$10,000 to Sit Through His Film

I always say that I knew I was going to end up in entertainment marketing in some capacity when two things happened in my life: I became obsessed with merchandise of KISS when I was 11 and I became obsessed with a scheme developed by PSYCHIC TV when I was 16.

PSYCHIC TV, a controversial "industrial" band headed by Genesis P. Oridge put these paper puzzle pieces into a batch of live albums. The fans were challenged to purchase every live album in order to receive the ultimate prize--ANOTHER LIVE ALBUM. A special album that would not be sold. Although the albums were repetitive and of poor sound quality, I was obsessed. I was collecting those albums because there was a prize to be had. I fell in love with the process of hooking the consumer into purchasing something they did not need, often did not want but had to have.

And so as I now am in the business of marketing my companies, my products and my films, I get excited to see how people are coming up with new ways to generate hype and eventually hook the consumer into actually parting with their hard earned cash. This novel approach from a Bollywood filmmaker caught my attention. I am assuming the angle is that the movie is so terrifying that no one will be able to sit through it but what if it's just simply too terrible to get through?

I will keep an eye on this one. I am going to assume that guy will quickly lose his 500,000 rupees.

P.S. Psychic TV intended to put out 23 live albums but stopped at 17. I stopped buying them at around number 10 becuase I ran out of money as I suspect they did also. It did however get them into the Guiness Book of World Records for the largest number of releases in one year. I just recently listened to one of their studio albums called  "Dreams Less Sweet" and it still stands up as a beautifully produced album but my closet full of live albums will probably never be listened to again.