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SPECTACULAR SPEKTOR
January 13, 2007
Slow-Building Promo Campaign Driving Sire Disc
SUSAN VISAKOWITZ
Regina Spektor doesn't own a TV or a radio. In fact, as her manager Ron Shapiro puts it, "Most of her being lives in another time."
But the 26-year-old singer/songwriter—who names the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Billie Holiday and Chopin among her biggest influences—is making music that resonates in the here and now.
Spektor entered the Heatseekers chart at No. 1 and The Billboard 200 at No. 135 last July 1 with her ambitious major-label debut, "Begin to Hope" (Sire). Never falling below the top 30, the album reclaimed the Heatseekers summit 25 weeks later on Dec. 16, simultaneously cracking The Billboard 200 for the first time since July 15.
Sire president Michael Goldstone attributes the album's ongoing success to a traditional approach that, in large part, Spektor has overseen and directed herself. She has guided Sire, along with PR firm Big Hassle and Ron Shapiro Management, through an "old-school, word-of-mouth" campaign, Goldstone says, fueled by "hard work and belief." It's a crusade that actually began around Spektor's last disc, "Soviet Kitsch," which she self-released in 2002; Sire reissued it two years later.
"When you talk about the development of 'Begin to Hope' in the marketplace, you can't skip over 'Soviet Kitsch,' " Goldstone says. "So much of the work we did was selling 500 records a week for two years. We worked it in a blue-collar way. We never even really announced it. When you have an artist that has great instincts, you support those instincts."
That strategy has thus far proved wise. According to Nielsen SoundScan, "Soviet Kitsch" has hit the 54,000 mark, and "Begin to Hope" has moved 160,000 units.
Spektor has been involved in every aspect of her presentation in the marketplace—from the music itself to imaging. Goldstone admits that as a result, "there are things that probably go slower than people would like. But," he quickly adds, "if she was too accommodating, we probably wouldn't be doing this well."
Goldstone, Shapiro and Warner Bros. VP of marketing Mitra Darab can hardly contain themselves when talking about why they felt compelled to run with Spektor's ideas, calling her everything from "a genius" to "a culture-changing artist" with a convincing lack of preciousness or pretension. As Goldstone puts it, "You won't find a whole lot of new acts being signed within any of the major labels that are being given this level of control, and that's a testimony to Regina's importance and her unique talent."
But even with having the control the Russian-born, Bronx, N.Y.-bred artist does, the pensive Spektor admits, "I'm not living the life that's for me; it's a very hard life I've been living the past couple of years. I hate to say that, because there's a reason why you try to make music—you want to put it out there for people to hear—but I'd love to have more time to work and be by myself."
Shapiro recognizes that "there's only so far the commerce train is going to push someone like Regina," and he says the game plan will be very much the same going into 2007: keeping Spektor visible but not crossing any lines that make her feel uncomfortable.
Specifically, the attention VH1 has been giving the video for first single "Fidelity" is expected to intensify after the turn of the year, and while Spektor tours Europe in January and February, Darab says Sire will launch a TV ad campaign at home to exploit the period after Christmas "when people return CDs they don't want or start to use their iTunes gift cards."
This is of particular importance because, according to Darab, 22% of Spektor's sales are digital. In line with that fact, Feb. 13 will see the release of an iTunes-exclusive consisting of live recordings hand-chosen by Spektor, and in January "Fidelity" goes for adds at modern rock and adult top 40 stations.
Having already had the support of trend-setting triple-A stations like KFOG San Francisco; KINK Portland, Ore.; and WBOS Boston, Spektor has also been added to the top 40 and modern rock playlists at satellite radio broadcasters XM and Sirius, and was picked up early by modern rock heavyweight KNDD Seattle.
In another impressive feat, "Begin to Hope" hit No. 1 in December on the iTunes alternative album chart in the United States, topping releases by far more visible acts like My Chemical Romance and the Killers. "What's really interesting about that is she's the only female right now in the top 50 on the iTunes alternative chart—which is inspiring but depressing at the same time," Goldstone says.
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