The Ledge #694: New Releases Pt. 1

Here we are in the final month of the year, and we are still able
to do a multi-episode new release series. Decades ago, this would
have been impossible. With the exception of a title or two, all
superstar releases were out by Thanksgiving (not that this fact
would effect The Ledge). Not only did the physical media have to be
prepared weeks or months in advance, but all publicity (press,
videos, TV) had to be scheduled to coincde with the date the
material was coming out. Obviously, non-superstar releases always
had difficulties even getting noticed back then, and this fact was
amplified in the run-up to the holiday season. If they were
released without a label putting up comparable publicty dollars,
they were usually buried. More often than not, records of this sort
were just postponed until the new year. Because of all that, the
record companies basically took December off. It was the month of
schmozzing (and I’m sure quite a “pile” of substances). The stores
had their stock, radio stations were certainly not adding many new
songs during this period, and record stores were just praying that
they could restock what they sold. Yes, it was a […]