#release strategy

To catch a skunk 

This is purely theoretical at this point;  I haven’t actually caught a skunk. However, I’m about to put a live trap back into service in my continuing effort to evict the woodchuck living under our front porch.

The raccoon I caught a few weeks ago drove home the point: You don’t alway get what you want. The raccoon snarled and lunged but obviously couldn’t reach me through the cage. 

A skunk, on the other hand, could - in a different sort of way.

Wondering what my strategy should be if a skunk should wander into my snare, I turned, naturally, to YouTube and found this:

“Once You've Caught a Skunk in a Live Trap, Calmness Is Key.  Keeping in mind that a skunk won't spray what it doesn't see, approach the trap (from behind) slowly and quietly (but not too quietly – I recommend talking in a soothing voice to avoid catching the skunk off guard) and slip your cover (an old blanket or towel) over the cage.”

That theory about the delay sounds unlikely to me.

The strategy has worked brilliantly though I wonder if it was planned exactly as it played out or if it developed depending on response to certain songs. I imagine it did. For example it’s still very strange to me that they put Watermelon Sugar out so early as a hype single in November 2019 and then officially released it the following summer. I remember saying, “there’s no way they’ll release it as a summer single, it’s already had a push”. But it just had so much staying power. I wonder if they didn’t realise just how much until after the album was out and WS was getting so many streams. And then the massive success of Adore You definitely made them rethink the push on Falling...

...so ultimately I think it’s a mixture of both, and they were really agile about the promo strategy.

Wrong place, wrong time?

Insight from The NY Times on Amazon Studios’ controversial U.S. release strategy for The Aeronauts, shortening its run + keeping it off IMAX screens. Turns out the period adventure spectacle is caught in the middle of the studios’ identity crisis.