DG signs LA vegan chef

G.J. says:

There is nothing wrong with this music, if you enjoy it or are an ageing fan of Moby. The music is not the problem, but the label that we find it on does not do any service to the music, the artist, the history, the branding of DG or its consumers. In fact, it wasn’t necessary to even put it on DG, as it will only be irrelevant or confuse the buyer interested in this artist/music and confuse the buyer who has been a loyal consumer of past DG recordings and holds the brand in high esteem, or did.

This is the worst level of marketing and branding stupidity that I have seen concerning an iconic brand in any sector that I cover and I will most definitely use this as a case study in my lectures at, among others, the London Business School.

The question that I would like to ask the people responsible for doing this, is “why”? Who benefits from confusing your branding message? Does your illustrious back catalogue benefit? Do your currently signed artists benefit? Does Moby benefit? Do DG’s loyal consumers benefit? So, who was this done for and who gains anything from this inane decision? Those interested in Moby would have bought this no matter what label it was released on and those who know DG for many years, or even the past three years will not buy this recording because it is on DG. So, once again, who benefits and why do it? More important than that, what damage has been done to the brand’s iconic image? Do you even care?

What we have here is like a well-known award-winning five-star Michelin rated Italian restaurant, renowned for over 100 years for its homemade pasta and local seafood, along with one of the best wine lists in the region, suddenly putting American soul food on its menu and offering unlimited refills of Coca-Cola and homemade punch to wash down the fried pork, black-eyed peas, collard greens and cornbread. Nothing wrong with that food, but not serving it in a legendary five-star over 100 year-old Italian restaurant. Wrong place. Wrong context. Wrong message. Nobody wins. Everyone loses.
The classical divisions of Universal Music have been lost and groping for gimmicks ever since 1995. It reached its ultimate low point in 2010 when its then “President” was finally sacked after 15 years of similar out of place releases and lame brand damaging gimmicks and the music world was promised that DG would get back to its roots. Now we have Moby on DG. Are we witnessing a repeat performance of the horrors of the past. Those on the inside know where this will ultimately end.
Shame on the President of DG and his masters at Universal Music who have no understanding of branding and how to keep an iconic brand alive and modern. Totally lost amateurs, sorry to say.
Very disappointing.
P.S. The ‘Moby’ release has some interesting moments.