Duran Duran on track for '93 world comeback

Billboard, June 26, 1993
Thom Duffy.

Calling from Los Angeles, Duran Duran's John Taylor is checking in with Anna Broughton, marketing manager of EMI Music International. She congratulates him on the recent news that Duran Duran's current self-titled album has hit platinum in Argentina, the first market where the album has achieved that milestone.

Taylor quips that perhaps "Duran Duran" will work its way to platinum in world markets in alphabetical order. The album, in fact, already has reached No. 7 on The Billboard 200 in the U.S. on Capitol Records, and No. 4 in the U.K. on EMI.

Such international success has been one of the most striking aspects of this year's comeback by Duran Duran. From South Africa to South America to Southeast Asia, in a strategy devised by Left Bank Management in L.A. and EMI Music International under the direction of Broughton, VP of marketing Mario Ruiz, and managing director David Stockley, the band is having major global impact.

Since the setup for the album began last fall, international marketing efforts have been coordinated, in turn, with Capitol Records in the U.S. and EMI's affiliates in Europe.

The recent live worldwide broadcast of Duran Duran's midnight performance from Tower Records in Los Angeles, which was beamed simultaneously to fans in London, Sydney, and Tokyo (Billboard, May 22), was only the latest step in that international strategy.

The advance planning obviously worked. Duran Duran's first single, "Ordinary World," hit the top 10 not only in the U.S. and U.K., but it also has charted in Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Venezuela, Mexico, Brazil,
South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia.

"'Ordinary World' has an appeal that is universal," says Taylor. "People are hungry for music like this."

The album's second single, "Come Undone," is following suit and is already in the top 10 in the U.S. Meanwhile, worldwide sales of "Duran Duran" have reached 2 million since its release Feb. 15. (Billboard, Jan. 30).

Allen Kovac, head of Left Bank Management, credits Duran Duran's booking agent, John Giddings of the Solo Agency in London, for alerting Left Bank to the band's continued potential as a worldwide touring act.

Left Bank previously enjoyed substantial success with Richard Marx outside the U.S. by focusing on international marketing. The company saw similar potential with Duran Duran. Allen Kovac notes that his brother, Lewis Kovac, and Tommy Manzi at Left Bank have been most closely involved with the management company's day-to-day efforts.

Since Duran Duran was one of the first acts to achieve superstardom through the power of MTV exposure in the early '80s, Allen Kovac acknowledges that "the perception was that this was a band that was fashion and style over substance."

Left Bank's initial goal when it assumed management of the band prior to the release of the new album was to remind the industry and fans alike of Duran Duran's musical history and credibility. That included not only its own string of hits but Taylor's collaboration in the Power Station, Simon LeBon and Nick Rhodes' recordings as Arcadia, and Warren Cuccurullo's previous work with Frank Zappa and Missing Persons.

Following the Los Angeles concert, Duran Duran brought the same show to London, where EMI flew in press from 10 international markets (Billboard, April 4).

An international promotion tour followed, beginning in Johannesburg, South Africa, where the band arrived amid the turmoil ignited by the assassination of black Communist Party leader Chris Hani. They went ahead with nine concerts in the country, including a live television broadcast on MNET. A seven-date South American tour followed with shows in Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, and Argentina, including a sold-out concert at the 40,000-capacity Velez Sarsfield Stadium in Buenos Aires.

After promotional visits to Mexico in May and European markets this month, the band is set to play four concerts in Mexico July 4-11, then open a summer tour of the U.S. July 14 in Tampa.

"Management is largely responsible for that motivation and push," says Broughton at EMI Music International. "The Kovac brothers are very internationally minded. They've actually put some of the American promotion on hold to do things around the world."

The success in international markets, in turn, has encouraged Capitol Records to increase its focus on Duran Duran in the U.S.

Broughton says the band today is not only drawing support from its original fans but "from a whole generation that wasn't around when 'Rio' was a hit. All around the world, you've got this new audience, which is why the band's catalog eventually is going to have such a good run."

While artists signed to U.S. or U.K. labels customarily receive lower royalties for international sales, Kovac says that for established artists like Marx or Duran Duran "the difference is fractional" and offset by higher CD retail prices abroad and long-term potential from touring, merchandising, and publishing.

A European tour is planned for the fall, followed by dates in Southeast Asia, Japan, and the Australasian region, and a return to the U.S. late in the year.

When Duran Duran finally reaches territories such as Germany and Japan, two traditionally strong markets, "we're going to have a real explosion in record sales," predicts Broughton. "This band could be the hottest property we've got at the moment. Everybody wants them."

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