Steven Tyler has certainly made many big splashes during his career, but not in the Country pond. Big Machine’s Dot Records is working to get the music of former Aerosmith frontman and singer/songwriter before a new public, and radio will be a major part of the media mix.
Tyler’s new single, his first in the Country genre, is “Love Is Your Name.”
Big Machine was the original recording company to ink a deal with iHeartMedia to share over-air revenue in exchange for favorable streaming rates.
iHeart will get Tyler’s song out to America over more than 120 mainstream Country stations. And an interview with iHeart’s Bobby Bones will be heard on more than 80 radio stations.
There will also be television elements in the effort to introduce Tyler to a whole new audience.
RBR+TVBR observation: Steven Tyler to a large degree is less in need of publicity than the average musician, thanks in part to high-profile TV time on American Idol, in addition to his lengthy rock career.
However, he will need all the help he can get taking his music to an entirely new audience. Country fans aren’t going to buy Tylers’s music just because they’ve seen him on TV – they will want to hear it first.
Radio will take it to them and make it possible for Big Machine and Tyler to get a return on the money, the intellectual equity and the sweat equity they invested in creating the music, rather than having it go unheard and unrewarded.
Radio will supply this invaluable service free of charge, thank you very much. Big Machine understands the value of this, and we would hope that other labels would acknowledge it as well.
Instead, we’re back to Capitol Hill to engage in the old skirmishing over a performance tax. Sigh…
