U.k.'s Faithless Repays Bmg's Belief

Richard Griffiths may have departed BMG a little more than two months ago, but the legacy of the company's former U.K./Europe president has been burning brightly over the summer, thanks to the faith he showed in U.K. dance act Faithless.

Griffiths brought the act to the company by acquiring its own Cheeky Records label in September 2000, and Faithless swiftly began repaying the executive's belief. Its album Outrospective (Cheeky/Arista) was released globally June 18, and by the time his departure was announced June 28, it was building a first-month international sales total of 600,000 units. Global sales now stand at 700,000.

The album—the act's third, but its first for BMG—had a top five entry on the Music & Media European Top 100 Albums listing. First single, "We Come 1," spent six consecutive weeks at No. 1 from June 2 on the European Dance Traxx chart.

Faithless songwriter/producer Rollo—the brother of fellow Cheeky artist Dido and the co-producer with her of her No Angel album—acknowledges the role Griffiths played in bringing the act to BMG. "He was absolutely the key person. [Griffiths] started phoning me three years ago, saying he was really interested in doing a deal. We were [working on] my sister's album. Unluckily for Richard and BMG, that album was taking off [when we finally signed], so it was more expensive than they expected."

The Faithless campaign began in April in the U.K. In May, the act "worked the major European territories and did phoners in places like Australia, Singapore, and Iceland," reports BMG U.K. international marketing/promotions manager Roger Jacobs. The major-label push, he says, has made a difference to its performance in such markets as Sweden, Spain, Portugal, and France—"countries where they've not had success before."

prioritizing pays off

Rollo adds that, as a result of BMG prioritizing the band, he expects sales of Outrospective to outstrip the combined 2.7 million copies notched up by its predecessors Reverence and Sunday 8pm. Noting that "Faithless don't do well with British independent radio," Rollo says the single's heavy MTV exposure across Europe drove initial album sales. "I can't stress how important MTV is," he says.

Jacobs adds, "[MTV] wanted exclusivity on the first single. As a result, they're right behind the band, and that really helped us."

Hans Hagman, London-based head of MTV European programming and production, comments, "All feeds accepted it, because it's a great single. We put it on 80 plays a week."

Surprisingly, BMG chose to release a priority record in the quiet month of June. "It's excellent for the clubs and Ibiza [Spain], and with the festivals it's worked out well for us," Jacobs responds. Over the summer, the band played festivals across Europe. Jacobs says that activity was "interlocked with promo all the way—everyone's had three or four bites of the cherry."

Ann Riggs, program coordinator at U.K. dance station Galaxy 105 FM/Leeds, covering the county of Yorkshire in the north of England, believes Faithless is verging on the big leagues. "I think it's likely," she says, adding, however, that she was surprised at the single's popularity, "because the record's not at all commercial."

Pete Selby, London-based chart product manager for Virgin Entertainment Group's V.Shop/Our Price chain in the U.K., agrees. "It [depends] how it's sold by BMG—they have a big campaign till Christmas and two or three singles still to come."

Guest vocalist Dido is featured on one track, "One Step Too Far," slated for global single release early next year. Rollo believes Dido's success in the States should open doors for his band there. U.S. sales of the album currently stand at 70,000. Rollo says, "We're keeping going [with this campaign] till January/February, when the band comes out there—around the time of my sister's single."