Fat Freddy's Drop let music walk the talk

When Peter Baker, general manager of record distribution company Rhythmethod, sat down to talk to his new clients, Fat Freddy's Drop, about marketing plans he was a little taken aback.

The band and manager Nicole Duckworth had a clear vision - no marketing.

"It's not that I wanted to do a big marketing campaign, but there are things that you traditionally do with any new release," Baker said.

The band wanted none of them.

When Fat Freddy's released its debut studio album in May there were no street posters, print ads, music video or single. And, Baker recalls, there wasn't even a definite release date to promote.

But the plan worked - big time.

The album's commercial success is unprecedented. It was the first independently distributed album to go straight to number one in the New Zealand charts. It was a gold record by the end of its first day (10,000 sales) and has since gone double platinum.

This week, Baker is doing the paperwork on an order that will see it top sales of 40,000.

Big mainstream retailers like The Warehouse are among the album's biggest buyers, something that was unimaginable in the band's early days as part of Wellington's underground dance music scene.

But the "anti-marketing" philosophy is not about nihilistic rock'n' roll posturing.

Duckworth, who knows plenty about marketing, says it's part of a clearly defined strategy.

"We've always been pro-active about establishing a marketing plan," she said. "That plan was based on a couple of philosophies."

The first was to let the music do the talking, not the advertising.

"We'd come across - and been impressed by - marketing theories like the whole 'word-of-mouth thing'," she said.

"The loyalty that a word-of-mouth recommendation creates from a fan is much more powerful than someone discovering the music or the brand through a print ad."

The idea was to encourage a sense of ownership in fans.

"Then the audience is actually out there working for Freddy's."

That audience - which grew from years on the live circuit - created a huge advance demand for the album.

"With a creative business, you must let things happen organically," Duckworth said.

The loyalty, which saw the core fan base buy the album so quickly, has in turn created an industry buzz making Fat Freddy's one of the hottest acts in the country.

It's ironic given that the original plan was to ignore New Zealand and concentrate on foreign markets.

"The whole New Zealand thing surprised us," Duckworth said. "Seven years ago, we decided to focus on the international underground dance music scene because we didn't want to have to move into commercial music to be successful in New Zealand."

The band felt it was better to carve out a niche and sell themselves in places such as Germany, where that niche was big enough to be commercially viable.

That focus has meant that until this year most of Fat Freddy's work was only available on vinyl - something that only heightened demand for the album.

Duckworth said the vinyl release strategy was deliberate.

"You promote music through the DJs. When someone buys a CD, they'll play it in the car or at home and a close network of people will discover that music. But if you put it on a piece of vinyl and a DJ plays it over the weekend, then thousands of people start hearing it."

The Fat Freddy's sound - soulful lyrics layered over a slick brass section and heavy reggae beats - is part of a local movement dubbed Aotearoa Roots.

But, unlike so many Kiwi exporters, New Zealandness is not something the band has pushed.

"We've been careful not to market or brand the band as New Zealand," Duckworth said. "There is little interest, in the European market particularly, in music being from a specific country.

"There is a lot of pride here in New Zealand that the music is home grown but, overseas, you really have to put music out there first."

Fat Freddy Facts:

* Release music through their own label - The Drop.
* Debut studio album has sold nearly 40,000 copies.
* Picked up four New Zealand music awards this month - including best album and best band.