "Brave New World" and will act as house duo for Comedy Central's "Daily Show Millennium Special." Nickelodeon and Disney will be jumping on the duo's wagon this year as well; Flansburgh and Linnell will supply music for shows and/or videos, respectively.
Currently without formal publishing or label ties, They Might Be Giants is certainly keeping busy The duo is working on a children's album for Rounder Records and has begun recording new album material for grown-ups with Joe Nicolo, formerly of Ruffhouse Records, as producer. Linnell's solo album, "State Songs," is due from Rounder in October.
As for "Long Tall Weekend," Kitman says there are no plans to release the album physically "Though it's packaged with great songs, it's kind of a fans-only release," he says. "We're interested in the continued health of E-music, so from that perspective it's nice to leave it at that, too." He declined to say how many copies of the download were sold.
While the album won't be released in another format, Kitman notes that some songs may turn up elsewhere, like "Older," which was on "Brave New World."
In addition to the already mentioned ABC, Fox, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, Disney and Rounder the duo is engaged in talks to do music or has provided music for New Line Cinema, New Regency, Maverick, and Restless.
In a more traditional setup, if the duo was signed to a record label, "probably we'd have to turn a lot of this work down," Kitman notes. It's too early to say but this may be a new paradigm-the ideal situation for a duo with a loyal fan base and high aspirations that wishes to control its own destiny.