Alternative Bands Thrive on Low-Cost Marketing

By Robert Levine

On Dec. 11, the Web site for the band Panic at the Disco turned completely white, with no explanation. Before long, curious fans noticed that the source code for the page contained a clue that hinted at the release of the band’s new album, “Pretty. Odd.”

Over the next few weeks, other puzzles appeared that led to samples of songs, a blog entry from the band, and finally – through clues scattered around various Web sites – the cover of the album and the names of the songs on it.

“We timed everything from late December through January to get people talking,” said John Janick, who owns the band’s label, Fueled by Ramen.

In an era of instant downloads, the label made the band’s fans work for everything they could. And after iTunes allowed customers to order the album in late January, Janick said, it sold 8,000 copies before it arrived in stores.

The album has sold 235,280 copies since its release in late March, according to Nielsen SoundScan; the total is respectable for an alternative rock group that appeals to fans who tend to find music online rather than buy it.

As CD sales continue to decline, Janick’s instinct for grass- roots promotion has made Fueled by Ramen one of the few labels that consistently scores hits with alternative rock.

Panic at the Disco’s first album has sold 1.7 million copies; the most recent albums by two of the label’s other bands, Paramore and Gym Class Heroes, have gone gold, and Fueled by Ramen bands like Cute Is What We Aim For are building an audience.

The label has a deal with Atlantic Records, a Warner Music Group brand, that lets Atlantic promote, market and distribute Fueled by Ramen bands that are becoming popular. Even by itself, Fueled by Ramen is usually one of the most popular partner channels on YouTube, behind conglomerates like Universal Music and CBS.

The label and its partners “know how to do things on the cheap,” said Bob McLynn, a partner at Crush Management, which represents Panic at the Disco, Fall Out Boy, Gym Class Heroes and several other Fueled by Ramen bands. “The music business doesn’t know how to do that.”

Fueled by Ramen has its acts promote one another as well as the company itself, as indie labels have done since the 1960s heyday of Motown and Stax. But Janick has brought such cross-promotion into the Internet era, where fans of one band are just a click away from information on another on the label’s Web site. His bands often tour together, and many were discovered by Pete Wentz, of Fall Out Boy, and benefit from his implicit endorsement.

“Fall Out Boy endorsed Panic at the Disco and they got all this attention, and now you have Panic endorsing a couple of other bands,” said Bob Becker, the president of Fearless Records, another independent label with links to the Warner Music Group. “As long as you can keep that going, it works.”

Musically, the bands on Fueled by Ramen do not have much in common. But they share a certain aesthetic, with catchy tunes and lyrics about teenage angst that are suitable for scrawling in a high school yearbook.

“There’s a built-in audience of people who are genuine fans of the music on the label,” said Alex Greenwald of the Fueled by Ramen band Phantom Planet, who says he thinks that will help his group win a larger following.

Encouraging bands to promote one another keeps expenses down, which helps both the groups and the label make money.

Ryan Ross of Panic at the Disco recalled talking over the $500 it would cost to add cello and horns to the band’s debut album, which was made for $18,000. And Wentz says that Janick dislikes the expense of FedEx, so much so that he sometimes sends out royalty checks by mail.

“Instead of spending money on stupid stuff like that,” Janick said, “I’d rather spend money breaking a record.”

That approach has earned Janick admirers at the major labels, who have been cutting their budgets for the last few years.

Janick is thinking about the future of the music business and how Fueled by Ramen might fit into it. The label already has a merchandise company that sells band T-shirts at stores like Hot Topic, as well as on its Web site.

“The main thing for me is making sure kids can go to one place and get everything from the artist,” Janick said. “It’s a branding thing.”

Originally published by The New York Times Media Group.

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