"Another Body Blow For Albums: Warner To Launch New Six Pak Format
February 03, 2010 | Country
By Deborah Evans Price, Nashville
In an acknowledgment of growing consumer dissatisfaction with the
traditional CD format, for the first time a major label is replacing the
typical 10-plus song CD release with two six-song CDs whose release
dates are separated by mere months.
Warner Music Nashville will deliver Blake Shelton's "Hillbilly Bone" on
March 2 as a "Six Pak," a six-song album of new material, to be followed
by another six-song release in August. The August release date it
tentative and Shelton has yet to record the second CD. Pricing is not yet
available.
Shelton says industry reaction has been positive and ultimately, its better
for his fans. "Fans will get more music than me putting out a new album
every two years," he said. "It's a quicker way to get new music to them."
Warner Music Nashville senior VP of sales and marketing Peter Strickland
said the Six Pak will enable artists "to deliver music to [fans] on a much
more regular basis at a value price package."
Shelton was the right artist to launch this new strategy for several
reasons, Strickland said, including "how fans react with him online and on
the road. He's continuously being asked about when he has a new album
coming out . . . and timing was good too because Blake was in the studio
making a new record."
"Hillbilly Bone" is Shelton's sixth studio album. The Oklahoma native
debuted in 2001 with the hit single "Austin," which spent five weeks at No.
1 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart. Since then he's hit the summit
with "The Baby," "Some Beach," "Home" and "She Wouldn't Be
Gone.""