INNA - CHAMPAGNE PROBLEMS
ALBUM RELEASE STRATEGY
As a huge fan of Romanian music, I was disappointed with the rollout of INNA’s 8th studio album, Champagne Problems. For this project, I created an album release strategy, with the goal of promoting her to a new American market.
BACKGROUND
INNA is the best selling Romanian artist of all time, debuting in 2008 with the Eurodance house album, Hot. The singer has since released eight studio albums and is vastly popular across Eastern Europe.
Her 2022 album, Champagne Problems was released as a part of her YouTube vlog series, “Dance Queen’s House”. It was released in two parts, the first in January and the second in March. Both parts featured eight new tracks with a different album cover.
Overall, the album had little to no promotion. There were no singles or music videos released from this project, despite the large YouTube tie-in. Because of this, her stand alone singles out-performed the album, leaving the album without much recognition.
THE (CHAMPAGNE) PROBLEM:
When thinking of major pop singers who are are changing the music promotions world, Meghan Trainor comes to mind. In this project, I analyzed three separate album releases but dove deeper into Trainor’s most recent release.
One of my major goals was to have a first hand account on Trainor’s release. I interviewed three industry professionals, one of which worked directly with Meghan Trainor on her release. I was able to gain valuable insight into some of the work that had gone into planning her album release and apply that knowledge to this project.
RESEARCH PHASE
RESEARCH TAKEAWAYS
INDUSTRY STANDARDS: Studying Meghan Trainor’s album was significant to understanding what goes into releasing a major pop album.
Tik Tok Presence
Partnerships
Radio Play
First Week Sales
GLOBAL CONNECTION: In one of my interviews, I learned that connecting to an artist’s home country is a valuable asset. Gaining a fanbase in particular region is easier than attempting to connect to multiple markets across the globe.
BUILD FANBASE: An extremely important aspect of achieving continued success in music is having a strong and loyal fanbase. In order to do this, getting your name and song out there is significant.
THE PLAN
RELEASE DATE: Early January on a Friday.
RELEASE: Instead of two parts, the album will be released as a full album.
TRACK LISTING: All 16 tracks will be featured on the album, or have most of the tracks on the album and release the rest as apart of a deluxe edition at a later date.
PARTNERSHIPS: DANCE QUEEN’S HOUSE
One of the coolest aspects of INNA's project was her Vlog series on YouTube of the creation process behind the album. Partnering with a big streaming service like Netflix would allow for a bigger press surrounding the series, especially on a global scale.
Netflix offers Romanian language programs, but has a very limited selection. Putting this series on Netflix in Romanian, would allow for a new kind of Romanian programming. It would also generate buzz, as not many series (aside from artist films) on Netflix feature this kind of real creation when it comes to artists.
SINGLES
LEAD: (September) The lead single will be released in September, so that there is enough time to generate hype around this release before promotion for DQH. The song will be sent to radio 1-2 weeks after its release, if the song's streaming numbers do well.
SECOND: (with DQH / Nov) The second single will be released the same day that DQH gets released on Netflix, as a way to build hype for the show and the album. If this song has a significant amount of hype and if the lead single was not sent to radio, it will be sent to radio.
PROMO: (DQH conclusion) A promotional single will be released with the conclusion of DQH, based on what snippets of songs from the show do well on social media.
THIRD: (with album release / Jan) The third single will be released with the album release. This song will be sent to radio a week after release if there is hype surrounding the release.
POLLS
I ran a poll to get an idea of what songs people would imagine as the lead single and follow up singles. This is a pie chart of the feedback I received, all of the votes compiled into one chart.
Based on these polls, "Always On My Mind" should be the lead single, getting the most votes as the lead single, yet also achieving the most votes in the other questions.
“Karma” would also be a good choice in a single, as it received a large amount of votes in all categories. However, the song uses explicit language in the chorus, which could deter radio spins.
OTHER PARTS OF THE PLAN:
TIK TOK: As shown by Meghan Trainor's success with "Made You Look", Tik Tok is an essential asset to reviving careers and generating new audiences.
Using a similar method, INNA will use social media to build up her audience in the US prior to the promotional cycle of the album.
COMPETITION: A few weeks after the release of the album, INNA will announce a competition on her Tik Tok. The challenge will be to write and record a verse on a selected song (likely the song that is performing the best). The winner of this will get to be the official featured artist on a remix of the track.
INCREASE PRESENCE: Months prior to the release of the album, INNA will spend some time in the US for promotional purposes. This is so that she has time to bond with American stars and fans prior to the release.