Victory Records Reaches New Highs…Or Is It Lows?

Indie Victory is known for its take no prisoners approach, but they may have reached new highs (or lows) recently with a message to their street team.  Splashed across the net by The LefsetzLetter, Velvet Rope, Coolfer and others, this letter to fans of Victory’s act Hawthorne Heights (and a similar posting on MySpace) gives a glimpse into the label’s aggressive tactics.

While this rare public look at a practice sometimes used by major label staff will come as no surprise to industry insiders, it does seem contradictory behavior for an Indy who claims to be creating a paradigm different than the majors and to value music and the fans above all else. Targeted for damage was Ne-yo, Hawthorne Height’s man competition for first week sales:

"…As for Ne-yo, the name of the game is to decrease the chances of a
sale here. If you were to pick up handful of Ne-yo CDs, as if you
were about to buy them, but then changed your mind and didn’t bother
to put them back in the same place, that would work. Even though this
record will be heavily stocked and you might not be able to move all
the stock, just relocating a handful creates issues: Even though the
store will appear to be out of stock, the computer will see it as in
stock and not re-order the title once it sells down and then Ne-Yo
will lose a few sales later in the week…"

"…Please be sure to email me this week and let me know which stores you
have gone to and worked your magic at…

"…Victory at all costs, Victory in spite of all terror, Victory however
long and hard the road may be; for without Victory, there is no
survival…"

Click below for the full text of the letter.

THE LETTER:

Happy Hawthorne Heights day everyone – street date has finally arrived!

It all comes down to the next six days and maximizing our sales at as
many stores as possible. We are neck-and-neck with this Ne-yo
character on Universal and we need everyone out there tilting the tide
in our favor. Our projected numbers for first week sales are about
even so we really need to make every unit count if we want to win.

We do this first by selling more Hawthorne Heights, hitting as many
stores as possible, making sure Hawthorne Heights stock is in the
front and very visible in every store we visit. Get inside, do what
you need to do, and move on to the next store. Move Hawthorne Heights
into as many key positions as you can. Remember there are two covers
so not only put them together, put them in different places. HH should
have spots in all the new release racks toward the front of the store
but we can always increase our presence by dropping a few in another
displays.

If you don’t see our product on display at the front of the store,
particularly later in the week, then go to the bin and move what you
can. There are a lot of stores that are not as on top of this as they
should be, especially something as hot as Hawthorne Heights, so we
need to give these people all the help they can get.

Also look for HH in the areas where stores keep overstock. Sometimes
this is below the bins or on the top of the rack. If you find any CDs,
particularly under the bins, try to move those out first to the other
areas of the store.

On the off chance you find a store that doesn’t have any copies of the
new Hawthorne, find a clerk and ask him why they don’t have it. If
it’s sold out, find out when they have more coming in. If it’s showing
as in stock, let him know that you can’t find it so he knows to order
more.

Here is a list of the best chain stores to go to:
Best Buy
Target
Wal Mart
FYE
Coconuts
Wherehouse
Circuit City
Sam’s Club
K Mart
Sam Goody
Virgin Borders
Borders
Barnes & Noble
Fred Meyer
Hastings
Meijer

As for Ne-yo, the name of the game is to decrease the chances of a
sale here. If you were to pick up handful of Ne-yo CDs, as if you
were about to buy them, but then changed your mind and didn’t bother
to put them back in the same place, that would work. Even though this
record will be heavily stocked and you might not be able to move all
the stock, just relocating a handful creates issues: Even though the
store will appear to be out of stock, the computer will see it as in
stock and not re-order the title once it sells down and then Ne-Yo
will lose a few sales later in the week

This is most important in stores were we are competing with Ne-yo,
which is in the big chains that sell pop and urban product. The stores
listed above are in the order you should hit them up.

The main thing is to keep the pressure up all week. First day sales
are important but keeping our sales going and having a strong weekend
are equally important to grabbing the #1 slot that belongs to us.

Please be sure to email me this week and let me know which stores you
have gone to and worked your magic at.

Thanks everyone,
Abby

Victory at all costs, Victory in spite of all terror, Victory however
long and hard the road may be; for without Victory, there is no
survival.