Introducing the New Music First campaign

The Christian Booksellers Association (CBA) and the Christian Music Trade Association (CMTA) have launched the "New Music First" holiday campaign, a campaign intended to create consumer awareness of new music releases available at Christian retail through the end of the year. Key components of the campaign include the Web site, www.NewMusicFirst.com, e-mail blasts, and in-store awareness through special branding, support materials, merchandising and more.

CBA President Bill Anderson said, "Christian stores not only sell more Christian music than anybody else, but offer more music selection than any channel. And, at Christmas, we want to be sure we're top-of-mind not only for our core customers but also to make holiday shoppers aware of the extensive and wonderful selection our Christian stores carry."

He said the campaign aims to drive customers back into local Christian stores during the Christmas season for new releases and the full catalog of Christian music.

CMTA/GMA President John W. Styll added, "The CMTA and GMA are absolutely dedicated to helping keep Christian retail as a vital partner. It is in our mission to expose and promote the good news of the Gospel through music. We are confident that this partnership will grow music sales at Christian retail during the fourth quarter of 2006."

The NewMusicFirst.com Web site highlights a variety of key new releases and also offers audio- and video-clip features. The site will be updated each week as more new key titles are released. The site also includes a link to CBA's store locator, http://cba.know-where.com/cba, so the user can find a Christian retail store near them.

To create vast consumer awareness for the "New Music First" campaign, music companies will send out e-blasts to their various fan and consumer lists, while retailers will do the same to their customer lists. Special in-store signage also will make consumers aware of the latest music offerings. The coordinated e-mail marketing campaign is expected to reach hundreds of thousands of consumers this holiday season.

Besides making consumers aware of new releases available at their local Christian retailer, the campaign also aims to help retailers maintain "core inventory" music titles in stock. By using a "Hits You Can't Miss" list of Christian SoundScan best-sellers across all genres, retailers will be better equipped to meet the needs of music fans during the busiest shopping season of the year.

CBA and CMTA are planning a series of collaborative promotions in 2007 and 2008 to increase Christian-music sales through Christian stores.