Re: Samplers

Bill Pringle (wrp@ks.unisys.com)
Mon, 27 Apr 1998 14:19:12 -0400 (EDT)

>Do many of the people on this list actually go out and buy a CD by a new
>artist, just from hearing one or two songs on a sampler CD? Would it be
>enough to intrigue someone to attend a concert of someone they haven't heard
>of except for the sampler cut?
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My favorite example of how samplers are great is:

Be Kind to My Mistakes|3:02|Bush, Kate
Bury Me Deep|4:54|Poi Dog Pondering
She Says|3:35|Rave-Ups, The
Let It Be Me|4:15|Social Distortion
Talkin' 'Bout A Revolution|5:57|Living Colour
Come Back Down|3:19|Toad the Wet Sprocket
Overflow|3:58|O-Positive
House (Long Version)|5:44|Psychedelic Furs, The
Welcome to The Terrordome|5:26|Public Enemy
If I Were John Carpenter|7:26|Big Audio Dynamite
Run Through The Fields|4:06|Nuclear Valdez
Kids Fear (Live)|4:43|Indigo Girls
Shotgun Down the Avalanche (Live)|4:06|Colvin, Shawn
Another Life|2:09|Big Dipper
Triple Stage Darkness|4:10|Third Bass~3rd Bass
Your Fear|4:49|Prong

I heard the Shawn Colvin recording on the radio, so I decided I wanted
to get the sampler. I was quite pleased to find out it was dirt cheap. :^)
If I had known there was an Indigo Girls song on it, I would have bought
it for that, too.

Now when I got this album, I had never heard of Poi Dog Pondering, Toad the
Wet Sprocket, or Nuclear Valdez. I liked their songs, so I bought the
albums they came from. I now have all of Poi's albums, quite a bit of
Toad's albums, and the Kate Bush song made me go out and try her albums
again. (My first experience with one of her albums wasn't all that great.)

The record company would have made money on this collection if they had
simply given it to me! :^)

I would like to ask the inverse of the original question. Who would decide
to *not* buy a CD or go to a concert if they heard one or two songs on a
sampler and liked what they heard? Do some people not buy a CD or go to
a concert unless they are convinced they will like X number of songs?

I've been known to buy a CD because "it looked interesting", so having
heard a few songs, I have no hesitation at buying a CD by someone I
have only heard about. I just picked up the Lynn Miles album "Strangely
Haunted" because people on the list have been talking about it. It is
still in the wrapper (I'm listening to this weekend's haul as we speak :^)
but I'm relatively certain I'll like it. If not, when at least I will
have learned something. :^)

--
Bill Pringle
work: wrp@ks.unisys.com, school: wrp103@psu.edu
http://www.personal.psu.edu/~wrp103/