We’ve all heard of the concept of the ‘breakthrough album’ – that one release that propels a well-liked group or artist from club gigs and support slots, to headlining arenas and festival stages.
Arguably, the most famous example of the phenomenon is Nirvana’s sophomore effort, Nevermind, though more recent examples include The Black Keys’ 2011 album Brothers and Gotye’s Making Mirrors.
All of these acts already had established careers in the music industry, with The Black Keys even releasing an incredible five albums before Brothers, but weren’t elevated to superstardom until that one famous release.
But just what goes into ensuring that a release is a “breakthrough”? What kind of record label and band management machinations go on behind the scenes to see to it that an album propels a band into the mainstream?
The answer lies with Las Vegas heavy metal outfit Five Finger Death Punch, who were recently the subject of a report by US industry bible Billboard, which detailed how a fellowship of management and other stakeholders broke the band.
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According to Billboard, an “unusual united strategic marketing effort by the group’s management, label, promoters and agency” elevated the group from headlining clubs to a 2015 arena tour in the span of just two years.
Forming in 2005, FFDP developed a strong following, particularly in their native US, through a steady stream of well-received albums. To date, Five Finger Death Punch have sold some 2.9 million albums in the United States.
However, the healthy sales weren’t accompanied by a rise in profile nor a shift from club gigs to halls and arenas – something of an ironic situation in today’s music industry.
“We had a band that was selling records; we just didn’t think there was a proper global effort to elevate them as a live act,” said Allen Kovac, CEO of FFDP’s management firm, 10th Street Entertainment.
So, over the course of two meetings, one in April 2014 and another a year later, Kovac designed a cohesive plan to effectively develop the band into an arena act and increase their annual tour gross, and this is how he went about it.
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“The idea was to drop two albums within six months, each preceded by promo tours in the US and Europe,” said Kovac. The tour included press and radio appearances – “Stuff they hadn’t done before,” Kovac adds.
For example, in Germany, Kovac worked with international promoter Marek Lieberberg to engage the country’s four regional radio markets and worked with his social and digital teams to raise awareness of the band there.
In Europe, FFDP played festivals supporting the July 2013 release of The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell Volume 1. When Volume 2 arrived in November, the band was supporting Avenged Sevenfold on their UK tour.
“Even though their guarantees were lower,” Kovac explains, “playing in front of 10,000 people” enabled the band to headline 2,500 to 3,000-seat venues — up from 500 seats — when they returned to the UK the following spring.
By then, a year had passed and Kovac called his second meeting, which included FFDP, the band’s lawyer, their business manager, North American agent, executives from their promotions company, the head of their North American label, and, by phone, International Talent Booking agent Ian Sales.
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This second brainstorming session resulted in a fall North American mini-tour that saw FFDP co-headlining with Danish metalers Volbeat. In the meantime, the band’s promotions company and other stakeholders raised resources for a $750,000-plus shared global marketing campaign.
One of the things the money was spent on was employing Live Nation in direct marketing of the tour to fans of similar bands. The result? The band doubled their per-show gross and made 200 percent more in tour revenue than ever before.
Meanwhile, here in Australia, the band were booked to play the most recent instalment of Soundwave Festival, including a string of sideshows with former touring partners and Soundwave headliners Avenged Sevenfold.
When the group release their highly anticipated sixth album in May, they are set to embark on an arena tour that will take them to North America and Europe in late 2015 and Japan and Australia in early 2016.
