http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/feature/article_display....ontent_id=1003837862

Staind: Room To Grow
August 11, 2008
Gary Graff

Staind guitarist Mike Mushok calls the forthcoming "The Illusion of Progress" "a very different record for us, but better different."

The same can be said for the way Flip/Atlantic is bringing the rock quartet's sixth studio album to market in advance of its Aug. 19 street date.

While first single "Believe" is making an impact at active and alternative radio, the Massachusetts band's traditional base of support, the label is planning an intensive and ambitious viral campaign to launch and sustain the album via a broad array of Web sites and platforms.

Staind has created an exclusive edition of "Illusion" that contains three bonus tracks and a one-year membership to the group's fan club. The "fan pack" will be sold at retail outlets but, according to Atlantic senior VP of pop/rock marketing Dane Venable, will encourage buyers to link to the group's Web site and expose them to Staind's online community, including access to a special 30-minute documentary on the making of the album.

"In the past two years they've gotten very, very active on their Web site, and they've seen results," Venable says. "That provides them with the motivation to do even more. They've completely embraced it."

The cycle started while Staind was recording the new album with producer Johnny K in frontman Aaron Lewis' barn in Massachusetts, creating what Lewis considers "probably the most musical record we've made yet." It comes in the wake of three consecutive albums—2001's "Break the Cycle," 2003's "14 Shades of Grey" and 2005's "Chapter V"—that have debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and have sold at least platinum.

Besides taking "Believe" to radio, where it is No. 9 on the Mainstream Rock chart after just four weeks, the label released it for sale on iTunes and premiered it on MySpace, generating more than 200,000 hits in its first week. The song's video premiered July 24 through AOL, and Flip/Atlantic is planning a multiweek Staind promotion with imeem that will include advance listening parties and exclusive content.

iTunes began selling an exclusive Staind bundle July 22, which includes two bonus songs, a video and access to an "instant gratification" download track. The digital retailer and the label are working on an iTunes Originals as well.

While on its current tour, Staind plans to perform Aug. 28 on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" The group will play two weeks of European dates with Nickelback in September as part of its first concerted campaign overseas, then return to North America for a headlining tour from October through December, with more touring expected in 2009.

Mushok says Staind is looking forward to seeing how the new initiatives play with its fan base but likes the fact that everything that's planned "gives a little bit more back to the fans. It gives them more options and ways of getting more from us."