I have had my hackles raised all week by an essay from one Dave Allen - the provocatively, excellently titled ‘Musicians: Please Be Brilliant Or Get Out Of The Way’ . . . my concern [is] at the tendency I’ve seen on many ‘industry’ blogs recently, of which I think this particular post is an example.
Dave concludes, “Musicians, please embrace the web”.
Gosh another one of these music think tank whingefests going on, stoking the fire of poor broke internet illiterate artists everywhere, but some pretty awesome comments and discussion coming through also.
I think it’s quite amusing to see this backlash going on against social media and online music marketing as musicians complaining that they’re still poor and can’t make it assume that that’s because they’ve been fed a bunch of lies and falsehood regarding what works online.
I must admit I was never a big fan of the touchy feely fuzzy wuzzy social media approach that’s why back then I was just using social media to spam people, and that worked to a certain extent, back then.
Not so much any more, that’s why I favour a strategy that goes straight for the jugular of revenue and profit, once you’ve established a source of income, then you’re able to take it from there, using sound internet marketing principals, not just blabbing off on twitter all day thinking you’re going to be loved.
That’s not how business works. Sure people buy stuff off people they like. It’s not the main reason people buy stuff though, they buy it because it’s worth it. It’s a deal, and they get all kinds of good feelings from supporting an independent and committed artists work.
It seems, from where I’m standing, that everyone HAS embraced the web, and there is now a cacophony of voices all trying to achieve the same end: i.e. use the internet to get publicity, to sell t-shirts or other, more esoteric concepts such as mentions in song lyrics, and so on. Which, as these pundits insist, is some kind of answer to the issue that no-one wants to pay for music any more.
I completely agree with this. That’s why I did begin to change tack from hardcore spamming and internet marketing towards more of that “engagement” stuff and accepting that you must execute and exhibit some kind of talent or you’re going to be seen through by any half savvy netizen as shonky and inauthentic.
That’s why I started talking about branding - branding in the modern sense is simply breaking through the cynicism that consumers instantly have because they’re used to all this nonsense. Building an authentic brand is all about breaking these walls down.
in 2009 a commentator . . . is in fact just parroting what the last guy said, is to cite Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails. Two great bands; yes. Two examples of pushing new, creative and genuinely innovative (if arguably gimmicky) business models; yes. Two examples of what can be achieved with the internet if you’ve got a ready-made fanbase, a few million pounds in the bank, some staff and a couple of decades of major label marketing behind you. How are they relevant to a band starting up today, who don’t have access to this kind of money and infrastructure?
Ouch. I have always maintained that the central issue is breaking new acts, that ultimately Radiohead and NIN nails were coasting on the capital invested initially by their labels to build their brands.
I just loved what NIN did with the limited edition $300 product, to me that’s what it was all about, shifting the business model in to something more viable, not assuming that the CD disc was the only format for entertainment brands to provide products.
To finish up a quote from the comments I most agreed with from Scott Andrew
Here’s part of the problem: indie artists aren’t always aware of the difference between “embracing the web” and “dicking around on the web.” It’s hard to describe the latter as sometimes it feels a lot like the former.
Couple that with something Bruce W. says that I believe is true: lots of artists don’t know how to be entertaining on the web. It has to be learned, just like performing on stage. There’s a world of difference between starting a blog and actually being an interesting blogger. And just like anything else, you have to put in the hours before anyone even notices.
From Mike Munro:
- quoting Dave Allen’s original article:
“Control has moved from the few to the millions of many. If dull labels and dull bands keep offering dull, flat, non-experiential product – e.g. a CD, they will go the way of the Dodo. Consider what Cirque Du Soleil provides as an experience compared to Barnum and Bailey’s circus. Or Burning Man compared to your average music festival.”
I think we can now replace ‘CD’ with MySpace, Facebook, etc. as examples of “dull, flat, non-experiential” products. If musicians believe that throwing up a MySpace profile and offering some free downloads and a few videos on YouTube is enough to be an effective promotional strategy, then there is clearly room for more innovation.
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