A few days ago, as I played my copy of the new Elvis Costello album, This Year's Model, I noticed a cryptic message scratched on the centre piece of plastic. "Special pressing no 003. Ring 434 3232. Ask for Moira for your prize," it read.
Thinking I had my hands on a much sought-after piece of plastic, I rang the next day to claim my prize — only to be told, after losing 40p hanging on, that the offer was closed.
Who does this phone number belong to? Why, if this is a limited offer, had they closed it? What is the "prize" meant to be anyway?
— Dave Vickers, Liverpool.
Though you wouldn't know it from your recent experience — the prize wasn't meant to be minus 40p and a wasted phone-call. Originally, the lucky owners of the first 500 copies of Costello's latest, hot from the press, were meant to qualify for a signed Four-Eyes pic and badge. Great idea — let's hear it for the good guys! But summat went badly wrong.
Lucky owners of that telephone number, which was deluged with not 500 but 15,000 calls, are WEA Records, whose switchboard has been effectively blocked for three weeks by Costello Kooks after the goods. Why did you, and many others, get such short shrift? Why did a limited offer turn into a giant cock-up?
It all goes back to that ethnic scratched-on message, originally inscribed it is rumoured by a source not a million miles away from Riviera Global, Costello's management company, for "a giggle." Ho ho, indeed. Under the pressure of a high-speed run catering for the phenomenal demand from Big E fans everywhere, this one ran and ran... thru' no less than 75,000 copies pressed within the first two weeks of release. The WEA pressing plant didn't spot it in time to stop it and the "limited" offer was stamped through the lot.
In other words, everyone who bought one of the first 75,000 pressings has a "rare" copy numbered 003, whether you bought number 0050 or number 0075,000! And if the number of folks who've already phoned WEA is any thing to go by, only a fraction of the "prize" punters have, as yet, claimed their dues.
"This is the tail-end of a long drawn out thing which has been going on for the past month. It's freaked everyone out," quoth a spokesperson for Riviera Global. "So far, WEA have spent £5,000 on mailing and so on. There was a row over who was going to pay, but this has been sorted out. After the first 5,000 special prizes were sent out, everyone was told no more."
While the open invitation is spelt out loud'n'clear on all 75,000 pressings, so is the big shut-off of badges and pics from Riviera Global and WEA both. Clearing up the Costello catastrophe by giving everyone a prize, the remaining 70,000 customers that is, would obviously prove too time-consuming and expensive for the powers that be!
"Tell 'em to give up and wait for the next scam," sez Riviera Global. Nice, eh?
Feel like telling the Costello klan where to stick their oh-so unavailable freebie? Write to: Costello Cock-Up, Riviera Global, 60 Park Street, London WC2 or WEA Records, 20 Broadwick Street, London W1.
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