Howard Bloom – Success in Music Industry
Watch this clip.
I barely know Howard Bloom. But there was an era when not only was he a kingpin in music publicity, he towered over his competition, he was an artist in the field.
No one works in a vacuum. Just like in the clip Bloom says you’ve got to have a team, his words inspired me to write the missive "Artists". But they were in a different form, in a video that I was fearful too many would ignore, so I used his statements as a jumping off point.
But now the clip has been reedited.
And to iterate my point, watch it.
The second time through I wondered why I’d been so fascinated, what grabbed me. Because what Bloom was saying wasn’t brand new.
Then I realized it was his passion.
And it had nothing to do with money and everything to do with art. You wanted people to hear Prince because he was so good, not because you wanted to get rich. You worked an artist for years because you believed in his message, not because you were playing a game.
Few speak the truth. But you don’t doubt Bloom’s authenticity here. He’s speaking from the heart. Can you hear him?
Those outside the game have an advantage. When you’re co-opted, you lose it. You can see what others cannot. You can employ this to your benefit.
Everyone knows network news is about titillation, in both story and appearance, there are no ugly news anchors, it’s entertainment, not news. If you want news, you go online.
Everybody knows that Top Forty music is cotton candy. You know what records touched you, why should you play the game to give people what they want when you don’t want it yourself?
Read this Tom Friedman piece on lying:
New media allows people access to the truth.
But no one in old media believes in veracity. And no one in politics does either. I’ve about given up on Obama, can’t he speak from the heart, can’t he nudge the debate by stating what everybody knows? That most Americans prefer the right to have an abortion, believe the rich should be paying more taxes and Social Security and Medicare should be guaranteed? Survey after survey confirms the foregoing. But Obama plays to a theoretical audience he hopes will reelect him that doesn’t even exist.
As for the Republicans… If they had their way the rich would be richer and you wouldn’t be able to depend on the government for anything. This isn’t what most people want either.
As for someone speaking the truth for the majority, someone leading, that’s nowhere to be seen in politics and nowhere to be seen in old school music.
So don’t complain that you’re being left out, that the odds are against you, use the new tools to have a presence on the landscape, so people can find you.
They’re drawn to the truth. They hate spam. They hate phoniness. They hate being marketed to.
But they love good music. That’s made from the heart. And presented with passion. That says something.
