Annie S.
2010-06-01 05:19:22 UTC
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.music.country.western/browse_thread/thread/53db917ae8728f61/b53a5c0d4953fbd3?lnk=gst&q=chely#b53a5c0d4953fbd3
Fan club pros say Wright's went too far
By JEANNE ANNE NAUJECK
Staff Writer
Most artists of every musical genre use a fan club to help promote
their music and get it on the radio.
But professional fan club organizers said yesterday that the alleged
actions of Chely Wright's fan club president in promoting the
pro-troops song The Bumper of My SUV crossed an ethical line if fans
were asked to misrepresent themselves.
Country singer Wright dismissed Chuck Walter on Saturday after he was
accused of directing a 17-member special team of fans to say they had
personal military ties when calling radio stations to request the
song.
The tactics suggested fabricating ''sob stories'' to deejays about
relatives fighting overseas and posing as military personnel while
talking about the song on armed services Web sites, according to
e-mails and transcripts of a Web bulletin board provided to The
Tennessean by one of the fan club members.
''It doesn't baffle me that they're calling. That's what fan clubs
do,'' said Loudilla Johnson, who founded the International Fan Club
Organization in 1967 with her sisters Loretta and Kay Johnson.
''But never as posing as military families or anything other than who
they are. Absolutely it crosses a line, if that's actually what
happened. That's outside the boundaries of good promotion.''
Johnson's organization represents about 300 registered fan clubs, most
for country artists. She said several fan club presidents contacted
her yesterday, concerned about being perceived in a negative light.
''That's not typical of what they would condone if they knew about
it,'' Johnson said.
Walter took over Wright's fan club operations shortly after meeting
her in Nashville in 1996. He was not paid for his work, but Wright
described him as her best friend.
Wright acknowledged ''unethical behavior'' by Walter on Saturday and
said she neither condoned nor endorsed those actions.
Mobilizing fans
Enthusiastic fans often are enlisted to perform such work as handing
out free CDs and information at concerts, requesting songs and videos
on the radio and video channels, and simply chatting about the artist
to others. In exchange, they usually get perks such as either free
tickets or preferred seating at concerts, merchandise and ''meet and
greets'' with the artist.
Getting fans to call radio stations in support of a song can be
especially helpful to artists such as Wright who don't have the
backing of a major label with promotional staff.
Wright has been distributing Bumper independently.
Listener response to a song can influence a DJ's decision to play it
more, which, in turn, can move a song up the hit chart. Billboard's
Hot Country Singles chart is tabulated by counting the number of times
a song is played on a sample of large-market radio stations. The more
''spins'' a song gets, the higher it moves up the chart.
Wright's team was asked to call stations in other states to maximize
airplay around the country.
The strategy surprised Johanna Mitchell, who runs fan clubs for
country artists Brooks & Dunn, Buddy Jewell and Pam Tillis.
She said members of those clubs are encouraged to call stations with
requests but are provided only with local station information, not
numbers for stations around the country. They also are expected not to
flood stations with multiple calls.
''You're asked to request only where you can hear the station, which
is the fair way to do it,'' she said. ''The information provided is
limited because it can backfire when you have one person calling the
same station every five minutes.''
A key to success
Fans were instrumental in getting Toby Keith played on the radio long
before he became a multimillion-selling country superstar, said Kay
Johnson (no relation to Loudilla Johnson), who has run Keith's fan
club since 1993.
Johnson started as a volunteer but is now compensated for her work.
''They've been key figures in getting him radio play,'' she said.
''Toby calls them his warriors because they fight for him.''
Johnson said she lets fans know on the Web site when either a new
album or single is coming and encourages them to support it. But she
said she'd never ask them to pose as military to support airplay for
Keith's recent pro-troops hit American Soldier.
''That's fraud. I never have asked fans to lie about anything like
that. Even when Toby wasn't what you'd call a huge star, we never
asked anyone to do that.
''You can have a song touch you without being in the mili-tary.''
Fan club pros say Wright's went too far
By JEANNE ANNE NAUJECK
Staff Writer
Most artists of every musical genre use a fan club to help promote
their music and get it on the radio.
But professional fan club organizers said yesterday that the alleged
actions of Chely Wright's fan club president in promoting the
pro-troops song The Bumper of My SUV crossed an ethical line if fans
were asked to misrepresent themselves.
Country singer Wright dismissed Chuck Walter on Saturday after he was
accused of directing a 17-member special team of fans to say they had
personal military ties when calling radio stations to request the
song.
The tactics suggested fabricating ''sob stories'' to deejays about
relatives fighting overseas and posing as military personnel while
talking about the song on armed services Web sites, according to
e-mails and transcripts of a Web bulletin board provided to The
Tennessean by one of the fan club members.
''It doesn't baffle me that they're calling. That's what fan clubs
do,'' said Loudilla Johnson, who founded the International Fan Club
Organization in 1967 with her sisters Loretta and Kay Johnson.
''But never as posing as military families or anything other than who
they are. Absolutely it crosses a line, if that's actually what
happened. That's outside the boundaries of good promotion.''
Johnson's organization represents about 300 registered fan clubs, most
for country artists. She said several fan club presidents contacted
her yesterday, concerned about being perceived in a negative light.
''That's not typical of what they would condone if they knew about
it,'' Johnson said.
Walter took over Wright's fan club operations shortly after meeting
her in Nashville in 1996. He was not paid for his work, but Wright
described him as her best friend.
Wright acknowledged ''unethical behavior'' by Walter on Saturday and
said she neither condoned nor endorsed those actions.
Mobilizing fans
Enthusiastic fans often are enlisted to perform such work as handing
out free CDs and information at concerts, requesting songs and videos
on the radio and video channels, and simply chatting about the artist
to others. In exchange, they usually get perks such as either free
tickets or preferred seating at concerts, merchandise and ''meet and
greets'' with the artist.
Getting fans to call radio stations in support of a song can be
especially helpful to artists such as Wright who don't have the
backing of a major label with promotional staff.
Wright has been distributing Bumper independently.
Listener response to a song can influence a DJ's decision to play it
more, which, in turn, can move a song up the hit chart. Billboard's
Hot Country Singles chart is tabulated by counting the number of times
a song is played on a sample of large-market radio stations. The more
''spins'' a song gets, the higher it moves up the chart.
Wright's team was asked to call stations in other states to maximize
airplay around the country.
The strategy surprised Johanna Mitchell, who runs fan clubs for
country artists Brooks & Dunn, Buddy Jewell and Pam Tillis.
She said members of those clubs are encouraged to call stations with
requests but are provided only with local station information, not
numbers for stations around the country. They also are expected not to
flood stations with multiple calls.
''You're asked to request only where you can hear the station, which
is the fair way to do it,'' she said. ''The information provided is
limited because it can backfire when you have one person calling the
same station every five minutes.''
A key to success
Fans were instrumental in getting Toby Keith played on the radio long
before he became a multimillion-selling country superstar, said Kay
Johnson (no relation to Loudilla Johnson), who has run Keith's fan
club since 1993.
Johnson started as a volunteer but is now compensated for her work.
''They've been key figures in getting him radio play,'' she said.
''Toby calls them his warriors because they fight for him.''
Johnson said she lets fans know on the Web site when either a new
album or single is coming and encourages them to support it. But she
said she'd never ask them to pose as military to support airplay for
Keith's recent pro-troops hit American Soldier.
''That's fraud. I never have asked fans to lie about anything like
that. Even when Toby wasn't what you'd call a huge star, we never
asked anyone to do that.
''You can have a song touch you without being in the mili-tary.''