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Cool Rock, Secret Love, Bell Bottom Rock, Red Hot, and dozens of other compilation music products rev up fond memories with TV viewers across the U.S. and Canada. These decade-driven or themed music CDs and cassettes, appear on screen late at night or during soap operas and talk shows. They feature nostalgic music video clips and a 1-800-number to call to place a 'Mystic Music' order. Straightforward, simple and very effective; it's a formula that has worked for eleven years for Kathy Methot and the direct TV marketing professionals at Hawkeye Marketing.
To find out more about this unique business, travel 17 miles north to Monument, Colorado - the home of Hawkeye Marketing and its in-house record label, Mystic Music. One of the two largest music compilation companies in the country, Hawkeye Marketing lists 35 CD or cassette packages in the company's Music Odyssey 2001 catalogue - twelve of which are compiled under Mystic Music's own label. Other record companies license and sell rights to artists' music, but entrust the direct TVmarketing of "greatest hits" packages to specialists like Hawkeye Advertising.
Over the years, the firm's competitors have either gone out of business or merged with other companies. Today only two companies, Hawkeye and Cornerstone Music, (recently purchased by Time-Life, Inc.), dominate the direct-TV market. From its origins as a home-based business, the Hawkeye Advertising has grown to include twelve full-time employees several of which telecommute. Phone order handling is outsourced to companies that can handle up to 250 calls at a time.
"Ours is a weird industry,"' Methot says, noting her...