Concrete Marketing
Encyclopedia
Concrete Marketing is an independent marketing company based in New York, USA, founded by Bob Chiappardi and Walter O'Brien in 1984. is known mainly for its work with cutting edge rock and heavy metal
, having amassed a client roster that features bands such as Metallica
, Megadeth
, Korn
, Limp Bizkit
, Marilyn Manson
, Aerosmith
, Pantera
, Ozzy Osbourne
, White Zombie
and Alice in Chains
, and has been involved with the soundtracks to several films including the Saw movies, Rockstar
and Airheads
.
in New York whilst managing a few bands from Long Island. He met
Walter O'Brien who had started Relativity/Combat Records and the two
joined forces, plucking a name blindly from the Yellow Pages, to
become Concrete Management.
Concrete’s first client was RCA’s Grim Reaper
and it was through
promoting and tour managing this heavy metal band that O’Brien and
Chiappardi realized that there were few people out there to properly
service the metal community – and so the idea to start working as a marketing company was born.
During the 1984 New Music Seminar
they distributed around 200 flyers
advertising Concrete and its services and by the end of the first day
they had been approached by Rick Dobbis, then VP of marketing at
Chrysalis Records
, and were hired to work the first full length
Armoured Saint record.
In 1990 Chiappardi and O’Brien amicably split as business partners
with Chiappardi taking the helm of Concrete Marketing and several
other companies they had created, whilst Walter O’Brien took Concrete
Management, the management company that looked after Pantera
, White Zombie
and Prong
.
the promotion and distribution of heavy metal records. This was
achieved at a retail level by creating a unified sales force from the
blending of independent and select chain stores that would adopt the
program thus promoting select hard rock/metal/hardcore/alternative
releases.
The format of the program was a store within a store concept and
featured point of purchase displays, instore play, sales pricing,
clerk recommendations and 15,000 monthly sampler CDs. A free hard
music magazine ‘Concrete Corner’ was available for the consumer,
while ‘Network Newz’ provided information for the store owner. Key
reasoning behind these strategies was that small retailers fared
better with niche markets such as heavy metal.
Occasionally for selected record launches, listening parties and
midnight sales would be held the day before the release of the album
proper. The first listening party and midnight sale, in which 318 of
the 325 stores participated, was for a Metallica
boxset.
Listening parties would be advertised through instore banners,
syndicated radio shows, and in magazines that featured the SoundScan
hard music chart, owned by Concrete. Invitations would go out to
Concrete’s 20,000 strong database of fans and stores would invite
their targeted customers by mail.
The program was successful in offering more to the consumer who
received freebies, discounts and won raffle prizes; to the store
whose staff won prizes for the best display and to the label which
could be certain that their product was being pushed to their target
audience.
Other promotions that spun off Concrete Corner were "bonus disc" giveaways,
where a bonus disc of artists from different labels was shrink wrapped to
a highly anticipated new release from one of Concrete's clients. The first
of these type of promotions was for Korn
’s album
‘Follow the Leader
’ in which 100,000 copies of a compilation CD
featuring tracks of breakthrough artists approved by Korn, as well as
a previously unreleased Korn track were given away to each person who
purchased the record. Baby band artists, at the time, featured on the
first disc included Kid Rock
, Powerman 5000
, Orgy
and Limp Bizkit
. Subsequent programs like
this were executed for Megadeth
and Rob Zombie
, among others.
In 1994, a Concrete Corner Tour was also put together. The concept of the tour was to initiate monthly events in each city where the tour was routed, with the focus of the shows being more on creating an affordable, fun evening of music rather than being based specifically on recognition of the bands' names. This club tour allowed for the exposure of the bands to ticketholders who may not have seen them otherwise. Shows featured raffles and giveaways, and the first in the tour series saw Greta
, Varga
and Shootyz Groove
take to the road.
In 1998 Concrete Corner and Concrete Marketing won the ‘Related Products and
Services Supplier of the Year’ award from National Association
of Recording Merchandisers (NARM), the trade organization of music retail
industry. This was the first time this award was ever presented. In
subsequent years, Concrete was nominated two more times.
). By the time they had worked the first Metallica record and the second Anthrax record and were beginning to amass a lot of metal clients, they decided it was time to begin their own newsletter, and so the first issue of Foundations was distributed in January 1988. REFERENCE ISSUE 1.
It was a bi-weekly publication that provided release information, tour itineraries and a breakdown of all Concrete's current projects, the idea behind it being that it should mimic the underground fanzines that were rife within the scene REFERENCE ISSUE 2. It also featured the Concrete/Soundscan Hard Music chart. This chart was also syndicated not only in US regional publications such as Radioactive, Good Times and The Aquarian
, but also in worldwide publications like Entertainment Weekly
, Metal Hammer
and Guitar World
, reaching a combined readership of somewhere in the region of 3 million.
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
, having amassed a client roster that features bands such as Metallica
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...
, Megadeth
Megadeth
Megadeth is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California which was formed in 1983 by guitarist/vocalist Dave Mustaine, bassist Dave Ellefson and guitarist Greg Handevidt, following Mustaine's expulsion from Metallica. The band has since released 13 studio albums, three live albums, two...
, Korn
Korn
Korn is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, formed in 1993. The current band line up includes four members: Jonathan Davis, James "Munky" Shaffer, Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu, and Ray Luzier. The band was formed as an expansion of L.A.P.D.The band released their first demo album,...
, Limp Bizkit
Limp Bizkit
Limp Bizkit is an American rock band from Jacksonville, Florida. Formed in 1995, the group's lineup consists of Fred Durst , Wes Borland , Sam Rivers , John Otto and DJ Lethal . The band achieved mainstream success with their second studio album Significant Other, released in 1999...
, Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson may refer to:* Marilyn Manson , an American rock musician* Marilyn Manson , the American rock band led by the singer of the same name...
, Aerosmith
Aerosmith
Aerosmith is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "The Bad Boys from Boston" and "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many...
, Pantera
Pantera
Pantera was an American heavy metal band from Arlington, Texas. Formed by the Abbott brothers, Vinnie Paul and Dimebag Darrell in 1981, bassist Rex Brown would join in late 1981 with vocalist Terry Glaze. Looking for a new and heavier sound, Pantera had Terry replaced in 1987 with Phil Anselmo as...
, Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is an English vocalist, whose musical career has spanned over 40 years. Osbourne rose to prominence as lead singer of the pioneering English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, whose radically different, intentionally dark, harder sound helped spawn the heavy metal...
, White Zombie
White Zombie
White Zombie was a Grammy Award-nominated American heavy metal band. Based in New York City, White Zombie was originally a noise rock band. White Zombie are better-known for their later heavy metal-oriented sound...
and Alice in Chains
Alice in Chains
Alice in Chains is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1987 by guitarist and songwriter Jerry Cantrell and original lead vocalist Layne Staley. The initial lineup was rounded out by drummer Sean Kinney, and bassist Mike Starr...
, and has been involved with the soundtracks to several films including the Saw movies, Rockstar
Rock Star (2001 film)
Rock Star is a 2001 American comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Herek and starring Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston. It tells the story of Chris "Izzy" Cole, a tribute band singer whose ascendance to the position of lead vocalist of his favorite band was inspired by the real-life story of Tim...
and Airheads
Airheads
Airheads is a 1994 American comedy film written by Rich Wilkes and directed by Michael Lehmann. It stars Brendan Fraser, Steve Buscemi and Adam Sandler as a band of loser musicians called "The Lone Rangers" who take a radio station hostage, just so that their song would get played on the radio...
.
Concrete: The Early Years
In 1984 Bob Chiappardi was working in the mailroom of Arista Recordsin New York whilst managing a few bands from Long Island. He met
Walter O'Brien who had started Relativity/Combat Records and the two
joined forces, plucking a name blindly from the Yellow Pages, to
become Concrete Management.
Concrete’s first client was RCA’s Grim Reaper
Grim Reaper (band)
Grim Reaper are a British heavy metal band from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal era. The band was formed in 1979 in Droitwich, England, by guitarist Nick Bowcott.-Early years :...
and it was through
promoting and tour managing this heavy metal band that O’Brien and
Chiappardi realized that there were few people out there to properly
service the metal community – and so the idea to start working as a marketing company was born.
During the 1984 New Music Seminar
New Music Seminar
The New Music Seminar was a series of multi-venue music showcases held annually in New York City, in the month of June, from 1980 to 1995, then relaunched in 2009....
they distributed around 200 flyers
advertising Concrete and its services and by the end of the first day
they had been approached by Rick Dobbis, then VP of marketing at
Chrysalis Records
Chrysalis Records
Chrysalis Records was a British record label that was created in 1969. The name was both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis...
, and were hired to work the first full length
Armoured Saint record.
In 1990 Chiappardi and O’Brien amicably split as business partners
with Chiappardi taking the helm of Concrete Marketing and several
other companies they had created, whilst Walter O’Brien took Concrete
Management, the management company that looked after Pantera
Pantera
Pantera was an American heavy metal band from Arlington, Texas. Formed by the Abbott brothers, Vinnie Paul and Dimebag Darrell in 1981, bassist Rex Brown would join in late 1981 with vocalist Terry Glaze. Looking for a new and heavier sound, Pantera had Terry replaced in 1987 with Phil Anselmo as...
, White Zombie
White Zombie
White Zombie was a Grammy Award-nominated American heavy metal band. Based in New York City, White Zombie was originally a noise rock band. White Zombie are better-known for their later heavy metal-oriented sound...
and Prong
Prong
Prong is an American heavy metal band formed in 1986. Prong had two independent releases, Primitive Origins and Force Fed. The albums attracted the attention of Epic Records, who signed the trio in 1989. The group disbanded in 1997 after the Rude Awakening tour, but re-formed in 2002...
.
Concrete Corner
In 1992 the company began ‘Concrete Corner’, the purpose of which wasthe promotion and distribution of heavy metal records. This was
achieved at a retail level by creating a unified sales force from the
blending of independent and select chain stores that would adopt the
program thus promoting select hard rock/metal/hardcore/alternative
releases.
The format of the program was a store within a store concept and
featured point of purchase displays, instore play, sales pricing,
clerk recommendations and 15,000 monthly sampler CDs. A free hard
music magazine ‘Concrete Corner’ was available for the consumer,
while ‘Network Newz’ provided information for the store owner. Key
reasoning behind these strategies was that small retailers fared
better with niche markets such as heavy metal.
Occasionally for selected record launches, listening parties and
midnight sales would be held the day before the release of the album
proper. The first listening party and midnight sale, in which 318 of
the 325 stores participated, was for a Metallica
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...
boxset.
Listening parties would be advertised through instore banners,
syndicated radio shows, and in magazines that featured the SoundScan
hard music chart, owned by Concrete. Invitations would go out to
Concrete’s 20,000 strong database of fans and stores would invite
their targeted customers by mail.
The program was successful in offering more to the consumer who
received freebies, discounts and won raffle prizes; to the store
whose staff won prizes for the best display and to the label which
could be certain that their product was being pushed to their target
audience.
Other promotions that spun off Concrete Corner were "bonus disc" giveaways,
where a bonus disc of artists from different labels was shrink wrapped to
a highly anticipated new release from one of Concrete's clients. The first
of these type of promotions was for Korn
Korn
Korn is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, formed in 1993. The current band line up includes four members: Jonathan Davis, James "Munky" Shaffer, Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu, and Ray Luzier. The band was formed as an expansion of L.A.P.D.The band released their first demo album,...
’s album
‘Follow the Leader
Follow the Leader (Korn album)
Follow the Leader is the third studio album by American nu metal band Korn. The album was released on August 18, 1998, through Immortal/Epic. This was their first album not produced by Ross Robinson...
’ in which 100,000 copies of a compilation CD
featuring tracks of breakthrough artists approved by Korn, as well as
a previously unreleased Korn track were given away to each person who
purchased the record. Baby band artists, at the time, featured on the
first disc included Kid Rock
Kid Rock
Robert James "Bob" Ritchie , known by his stage name Kid Rock, is an American singer-songwriter, musician and rapper with five Grammy Awards nominations...
, Powerman 5000
Powerman 5000
Powerman 5000 is an American Metal band formed in 1991. Through the span of over two decades, the group has released several albums and gained their highest commercial success with 1999's science fiction themed Tonight the Stars Revolt!...
, Orgy
Orgy (band)
Orgy is an American synth rock band formed in 1996, from Los Angeles, California. Orgy described their music as "death pop".-History:Orgy was formed in 1996 by vocalist Jay Gordon and guitarist Ryan Shuck. Bassist Paige Haley, guitarist Amir Derakh, and drummer Bobby Hewitt soon completed the line-up...
and Limp Bizkit
Limp Bizkit
Limp Bizkit is an American rock band from Jacksonville, Florida. Formed in 1995, the group's lineup consists of Fred Durst , Wes Borland , Sam Rivers , John Otto and DJ Lethal . The band achieved mainstream success with their second studio album Significant Other, released in 1999...
. Subsequent programs like
this were executed for Megadeth
Megadeth
Megadeth is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California which was formed in 1983 by guitarist/vocalist Dave Mustaine, bassist Dave Ellefson and guitarist Greg Handevidt, following Mustaine's expulsion from Metallica. The band has since released 13 studio albums, three live albums, two...
and Rob Zombie
Rob Zombie
Rob Zombie is an American musician, film director, screenwriter and film producer. He founded the heavy metal band White Zombie and has been nominated three times as a solo artist for the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance.Zombie has also established a career as a film director, creating the...
, among others.
In 1994, a Concrete Corner Tour was also put together. The concept of the tour was to initiate monthly events in each city where the tour was routed, with the focus of the shows being more on creating an affordable, fun evening of music rather than being based specifically on recognition of the bands' names. This club tour allowed for the exposure of the bands to ticketholders who may not have seen them otherwise. Shows featured raffles and giveaways, and the first in the tour series saw Greta
Greta (band)
Greta was an American hard rock band formed in 1992 by Paul Plagens, Kyle Baer, Josh Gordon, and Brad Wilk. Wilk left the band to join Rage Against the Machine...
, Varga
Varga (Band)
Varga was a Canadian metal band in the mid 1990s. "Freeze Don't Move" and "Greed", from their Prototype album, were minor hits on MuchMusic throughout 1993...
and Shootyz Groove
Shootyz Groove
Shootyz Groove is a rap rock band from The Bronx, New York City, New York.-History:Formed in 1992, the band originally consisted of Donny on guitar, Spec on bass guitar, Dose on drums, and their two MCs Sense and Season...
take to the road.
In 1998 Concrete Corner and Concrete Marketing won the ‘Related Products and
Services Supplier of the Year’ award from National Association
of Recording Merchandisers (NARM), the trade organization of music retail
industry. This was the first time this award was ever presented. In
subsequent years, Concrete was nominated two more times.
RetailVision
RetailVision was a service Concrete provided which was based upon in-store video play. Concrete kept a database of 1200 stores nationwide, organized by genre in order to provide appropriate video reel compilations to each in the four genres of alternative (AlternateVision), rap (RapVision, hard rock (MetalVision) and pop music (HitVision). The appropriate video cassette was distributed to each of the stores which allowed the active consumer to see all the new hits, while at the same time let new bands reach a wider audience because of the ever-expanding record store network. With this program, Concrete could help promote 30 - 40 new bands/songs a month. Bands were selected for RetailVision via a regular weekly meeting of heavy metal fans who could vote for their favorite entries, thus helping the program maintain credibility and quality.Foundations & The Hard Music Soundscan Chart
Before producing Foundations, the first exclusively heavy metal trade publication, Concrete were contributing to Friday Morning Quarterback (FMQBFMQB
Friday Morning Quarterback is a trade magazine which covers the Radio and Music industries in the United States. Its coverage includes programming, management, promotion, marketing, and airplay for music formatted radio. The magazine was founded in 1968 by Kal Rudman and is read by over 10,000...
). By the time they had worked the first Metallica record and the second Anthrax record and were beginning to amass a lot of metal clients, they decided it was time to begin their own newsletter, and so the first issue of Foundations was distributed in January 1988. REFERENCE ISSUE 1.
It was a bi-weekly publication that provided release information, tour itineraries and a breakdown of all Concrete's current projects, the idea behind it being that it should mimic the underground fanzines that were rife within the scene REFERENCE ISSUE 2. It also featured the Concrete/Soundscan Hard Music chart. This chart was also syndicated not only in US regional publications such as Radioactive, Good Times and The Aquarian
The Aquarian Weekly
The Aquarian Weekly is a regional alternative weekly newspaper based in New Jersey. Founded in 1969, its focus is popular music. It is accompanied by a pull-out section, The East Coast Rocker, which is freely distributed throughout the New Jersey/New York City/Eastern Pennsylvania region.The paper...
, but also in worldwide publications like Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
, Metal Hammer
Metal Hammer
Metal Hammer is a monthly heavy metal music magazine published in the United Kingdom by Future Publishing, and in several other countries by different publishers. Metal Hammer articles feature both mainstream bands and more unusual acts from the whole spectrum of heavy metal music...
and Guitar World
Guitar World
Guitar World is a monthly music magazine devoted to guitarists. It contains original interviews, album and gear reviews and guitar and bass tablature of approximately five songs each month. The magazine is published 13 times per year...
, reaching a combined readership of somewhere in the region of 3 million.