Overall, marketers say, older consumers need to be made comfortable. So House of Blues, the concert promoter, found that it could boost ticket sales for older artists by offering pre-show dinners or wine tastings. Sometimes they added seating in clubs that had required fans to stand.
AARP is heeding such lessons by developing the machinery of modern tastemaking. That means bulking up its Web site with musical offerings, licensing the Pandora online radio and recommendation service, and negotiating for shelf space at a major retail chain, which would carry exclusive versions of certain CDs with discounts to AARP members. And of course it will advertise at Bennett's concerts and perhaps sign up new members there too.
Thanks in part to Target and Starbucks, his Duets album has racked up the biggest sales of his career (almost 650,000 copies in its first seven weeks). Bennett's son and manager, Danny Bennett, said the album is succeeding because it appeals not to older buyers specifically, but to a wide swatch of the audience. And that multi-generational appeal, the younger Bennett said, is what makes his father a perfect ally for AARP. "It's not a matter of 'I've fallen and I can't get up.' It's 'Let's stay healthy so we can rock.' Tony's the poster child for AARP. He's 80 years old. He's young at heart."
AARP seems intent on a more generation-specific approach, putting its stamp on albums individually chosen for older consumers.
As for the wary artists, in an era when record labels are cutting back on marketing expenses, AARP, with about 37 million members, could be a great, rich friend to have. The message is not lost on the labels. Jay Krugman, senior vice president for marketing at Columbia Records (which released Bennett's CD) calls the group "like the golden chalice."
Elton John performed at the association's Life (AT)50-(PLUS) convention in Anaheim, California, last month; officials said they have booked Rod Stewart and Earth, Wind & Fire for next year. James Taylor played two years ago, and the group's magazine has named him as one of the hottest people over 50. (He was listed under the "babelicious baldies" category.)
His manager, Gary Borman, acknowledges that for artists who still compete for radio airplay and television exposure, "their reputation could be somewhat tainted" by an AARP affiliation. "On the other hand, for many, many of these artists, they're no longer playing that radio and record game, and they just want to serve their fans and keep them coming back."
"Our generation," he concluded, "as much as we were once intuitive discoverers of music, we have lost that intuition. And now we need to be spoon fed."
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