Shannon Labrie
This unsolicited stuff is never good.
But this is:
To the point where I decided to do some research.
The first Google hit was her homepage. (http://www.shannonlabrie.com/) That’s good, that’s professional, it’s hard to take you seriously unless you’ve got one.
But I had to wait for it to load, because of the dreaded Flash.
1. NO FLASH!
It doesn’t work on the iPhone. And if you read Walt Mossberg’s review of the new Nokia Lumia 900 Windows phone
you know the iPhone’s dominance is only growing. BlackBerry is toast and Android is on hold, did you see that statistic about the percentage of people who use wi-fi on the iPhone as opposed to Android…WHEW!
We live in a mobile society. Play to it.
2. INFORMATION NOT IMAGE!
People believe we still live in the eighties, with MTV dominance, get a good headshot and let people know you’re beautiful…HUH?
This website is so slick, it begs the question whether daddy’s money is involved, who could afford such a production? Or that too much time was spent on image as opposed to music.
Online, we only want the facts. Despite all the interest in Pinterest, it’s words that matter most online. Don’t they call it the "information superhighway"? Give us info, not image.
3. DON’T PLAY MUSIC AUTOMATICALLY!
I went to the site, I’m interested. Now you’re forcing me to adjust the volume of my speakers and scan your overcrowded web page for the tiny tools that allow me to stop the music.
I’m already interested, DON’T TURN ME OFF!
4. DON’T BE STATIC!
A web page is not a tombstone. It’s a living, breathing thing which should be updated constantly so people will come back. Sure, you want the facts, but you want a running dialog too.
5. THE VIDEO
I would have been more impressed if there was no makeup, no stylist, if the singer looked more like the drummer.
And cut the mugging… You’re singing a serious song! It’s not a commercial, it’s life itself.
6. THE SONG
First and foremost, it’s listenable. I love the changes. They scream everything the images are not, intimacy, meaning. Music, when done right, doesn’t bounce off the listener, it penetrates him, and sticks.
7. THE FUTURE
This woman is on to something. But what she probably doesn’t realize is she’s just at the beginning.
I see on her site that she had a song on "One Tree Hill". I don’t watch that show, and most people don’t. There’s nothing wrong with a placement, it’s just not the road to riches the music supervisors and business people tell you it is.
8. VIRALITY
I tell you about almost nothing. But this track affected me. Made me believe like the great singer-songwriters of yore, maybe this woman has something to say. That in this crazy, mixed-up, shook-up world she can illuminate her story and people can relate.
9. IT ALL COMES DOWN THE SONG!
She could be ugly, the website could be all text, the video could have been shot on an iPhone…but if the song touches us, it works.
THE PENUMBRA IS OVERRATED!
