Elliottmarx is concerned

I'm beginning to see this project as a mess.
Who is in control here?
How on earth could the band premier a new song at one of their biggest concerts in decades and the record company not tap into that momentum?
The entire campaign has been so amateurish - and I'm afraid will continue to be.

This was the team that thought rushing an album out by Father's Day (because the Who are the ultimate "dad band"? Barf!) would be a way of selling more copies. What an embarrassment of an idea - I really don't believe that this team understands what The Who are and worse, have no idea who their fans are - which is a disastrous look for marketing.

This same team allowed Pete to self-publish behind-the-scenes footage of the recording. While the vlogs were cute (and frankly all we have so far,) their amateurish nature, slapdash editing and sudden cessation do not build confidence that any one is crafting an actual campaign.

The idea that seeing Pete and Roger uncomfortably sitting on a vintage motor scooter would be anything more than a novelty is ludicrous, and as far as I know, that is is the only semi-official imagery we've gotten so far. That whole photo shoot seemed so spur-of-the-moment, this project should not exude spur-of-the-momentness.

The tour was promoted with bold words that Townshend only agreed to play if he could perform new songs. This was a 'negotiated' point. The first leg of the tour included no new songs. Further, Townshend hasn't said a word about why he relented. We assume that he is happy enough being 'allowed' to record new songs - but really that is not what the initial interviews promised, and only our assumption.

And finally, the big well-promoted Wembley show. All of the global rock press reported that the band was great, they were revitalized and it was a brilliant show, and most blogs then linked to an audience-shot iPhone clip of Here Ground Zero. All of the music blogs were forced to link to something that sounded terrible. The Who team, it seems, did not have anything better to offer and squandered an incredible opportunity to introduce this new music. Just a 30 second clip of Hero Ground Zero from the soundboard, or from a controlled rehearsal would have been exhilarating - and serve as fine promotion, it would have been easy. Instead we have competing, unappealing sounding iPhone videos. How is it possible that this basic, basic, basic marketing opportunity was wasted? A grade school student would know to coordinate the release of something new with a newsworthy event.

How did the team waste all of that media and fan attention?

In the days following Wembley, we should definitively have had a title, a release date, and at least teaser artwork.
What was the purpose of that Wembley show, if not to sell the album?

I know these are harsh words, and I do believe that Townshend and Daltrey have worked hard on this music - and I predict great performances and masterful songs - I actually expect to love the album. But I have been appalled by the lack of consistent messaging, and the allowance of goodwill to evaporate. At this point, in spite of the potential for excellent new Who music, I can't see this album being anything more than a sales disaster.

That might be true - but to not have even 30 seconds of a mix that sounds better than audience iPhone recordings is perplexing. And if the studio version is really not at all complete; a feed from the live sound board, or a better recorded clip from the dress rehearsal - anything would have served the band better. Obviously they knew if a new song were going to be played live, there would be, near-instantly, audience recorded clips of it flooding Youtube. The team couldn't get in front of that? They couldn't produce anything that sounded better, as the world's music media was reporting on the new songs? I really believe that all of Pete and Roger's hard work is being (unintentionally) sabotaged by an incompetent team.