Boys For Pele - Marketing and Promotion

Marketing and Promotion

In late 1995, Atlantic released a promotional-only CD in Germany and America simply titled "Tori Amos", under catalog number PRCD-6535-2. "New Music from Tori Amos..." appeared on the front cover, and upon opening the jewel case, "...is coming soon" appears on the back of the insert. The release is a 9-track promotional compilation of Amos’ singles from her first two solo albums, meant for radio stations to play to generate interest in the forthcoming album. The track "Precious Things" is mislabeled as "These Precious Things" on both the CD and the back cover whilst "Crucify (Remix)" is listed when in fact the album version features. The cover photo features Amos in a green tank top sporting an armband tattoo and lying on a camouflage blanket.

The album’s first single, "Caught a Lite Sneeze", was released commercially and to radio stations on 2 January 1996, a full three weeks prior to the album’s release. This is a marketing tactic often used to build anticipation for a forthcoming album, and a sticker accompanying the US single blatantly acknowledged this: "Hear the first new music from Tori in over 2 years!"

From the start, Amos’ marketing team has made use of the Internet to market and promote new music. Since the Internet was more sophisticated in early 1996 when Boys for Pele was released than it had been two years earlier upon the release of Under the Pink, it was an essential marketing tool for promoting the album. Some reviews provided links to the Atlantic homepage or to Amos’ homepage to listen to audio clips from the album, while others provided telephone numbers to call to listen to audio clips. "Caught a Lite Sneeze", was groundbreaking in that it was one of the first songs ever to have its worldwide release on the Internet as a free download.