An Audience First World
Business is good, but it’s meaningless. You can look at the concert grosses and be stunned that this many people are paying this much money to go see these acts, but really, it’s about the audience, not the performers.
Now in the sixties, venues had seats. Even clubs. Into the seventies too. And then they were ripped-out in the name of the experience, even though despite denials it was mostly about squeezing in more paying patrons, you were all in it together, but you might not be able to see over another person’s head, you might be jostled, elbowed…
But this was mostly at clubs. Which are selling atmosphere.
Now everybody is selling atmosphere.
Back in those seated days, there was a clear division between those who were on stage and those who were not. The musicians were icons, delivering sounds with messages, they were leaders, and never cartoons, unless that was the essence of their act.
Now the business was confounded by the internet. Used to be you had wealthy corporations using their relationships to deliver a small amount of product through anointed channels…radio, TV and most especially retail. There was a focus. Now that that apparatus is gone, all we hear about is gaming the system. Getting on playlists, going viral on social media. There’s almost no focus on the music itself, if anything the records are mostly me-too, because commerce rules. Which it always did, except for the explosion in the sixties and seventies.
So if you’re a young person today, you go to the arena show to hang with your friends and shoot selfies. Eliminate the smartphone, employ Yondr sleeves, and you’re undercutting the experience, because it’s not about the music, but the feeling you get being there amongst your brethren, and how you can employ the videos and photos you shot at the gig thereafter.
It’s a top-heavy business, because the idea of a developing act… You didn’t mind that the club was half-full, or the theatre, because you were there at the advent of a phenomenon, you bought in early, the act was special in more than image.
Today, nobody wants to see an unsigned, unfamous act without traction. Great doesn’t come up from the bottom. It’s anointed online, you hear about it on the internet, word spreads like wildfire and the act may even play arenas on the first tour. People get caught up in the mania. The old school loner, sitting at home with his records, that’s passé.
You see the audience now has a voice. Which individuals express ad infinitum. Which traditional purveyors just can’t understand. Not only are supposed icons criticized, people are building their own personal “brands’ online. They’re participating. This is what the media and oldsters miss. They just want to shut down social media, they just want youngsters to put down the smartphone, they don’t understand that culture is now built online, by individuals, many individuals, and the gatekeepers of yore are history.
You bring your own personal brand to the show, and then you burnish it online thereafter. You purchase special clothes for the gig, put on makeup, shoot photos that can be posted across the internet. You don’t go home and play the records of the act you just saw in your bedroom for days, no, you immediately go online to share the experience, show that you were there and what a great time you had. It’s nearly equivalent to what car you drove in the old days. In a world of Uber and Waymo, not only do youngsters forestall getting their driver’s licenses, they don’t care about cars at all.
But they do care about their online identity.
What did we hear about the Taylor Swift Eras tour? Not much about the music, but the audience! All about the friendship bracelets, it was a cultural rite, and if you were a woman in the demo and didn’t attend you were a lame outsider, an outcast.
Look at the Sphere. The acts play on a short riser on the floor, they’re dominated, overwhelmed by the visuals. It’s not about the act so much as the experience.
Now one of the great things about streaming TV is it only goes one way. You watch it in small groups, if not wholly alone, and then… Nothing. You can tell people online that you saw a show, but you can’t interact with the show itself. There’s a division between the performer/show and audience that is no longer evident in music.
And it’s funny to see Netflix try and compete with YouTube. You can’t be all things to all people. Netflix is in the phenomenon business, like the music business of old. YouTube is about audience participation. What makes Netflix special is the audience can’t participate, leaving the platform special. But whipsawed by Wall Street, Netflix keeps changing its formula to appease investors and confound subscribers. Why do I need podcasts on Netflix? Stuff that anybody can do, meanwhile, these same people can’t make a high quality show. As for games… That’s its own universe elsewhere, who needs Netflix for games?
No, Netflix is special. Netflix is the Beatles of streaming. And having earned this status, it just doesn’t know what to do. Which is simple, just make more great shows.
This is not HBO Max or Peacock or Prime… Netflix is for everybody. With something for everybody. You feel good about the service, you are not angry someone else has a subscription. Basing your business on a few hits, like HBO, is an old model. Today it’s about serving everyone with a plethora of material, which is the essence of TikTok.
So when it comes to music, the scene will only become healthy again when the acts are innovative and separate from the audience. A great example being Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails. Who is this guy and what are they doing? He’s different from you and me, and he’s making music others are not. That’s a big draw.
When the music connects, which is not an easy task.
As for the vaunted rap battle between Kendrick and Drake, that’s a long in the tooth cartoon that’s so last century, pro wrestling for a small audience. It’s a walled garden, whereas truly great, innovative music, converts outsiders, spreads further in the marketplace.
So to truly stand out today, you’ve got to stand apart from the audience. This is the draw of Bob Dylan’s concerts. He neither speaks to nor connects with those in attendance, who make up their own story. Is it a joke on them or genius? Take your pick, Bob certainly ain’t gonna tell you.
And in an audience first world, arena shows must have production. Attendees don’t care if the music is on hard drive, as long as they’re wowed by what they see on stage.
As for superhero movies… Every ounce of audience enthusiasm has been drained. The interest, the debate, it’s been wrung out. But not understanding the audience, studios keep doubling down and are confounded when the umpteenth derivative sells not at all.
Whereas Christopher Nolan’s “Odyssey”… Most people have never read the ancient tome, they’re enticed by spectacle, something new. Nolan is seen as an auteur who maintains a distance from the audience. He’s not a wannabe musician begging for attention online.
As for those complaining…
Let’s be clear, there are few truly great musicians out there, few great artists. So your lack of success isn’t based on marketing, but the work itself.
Furthermore, what sells online is life, connection, personal story, all of which used to be the domain of music, which has now abdicated this power. A post on TikTok is straight from the heart, a song on the radio may have been written by many and mixed to death. The public wants raw and immediate, which is why some of the best tracks in history…the songs were written in minutes and the records made in a few hours, if that.
So, if you want to be successful in any artistic endeavor today, you must first think about your audience.
And if your specialty is voluminous sharing, maybe you shouldn’t be a musician at all, you should be an influencer. Successful influencers make more money that musicians!
Find what you’re great at. If you’re not great, do something different.
Your greatness must attract an audience, not your marketing. There must be an inner mounting flame that resonates with the audience. After all, it’s the audience that makes hits and stars today, word of mouth is everything. And word of mouth is not about your overwhelming marketing, but the music itself.
So despite the revenue, as an artistic medium, music is in a bad place. I mean when you’re secondary to your audience… You’ve got to transcend your audience! And focus on music! As soon as you start selling perfume and clothing you’re no different from an online influencer, just with less credibility, and in art, it’s all about honesty and credibility.
So we’ve got a world where many play and few triumph. And those who triumph today don’t do so consistently, and then proceed to sell fewer and fewer tickets.
Music is a business, like it was before the Beatles.
The fact that people listen and go to the show…that does not mean music drives the culture. It comes down to the art itself and how it affects the audience. It can’t be grist for the mill, it’s got to stand outside the mainstream, that needs to be its draw.
Look at Coachella… Tickets sell without a lineup announced. Because it’s not about the music! Sampling by grazing stages… You’re inherently better than the acts performing, because you are in control, you possess the off button.
And if you’re growing your hair and getting tattoos to be a rock or metal act… That’s got nothing to do with the music itself. If you had short hair and no tattoos and dressed in preppy clothing, the audience would be confounded, believing that it must really be about the music for you, otherwise, since you’re not playing the game, why are you doing this?
It is not the same as it ever was in music. Just like it’s not the same as it ever was in TV or movies. No one will tell you network or basic cable is where it’s at, no one is proud of the ancient edifice, but in music…everyone believes they’re on the cutting edge, driving the culture, when in truth the cutting edge is online, that is where culture is developed and spread.
And then you have everybody in Hollywood bitching about the Paramount/Warner Discovery merger. They’re so out of touch, it’s incredible. These outfits are merging because it’s bad business, this is consolidation in the face of a changing landscape, where individuals have the tools to play online. I laugh at the Hollywood insiders… You think the world is the same as it was in the pre-internet era, the seventies?
The landscape has changed.
And this upheaval permeates all walks of life.
But everybody in a position of power insists there be no change.
Even though the audience is in control today, and the issue isn’t distribution, but how do you create something great enough to titillate people and have them spread the word?
I know, there’s a lot here. But the world is in incredible upheaval, a passing of the torch from one generation to another, akin to the youthquake back in the sixties. The youngsters online have already moved on, and they’re not coming back. Telling them to get offline is like the record labels telling traders to get off Napster. They wouldn’t, BECAUSE IT WAS JUST TOO GOOD!
Is your music as good as the feeling one gets participating online?
Probably not.
You may be making some money, but don’t expect it to last for long, because most probably…
There’s no there there.
The audience is in control. The sooner you realize this, the sooner you can revamp and address this new world accordingly.
