Guy Starts Dance Party
What if he had a megaphone. And implored those in attendance to join in, telling them he was the new dance king and they’d enjoy participating?
He’d have been shouted down, if not stoned to death.
I won’t say the gentleman in this viral video dances as poorly as Elaine on "Seinfeld", but the moves he’s busting are not attractive. And his appeal is not his handsomeness, rather it’s his joy and his lack of self-consciousness. We’re drawn to those who are not sheep, who do their own thing, who BELIEVE in what they’re doing.
He’s dancing alone. For almost twenty seconds. And rather than being right down front, where everybody can see him, he’s in Siberia, on the side of the lawn, way in the back.
Those two geeks dance together for fully thirty seconds, not needing more people to continue. Then, a guy looking like Dan Schneider, the fat kid on "Head Of The Class", comes down and joins them. THIS is not a party you want to attend by mainstream parameters. These are geeks, they’re to be ignored!
But twenty five seconds later, new dancers join in. They were not recruited, were not sent text messages, were not victims of promotional e-mails they didn’t sign up to get, rather they joined purely on the desire to be a part of the fun!
Suddenly, a handful of seconds later, it’s a party. Then people are RUNNING to join in. By the two minute mark, it’s a CONFLAGRATION! It’s the highlight of the gig! People don’t want to be left out, they’re trampling others to join in!
This is the arc of an act’s career today.
You’re doing your own thing, seemingly in the wilderness, with the goal that a spark ignites others to join in. Your main sales point is the fact that you’re doing it. It’s not about marketing, new media just allows the word to spread faster if you catch fire.
All those great bands of yore… They sounded NOTHING like anything else. They weren’t an instant hit, but suddenly Jethro Tull was selling out arenas. They weren’t jammed down people’s throats, but word of mouth as to their difference, as to their uniqueness, as to their QUALITY, caused an audience to form.
The Tommy Mottola/Clive Davis marketing technique is now a sideshow. Wherein you ramp up the publicity to a fevered pitch, so everybody has to buy in! Few are paying attention to the mainstream media, album sales are abysmal, people want something different.
But we’ve still got an industry that’s looking for the secret, how to tap into today’s audience and make a fortune.
It’s very simple. You create something different, that’s good, and hang in there until you hit critical mass. And this mass will be decided by the audience! If you do anything to goose it, you’ll kill it, or at least cut down its longevity.
This is anathema to American business. We’ve got stockholders! We need short term results! Wring more money out of the customer!
Charge more, and people won’t bother experimenting. It didn’t cost anything to join this dance party, just like it shouldn’t cost anything to hear your music. But if an attendee has a good enough time, he’ll come back NEXT YEAR to Sasquatch! Just like someone who loves your music will come see you LIVE!
Everything’s slow now. It’s about perseverance and credibility. If you can’t wait… If you’re not willing to continue polishing your act, getting better and better, with little revenue to show for it, you don’t belong in this business.
Just like Phil Schiller got better at giving Apple presentations by doing them, you’re going to get better by doing more shows, by making more recordings. Initially Phil was lame, like the kid in the back of the class asked by the teacher to do a social studies presentation. Now, years later, forced to take over Steve Jobs’ gig as spokesman, he’s finally good!
Don’t expect to be good immediately. Don’t follow, don’t do what other people already are. Seth Godin nailed that re Bing… Do we need another Google? NO! We need something new, and different, that speaks to us, that we couldn’t FORESEE!
Your goal is not to do market research, to ask the public what it wants, but to believe in yourself. But belief is nothing without practice, without quality. And the focus is on music, not marketing. So, if you’ve got a great Facebook page, it’s not as good as a great song. As for practicing… Read "The Talent Code" to understand not all practice is the same. It’s when you challenge yourself, make mistakes, do something new, that you get better. Not when you get together in the garage and rehearse the same damn songs over and over and then play Xbox.
This video is a metaphor for the music business. It happens slowly, you can’t give up. But if you’re electric, charismatic, singing material the public can relate to, you can become gigantic overnight! (After ten years/10,000 hours of working in the trenches!)
