Damian Kulash’s Screed
I hate the way he bends over backwards to give EMI props, but you should read this for the statistic embedded deep within.
Yes, embedding is the point. When EMI disabled this feature, forced everyone to watch OK Go’s videos on YouTube, viewings of the famous (pre-embedding embargo) treadmill video dropped from 10,000 to 1,000 a day.
Whew.
The Internet and the cacophony of information has turned the promotion of art upside down. It used to be about getting tastemaker filters like radio and television to approve of your product, whereupon it got exposed to the public and got a good shot at sticking and becoming financially viable. Now, it’s the reverse. No one outlet provides all the eyeballs, few provide many, and your main goal is to get attention. You want nothing to stand in the way. In other words, if people don’t know about you, they can’t like you, they can’t buy your music or come to your show, it’s like you don’t even exist.
They used to say no act ever broke on the Internet. That no longer seems true. We can dissect everyone from Jonathan Coulton to Justin Bieber to Ingrid Michaelson to even Lily Allen, making note of where labels/handlers manipulated the system for acts that truly were not independent, but there’s no denying that an online groundswell contributes more and more to the breaking of acts today. Even if you get a bit of traction in the traditional media, it’s the Net that spreads the word. We ultimately listen to our friends most, whether real life or Net-only. We’re immune to advertising, to hype. We pay attention to the links of those we know. This is how we get turned on to stuff.
So you don’t want to short circuit the process.
Save me the hate mail. Wherein you protest that the walls should be rebuilt and it’s just not fair. Did Smith-Corona complain that the Apple II was unfair?
Damian Kulash says a band needs money to make it. Ingrid Michaelson would argue with that, but the question is, does that money have to come from a traditional record label, one of the Big Four?
Think about it. Do you really want to sign with EMI? Which is struggling for its very existence?
The fight in the sixties was for artistic freedom. Ironically, that seems to take a back seat to marketing freedom today. Possibly you’ll listen to the label tell you what to record, the companies regained this power in the eighties and nineties, unfortunately, but you don’t want your hands tied behind your back when it comes to selling your music. Because now, more than ever, you’re selling your music yourself, even if you’ve got a major label deal. There are fewer people working at the label than ever before. And they tend to be in traditional areas. Great if you can get on the radio. As for the new media department, that’s usually one person…your friends from college can do a better job for free than this employee who may not even be a geek. You’re responsible for the buzz, for getting traction. At best, the label seems to be able to build upon your efforts, crossing you over to the mainstream after you’ve done the hard work.
But the hard work is done by the band. And its management. And possibly the agent.
Which is why, unless you’re a pretty face working with a name producer, major labels only want you if you’ve got a track record. But after doing all that work, why should you sign over control to these doofuses? Who specialize in saying no as opposed to yes?
And believe me, yes is what you want. It’s as simple as, "Will you listen to my music?"
You’d be surprised how often the answer is no.
Getting to yes is hard. Damian Kulash found a way. Through sheer creativity. You don’t see this creativity at a major label.
