There’s got to be a better way to sell music.

Think about it, we’re now all connected, worldwide, if the right act were pushed, it could become gargantuan overnight.

And that brings us to our first problem…we’re pushing the wrong acts.

I just read a fascinating article about Groupon in the "Wall Street Journal".  And it occurred to me that these tech wonders, these Websites that everybody uses, are no different from great records.

Great records are phenomena.  Completely different from anything else, people just can’t get enough of them.

Like "96 Tears".  Or "Walk Away Renee".  Nothing sounded similar before and nothing has sounded the same since.  Why were they so successful?

Because they were different and good.

And isn’t it fascinating that right now all the records sound the same.  Come on, tune in Top Forty radio, if I hear one more synthetic drum I’m going to kill Roger Linn.  Or ransack the Roland Corporation.

We’ve become so lowest common denominator that we’ve missed the point.  And too many old school people believe the way to break an act is written in stone.  Work with usual suspect producers, get it on the radio and TV and then hype it to high heaven in any other media that will have you.  If this were working so well, the music business wouldn’t be in trouble.  Don’t focus on piracy, that’s missing the point.  Piracy killed the old model.  But piracy also demonstrates demand.  More people want more music than ever before.  More people own more music than ever before.  More people are listening to more music than ever before.  And to focus on success as sales of recorded music or concert tickets is completely missing the point.  Once you get all those eyeballs there are a million ways to monetize.  But how do you get everybody to pay attention?

1. These successful sites are never created by newbies.  Mark Zuckerberg was a coding savant.  Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker were dedicated to their computers.  Why in the music business do we push inexperienced talent?

You’ve got to pay your dues if you want to sing the blues.

It’s Gladwell time.  We need acts that have put in 10,000 hours.  They can’t be ten.  The Beatles played a thousand gigs before most people knew who they were.  And sure, George Martin helped, but George Martin did not hit with every one of his production clients.

We’ve got to look for the experienced.  We’ve got to focus our efforts on only one or two acts, the creme de la creme, stuff so good that it’s undeniable.

2. Getting people to hear it.  This is where new techniques like Groupon come into play.  This is why the music industry is in such trouble, it’s run by oldsters who don’t understand tech and wish the Internet would go away.  Furthermore, these oldsters have not allowed the youngsters in.  They literally don’t let them work at the company and those that are employed are not empowered and those that look for rights are not licensed.  Never forget that music led.  Napster was about music.  Napster was the best thing that ever happened to music.  It allowed all that unreleased stuff to come out of the vault, it paved the way for MP3 ubiquity and now streaming.  To fight Napster with lawsuits and CDs is like fighting Facebook with the Girl Scouts.  Never overlook the network effect.  That’s what’s gonna blow up new music.  Assuming number one above is put first, that the act is truly great.

3. How do we incentivize people to hear it.  Maybe that’s the wrong way to look at it.  Maybe we make music freely available, like FarmVille, and upsell thereafter.  Maybe we need a music game that gets everybody to pay attention.  That allows them to win free concert tickets and visits from band members.  Only one site triumphs online.  There’s one Amazon, one iTunes, one Facebook and one Twitter.  There will be one online music hub.  Foster competition to create it.  Once we get everybody playing in this sphere, we can then expose people to new acts.  They’ll already  be there, they’ll already be paying attention.

4. Monetization.  Don’t think about records and concerts, think about access, think about elation, think about rewards.  Maybe you let everybody come to hear the album of the new act streamed at Staples Center for free, but they pay for pizza and beer. Think party.  Sure, you might be able to hear the album right thereafter online, but you won’t have the experience of hanging with your friends!  And never diminish virtual goods.  It’s a gold mine waiting to be tapped.

We’ve got to get the minds creating Groupon and Facebook to work in music.  It’s our only way out.  We need a complete rethink.  It would be great if we could have easy, cheap licensing, but that seems impossible.

So what’s going to happen is one of these tech savants is gonna find a band.  And is gonna use all this newfangled media to break said band.  Sure, it’s happening already, but the bands just aren’t good enough, they’re not the Beatles, one listen is not enough.

But once we’ve got acts this good…

The whole thing will feed upon itself.  A scene will develop.  Money will be made by the boatload.

It’s all about creativity.  Music and tech.  It’s about great ideas, ones that have never been seen before.  You’ve got to let these techies get ahold of great music and run with it.

Which is why you should only sign with a major label if you’re making the kind of crap that people are already listening to in ever fewer numbers on the radio.  If you’ve got something different, keep your rights, tie up with someone as creative as you are.  It’s not about Alex Luke going to work at EMI, it’s about creative techies you’ve never heard of doing it in a brand new way.

We didn’t know we wanted Groupon.  We don’t know we want music served in a whole new way.  But we do.

As for the acts…  Is it too much to ask for performers who can sing well, play their instruments and write catchy songs that you can sing?  That was the essence of the Beatles.  Replicate this and you’re on your way.

The article that inspired me:
Groupon’s $6 Billion Gambler