October 17, 1998
NEW "CHAPTER" FOR EMI'S MOFFATTS
By Dominic Pride, Larry LeBlanc and Alexandra Nuvich
American audiences know the Moffatts from their days as a country act, signed to A&M Nashville.
Their release from that contract in 1997 was the start of the next chapter in their career rather than the final page. U.S. audiences will be reacquainted with the band when Capitol releases its album "Chapter 1--A New Beginning" during the second quarter of 1999 (BillboardBulletin, Sept. 3).
Yet the music it will bring will be a far cry from its country roots.
Says bassist Clint Moffatt, "We'll never forget playing country music, but pop/rock is much more universal. People in Asia and Europe can understand it. Country's not a well-known music everywhere."
The change in musical style is reflected in the album title, says Moffatt. "One of the reasons we called it 'A New Beginning' is because of that."
The pending U.S. release comes after EMI Recorded Music president Ken Berry designated the Moffatts a world priority. But the journey from their British Columbia home to their U.S. label in Los Angeles took them via the Cologne, Germany, offices of EMI Electrola. Last summer, the company's then president Helmut Fest (see story, this page) was alerted to them by German TV producer JYrgen Hohmann, who had seen a video of the band.
"He called me, and I signed them in five minutes," recalls Fest, now EMI Europe's senior VP of artist acquisition. Fest saw the Moffatts in the flesh, playing their own material on their own instruments. "It was brilliant and fairly bad at the same time," he says.
EMI put the teenagers together with Klaus "Major" Heuser, guitarist with BAP, one of the country's longest-serving acts, who served as a music tutor for the group.
"We knew how to play each instrument, but we weren't all that tight as a band. He taught us how to be tight," says Moffatt.
"Major became their mentor," says Robert Williams of Nashville-based management company Williams-Bell and Associates, who praises the German "mother company" for its creative input and for its determination in working the band on the international front.
"I think there's a little bit of national pride in getting this band where they are," says Williams. "They're all driving this forward really hard."
That gusto is present in the words of Lothar Meinerzhagen, EMI Electrola's VP of international. "I'll stick my neck out and say that they will be one of the biggest acts on EMI," he says. Meinerzhagen adds that he expects the album to sell at least 3 million copies worldwide next year.
The album was already released in Germany and has sold a respectable 63,000 copies since May, according to the label. The label has also re-exported the group to the Canadian public. EMI Canada has sold 56,000 units since the album's June 2 release there, says EMI Germany.
As in other markets, Canadian album sales were prompted by two singles: "I'll Be There For You" and the current "Miss You Like Crazy," No. 12 on The Record's Contemporary Hit Radio chart for Monday (12).
In key markets, TV and radio have been the keys to breaking the music, and Williams says the fact that the band members write and play their own songs gives them the edge.
"You have to remember that the Moffatts had done 1,100 live shows before they even signed to EMI Germany," says Williams.
Music TV was especially useful in raising the Moffatts' profile in Asia: Regional channels, including MTV and Channel V, and national broadcasters played the band's videos and put them on talk shows.
The region has also given the act its most spectacular figures: EMI Asia has moved close to half a million copies of the album in eight key markets since May.
Joanne Bailey, VP of marketing for EMI Music Asia, says, "Their music is very simple, and it's easy to cross over into the national markets," pointing out the band's appeal to buyers who might normally go for Thai, Malay, or Indonesian pop. "The memorable hook lines have been the key," she notes, adding, "There was a genuine warmth to the fans. The band had none of this 'I'm a big pop star' attitude.
Playing live also marked the Moffatts as being different from the flood of American and British teen acts that flooded into the region this year.
"When kids discover they are real, then they really freak," says Williams. Thailand has been the band's biggest market, with 167,000 sales, with the Philippines following at 131,000, according to the label.
Malaysia has also done well, with some 54,000 sales and the album staying in the top 10 since its release (this week, it is at No. 9).
The way the band worked the market was a model for its regional success. Beh Suat Pheng, senior VP of EMI Asia, says, "Firstly, the act was really cooperative and easy to work with. That is very important." Timing and getting the basics right are key, she says: "Building support with radio and press are important before consolidating it with TV ads."
EMI Malaysia employed TV advertising only when sales reached 40,000. Besides doing the usual Kuala Lumpur stopover, the Moffatts did promo visits in Penang and Kota Kinabalu, in east Malaysia.
Loan Cheong, international marketing manager of EMI Malaysia, observes that a "substantial" amount of the Moffatts' sales come from east Malaysia, where international acts very rarely stop.
Total worldwide sales are close to 700,000, according to EMI Germany, and the band is only just beginning to make inroads into the U.K., where it completed a school tour in September.
Says Meinerzhagen, "America and the U.K. are backing this to an extent that I've never seen."
The final step back into America next year will see the group somewhat older, more mature, and positioned as a pop/rock crossover act and one with worldwide multi-platinum success under its belt.
Ironically, breaking into the U.S. market could give the Moffatts a vital fillip at home, says one dealer there.
Laura Bartlett, VP of marketing for HMV in Canada and the U.S., says, "EMI Music Canada is certainly working the album hard. However, it would give EMI a hand-up if more was happening for the group in the U.S."
(Original text: Billboard, Vol. 110 Issue 42, p100)