Blogging
We live in an information age. He who has the most information wins.
That’s one of the reasons Irving Azoff is so powerful, he’s working the phones/the relationships 24/7, he’s plugged in to what’s happening and has a bead on the personalities.
But one thing the Fortune 500 are doing that the music industry execs are not is blogging.
Watch this clip. To the end. Wherein Tom Peters, management guru, testifies about blogging:
The labels still think there’s a wall. They’re making sausages on one side and the public is buying them based on marketing/publicity on the other. They don’t know that if there’s no window, the public is now skeptical. We want to see how our sausages are made, we want to know who is making them and why. Which is one of the reasons we tune into Steve Jobs’ product introductions, for the glimpse inside. Both Apple and the man.
There may be a book about Edgar Bronfman, Jr., but it doesn’t humanize him much. He still seems to be the rich kid flying on a private jet untouchable by the general public, his customers. What does Edgar really think? I’d follow him on Twitter, I’d read his pronouncements on Warner, even if self-serving. They’d give me insight into the man, and life is about personalities, not money.
Jimmy Iovine… Imagine if he didn’t hype, imagine if he wrote about the studio days or food or… Then maybe I’d like him instead of seeing him as a tyrannical string-puller.
And Doug Morris? Or Lucian Grainge? Give us your side!
As for the concert promoters… That’s where all the action is today. But these people are used to working behind the scenes. Except for one, the progenitor. You know if he were still alive today Bill Graham would have a blog. Where he would rant and rave and insult both the acts and the audience in between saying he was moved to tears by so and so’s performance the night before.
Michael Rapino is not a bad guy. Why doesn’t he have a blog explaining what he’s doing at Live Nation? Fortune 500 titans do it, why can’t the music business, which is so reliant on the consumer?
P.S. This video was posted on April 18, 2009. A year ago. But I got e-mail about it from Ritch Esra today, linking me to Gerd Leonhard’s Media Futurist blog, where it was embedded. Notice the link? I pay attention to Ritch, I know Gerd, so I watch. This clip reached me today. Even though I think I originally saw it a year ago. But today, it resonated. Also, being today, I’d say to focus on Twitter, the micro-blogging service, first. Because it’s fast and easy and interactive.
P.P.S. Information… Used to be you had to be an insider to know. The hoi polloi didn’t have access to inside information. But today, a dedicated surfer can know almost as much as the expert, and can speak like an expert when finally dealing with those in control of the music business. Don’t blow it. Don’t act like a wannabe when you get your chance. Don’t lay down a CD or implore a powerful person to move you ahead on the chess board. Then you evidence you don’t really know who they are. Talk to Irving about golf. Tell Jimmy you hope his divorce isn’t too painful. Tell Lucian where to get a good burrito in L.A. The background of all these people is available online. Research, know them, use this information to your advantage.
P.P.P.S. Read Seth Godin’s blog post today:
The most important part is the end, wherein Seth says:
"The internet has dramatically widened the number of available substitutes. You don’t have to like it, but it’s true. That means you have to work far harder to create work that can’t easily be replaced."
In other words, we can find singing wannabes on every street corner, which is why the Idols are fading. That was a trainwreck fad that’s now done. If you want to survive, you’ve got to be an original. Who competes with Wilco? Or Trent Reznor/Nine Inch Nails? Neither one of those outfits was an instant success. But they sustain, their music is still relevant and desirable years on. In other words, be unique, be yourself, it might take years to make it, but when you do, you’ll last.
