More G N’ R
A little birdie told me the deal with Best Buy is done. All that’s left to do is sign the contract.
Of all the marketing/distribution ideas I received in response to my missive, I’ll only reveal one, that upon the album’s release, Axl Rose should commit suicide.
This is brilliant insight. Nothing’s a better story than the death of a cultural icon, especially one who flaunted convention. TV and print execute vigils, MTV shunts aside all programming but "The Hills" to show classic videos, and print runs endless tributes. We have public mourning that results in umpteen sales. Assuming there’s enough product in the marketplace. At least John Lennon was smart enough to get shot just when his new album was released. Elvis croaked between album cycles, RCA had to run presses 24/7 to crank out albums and fulfill demand. A la Darby Crash, Axl could consort with his label, hinting/informing Jimmy Iovine of his plans, thus making sure enough of "Chinese Democracy" was shipped. Hell, what would happen if AC/DC died in a plane crash? Everybody would be wanting to click and buy at iTunes… Just another reason why online trumps brick and mortar. There’s endless inventory!
But that’s not the only online revolution.
Catching up on last week’s newspapers I read another story about the blogger arrested for airing "Chinese Democracy" on his site. I was stunned at the amount of blowback I’ve heard re this. It’s kind of like "Bambi meets Godzilla". But worse, ’cause in this case Bambi is friends with Godzilla, she’s a fan.
Fans. They’re the hardest thing to acquire. You can buy publicity, you can pay off distributors. There’s mutual self-interest. You want to sell and they want to profit. Newspapers don’t do stories on acts no one cares about, and television is only interested in stars. But fans are not doing business. There’s no financial payoff for being a fan. It’s an end-user application. You don’t build up your fandom and sell it. You own it. At least until it fades away when the act does something heinous, like stand up to Napster.
That’s haunting Metallica nearly a decade out. Metallica was right, but their fans thought they were wrong. And you always want to come out on the side of your fans. Metallica has learned its lesson. But the record labels have not.
But they truly don’t understand the vast sea change in exhibition and the building of acts in the future. In the future, radio and television will mean ever less. In today’s "New York Times", even Frank Rich laments that newspapers and the network news may not have much of a place in the next election cycle. In order to survive in the music business in the future you must cultivate fan dedication, you must investigate and ultimately invade the online world. Because that’s where fans are made today. What mainstream media does build up is not career acts, but the equivalent of wrecks on the freeway, which many want to slow down and marvel at, but soon forget.
Will the "Chinese Democracy" leaks hinder sales of the approved product when it’s finally released?
It comes down to one thing and one thing only. Fan perception as to its quality.
That’s what mainstream media companies don’t like. Not only is their marketing ineffective, if it reaches the target audience at all, but their trusted minions, the critics they wine and dine and have symbiotic relationships with, have been wiped clean from the landscape, if not in numbers, then effectiveness.
Why listen to the fat cat critic making beaucoup bread who gets to see the movie for free when the audience, with no investment other than a good viewing experience, will let you know how good the flick is before you’ve left school for the day, before you’ve decided what flick to see that evening, if any at all?
Same deal with music. Every act says its new record is the best thing it’s ever done. The critic wants free concert tickets. What do your peers, the fans think? If "Chinese Democracy" gets a thumbs up, the blogosphere goes wild, the online buzz is palpable, and the album sells. If the record gets a thumbs down, then you can sell it for a week at most, to those completely out of the loop and dedicated fans, then NEXT!
The point is, the labels now have the legal power to stop pre-releases, but is this now an anachronistic power? When top down marketing is becoming passe and acts are owned by their fans? I’m not saying music should be free, but where in the food chain do you charge? Music is the driver. The more people who own it and listen to it, the more money that will rain down from ancillaries, like live, touring, ringtones… You can’t cut music exhibition off at the source, this is the key to your success! Radio airplay is not going to build your career act, only the online community will. How do you get surfers on your side?
By giving more, not less. By being humble, by admitting that you’re their ultimate servant. Or, by being obstinate, saying you don’t care if people like you or not. But you can’t have it both ways like Axl Rose. I want to fuck you in the ass AND THEN I want you to buy my album!
