Existential questions on the state of Twitter

Well it’s done, Trent Reznor just deleted his Twitter account. He was one of the first to be harassed by puny users and other Twitterazzi types, and one of the first to leave ship.

From Rolling Stone: “When Twitter made it’s way to my radar I looked at it as a curiosity, then started experimenting. I thought it through and in light of where I was / am in my career I decided to lower the curtain a bit and let you see more of my personality,” Reznor said. “I watched some of you get more engaged because you started to realize there’s a person (flaws and all) back there, and I watched some of you recoil in horror because I’m not what you projected on me”.

I find this quite interesting. The other day I left some comment on Hypebot’s “Amanda ‘Fucking’ Palmer (Part 1) interview” (which is a must-read by the way). One commentator commented upon the fact that a seemingly indestructible platform such as Twitter clearly has a life expectancy. His arguments, some straightforward and simple deductions that go along the lines of “Twitter is new and fun for now, but the narcissistic social game it engages its community in will eventually get old”, got me thinking about the real impact Twitter has on most people, and if that “social game” is really worth the time spent perfecting the skills required to a “must-follow” type of user. And now there’s Mr. NIN, one of the most influential and “must-follow” accounts, that decides to bail. Although I believe he did so for personal reasons other than “Twitter is boring me”, Trent is also saying “Twitter ain’t for me, at least not anymore”. I think many will come to that realization at one point or another. Not every massively popular service is for everybody, and the more some play the game of opening-up-to-the-world, the more they might realize they just don’t like opening-up to the world.

All in all, Twitter can be seen as a sort of gratification game, or tool. I share my insights, my news, all the while shedding some light on my personality, and when I get that RT or that mention, I feel as if I made some impact, as if my presence on the Twittersphere ain’t useless and that some people out there appreciate it. And by Jove how it feels good to achieve that sense of accomplishment in this absurd world (even if it’s only due to words and not actions). Add to that the fact that Twitter is a powerful networking tool, and for me the game is still fun and exciting, as it is for an increasing number of people.

It seems to me that all the social-media success stories are due to specific traits of character. In that Amanda Palmer interview cited above, one particular sentence struck me as being very revealing: “I simply feel blessed that I’m an emotional exhibitionist right around the time is seems to be expected and en vogue.” Not everyone is like Amanda Fucking Palmer, or Trent, or others, weather they be exuberant social figures or more of the discreet kind.

I also want to quote what that commentator (know as “Old Recod Guy”) said on the interview: “Music, and art in general, is cyclical. Right now, most artists have to engage, have to get close to their fans. This is a new sensation for both sides, especially when it comes to bigger acts, for whom a one-to-one dialogue was never really practical. So fans and artists are learning where the boundaries are, what works and what doesn’t, and what the tolerance levels are on both sides.

BUT…..

Sometime in the future, people will get tired of this. They’ll become used to the interaction, the access, they’ll realize that not every artist has something interesting to say, they’ll suck all the ideas and news and gossip and photos and free downloads out of the trough until they want to puke. And that’s when some artist, or movement, will bring back that sense of mystery, that unattainability, and they’ll be huge. They’ll use the new tools to accomplish the task, but they won’t be Tweeting during their colon cleanse. They’ll rebel against the banal status quo, and legions of fans who are sick of it it too will follow them.

And that’s what’s great about art. The new burns down the old to be burnt down by the new, until we fondly remember the old and burn down the new.”

Since I feel incapable of finding a proper conclusion to this post, I will simply ask what you all think about this. Is Twitter popular for the simple reason that we live in a time where gratification and validation are important? Is Twitter working for music just because the former industry model is crumbling, and that Twitter’s direct-to-fan model appeared around the corner at the right time? Is indirect messaging a la Twitter truly to the new communication medium, or is it just a craze?

Woof!

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Amanda Palmer and Band2Fan success stories

The name Amanda Palmer was until yesterday a mystery to me. It kept on popping up sporadically in all the music-media news feeds I read daily, but I never took the time to have a deeper look in this amazing artist’s career, until yesterday that is.

Amanda Palmer, who is most noted for being the lead singer, pianist, and lyricist/composer of the “Brechtian punk cabaret” duo The Dresden Dolls and who has now launched her solo act, has accumulated an astonishing amount of buzz these past years thanks to here uncompromising artistic vision. Formerly signed to Roadrunner Records (or maybe she still is. The story is complicated) to whom she gave the middle-finger on many accounts, Amanda seems to have made it her top priority to connect directly with her fans. The phrasing here might sound wrong – I don’t mean to say that she calculates her every move, but her every moves are nonetheless very well calculated.

In here eternal struggles with Roadrunner, Amanda accomplished where many others had failed: gave her major label that middle finger (Roadrunner is part of the Universal group), rallied and wrapped her fans around it, and still managed to keep her “job”. And by rallied I mean the real thing. During what is called the “Fans Rebellyon” where her label wanted to cut-out part of her “Leeds United” music video because of her “fat stomach”, she proceeded to tell her fans about the controversy leading to a massive movement of people photographing their own bellies and sending their pics to the record label. Since then a website with belly pictures has been created - http://www.therebellyon.com. Since then, Amanda has made a couple of attempts to be dropped by her label, one of which is a song simply called “Please Drop Me“.

That and other stories has turned her into a rebellious role model that the music communities are relishing.

Now the story that caught my attention yesterday is about Amanda’s recent twitter experiments that have garnered illustrious amounts of buzz, and have illustrated the very strong bond she has with her fans. These improvised operations generated $19k without the sale of a singer album. This story is told in three parts. Below is part one. I highly recommend reading all of it in the Techdirt post here (couldn’t find it Amanda’s website).

1.
FRIDAY NIGHT LOSERS T-SHIRT, $11,000

about a month ago, i was at home on a friday night (loser that i often am when i’m not touring, i almost never go out) and was, of course, on my mac, shifting between emails, links and occasionally doing some dishes and packing for a trip the next day. just a usual friday-night-rock-star-multi-tasking extravaganza.

i twitter whenever i’m online, i love the way it gives me a direct line of communication with my fans and friends.

i had already seen the power of twitter while touring…using twitter i’d gathered crowds of sometimes 200 fans with a DAY’S notice to come out and meet me in public spaces (parks, mostly) where i would play ukulele, sign, hug, take pictures, eat cake, and generally hang out and connect. this was especially helpful in the cities where we’d been unable to book all-ages gigs and there were crushed teenagers who were really grateful to have a shot at connecting with me & the community of amanda/dolls fans.

i’d also been using twitter to organize ACTUAL last-minute gigs…i twittered a secret gig in LA one morning and about 350 folks showed up 5 hours later at a warehouse space….i played piano, filmed by current.tv, and then (different camera crew) did an interview with afterellen.com.
the important thing to undertsand here is that the fans were never part of the plan..,i basically just INVITED my fans to a press day, the press didnt’ plan it…i did.
i was going to be playing in an empty room and doing q&a with afterellen on a coach with only the camera watching.
it was like….why not tell people and do this in a warehouse instead of a hotel lobby or a blank studio? so i did.

it cost me almost nothing. the fans were psyched.

but back to the bigger, cooler story….

so there i am, alone on friday night and i make a joke on twitter (which goes out to whichever of my 30,000 followers are online):

“i hereby call THE LOSERS OF FRIDAY NIGHT ON THEIR COMPUTERS to ORDER, motherfucker.”
9:15 PM May 15th from web

one thing led to another, and the next thing you know there were thousands of us and we’d become the #1 topic trend on twitter.
zoe keating described it as a “virtual flash mob”.

the way twitter works (if you don’t have it) is that certain topics can include a hashtag (#) and if a gazillion people start making posts that include that hashtag, the topic will zoom up the charts of what people are currently discussing. it’s a cool feature.

so anyway, there we were, virtually hanging out on twitter on a friday night. very pleased with ourselves for being such a large group, and cracking jokes.

how do you “hang out” on the internet? well, we collectively came up with a list of things that the government should do for us (free government-issued sweatpants, pizza and ponies, no tax on coffee), AND created a t-shirt.
thank god my web guy sean was awake and being a loser with me on friday night because he throw up the webpage WHILE we were having our twitter party and people started ordering the shirts – that i designed in SHARPIE in realtime) and a slogan that someone suggested: “DON’T STAND UP FOR WHAT’S RIGHT, STAY IN FOR WHAT’S WRONG”. neil gaiman and wil wheaton joined our party. the fdnas felt super-special.

by the end of the night, we’d sold 200 shirts off the quickie site (paypal only) that sean had set up.
i blogged the whole story the next day and in total, in the matter of a few days, we sold over 400 shirts, for $25/ea.

we ended up grossing OVER $11,000 on the shirts.
my assistant beth had the shirts printed up ASAP and mailed them from her apartment.

total made on twitter in two hours = $11,000.
total made from my huge-ass ben-folds produced-major-label solo album this year = $0

Don’t forget to read the two other parts on Techdirt’s website.

Micheal Masnick, the brain behind Techdirt, theorizes that if an artist connects with  his/her fans and gives them a real reason to buy something, then that artists drastically increases his/her chances of selling that something. Very accurate theory.

If we take a look at all the B2F techniques used by bands lately (B2F=band to fan), most of what is for sale and has the true potential of generating money is the exclusiveness of the content sold or distributed. For me that is where lies the true power of social tools used by artists these day: the potential to create exclusiveness anytime, anywhere with anyone. In the olden days, the closest a fan could get to experiencing exclusiveness with a band was going to a show, buying that show’s t-shirt, getting a backstage pass for that show and buying a limited edition record from the band that played that show. Other than that, fans didn’t have that much to hope for in terms of connecting with their favorite band. Now all that has changed – absolutely every bit of it – and the talented, tech-savvy artists out there have the communication tools to leverage their career. Although this type of statement may seemed re-hashed, it’s a fact that is becoming more apparent as time goes by,and more applicable as those tools are perfected and exploited.

Exclusivity+Immediacy+Quality music=potential to middle-finger labels and make it on your own.

Mruff.

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Our mobile Fanteraction™ platform is now in Beta

We are officially launching the Fanteraction™ platform as a beta today. To kick start this post, here’s some cartoon goodness.

This cartoon was created by Porter Mason. Check out Bassist Wanted for more comic strips about music »

What is Fanteraction?

Fanteraction is the name Greg gave to the band-fan interaction service for 3G enabled phones he is developing. The initial idea is to allow bands to share their lyrics and bios and other content before, during and after a gig with fans through iPhones and Blackberrys.

How does it work?

Click on the upper-half or lower-half of the iPhone to get a description for both bands and fans.

Can bands hammer us with suggestions, questions and feedback?

Yes they can. The should even! Fanteraction is a very new service. Feedback from bands and fans is very welcome. Please contact us at Fanteraction @ gmail.com for all your concerns.

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NIN iPhone application: a new band-fan interaction model

Trent Reznor (NIN) and Rob Sheridan (art director for NIN) have publicly released their brand new NIN band-fan interaction iPhone application. A video is worth a thousand words, so behold the wonders of 3g enabled mobile technologies:

I also recommend reading Underwires’s post on the matter to see how it works in further detail.

It’s quite possible that Reznor, Sheridan and Rose are up to something bigger with their platform. They could easily open up this kind of system to other bands. Behind all the image gimmickry of their app. lies amazing possibilities for bands to interact with their fans.

Mruff to that.

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How to grab the attention of key people inside the industry (part 1): Publicity and Press

A friend of ours, who prefers not to be named, attended the Cape May Singer/Songwriter Conference in New Jersey last week-end. He summarized some very interesting pointers discussed by industry professionals at the meeting and sent them our way.

Today’s post is about Publicity and Press, and what bands should take into consideration when attempting to promote themselves through local media, social networks and A&R scouts.

Enjoy!

Publicity and Press

How to stand out, and what you need to do to get and keep the attention of key people inside the industry

A note on “reviewers”

These are the folks with major and indie labels who ‘scout’ new music. It’s notable that many start-up web sites and companies make wild claims about getting their music in front of these reviewers. The simple fact is that, EMI for instance, records has just one reviewer employed for the entire east coast. Most labels have 1 reviewer per region (4 regions in whole country), and those reviewers aren’t hanging out in bars, waiting for you to show up. This is not necessarily as depressing as it sounds though, keep reading.

Advice from publishers, reviewers, writers, and broadcasters:

- First and foremost, you absolutely must have a hefty catalog, 50-100 original songs / jingles / whatever it is you do. Songs should have strong hooks, and AVOID all possible drug-out beginnings to songs. They want to hear a verse and a chorus (with or without a pre-chorus) with a good hook. They promised us, that they generally won’t make it past 7 seconds in a song if they haven’t heard any vocals yet, unless it’s the greatest intro ever… They admittedly have short attention spans and want you to get to the point, fast. Production value means almost nothing to them, it’s all in the vocals, musicianship, song arrangement, and HOOKS. Don’t send demos with instruments out of tune or bad vocal recordings. Make sure the performance is there, regardless of whether the production is there or not.

- Any contact with any communications industries (TV, radio, etc) is a GOOD thing. Build relationships. A publisher or licenser who knows who you are and has a “relationship” with you will always choose your music or project over any other artist who just sends emails and demos. Talk to them, keep it nice, don’t ever burn bridges (no matter how much you think they ignored you, or insulted you – often it’s a case of mis-read sentiments), send demos, press kits, and schedules of shows, live footage. ANY press kits or reviews, newspaper articles, TV/radio coverage and reviews are fantastic ways to get a publisher’s attention.

- Make sure to include contact information, especially your name and phone number. They are not going to bother digging through the internet to find you. They pretty much said “have your sh*t together”. Music reviewers and writers (many local and regional music magazines exist) should be a huge focus, many of them know TONS of inside publishers and even some reviewers, and if you blow them away, it can make all the difference. Develop personal relationships with them, and the people they know.

Embrace social networks

- Myspace bios should be:

• short, to the point
• factual
• address key points
• list accomplishments, use bullets to list and define them

!!Note!!: They also spoke about their hatred of these grandiose myspace pages that take forever to load, and how a simple and to-the-point page is far more positive than a page with dozens of videos, custom art, picture galleries, and widgets or whatever that slow it to a grinding halt. They pretty much said if it doesn’t load right up, they move on.

- Twitter:

• fans want MORE, you have to give it to them.
• keep them updated regularly
• If they get dis-interested, they will move on.

Have defined goals for yourself / band

• Charity events are media gold. You can’t do wrong by playing them.
• Anything else in the area of public interest that makes a difference
• Add these events, and write-ups to your press kits
• Always grow your press kits, show you have a history

A little note on digital distribution

-Tunecore was strongly recommended by several panelists and industry folks.

That’s it for today’s post on Publicity and Press. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post on Protecting your Music where we will have a look at what assets bands must preserve to shell themselves from legal issues.

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Altruist music sharing may become a viable music promotion strategy…

Since they decided to screw conventional record-industry models by leaving Columbia (Sony Music) last April, the famed techno/dance-beat band Groove Armada have been pampered by their new sponsor Bacardi for the last year or so. The Rum manufacturer has been helping the band with touring and recording, and now they have set out to try a distribution experiment that probably has great chances of succeeding. BLive Share is a website set to promote the duo’s new up coming four-track album in a rather original way.

Upon singing-up to BLive Share you get one of GA’s  (Groove Armada’s) tracks for free. Share it to 20 people and you get the second track for free. Send the second track to 200 people and get the third one for free. The same applies to the fourth one by sending it 2000 people (I don’t think many people will share 2000 tracks though, and those special prizes will only be delivered to the hardcore fans. By ‘great chances of succeeding’ I refer to the overall effect this promotion technique will have on the band’s popularity as well as its album’s).

Top sharers  “will get a very special award from BACARDI and GA, with the top regional sharers also picking awards”. So not only do you get tracks but you also get “special awards”! Yay! Since this is a contest, there is a due date, and that date is when GA’s new EP comes out (in 19 days and 3 hours according to their timer).

Is it a coincidence that two days ago I posted an article on a start-up called NoiseTrade that embraces a similar model for connecting bands and fans? I think not.

Radiohead’s ‘pay-what-you-want’ model opened quite a lot of doors for the evangelists of music promotion and marketing, and focusing on exponential sharing techniques is just a ripple of that phenomenon that took a year and a half to mature. I now strongly believe that NoiseTrade’s and GA’s (or should I rather say Bacardi’s) initiatives are onto something big. It has entered the realm of the general consensus that music is now free, or “disposable”, or at least has reached some stage of liquidity that doesn’t undermine its value as an art form , but that has just renders it a strong medium to ignite buzz. A band’s traction will be judged by its capacity to be shared – a band’s word-of-mouth, or rather mail-to-inbox score will become an tangible and powerful credential.

Groove Armada’s Andy Cato explains the train of thought:

Sharing music has always gone on — it’s giving music away that’s the problem. We wanted to come up with a 21st century version of what we used to do with cassette tapes. When you give music away for free it’s disposable. When you share it, it’s done with love. The online sharing application will be available until March 2nd, when the EP becomes available via commercial digital release.

Just to show you where this can go in terms of viral promotion, the renowned and illustrious BoingBoing.com, ”Directory of Beautiful Things’ (I love this site by the way) has partnered with Bacardi and GA to launch a contest starting today (February 10) and ending on March 2cd. (Not much to it: go to the BoingBoing post here and follow instruction to maybe win a 16gb iPod Touch).

This is the visual result of that partnership after only a couple of hours:

This model was screen-shot from the BLive Share website. More than 320 of GA’s tracks have already been shared only through BoingBoing in a matter of hours (I must admit I would’ve excepted more coming from BB, but hey, that’s already pretty good).

So is altruism the future of music promotion? Anyone have an opinion on this? Mruff?

PS: This post was intended to give tid-bits of music info. The post above inspired more than I had initally planned so it has now become THE post of the day, and all the other music news might as well just go to hell, except one – Derek Sivers (CD Baby and MuckWork dude etc.) attended the MIDEM 2009 conference/tradeshow last month and brought us back some cool littel interview-videos of some featured music companies. Check them out on Music Think Tank or www.sivers.org :)

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One album – One story : “The Number Of The Beast” by Iron Maiden

[There's often more behind the discovery of an album than just the music.  Here's S. Ziggy Zagami's review of Iron Maiden's epic album 'The Number Of The Beast'.  If you would like to share your One album - One story, we'd love to post it.]

Review by By S. Ziggy Zagami.

You are encouraged to start reading this review by listening to the following track:

The Number Of The Beast

Yeah it’s old, “The Number of the Beast” being the third album released by Iron Maiden in early 1982. Maybe you’ve heard it, maybe you’re familiar with it, maybe it reminds you of being young and carefree, maybe it reminds you of a period in your life you’d rather forget or just maybe you’ve never heard it or even considered it. Iron Maiden’s name is synonymous with rock n’ roll, some would probably even consider them gods or pioneers of heavy metal. They were huge proponents of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal alongside the likes of Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. Indeed, they are still huge, and are currently flying around the world in their private 747 jumbo-jet “Ed Force One” on their world tour “Somewhere Back in Time” which began in February 2008 and is continuing until March 2009.

“The Number of the Beast” was released in March 1982 (making it a year older than me). Although the album was critically panned, Rolling Stone remarked that this album “blusters along aimlessly, proving again that bad music is hell”. The album enjoyed commercial success, going platinum in the U.S. The famous single “The Number of the Beast” got the band wrongly accused of being satanic. While the lyrics do talk about practices of Satanism, they do not really advocate listeners to be satanic or suggest that the band themselves are satanic followers, nor is the theme a recurring one on the album. When producing this album, Iron Maiden seemed to be inspired by films, books, poems, TV and other music, and these themes are more recurrent than Satanism. Iron Maiden are definitely a theatrical band and this is evident in “The Number of the Beast”. However, if you put the corniness of the lyrics aside and just give yourself over to this show-stopping tune, most likely you will be dancing around like an idiot and screaming at the top of your register. Another big tune from this album is

Run to the Hills

which is possibly one of their biggest and is still being used to close their performances. However, my favorite song on this album at the moment is the closing track

Hallowed Be Thy Name

This song is another of their famous tracks that make this a classic album. “Hallowed Be Thy Name” is a true closing track, like they used to be done – it is the most epic, and the longest track on the album. But it’s not the length that pulls you into it. No, it’s the sheer grandiosity of the lead guitar that grips you at the very core of your emotions and keeps you engaged long after the track has finished. Other notable songs on this album are “22 Acacia Avenue”, the second part in the “Charlotte the Harlot” saga,

The Prisoner

which was inspired by the British television show of the same name and includes dialogue from the show in its intro, and which is clearly referencing the horror movie.

Iron Maiden have been releasing music since 1978, their latest release being “A Matter of Life and Death” in 2006, and are planning on releasing their 15th album some time in 2009. They have sold more than 70 million albums worldwide, and their sales are undoubtedly only going to continue to increase considering you can pretty much find any of their albums selling for only $10 at the moment, due to somewhat of a revival of old school rock music. Their achievements are too numerous to list them all.

So why did I review “The Number of the Beast”? Well, I have previously said that I suffer from somewhat of a short attention span. I flirt from one style of music to the next, my musical taste inextricably tied to my moods and I’m up and down like a yo-yo. It was in May 2008 when I found Iron Maiden. I was working night shoots on a Bollywood film in Melbourne. It was a slow night so I was cleaning lighting stands with another guy and someone put on Iron Maiden. I wasn’t familiar with the band, but when I heard them I immediately fell in love. Listening to them even made the tedious task of cleaning light stands in the cold somewhat enjoyable. Suddenly I was reminiscing about my childhood. I used to love heavy metal – it’s loud, it’s big, it’s bold, it’s brash. Most of all it’s fun – from the all out assault of drums, to the driving bass lines. From the simple riffing grooves of rhythm guitar, to the powerful emotion of the more complex lead guitar. And then of course there is the singer who is often over the top, with cheesy lyrics and falsetto squeals. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why I had never explored the genre to its fullest back when I was twelve, although it was likely because I moved on to something else pretty quickly. The next day I bought an album called “The Number of the Beast” because it had some of their most famous singles.

While some may think this music is tired and old, and I admit it is hard to describe differences between songs, I only recently discovered this album and I truly find it invigorating. I feel the best way to describe how individual songs differ on a rock album like this is by varying intensities of energy. And this album on the whole gives me a real pick me up. So if you haven’t heard give it a try, it’s a classic. If you haven’t listened to it in a while give it a fresh listen. And when you listen to it, abandon your inhibitions and give yourself over and have fun. If you have listened to this album and don’t like it, get over it, cheer up.

Don’t take life so seriously, don’t take music so seriously. Have fun.

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Every great band needs a great image

Every great band needs a great image.

Saying that, I can already hear the purists with their music-snob radars hurling insults in my general direction. No worries, one day their fog of denial will lift and they will understand that the reason Wilco never got the mass acclaim they deserve is that Jeff Tweedy is about as interesting as nuns lawn bowling. Don’t get me wrong, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is one my favourite albums, but I’m not running to Chapters to pick up Tweedy’s biography.

There is no point in denying the importance of image in rock and roll. Granted, image isn’t everything. Nickelback would still be utter shit if Chad Kroger looked like Janis Joplin and Liam Gallagher’s love child. Even so, the lineage of great bands is adorned with people who looked cool beyond comprehension.

No one defined what it meant to be a rock-star as well as Elvis. With his black leather suits, immaculate hair, and his threatening-yet-sexy lip curl, he was the personification of cool. He had fantastic songs but he also had the look that gave the songs meaning. Do you think people would be singing Hound Dog or Jail House Rock in every corner of the globe if it had been sung by Otis the Obese Trucker? I’d wager on “no”. Look at pictures of The Beatles before they wore suits and they were simply copying the Elvis template of slick hair and black leather.
Of course, The Beatles [or their manager] soon realised they needed a look of their own if they were to become the Elvis of their generation so the mod suits and mop-tops were created (with the help of their German art-school friend).

The Beatles mop-top haircuts had to be one of the smartest marketing ploys in music history. They had the cleanly-tailored suits to get on TV and the shaggy hair to get the kids watching. They were simultaneously fooling and attracting both worlds. As their fame grew, The Beatles were intuitive enough to realise that “cool” changes every thirty seconds. If their music was to stay relevant, their image would have to change with the times. The fluorescent military uniforms of Sgt. Pepper followed – then the vests, granny glasses, and beards of the later years. The Beatles were masters of image.

Dylan’s androgynous electrocution-victim appearance of the mid-sixties marked the dawning of a new era in rock. He couldn’t plug in his guitar and still dress like Woody Guthrie, after all. His new kind of music needed a new kind of look to complete the effect, and it is an image that is still being copied. Personally speaking, no one has ever achieved the level of cool that Dylan did between 1964 and 1967. Just a year ago, listening to Highway 61 Revisited caused me to drop about a hundred and fifty bucks on a pair of Ray-Bans. I’m not alone in my vulnerability to rock cool. The same can be said of every person who has ever bought tie-dye shirt after listening to a bootlegged Grateful Dead track. There is a reason that pre-teens on Halloween dress in tie-dye and flash peace signs. The link between the peace sign and the freaky hippie image is so synonymous with the music scene of the late sixties that it seems wrong to have one without the other. The Grateful Dead would be broke if they couldn’t sell a billion tie-dye shirts a year.

The jam band / psychedelic scene and the punk scene set out to be very different from one another, but they are alike in that they are defined as much by their image as by their music. Late seventies punk bands had classic tunes, but there are teens that can whip up a punk uniform despite the fact that they would not know a Sex Pistols’ song if it kicked them in the head. Of course, that is often the result of having a great image to go along with the music. It eventually becomes commandeered by people who know nothing of its meaning.

But maybe mindless imitation is a good thing. It forces the next group of innovative artists to create to their own image to counteract the previously cool but now plastic manufactured style of the previous music scene. In the eighties, hair metal bands desecrated the rock god image of Led Zeppelin, culminating their efforts in the commercial masturbatory experience of stadium rock. Grunge music emerged to give the finger to Poison. Grunge bands had to create the anti-Bon Jovi look – flannel shirts and Doc Martins worked nicely.

Music and image play a similar role in sending a message. They go hand-in-hand to make the point that a new era has arrived. It would be silly to bring a new music to the masses while sporting the old style. How ridiculous would Kurt Cobain have looked if he sang Lithium in a feather-boa, makeup, and nut-hugging trousers?

This isn’t to say that image outweighs music. There have been loads of band with a distinct look but shit tunes. Group like the Darkness prove that music must be in the doesn’t suck zone before anyone cares what you’re wearing. The goal is to hit the sweet spot where your album is good but your image becomes a significant side note.

In print it looks something like; “The Strokes’ Is This It has resurrected rock from the ashes . . . and damn do they make a pair of Converse shoes, stone wash jeans, and corduroy jackets look good.”

I’ve realised that I have written almost a thousand words about image in music without mentioning either Bowie or Madonna. It seemed too easy. Bowie and Madonna are masters of image. Their looks really ARE as important as their music. With Ziggy Stardust, Bowie had people wondering if he really was from Mars. And Madonna changes images more often than American senators get caught with hookers. But they are the exceptions.

The general rule is that good bands need great music. But great bands need great music and an image. The music business is, after all, about entertainment and the more you give people to gawk at and talk about the more successful you’ll be.

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Brands and bands on the move to work hand in hand

On band/branding affairs, the soda company Mountain Dew established a music “label” called Green Label Sound , solely based on singles downloads. They inaugurated their activities with releases from Chicago’s The Cool Kids and Brooklyn duo Matt And Kim, with more deals to be signed in the months to come. The chosen singles are featured on the label’s front page and are available to download for free. The much too sugary Mountain Dew (I personally prefer Canada Dry) plans on sponsoring a tour for its artists and is working on means to help them throughout these tough times.

Here is what Chuck Inglish of The Cool Kids has to say:

“Mountain Dew is not trying to push their product through music like everyone else; they just wanna support music. … And with us tying to set up our new record without a record company, Mountain Dew gives us an unexpected helping hand to get up those steps.”

Deals between brands and bands have become a pretty common practice this past year and most relationships seem healthy for both parties. It’s hard to judge what’s to become of this new emerging model. I don’t really think I would associate my image to a soda brand, then again it’s easy to be all high and mighty when I don’t have a serious project going on.

I’m definitely not a big fan of the ‘sell out’ term so I try not to judge; I truly believe that if the creative process is not corrupted in any way then bands can gain from these deals. Since selling soda has nothing to do with selling records, bands won’t have to report to music executives who believe they know it all. Instead, they’ll hopefully work with people who will trust their artistic visions and goals in exchange for promoting a company with a visible face, or in this case taste.

Again, as long as those promotion strategies are not so obvious to the point of creating a hard-association between the band and the brand, I don’t see a problem.  Although the brands’ goal is to connect with the artist’s fans, they should know that these fans will be wary about seeing them in the picture. Pushing their marketing objectives too bluntly can and will come back and bite them (as well as their image/sales) in the ass.

Whatever the brands’ master plans are, they had better not be too invasive on the short-term if they want to sustain long-term penetration in the music market, especially in the indie scene.

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An artist’s advice on why and how to book house concerts

After our post on house concerts last week I decided to get more feedback from artists on the subject. Micheal Tiernan, a San Diego based musician provided me with a nice set of insights:

Micheal explains why he loves house concerts

• House concerts are so much better in many respects than the traditional club or theater, especially for the small to mid-size touring artist. Even bigger artists are adding house concerts to their tour schedules. For the artist who thrives on audience interaction and undivided audience attention, it is really rewarding to sing your song for people who are SO dialed into what you are singing and playing, vs. playing a big club where some people are not paying attention, partying it up, or worse, are interrupting the vibe of the music. That has its place, of course, but house concerts offer a super intimate atmosphere where the music can really find a home in each individual.
  
• That is so rewarding as a songwriter and performer – to be able to actually see the whites of the eyes of your audience and KNOW beyond doubt that, hey, this is why I wrote the song, to make this kind of difference. There is also the connection between performer and listener that fosters die hard fans who will continue to support you in your career and will spread the news about you.
• For the listener, it really is a unique experience. For one, it’s a relatively cheap night out – you can bring your favorite booze, meet new people or chum with old friends. And you can listen to the music without the usually clubby distractions.
• Money: it’s usually understood that it’s a $15 donation to the artist. Some people are uncomfortable charging their friends, and they pay you just outright. I tell people that if they can get at least 25-30 people there, then I will do the show. That makes it worth it for me, especially if I’m traveling. It’s also rewarding for the artist because they can typically make more money at the performance and can count on boosting the income w/guaranteed CD sales. There’s usually no split w/ the host – artist makes %100.  That’s unheard of.

Micheal explains how to book house concerts and educate fans about them

• The demand for house concerts is growing.  In San Diego, there are about 6 or 7 hosts that frequently put on house concerts (from once a month to a few a year). Some specialize in local acts, and others do national acts. I find that the best way to get house concerts is by educating your own fans who are already on your mailing list. I frequently get emails from places I’ve toured asking when I’m going to be playing in their area, and I answer, “Why don’t I come play in your living room!”.

• There’s a good interest for that when you present it, even though there’s not a widespread knowledge of what house concerts are. The main thing to do is to educate them that it’s more of a listening concert, not just a house party. People need to know what to expect – otherwise they’ll set it up like any other party , and people will be partying and chatting just like they might do in a club. Once you explain what it is, people get fired up.  Its new,  its unique and it’s a cool party to throw.

• I’m going to Colorado to tour next week. When I was planning the tour, I couldn’t find anything that worked for a Saturday in Boulder. One of my fans in the area had emailed me and I pitched him the idea.  He was stoked. I’ll be playing at his house next Saturday and he’s amped up about promoting my music to his friends, most of whom will be a brand new audience for me. Since they know him, they trust him that it’ll be good.  Easy promotion and new fans for me.  Plus, I’ll probably make more than I will in my public gigs.

Micheal concludes

For independent musicians, it’s a totally viable way to help make your living. You gotta be good though and can’t hide behind a guitar or a huge amp. You have to know how to strip down, be honest, vulnerable, personable, and really hold people’s attention.  Its perfect for the more acoustic singer/songwriter-types, where story telling is a big part of what we do.

Thanks Micheal!
You can check him out in the following links:

Website: www.tiernantunes.com

MySpace: www.myspace.com/tiernantunes

Sonicbids EPK: www.sonicbids.com/michaeltiernan

Youtube Channel: www.youtube.com/tiernantunes

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