A picture is worth.....

Divergence Of Opinion (or how to not tow the company line)

It seems that some dissenting opinions are beginning to crop up (or at least I'm becoming aware of them) in regards to the dialogue about core fans / true fans / direct to fan. As I mentioned in a previous post the singularity of opinion was making me nervous. I found myself saying things more or less verbatim that I'd heard from others with very little empirical evidence on my part to support those ideas.

It sure *sounded* reassuring to say "Direct To Fan is the future!" "Custom bundling is the future!" "Analytics will save us!" It is still about great music, community, contextualization of shared experiences and FUN. Oh... that and one more little thing: finding your audience.

The links below will take you to a couple of long-ish posts, but both are very rich as are the comment sections.

Brands Plus Music Blog (click to read the post)

Fingertips Music Blog (click to read the post)

The Long Tail Of Fandom

The New Way

Everyone that's paying attention knows that the old mode of selling music is gone. Long gone. This is old news. It's about word of mouth, recommendations from trusted sources and authentic relationships between artists and fans.

What concerns me is that many very thoughtful people who are genuinely concerned with the state of the music industry (as opposed to the record industry) all seem to be headed in the same direction.

We study and listen and talk. We read Seth Godin and what his disruptive notion of permission marketing has inspired. We study the latest trends in D2F (direct to fan) platforms and the financial advantages produced by product bundling (Nine Inch Nails, Metric, etc..) There are some very smart people leading conversations and some innovative platforms in the market or coming to the market place shortly.

But if the smartest and brightest amongst us are all traversing the same path (more or less) will we all arrive at the same place at the same time only to realize there's a finite amount of everything sans bandwidth? Does it matter to be an early adopter when the time line in The Everett Rogers Diffusion of innovations theory / rate of diffusion is now so compressed.

The thought that keeps rising to the top of my mind is this: if most everyone is focused on genuine relationships, direct to fan sales, permission marketing, web metrics and the like how will anyone differentiate themselves from anyone else? The music lover only has so many hours in each day, only so much disposable income although some would argue that getting the fans attention is far more important than getting their money, or that the former leads to the latter.

Perhaps I'm missing the point, and the tools that I mention above will serve the smartest few with additional tools to achieve what we currently see as the real way forward: genuine contact, life long fans, true fans. Fans for life. 1,000 (or 10,000) true fans.

Everyone has access to twitter and facebook but only a few use those tools effectively.

This Week: Sept. 1, 2008

Summer is officially over and regardless of our mortal delineations of the seasons you can really tell that it's so here in Upstate NY. Of course those that live REALLY Upstate laugh when I call Ulster County "Upstate", but it's relative I suppose.

The tomatoes from the Farmers Market are amazing, as are all the odd looking squashes (?) that I've never previously seen. The days are getting shorter, the sun is hanging lower in the sky. The nights are getting nearly cold and it's a great relief.


LISTENING:
Mike Doughty's Haughty Melodic
Jill Sobule / Underdog Victorious
Rough mixes of the upcoming "Country Classics" record by John Doe and The Sadies
Meredit Bragg record, courtesy of M. Lockwood
Terri Binion
Sea Wolf / Get to the River Before It Runs Too Low - EP
Jim Campilongo (live at The Living Room)
Dean and Britta live
Chris Isaak Live (don't ask)


WATCHING:
the septic guy suck out our tank.... uggh
Family Guy! Family Guy! Family Guy!
Presidential contest stuff / debates

READING:
NYTimes via my iPhone App. Excellent interface.
Salty by Mark Haskell Smith
blogs and more blogs: music blogs, science blogs, political blogs, celebrity blogs

PONDERING:
The sad and unexpected deaths of JH's 15 year old neice, and "Papa" Guardado, President of Hells Angels SF and a very nice guy.
How happy I am to have my new, super simple, one speed beach cruiser bicycle.
The joy of riding a bike in NYC when Park Avenue is closed to motorized vehicles.

The Week Ending April 18th 2008

LISTENING:
Cass McCoombs
Juana Molina demos
Unreleased Aimee Mann record. (courtesy of Gail)
Lots of support act submissions for the upcoming Jim White Tour
Thom Monahans and Andy Cabics re-mix of John Doe's GOLDEN STATE.
Eduardo Mateo / Solo Bien Se Lame
Unreleasede Loudon Wainwright record (Courtesy of Joe H)
Mahalia Jackson


WATCHING:
The stunning white flowering buds on the trees near my house
Otto, the dog that we are taking care of
HGTV
Presidential contest stuff / debates, op-eds, etc.
StSanders "Shreds" videos (yes... STILL)


READING:
Endgame by Derrick Jensen (depressing)
Here Comes Everyone by Clay Shirky
The New Yorker
poems by Borges

PONDERING:
Sustainability
If major labels will EVER pull their collective heads out of their asses
the stupidity in spades that I seem to be encountering lately
subscription music business models
the root of self loathing
becoming a vegetarian again

TASTING:
home made fish tacos
extremely salty mixed nuts from Whole Foods
super dark chocolate
Chipotle Burrito Bowls

SxSW 2008: Who I Saw

Trilobite
Ra Ra Riot
Zambri
David Dondero
AA Bondy
Deer Tick
Jeremy Fisher
Bowerbirds
Peter And The Wolf
Kevin Devine
Martha Wainwright
The Brother Kite
Sonya Kitchell
Money Mark
Jay Reatard
Clare & The Reasons (3 times)
Alan Hampton
The Watson Twins
Langhorne Slim
X
The Radishes
Vampire Weekend
Golden Dogs
Yellow Fever
Doveman
Portastatic
John Doe
Sons and Daughters
Nicole Atkins