How would you promote Invincible?

[zinniabooklover]

Michael on the set of One More Chance

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/791155859554646863/

 

[filmandmusic]

Michael on the set of One More Chance

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/791155859554646863/

Looking good to me.

 

[pinballmaster]

The album was promoted. Michael complained to save face.
They did a big special on Entertainment Tonight and premiered You Rock My World.
TRL also had special coverage for it.
The album was front and center at Bestbuy and Samgoody.
Releasing it in multiple colors was a genius idea. Not something I had seen before.
I knew one guy who bought every single color.
It only performed poorly for two reasons.
1. Napster was big back then.... CD purchases were in great decline.
2. The album wasn't great. Several really crappy slow songs.
I don't believe anything could have been done when it comes to marketing to increase sales without losing more money.
If the album had huge songs it would have sold better. The track listing is the only issue. Change out 6 songs, include a big collaboration and sales would have doubled. It boggles my mind why they didn't even include the remixes with Jay-Z or Eve....
Whomever had final say on the track listing had a hand in Michael's death.....
Seriously.... Who decided to leave off Xscape? It should have been the first single... Could have been a cool duet with Janet...

 

[Mariah :)]

I would release the Invincible album with these songs only not, in this exact order; You Rock My World, Invincible, Butterflies, Break of Dawn, Whatever Happens, Heaven Can Wait, Heartbreaker and Unbreakable.

 

[Mister_Jay_Tee]

I'd have Michael shave his head. Everyone would say "Wow Michael Jackson is bald, now I gotta listen to his music to see what's going on"

 

[NilsHolgersson]

I think it would have been nice if Michael had given a concert where he performed the entire album. In the style of the canceled HBO special. So that people saw again: oh yes, he is also a musician. I mainly remember that we knew Michael at the time because of all the craziness around him, not as a musician.

 

[summer]

Oh wow, unlimited budget….LET’S GO!!!!!!

Well, FIRST OF ALL…….I’d make sure that 2000 Watts gets a short film made….in 3D!!! And it would be shown at EVERY movie theater before every movie!! I mean, they show 15 minutes of commercials before every movie that no one cares to watch so use that 15 minutes for something ACTUALLY exciting and fun and something that people would actually enjoy!! Everyone would also get 3D glasses that they could keep and they’d get the single for free (or maybe they could get some code so that they could get one song of their choice for free from the Invincible album…That way they’d be encouraged to check out the whole album and possibly get them to listen to snippets of the song which could lead to them buying more songs ir the whole album). I’d also make sure every DJ plays that song at the clubs. I have always LOVED that song and it has been one of my FAVORITE songs from Invincible because it makes me wanna DANCE!!! That was what I missed most on Invincible….songs to jam to. It has too many mid tempo songs that are too slow to dance to but too fast for ballads. And too many Darkchild songs! I don’t really like Heartbreaker or Invincible at all, they are too similar in sound with Unbreakable so all those three back to back gets boring. Unbreakable is okay and it has grown on me bit I pretty much skip Heartbreaker and Invincible every time. Xscape should’ve been on the Invincible album (the ORIGINAL one, not the horrible mix from the Xscape album!). That song would’ve been a hit and makes one DANCE and has the MJ sound.

Second…THREATENED would also need to be a short film!! Love that song!!! I’d also make sure it’s played at the end of some movie that was a thriller or a scary movie. And Break of Dawn and Butterflies and Whatever Happens would need short films!!! And I’d make sure snippets of those songs are played everywhere during TV shows and movies and in commercials and in airplanes and at football and baseball and hockey ganes and in stores and just everywhere!!! (As an example….when I flew to Nice when the Xscape album had been released, they played ”Love Never Felt So Good” IN THE AIRPLANE when we landed and were waiting to get out of the plane!!!

And of course in today’s world I guess you need to start a TikTok dance trend, so I’d make sure someone creates a cool dance for one of the song snippets and would then share it and ask famous people who are pro-MJ to do it too and share it.

And then I’d also make sure to do collabs with different brands. Use the song names or images from the short films to sell anything and everything. Sell an INVINCIBLE energy drink or I don’t know…Invincible wetsuits for surfers, Sell shoes ”Whatever Happens-Nike”… Do a collab with some battery company or something and use 2000 Watts for the commercial and have them change the packaging to promote the song and album and make a deal to hand out free samples at sport events or whatever (people can always use batteries ).

Have a competition to win an all expenses paid trip for two to spend a weekend at Neverland. Each time you buy the whole album, you get a code that you can enter to win (but you’d also need to fill in a questionnaire to make sure you know your MJ facts. I mean could you imagine what MJ fans would give to get to vidit Neverland?!!! Imagine the millions of entries (aka albums sold) !!!


And if this would’ve been while MJ was alive…you could’ve also had a contest for a chance to win a chat with Michael or a meet and greet with MJ.

Just a few ideas at the top of my head.

 

[summer]

I think it would have been nice if Michael had given a concert where he performed the entire album. In the style of the canceled HBO special. So that people saw again: oh yes, he is also a musician. I mainly remember that we knew Michael at the time because of all the craziness around him, not as a musician.

OMG yes….I always hoped he’d do an ACOUSTIC ”unplugged” show!!! Even pre-recorded!!! They could’ve had a contest for fans to win a ticket to the show and then they could have taped it and aired it world wide!!! I got SO MUCH HEAT when the first O2-shows were canceled for having the ”audacity” to even suggest that MJ should do an unplugged show in London for the cancelled show dates. Or that he could’ve let us (those whose shows got cancelled) watch the rehearsals. I mean, how dare I even SUGGEST that I and many other fans would love to hear him just sing live without anything extra. That we’d be just as happy!! Or that we would be happy to get to watch just the rehearsals. I mean, you can even go watch rehearsal at a lot of theaters or opera houses these days!! They actually sell tickets for the dress rehearsals!! And it could’ve been a nice compromise to keep fans happy and give them SOMETHING yet MJ and the crew still would’ve gotten the extra days to rehearse! Win-win in my opinion! MJ was an AMAZING artist with a voice of an ANGEL and it would’ve been SUCH a treat to have him do an acoustic show!! He would’ve broken all the records with that too because he can SING like NO OTHER!!!

 

[Xeones]

A friend and I are working on a few Invincible tracklists, to go with our fictional timeline, right now... I'm not confident enough to share yet! The songs were there, both released and not, for a brilliant album with the right singles, videos and promotion.

But, honestly? Unbreakable as lead single + video, YRMW as second, a couple of the ballads, Whatever Happens & Threatened and that's a great potential group of singles. It's funny because I love individual songs from this record but not really the album as a whole? Not sure how to explain. Getting MJ to agree to a limited tour would help a lot as well - with US shows! I'm really enjoying reading over this thread.

 

[Xeones]

Just to add - Butterflies is one of my favourite songs right now, by any artist. It is brilliant. That song as a worldwide single, with a cute/romantic video, could have really helped the album. I really believe it.

 

[R1chard]

The album was promoted. Michael complained to save face.

This is part of it.

But more importantly, we're asking the wrong question.

Invincible didn't fail because it wasn't promoted.

It wasn't promoted because it failed.

Basically, success leads to success. 2 singles from an album is reasonable enough, and very common. But a record company will keep releasing singles as long as they keep having hits. And they will stop releasing singles as soon as they don't have a hit. It really is as simple as that.

 

[Hot_Street]

YRMW and Cry sound like Sony wanted to play it safe with themes that were familiar to fans. That's a good approach, but it could also leave the impression that MJ had run out of steam. Invincible had braver songs than these two.

 

[Mister_Jay_Tee]

This is part of it.

But more importantly, we're asking the wrong question.

Invincible didn't fail because it wasn't promoted.

It wasn't promoted because it failed.

Basically, success leads to success. 2 singles from an album is reasonable enough, and very common. But a record company will keep releasing singles as long as they keep having hits. And they will stop releasing singles as soon as they don't have a hit. It really is as simple as that.

If it failed it's because they handled it with no adequacy at all.

Stop talking about Invincible anyway, Sony has given us two albums (Michael, Xscape) with "better tracklistings" and "better songs" than Invincible, and neither one even made it to Number 1 on the US Music Charts. There's multiple reasons and stigma granted, but, still, good press is good and Bad press somehow never worked against Michael.

They also gave us two abysmal singles campaigns, even when they tried with decent videos and radio campaigns. Best of Joy never went to radio. Chicago never went to radio.

Sony tried doing what Michael did without Michael and got none of the success out of it.

 

[summer]

I’d just like to remind everyone that when we are talking about ”failing”……all that is relative. Invincible sold over 10 million copies workd wide. That’s hardly a ”flop”. Other artist could only dream of selling that amount and haven’t even sold that with ALL their albums combined. So when people use words like ”failed” and a ”flop”….you also need to know the right CONTEXT. Another relevant FACT is, that Invincible came out just when the world was transitioning from CDs to digital. CDs weren’t really a thing any longer but st the same time LEGIT digital downloads weren’t a thing either yet. It was an era, where everyone was downloading music from the internet for free from because we didn’t have iTunes or Spotify etc. established yet. Also, let’s not forget that the WHOLE Invincible album was leaked BEFORE it was even released.

You also can’t compare today’s sales to sales in the 80’s and 90’s because the industry and the ways people consume music have changed so much!! Back in the day buying an album and listening to it for the first time was an EXPERIENCE!! It included appreciating the art on the album cover and perusing the credits on the album sleeve. People were more likely to buy the WHOLE album. Now music is just ”fast food”…people buy just individual songs instead of whole albums, no one knows (or seems to care) which musicians played on the song, who arranged it or produced it, etc. I mean, you don’t even HAVE live instruments on most of the songs any longer…but even if you did…you can’t find the credits anywhere. People don’t seem to care. It seems music these days is not so much about the music or art but more about the ”vibe”.

 

[summer]

A friend and I are working on a few Invincible tracklists, to go with our fictional timeline, right now... I'm not confident enough to share yet! The songs were there, both released and not, for a brilliant album with the right singles, videos and promotion.

But, honestly? Unbreakable as lead single + video, YRMW as second, a couple of the ballads, Whatever Happens & Threatened and that's a great potential group of singles. It's funny because I love individual songs from this record but not really the album as a whole? Not sure how to explain. Getting MJ to agree to a limited tour would help a lot as well - with US shows! I'm really enjoying reading over this thread.

I agree about liking individual songs but not the album as a whole. That’s mainly my problem with the album. I mean, I could do without Heartbreaker and Invincible (and even Unbreakable) but the rest I actually love listening to!!! I think if you would’ve skipped the three first songs (even though I did once do a parody to the tune of Unbreakable called ”Mike’s Too Fine Tou Know”. Did the lyrics for the rap part too! So I can tolerate Unbreakable. ) and would’ve maybe changed the song order, it would’ve been a BRILLIANT album!!! For me it’s always the first three songs that kind of ”kill the vibe”. And the ballads sort of go under too when they are all back to back to back. As much as I love ballads…when it’s JUST ballads..it kind of gets tiring. Or it should in that case be JUDT a ballads album. If you have almost only ballads but then put songs like Threatened and 2000 Watts in between….it’s gonna freak you out whenever you listen to the album and get in that dreamy, almost meditative state….and then all of the sudden it gets really loud!! So the songs should’ve gotten balanced better or it should’ve been purely a ballads album.

 

[Ganesh]

This is part of it.

But more importantly, we're asking the wrong question.

Invincible didn't fail because it wasn't promoted.

It wasn't promoted because it failed.

Basically, success leads to success. 2 singles from an album is reasonable enough, and very common. But a record company will keep releasing singles as long as they keep having hits. And they will stop releasing singles as soon as they don't have a hit. It really is as simple as that.

You literally have no idea what you're talking about. Were you actually around then? You seem to be unaware of his relationship with Sony at the time.

 

[Mister_Jay_Tee]

CDs weren’t really a thing any longer but st the same time LEGIT digital downloads weren’t a thing either yet.

This is a decent point. Napster and Rhapsody weren't quite there yet. Windows Media Store either.

 

[summer]

Oh and I’d like to add that Invincible sold over 10 million copies world wide WITHOUT any promotion whatsoever and DESPITE the whole album leaking before it was released. So again…HARDLY a ”flop”. Anyone who says it was being promoted is lying or weren’t around during that time. The ONLY promotion it got was the YRMW short film and the Virgin Megastore signing. THAT’S IT. I didn’t see any promotion anywhere, However, 9/11 also happened right after it was released so that too of course had an effect. Michael had many things planned (tour etc.) but nothing came of them after 9/11.

 

[R1chard]

Releasing it in multiple colors was a genius idea. Not something I had seen before.

Yeah, that's true. For albums, we'd only seen this a couple of times. Saw it a lot for singles, I guess, but it was quite rare for albums. In a way , this started the American nonsense of Target version, Walmart version and whatever. Ugh. Disgusting.

IThe album wasn't great. Several really crappy slow songs.

This really is the truth that people don't want to admit. It just wasn't a great album. That's all there is to it.

It's interesting that when you ask 10 people what was wrong with Invincible, and you get 10 different answers. The fact everybody can so easily find a fault with the album tells you everything you need to know. Probably all of the criticisms are true.

Change out 6 songs, include a big collaboration and sales would have doubled.

I dunno. Too many collaborations and it starts to get a bit formulaic.

It boggles my mind why they didn't even include the remixes with Jay-Z or Eve....

They usually get released as B-sides. Problem is Invincible didn't have enough singles...

I think it would have been nice if Michael had given a concert where he performed the entire album. In the style of the canceled HBO special. So that people saw again: oh yes, he is also a musician. I mainly remember that we knew Michael at the time because of all the craziness around him, not as a musician.

I think having an MTV Unplugged would have made people respect MJ more.

And Break of Dawn and Butterflies and Whatever Happens would need short films!!! And I’d make sure snippets of those songs are played everywhere during TV shows and movies and in commercials and in airplanes and at football and baseball and hockey ganes and in stores and just everywhere!!!

As I said before, they only spend money making a video if the album is already successful. Believe it or not, they don't plan everything out in advance - they're playing by ear. If people buy the 2nd single, they release a 3rd one. If people buy that, they release a 4th one. If people buy that, they release a 5th one. If people buy the 8th single, they release a 9th one, etc. but if nobody buys the 2nd single, that's it, no more.

And ultimately, it's MJ. Everybody knows who he is. If they wanna buy it, they will, and if they don't, then the won't. You can't force people to buy an album by desperately shoving it down their throats. That just makes people sick of it.

And then I’d also make sure to do collabs with different brands. Use the song names or images from the short films to sell anything and everything. Sell an INVINCIBLE energy drink or I don’t know…Invincible wetsuits for surfers, Sell shoes ”Whatever Happens-Nike”… Do a collab with some battery company or something

Like, you've got some good ideas. But this isn't one of them.

YRMW and Cry sound like Sony wanted to play it safe with themes that were familiar to fans.

Honestly, the first time I heard Cry I just yawned and said "not this theme again'

You literally have no idea what you're talking about. Were you actually around then? You seem to be unaware of his relationship with Sony at the time.

Just curious, what made you say this? Just because I said something you don't like? That's certainly the new way to try to write somebody off. I was literally talking earlier in this thread about how other musicians had to change their plans after 901.

But, erm, in the early 90s I was working in dance clubs with Dave Morales and Frankie Knuckles. In the late 90s I was involved with music promotion.

Of course we all know about what MJ said about Sony. And most of us just know it was an excuse for an album that didn't hit MJ's expectations.

Yes, I was there when the album launched. Yes, I saw first hand in London, Manchester and NY what sort of wide-reaching promotion Invincible enjoyed. Yes, I was embarrassed when I saw MJ's childish personal attacks on Mottola. I thought he was better than that.

 

[Blues_Away2023]

Oh and I’d like to add that Invincible sold over 10 million copies world wide WITHOUT any promotion whatsoever and DESPITE the whole album leaking before it was released. So again…HARDLY a ”flop”. Anyone who says it was being promoted is lying or weren’t around during that time. The ONLY promotion it got was the YRMW short film and the Virgin Megastore signing. THAT’S IT. I didn’t see any promotion anywhere, However, 9/11 also happened right after it was released so that too of course had an effect. Michael had many things planned (tour etc.) but nothing came of them after 9/11.

Not really aiming to resurrect the convo, just looking for somewhere to place this fabulous photo which I love.

^^
that’s a massive billboard promoting Invincible.

There was plenty more like that around the world. , here in the UK I can remember there being similar large advertising for both the album and YRMW as a single.

There was also adverts on TV, tabloids doing track by track reviews and printing it in their newspapers.

I remember when the video for YRMW had its premier on top of the pops , the next day every music channel was playing the video.

Other artists could only dream of the type of exposure Michael received for his album releases.

The truth of the matter was that the album wasn’t great by his standards and at 43 years old, he was seen as a bit past it and dated.

 

[Moonstreet]

Yes, I was there when the album launched. Yes, I saw first hand in London, Manchester and NY what sort of wide-reaching promotion Invincible enjoyed.

Interesting, so was I. Were you at the MJNI listening party?

 

[dam2040]

Interesting, so was I. Were you at the MJNI listening party?

Gloria told me it was MJs fault, not Sony's - this was before it even fully kicked off. Always wondered what that was about.

Fans forget KING magazine was going after MJs lack of promotion during HIStory.. it wasn't a new issue, just a lot worse this time around

 

[Moonstreet]

Gloria told me it was MJs fault, not Sony's - this was before it even fully kicked off. Always wondered what that was about.

Fans forget KING magazine was going after MJs lack of promotion during HIStory.. it wasn't a new issue, just a lot worse this time around

Interesting, I never really trusted Gloria, she did some shady things. People think she was this major fan, she wasnt, she was the business and finance behind MJNI, Adrian Grant was the major fan, she just saw great potential with his fan knowledge and ideas.

 

[NilsHolgersson]

This is a decent point. Napster and Rhapsody weren't quite there yet. Windows Media Store either.

At the time actually I downloaded You Rock My World before it was released on Napster. But I don't think Napster is the reason Invincible lagged a bit. I mean, you can't always be at your peak? I was in high school at the time, and it really wasn't cool to listen to Michael Jackson. Most saw him as a weirdo. The guys listened to Linkin Park and Jay-Z and stuff. The girls listened more to Christina Aguilera and Britney. If you liked Michael Jackson you had to keep it quiet. The 2000s were not a good era for Michael, especially after 2003. It was only after his death in 2009 that he became hip again.

 

[Blues_Away2023]

At the time actually I downloaded You Rock My World before it was released on Napster. But I don't think Napster is the reason Invincible lagged a bit. I mean, you can't always be at your peak? I was in high school at the time, and it really wasn't cool to listen to Michael Jackson. Most saw him as a weirdo. The guys listened to Linkin Park and Jay-Z and stuff. The girls listened more to Christina Aguilera and Britney. If you liked Michael Jackson you had to keep it quiet. The 2000s were not a good era for Michael, especially after 2003. It was only after his death in 2009 that he became hip again.

This is exactly how I seen it, I became a fan in the summer of 2001, I was 13 and it was not cool to be an MJ fan due to what you described.

Appearance wise he did not look good and at 43 year old, his popularity was not as it was in the 80s or early 90s.

 

[Mister_Jay_Tee]

At the time actually I downloaded You Rock My World before it was released on Napster. But I don't think Napster is the reason Invincible lagged a bit. I mean, you can't always be at your peak? I was in high school at the time, and it really wasn't cool to listen to Michael Jackson. Most saw him as a weirdo. The guys listened to Linkin Park and Jay-Z and stuff. The girls listened more to Christina Aguilera and Britney. If you liked Michael Jackson you had to keep it quiet. The 2000s were not a good era for Michael, especially after 2003. It was only after his death in 2009 that he became hip again.

The kids aint exactly hyping MJ up like that now either.... It's just kinda circumstantial. It always has been, post Bad really.

 

[Ganesh]

Interesting, I never really trusted Gloria, she did some shady things. People think she was this major fan, she wasnt, she was the business and finance behind MJNI, Adrian Grant was the major fan, she just saw great potential with his fan knowledge and ideas.

Gloria was the definition of shady. First time I met her she was the rudest person I had ever encountered up until 2001. Everything I have heard about her chimes with my own experiences.

I believe she ran a Take That fanclub before moving onto greener pastures.

 

[Hot_Street]

The truth of the matter was that the album wasn’t great by his standards and at 43 years old, he was seen as a bit past it and dated.

But to be honest he looked a lot younger than 43. At least that's how I perceived it.

 

[Blues_Away2023]

But to be honest he looked a lot younger than 43. At least that's how I perceived it.

43 isn’t even old! But I guess the charts are all about the youth.

Yes he didn’t look his age , even at 50 which I consider him looking the best he had in years he still looked younger. He was obviously unique looking.

 

[@mjfanatic777]

go and yell in peoples' faces and force them to listen to it and love it with all their hearts