11 Pearls of Wisom

Upon doing some research online for the upcoming paper 3, I stumbled upon this article/list, which was posted back in July - "11 Things a Failed Music Career Taught Me About PR." I was immediately interested since I'm majoring in public relations here at USC and would like to pursue a career in the music industry.

Here's Tom Nixon's list of 11 pearls of wisdom, along with my thoughts on each:

1.) Video killed the radio star.
very true. Since the birth and explosion and downfall of MTV, appearances have never been more important. Being an artist is now not just about creating great art, it's also about having an image. From Madonna to N'SYNC to the Spice Girls to Lady GaGa, image is everything. Even the artists who claimed to be anti-establishment had an image, even the artists who claimed they didn't care about their "image"... still had an image. Think Bob Dylan, Sex Pistols, Nirvana, Eminem.

2.) Nothing travels faster than word of mouth.
Word of viral mouth, I'd say. With Facebook and Twitter and blogs nowadays, anything a band does can and probably is somehow documented somewhere on the internet. As Nixon says,

"If your band has a lousy live performance, people would scorch you. If you rocked live, your following would quickly grow."

It's become ever so crucial these days for bands to be part of that word of mouth, to engage with their audience and be an active member in the online conversation.

3.) Publicity is platinum.
I don't know if I completely agree with this one - I think getting publicity is crucial to spreading the word about your band, but it's also about getting the right publicity. A band should aim to get their name out there, wherever their fans are, be it online, in dingy dive bars, or at PTA meetings.

4.) Constant contact.
This goes back to my earlier post with Trent Reznor's business plan. CwF: Connect with Fans. If you keep your fans in the loop, you'll keep the interested, which can be one of the hardest things to do in this A.D.D/15-second attention span world we live in today.

5.) You're nothing without a database.
CRUCIAL point. probably should go as #3, in fact. If you make all those industry contacts and fans, but it's all in your head, it's not going to do anyone any good. Plus you'll forget, make human errors, etc etc etc. Having a database, even if it's just a simple excel sheet with fan emails, is a cornerstone to CwF.

6.) Advertising works.
To a certain extent. Just telling someone that your band is playing or has a new CD isn't enough anymore, there needs to be a CALL TO ACTION (shout out to last week's JOUR 351A lecture). Nixon gave the example about how his band's flyers advertised free shots at the bar they were playing at. Given it wasn't true, but it got people to the bar.

7.) Your fans will do your bidding for you.
Coming back to social media. and CwF. Getting your fans engaged, making them part of the process of the band, not just consumers, will provide natural incentive for them to spread the word about your band. If your fans have an emotional investment in the band, they will care just that much more.

8.) If you can't get signed, put out your own CD.
Truer words have never been spoken. Having a record deal doesn't mean you're set for life - you'll spend years of your career recouping costs to make that damn album before you even see one cent of earnings. With services like CDBaby and bandcamp, it's become so easy for an artist to distribute their music.

9.) Not all bands should toot horns.
A fundamental in PR. You shouldn't lie. You've got to be honest with the media if you want to maintain any modicum of credibility in the future.

10.) Grow your hair out and wear second-hand clothes.
"Preach that message internally, and live it always externally. Be consistent, and be recognizable." I immediately thought of Lady GaGa. I read an article with someone in her camp who said that Lady GaGa IS Lady GaGa 24/7, that you'd never find Stefani Germanotta in sweatpants and a t-shirt. Germanotta has completely blurred the line between her image as Lady GaGa and her self, embracing her image as her self.

11.) Have fun."Life's too short to sweat the small stuff. In other words, 'Rock on!'"
amen. What's the point if you're not having any fun? Don't tell me you're in this industry for the money???

Overexposed??

In the past month, Phoenix has been EVERYWHERE. You know who they are even if you think you don't; you definitely know the song 1901 if you've seen the latest Cadillac commercials, and you've probably seen them live (on TV) if you tune into the late night talk shows, since they've played every single one this year. plus SNL. plus song placements in Where The Wild Things Are, 90210 and Entourage. As Stereogum states, Phoenix is "one lime-beer commercial away from a perfect score on the multimedia-saturation index that goes from 1 to Santigold."

But. How much exposure is too much exposure? Is Phoenix becoming so over-saturated in the media that people the will become desensitized to their music? Has Phoenix managed to pique as well as lose public interest in the same wave of publicity?

When a band gets so much attention in such a short amount of time, how successful is it in generating long-term interest? Or it is just a flash in the pop culture radar? Does Phoenix loose part of their "indie cred" by being in a Cadillac commercial?

Phoenix generated buzz and interest within the indie scene through making the rounds in the festival circuits, and really exploded onto the general public conscious with the intense media tour they've been on.

When the excitement generated by pop culture dies down, Phoenix will probably still have their core fan base, but the question really is whether this public interest can last...

All About the EXPERIENCE

This past week Rob McDermott, the manager of Linkin Park, came to speak to my Entertainment in Public Relations class. He emphasized through and through during his talk the importance of the "experience." He stressed the cruciality for fans to have the experience, how music is about the experience, and how efforts should be made to ultimately drive fans to the experience.

What is the "experience"? It's the experience of seeing your favorite band for the first time in concert, of seeing a new band for the first time live and being blown away, of seeing your favorite band for the millionth time live and still being excited about it.

I've spent some time mulling over the importance Rob placed on the experience, and how touring has become the economic backbone of an artist with declining CDs sales. Being able to tour and turn a profit while on tour has become a critical factor in the equation to keep an artist economically afloat in a ball busting industry.

It is the live experience that cannot be replicated, that just isn't the same when relayed through a digital avenue. It's about the moment, the emotions, about being right then and there.

Concert experiences have been translated in many ways - Youtube videos of select songs from shows, even whole concerts, higher quality live DVDs, and live streams of concerts. The Live Earth Concert. The upcoming U2 concert at the Rose Bowl.

Taking a closer look at U2's decision to broadcast their concert live online. It's already sold out after all, so there is no monetary loss, simply marketing brilliance. What U2 is doing isn't selling out their live experience, what they're doing is showing everyone who isn't there what they're missing. You'll be watching the U2 show on your 15 inch Macbook, and even with your sweet hundred dollar headphones, you'll be thinking - damn. I wish I were there. It's a brilliant marketing strategy, combining the power and reach of the Internet and the live experience to drive fans to the live experience itself. Being able to broadcast your live experience worldwide will help drive concert sales wherever your next tour hits. Not that U2 needs help selling out their tours. But think about what this could do for a smaller act with an insane live show?

Personally, there are quite a few bands that I wouldn't necessarily sit at home and listen to, but would definitely go to a show if they came through town (check out Family Force 5, I beg of you. Bring Me The Horizon also puts on a crazy brutal show).

Given this great strategy, the one thing as a band that one still needs, other than means of broadcasting, is a solid live show. If you sound shitty live and have a boring show, broadcasting it online to the world will have, well, just the opposite effect. No one will want to come see your shows.

Ultimately, it's the live experience that trumps all. So band, please practice and make your set a damn interesting one to watch. Everyone else, get out there, away from your computer, and see a live show or two. It'll be grand, really.

Latest Single, Available Exclusively on Rock Band!

In the midst of the unstable economy and struggles of the music industry, a sector of the industry that has seen steady growth in the past couple of years are the music licensing departments. Now that it's harder and harder to get people to actually buy CDs and the avenues of music exposure are becoming more niche and fragmented, the business of licensing music has provided a way to reinvigorate the single and break artists through to a mass audience.

Some examples of the convergence of music and traditional and new media via music placement:

- MTV's heavy use of music to set the mood and create a soundtrack to the events on their reality shows such as Laguna Beach and The Hills have helped exposed numerous artists to millions of viewers. Back in the Laguna Beach days, MTV put up the soundtracks following each episode for free download on MTV.com.

- The Fray would not be THE FRAY today without Grey's Anatomy. The decision of the show and network to use "How to Save a Life" as the main song in the advertising promotions for the show's season three premier helped launch the song into Top 40, selling over one million downloads.

- Smashing Pumpkins released their single "G.L.O.W." in 2008 via Guitar Hero: World Tour, Rise Against released "Death Blossom" in the same edition of the game, and Wolfmother released "Cosmic Egg" just last week on Guitar Hero 5.

- The Madden NFL video games have always placed a great importance on their soundtracks, helping break artists like Yellowcard ("Way Away" on Madden 2004)and Pitbull ("Fuego" on Madden 2008) to a wider audience.

AP Fall Ball

Last night I was at the Avalon in Hollywood for the Alternative Press Fall Ball Tour, featuring (in order of appearance) You Me At Six, The Secret Handshake, Set Your Goals, Mayday Parade and The Academy Is..., which led me to this whole train of thinking about the music magazine business as well as the formulation of lineups for tours.

A little bit of background and basics about AP and all the bands. Alternative Press is a popular music magazine, specializing in the pop/punk/hardcore/emo genres - think Fall Out Boy, Panic! At The Disco, Paramore, Green Day. With the boom of the internet leading to the demise of print media, the magazine has suffered in subscriptions and has also slowly begun to loose some of its clout in the music industry. The magazine, while always a very feature-driven publication, has nonetheless developed its online presence by driving readers to exclusive online content, including first-listens, timely photo stories and shorter and more frequent feature pieces. Although readership may be decreasing, getting on the cover of AP is still a big deal for a band, and a feature in the magazine will still be displayed prominently in your press kit/clippings. So despite when people say "who the hell reads AP anymore these days," it's still kind of a big deal?

Moving onto the bands on the AP Fall Ball: Mayday Parade co-headlining with The Academy Is... Mayday Parade, just a mere couple of years ago, was the unsigned band following Warped Tour all summer, not playing Warped Tour mind you, but working the lines and selling their CDs outside the venues. Fast forward a couple of years, they landed a record deal with Fearless Records and have just released their second LP. The Academy Is..., pop-punk darlings from about 2005-2007 (at least I would say), have 3 albums under their belt and a newly released EP. Set Your Goals --> bay area pop-punk/melodic hardcore band --> a solid and growing fan base. The Secret Handshake - synth pop, sang to a backing track and wayy overused auto-tune live. Not interested. You Me At Six, British pop(-punk) imports, kind of the All Time Low of the UK.

Set Your Goals is a band that I think doesn't fit in to this tour - all the other bands on the bill fall way more on the pop side of the pop-punk scale. The hardcore SYG fans don't give a shit about The Secret Handshake and vice versa. Now the question: why put a band like this on a tour like this? Is it a good thing that they don't sound like all the other bands? Is this an opportunity for SYG fans to perhaps discover something new, and an opportunity for Mayday Parade fans to discover SYG? Possibly. There will definitely be some people who will discover a new band they like. There will also be a lot of people who don't stay for the rest of the show after Set Your Goals play, or don't show up until Mayday Parade plays. There are also people who are Set Your Goals fans who won't buy tickets to the show because they don't care about the rest of the bands in the line-up. Does this hurt ticket sales? If so, how much?

Are tours with varied line-ups a good risk or a bad risk? The AP Fall Ball is far from an extreme example, but let's take a look at a couple of the artists they have up for the vote for their spring tour - The Cab, Every Avenue, Fun., Good Old War, Never Shout Never, Frank Turner, Sing It Loud. We could go extremely pop here or go the more indie/acoustic route. What if it were Good Old War, Every Avenue, Never Shout Never? Would the tour sell? Does having a varied bill of artists fragment your audience (and cash flow) or does it coalesce into one nicely diverse crowd?


(note: festivals, whole different ball game. more artists, more stages, more all-around experiences.)

Myspace: Dead or Alive?

“Thanks for the add!”

If you had a Myspace and NEVER received or doled out one of these in a comment or message… well, you’re lying.

Myspace’s explosion in popularity after it was introduced in 2003 made it one of the most popular social networking sites in the early to mid 2000s, with over 100 million accounts created by 2006.

The ability to customize one’s profile through simple HTML codes allowed users to decorate the hell out of their pages, many with ridiculous glitter banners and incomprehensible font. This customization, through Myspace Music, also allowed artists to upload songs and videos to their profile pages for streaming and downloading.

Having a Myspace became one of the first things to do once you formed a band – you uploaded a couple of your demos onto your music player, found a decent and flattering photo to upload, wrote a nice little “About Me,” and started friending strangers on the Internet like crazy.

Starting in the late 2000s, bands and labels started realizing that they could REALLY trick out these Myspace pages with some intense HTML coding – completely revamping the design and look of the page to fit your artist’s “vibe.” Today, even if you’re unsigned, some bands will shell out those 500 bucks for a sweet Myspace design. Not necessarily the most efficient use of 500 bucks as an emerging band I personally say, but hey, we do live in an appearance driven economy after all.

Moving to present day, Facebook has overtaken Myspace as the king of social networking sites – the infiltration of porn stars and spammers on Myspace being the beginning of its downfall. Artists have begun created Facebook pages, but without the level of success achieved with Myspace.

Even though Myspace is declining in its popularity among actual users, I think it’s still an important social networking element for an artist. It is no replacement for a website where the artist owns the domain name, but at least it’s something. A Myspace profile is still a place where you can aggregate all your collateral as a band – a place for your music, your demos, your videos, your blog updates, and a place to connect directly with your fans.

Thanks for the add!

Research Topic

My research project will delve into the debate of the disintegration of the major record label and just how relevant they still are to the music industry. I will analyze multiple perspectives on the issue, from both the well-established artist as well as the emerging artist's points of view. I will examine the pros and cons of the label versus DIY routes of release a record.

Established artists like Radiohead already have an existing fan base as well as an established reputation - the band itself is a brand and an entity to the consumer. There is no need for the clout of a record label to generate interest in a new record or tour - once the news item hits the internet, viral word-of-mouth takes care of the rest. Record labels aren't needed to secure distribution, their services aren't really needed to get Radiohead's newest single onto radio either. If you're Radiohead, you know people. You know people who know people. You can pull all those strings and make all those phone calls on behalf of yourself; you are the means to your end - there is no need for a middleman such as a record label to be involved.

On the flip side, a newly formed band doesn't necessarily have all those connections, which is where record label steps in. Signing to a label doesn't guarantee an easy ride to the top, much less any level of success. What it does provide though are the tools necessary to expose the music.

Signing to a record deal means that the wheels of all the department are churning together to push your new record out onto the market. The marketing department is taking out advertising on websites and magazines; the sales department is making sure your album is actually in stores; the radio department is seeding your single to radio stations across the country; the publicity department is securing interviews, features and reviews; the new media department is establishing an online presence and buzz.

But maybe there is a new business model out there that doesn't include all these different aspects. Many artists are exploring different methods and avenues to get their music noticed and heard, from licensing it through video games or extremely viral campaigns. Artists are evaluating the current bloated structure of many record labels and deciding that DIY is just as viable of an option, perhaps even more profitable, with no recoupment necessary before they start seeing their share of the profits.