Seth Godin, one of the ‘nets chief marketing gurus, lays it out in an essay he calls “the live music talk”. Nothing you haven’t heard before as far as independent bands and what it takes to be successful but, as always, Seth is clear and concise with his thoughts.
The next thing is this idea that people care very much about who is sitting next to them at the concert. They care very much about the secret handshake. They care very much about the tribal identification. “Oh you like them, I like themâ€. The Grateful Dead is an amazingly successful paradigm for many of the things I’m talking about. They didn’t make any money selling records compared to the way they made money doing everything else. Part of it was, you knew if you met someone at a dead concert, they had some things in common with you. The secret handshake, the clothes, whatever it was. And that was important and you were willing to pay money to be with those people. And after Jerry died it was very interesting. Because obviously there was thousands of hours to listen to but that’s not what the people missed. The people missed the place they could go to meet the people like them.
The next idea is this idea of liking. There is a lot of music I like. There is not so much music I love. They didn’t call the show, “I Like Lucyâ€, they called it “I Love Lucyâ€. And the reason is you only talk about stuff you love, you only spread stuff you love. You find a band you really love, you’re forcing the CD on other people, “you gotta hear this!â€. We gotta stop making music people like. There is an infinite amount of music people like. No one will ever go out of the way to hear, to pay for, music they like.
How many people have you given a Grace Potter and the Nocturnals mix to? How many people have you dragged to a concert? That’s the way it works baby, so keep it up. (OK, I’ll take my cheerleader costume off now).
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How many people have you given a Grace Potter and the Nocturnals mix to? How many people have you dragged to a concert? That’s the way it works baby, so keep it up. (OK, I’ll take my cheerleader costume off now).
Hey Mojo – you’re one of the best cheerleaders we’ve got with thi site of yours – don’t stop now – Yes, I’ve brought people to shows, and handed out a couple few CD’s and I’ve sent people to this site too – and that is what it’s all about when you LOVE a band like GPTN! Keep it goin’!
I can think of at least a dozen people that I have dragged to shows, more that I have forwarded music too, at last count I had 20 different live show recordings, seen 8 live shows in three different states, spent countless hours on the three different websites, and my 7 year old daughter wakes up to “Joey” every morining on her ipod alarm clock! I LOVE THIS BAND! (too). Thanks Mojo!
While Seth rambles a bit too much for me, the crux of his dissertation is ko-RECK. Viral baby. Word of mouth. I drug a friend to Keb ‘Mo and she fell in love…had never HEARD of him. The shame. Finding all kinds of music freaks out there who are always looking for new, good music.
A friend of mine turned me on to some good artists and encouraged me to do the same. I’ve been a Cheerleader ever since.
Cheerleaders rule!
You get the impression Seth didn’t know the secret handshake? Thanks again Mojo!
Gee you get busy for a few days and you’re running to catch up . . . . . .
The Asheville video posted upthread is from someone I gave the final nudge to go to her first concert. She makes five recruits over 2 concerts, and I’ve only been to one concert myself. (distance challenged)
So do I get beginner pom-poms ?
Seriously, the writer makes some good points. Recruiting one fan at a time who comes for the music grows a stable fan base. Having a sense of community just strengthens interest over the long term. jmho of course