What do you do if your new album is slated to only sell 400,000 copies its first week when your last one sold 1.1 million its first week? Oh, and you have to compete with a hoard of songs by American Idol finalists on the singles chart? You soak ‘em, drown ‘em in your music. You check out what nutcase Mariah Carey did to promote her sales, and you find a way to go crazier. At least if you’re Usher, that’s what you do.
Billboard.com announced yesterday Usher has inked a deal with Sony Ericsson to became the spokesman for the company’s new Walkman music phone to be released later this year. Translation: Usher will Sony Ericsson’s puppet in exchange for publicity. AT&T customers will have “access to exclusive content, contests to meet Usher on a video shoot and the chance to win VIP tickets for the artist's North American tour later this year.” Believe it or not, the tour is sponsored by Sony Ericsson, how convenient. To get in on the whole music competition-fan voting thing teenage girls love so much, customers will also be able to vote on what band Usher will tour with. The contestants will probably be one of Puff Daddy’s groups, someone Kanye will say is “so hot right now,” or Santogold if Sony’s smart. Yeah, so the third contestant will probably be New Kids On The Block.
I see you’re still salivating over the idea of Marky Mark’s brother on stage with Usher so hose yourself down before I tell you the kicker: the phone comes packed with Usher ringtones and full-album downloads. Now, that’s just damn fine promotion.
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