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Sunday, April 19, 2009

www.followthatdream.com

Isn't it strange that the Follow That Dream label has no website? After all, FTD has been pouring out albums for ten years now, so I think it's long overdue.

But maybe something is about to happen. On the For Elvis CD Collectors forum a guy from the Netherlands shared the following address: www.followthatdream.com.

I immediately visited the site and found some nice pictures, many obviously taken from FTD covers, followed by the message "new site currently under construction."

The administrator is no other than a certain Roger Semon, so maybe the site is soon up and running. On the other hand, maybe not, as it was created in 2002 and last updated on 8 January, 2008 (according to this).

Be that as it may, here are the advantages of an official FTD website as I see it:
  • The newsletters from FTD could be posted here and not only sent to fan clubs and Elvis sites.
  • Fans could ask questions.
  • FTD would have a way to reach all fans and at times set the record straight.
  • Information, such as documents shown in booklets, could be published in full.

To sum up, the FTD website would be the first place fans visited to find out about releases, read about decisions being made and why, and contributed with questions and thoughts.

But I don't hold my breath. I realise there would be a lot of unkind words (if FTD would allow comments to be made on the site) and that there's no way Ernst or Roger could muster the time or energy to handle that. A Follow That Dream website would be a one way affair, but if interesting documentation was published as well as newsletters, that would be a lot better than nothing. What do you think?

PS: This is the 200th posting on Elvis Today. I think I'm gonna celebrate by listening to the album that the blog is named after. After all, "T-R-O-U-B-L-E" has always been a favourite of mine!

2 comments:

Mårtenbrother said...

Fantastic, 200, congratulations! I remember when I bought the Elvis Today album on Åhléns in Stockholm. Must have been around 1983. The seller told me that there was a 20% discount, and after counting my money I went and got the Elvis Now LP too. Kinda similar titles! I also remember that after listening to the first song, I lifted the pickup and started from the beginning again! That was a kind of a no-no thing to do, but I just had to do it, since I only had heard the live version from the silver box set, and I thought the studio version was much cooler. It still is! Big hug, bro!

Troy Y. said...

An official FTD site has been sorely lacking for years. I don't see how they can overlook such an easy and inexpensive marketing tool. Instead, they let other sites define them and their releases.

Just a simple blog-style site would suffice. Something, anything... Sure, some of the more vocal "fans" may be difficult to interact with, but most of us out here just want information on future releases - and maybe some companion pieces like you mentioned.

Sometimes, the impression is given that they seem to think, "This would be a great job, if it wasn't for all the fans/customers." And maybe that's the wrong impression, but they've done nothing to correct that.

Congrats on the 200th post.