Turns out Trent Reznor’s grumpy reaction to the sales of Saul Williams’ The Inevitable Rise And Liberation Of Niggy Tardust was premature, as sales of the net-only release have doubled since Williams’ “List Of Demands” began appearing in Nike ads. The funny thing is, “List Of Demands” isn’t on Tardust, but on his 2004 self-titled album. While only about 60,000 of the 225,000 downloaded copies of Tardust were paid for, that’s still twice as many sold than for the in-stores album that actually features “List Of Demands.”
“I know that a lot of people who spent time with the album were like, ‘I gotta get this dude some money.’ They came back and paid,” Williams says. “We got a slew of people who were starting to feel guilty about the amount of time they were spending dancing to the album and looked back and gave their $5. So I feel like it’s been wonderful, a marvelous result for me. And at the end of the day, it’s been about the exposure. Not only the exposure to me and my music, but for me, who always falls in the category of being a ‘message writer,’ there are a lot of people being exposed to perhaps a new way of thinking, some new ideas, and that really excites me.”
The irony of his work drawing attention through an ad promoting sneakers is not lost on Williams. “It’s weird, but their ads give attention to the music. You walk away thinking, ‘That’s a cool song,’ not ‘I’ve gotta get those shoes.’ “
At the very least, this seems to give some credence to Reznor’s attempted business model. If you can get a large group of people to check something out, you might get a large enough fraction to pay for it.
Saul Williams still hasn’t found his niche, and he’s thrilled [Chicago Tribune via Songs For Soap]
Anything that can assist in getting people to hear Saul’s work seems to be a good thing. This is welcome news.
I like him better when he’s doing spoken word stuff. His songs just sound kind of awkward to me for some reason.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzY2-GRDiPM
Bless him, I love both albums and I want his first one.
The ad made me look up the artist. Marketing at its finest.
Maybe selling idolator was a good move: there are no stories bashing Vampire Weekend on the front page, and only one currently of American Idol. To top it off, more Saul Williams coverage! I can’t wait to see more positive format changes.
@TheRunningboard7: Oh, eat it.
Songs about reparations sure make me want to buy sneakers!
Somebody’s gotta bash Vampire Weekend.
In a similar Saul Williams interview, he refers to Trent Reznor as “an emo dude.” Ha ha.
@Maura Johnston: That’s my favorite Weird Al song.
More on topic, this reminds me of the time I last heard from Mooney Suzuki, when they got some nice little pub from that Nike commercial with Jason Giambi.