Godin/Zappos

What excites me is the ring of truth. I’m wandering through this life alone, feeling that no one has the same viewpoint as me and I see or read something and have a EUREKA moment. My heart starts to pump, I feel this warmth inside, I’m EXCITED that someone sees the world the way I do.

Before rushing to the airport this morning, I fired up my web browser to visit my sites, including Seth Godin’s blog. In it, Seth decries inane promotions. An insurance company sponsoring baseball’s Home Run Derby then takes out a billboard to promote the promotion! The first money quote:

"This is how far we’ve come, how low we’ve sunk."

That’s how I feel about the music business constantly. Where are those acts speaking to me, letting me know they feel the way I do, alienated, sometimes without hope, but looking to be inspired, looking to feel alive? All I see is fucking idiots sold out to the man. Being told what to do and obeying their superiors. Or purveying such indie crap that who cares if they’re giving it to the man, NOBODY’S PAYING ATTENTION TO THEM! Used to be THE MAINSTREAM acts, the ones with all the hits, were giving the finger to the man. That’s why we believed in them. Whereas Justin Timberlake coughed up Janet Jackson so he wouldn’t be tainted by the exposed titty. Huh? They’re all singing for Bud, testifying for Pepsi and McDonald’s… And the men behind the scenes, who are not risking their credibility, push them to do it.

But the ultimate money quote is this:

"Here’s my number one fiduciary rule for big brand marketers: The executives involved in approving a sports or entertainment promotion should not be permitted to attend the event."

Ain’t that it in a nutshell. Would Howard Schultz have paid all that money to Paul McCartney if he couldn’t hang with him? What did the McCartney record do for Starbucks? Certainly didn’t help its bottom line, certainly didn’t burnish the brand’s image. Shit, they’re barely selling music anymore and THEY’RE CLOSING STORES! Wouldn’t it have been better to focus on something that sold COFFEE?

I’m wondering if all the companies musicians and their handlers are trolling for sponsorship bucks are ever going to wake up. And realize they’re getting taken. Word on the street is some have. It’s just not that easy to get bread to underwrite a tour anymore. I say good. Then maybe artists will be forced to focus on the music. The music will have to drive the income. And since the handlers don’t and can’t create the music, maybe they’ll realize they’re BEHOLDEN to the artists. That the artist comes first. And his image and credibility are paramount.

But what got me to write this was the screening line. Where you take off your shoes and socks and underwear… Well, maybe not that much, but… Why get dressed if you’re going to be screened? Why not come naked?

So I pick up a white tray, to put my shoes in, and at the bottom of it, there’s a giant glowing 3D ad for ZAPPOS! Now this is clever marketing. This got me to smile. Someone was thinking about enhancing the brand. Where better for the company to place its message than where SOMEONE IS PUTTING DOWN THEIR SHOES! There’s a direct connection. Furthermore, I was endeared to the company because I could see the creative process… Someone at the company or agency having that eureka moment, realizing this was a perfect place to advertise, selling shoes where shoes LIVE!

It’s this level of creativity that used to have me marvelling at musicians and their records. Wow, THAT was clever. How did they come up with that? Where did they come up with the sounds for "Strawberry Fields Forever"? God, when Frank Zappa sings about losing status at the high school… Now, all we see on MTV is people WITH status! Used to be the hard core music fan was an outsider. As were the musicians. Eric Clapton wouldn’t have had to learn how to play the guitar if he was a good conversationalist, he wouldn’t have needed it to get LAID! Musicians used to leave some blood on the saddle. We experienced their pain. Now we’re just pained to hear the endless melismas on the Diane Warren-penned tracks.

Where is this creativity in the music business? How come an online shoe company has a hipper promotion than a record company? Brown shoes don’t make it, but they’re much more interesting than the endless twits being sold by the usual suspects. Shit, go to Columbia Records’ site…THEY’VE GOT FUCKING GOOGLE ADS! Trent Reznor uses his web presence to titillate and inspire. Forces the fan to think, to follow the clues. Columbia could build its brand, let us into the mind of Rick Rubin. Instead we find clickable information that we just don’t care about.

Speaking of innovation… The guy next to me in the lounge is watching that TV poker show on his computer via his SlingBox! That’s cool. But the record industry, selling the coolest product in creation, wants to eviscerate cool to protect its margins. And you wonder why it’s in trouble…

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