Winwood Sees A Chance, Takes It

…And gets back on track to the high life again. As Wired.com reports, the past-his-commercial-prime soft-rocker found that giving away a track and video on peer-to-peer networks seems to have helped, not hindered, his sales.

"There's really no other medium that can reach the quantity of people in such a meaningful way in such a cost-effective manner," said Lisa Protter, a spokeswoman for the Jun Group, a marketing firm which coordinated the release of the digital media files.
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The Winwood downloads are sponsored by entertainment program Access Hollywood. At the beginning of each file is a small promotion for the show. Hearst-Argyle Television conceived the idea as a way to promote both the TV show and musician. The music files drive traffic to the TV show's website, where a fan can buy Winwood's album and learn more about him.

"I look at peer-to-peer as a way to create more chances for people to actually hear the music and become aware of the music," said Marv Danielski, vice president of marketing for Hearst-Argyle Television. "There are some artists who are not going to be heard on the typical radio stations. We're not dealing with an artist like Nelly or Beyonce who gets all the airplay."