Did you read that story about the guy who called Zappos and asked the representative where to buy pizza?<\/p>\n
The agent was cool.\u00c2\u00a0 Started doing some research.\u00c2\u00a0 And answered the caller’s question.<\/p>\n
The caller, of course, was a snarky Internet troublemaker.\u00c2\u00a0 He wanted to see if the legend was true, that Zappos gave free reign to its workers, allowed them to make executive decisions, didn’t limit the amount of time they spent speaking with a specific customer.<\/p>\n
Turned out the legend was true.<\/p>\n
Let me put this in perspective…\u00c2\u00a0 This is like a concertgoer in the upper deck complaining to an usher that the Ticketmaster fee is too high and getting upgraded to a luxury box.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m not sure an usher knows how to think.\u00c2\u00a0 Or is even aware of who Michael Rapino or Irving Azoff is.\u00c2\u00a0 You have a shitty experience, but you’ve got no alternative.\u00c2\u00a0 Or do you?<\/p>\n
You see United damaged this cat’s Taylor guitar.\u00c2\u00a0 To the tune of $1500.\u00c2\u00a0 And United would not pay for the repair.\u00c2\u00a0 Dude called for months trying to get satisfaction.\u00c2\u00a0 But, like Mick Jagger, he couldn’t get any.\u00c2\u00a0 So, when United told him to call no more, he told the airline he was going to make three videos, delineating his plight.<\/p>\n
And there the viral sensation began.<\/p>\n
I started getting e-mail on Wednesday.\u00c2\u00a0 The "Huffington Post" picked up on the story.\u00c2\u00a0 And then the TV news!<\/p>\n
Ain’t that fascinating.\u00c2\u00a0 The story breaks on the ground floor, amongst the proletariat, and the mainstream news media is last!<\/p>\n
Now the song ain’t great.\u00c2\u00a0 And the video is nothing riveting either (unlike the Evian roller babies, which also started online and spread to TV news:<\/p>\n
\nRoller Babies<\/a><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\nBut the sentiment?\u00c2\u00a0 A+!\u00c2\u00a0 Because we hate the airlines and we hate being on hold and we hate people who have no authority to help us out, to bend the rules, to see that our situation has merit and we deserve satisfaction.\u00c2\u00a0 So word spread virally, because the public was aligned!\u00c2\u00a0 The public makes stories now, not press agents, not media companies.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, big corporations can make a splash, but they can’t insure lasting attention.\u00c2\u00a0 Look at the networks’ failure rate re new series.\u00c2\u00a0 Totally abysmal.\u00c2\u00a0 How about fewer stars and better writing?\u00c2\u00a0 And a longer commitment, allowing the show to grow?\u00c2\u00a0 Like music.\u00c2\u00a0 The vaunted artist development.\u00c2\u00a0 Not work one record until it goes platinum, but record five until the act gets good!<\/p>\n
But what truly stuns me is the lack of access in the music business.\u00c2\u00a0 The average guy can’t get near Jimmy Iovine.\u00c2\u00a0 Iovine’s an insider, delivering no access.\u00c2\u00a0 But now no one is an insider!\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody’s accessible.\u00c2\u00a0 Everyone deals with their customers or they pay the price.<\/p>\n
Boy is the music industry paying the price.<\/p>\n
Every label should have a Twitter account.\u00c2\u00a0 Where they not only hype product, but answer questions and solve problems.\u00c2\u00a0 Same deal with concert promoters.\u00c2\u00a0 This business is upside down.\u00c2\u00a0 It believes it’s in business with itself, when truly it’s in business with its customers!<\/p>\n
Ticketmaster is a front for the artists, allowing them to essentially scalp their own tickets.\u00c2\u00a0 The losers, the fans!<\/p>\n
Major labels say they’re beholden to radio.<\/p>\n
But fans are pissed they can’t get a good seat at a reasonable price and go to the black market, otherwise known as a scalper, and are rejecting radio in droves.<\/p>\n
Where is the honesty?\u00c2\u00a0 Where is the transparency?\u00c2\u00a0 Where is the realization that we lived in a changed world?<\/p>\n
Trent Reznor prints his manifesto <\/p>\n
\nTrent Reznor<\/a><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\nnot helping himself out directly whatsoever, but it bonds fans to him, because he cares, because he’s open, because he’s playing with them, because he responds.<\/p>\n
Can you imagine getting a response from Don Henley?\u00c2\u00a0 A fan getting a phone call?\u00c2\u00a0 No one’s interested in his new solo music because he’s too removed.\u00c2\u00a0 If he changed his game plan, provided access, his solo shows would grow in attendance.<\/p>\n
That’s the story today.\u00c2\u00a0 Not top down marketing, but bottom up.<\/p>\n
And you do that by providing a ton of info and dealing with people’s problems.\u00c2\u00a0 You don’t have to bend over backwards like Zappos and be reasonable to jerks, actually, online, you can call out the jerks, Reznor famously did this, but you do have to respond to people’s problems.\u00c2\u00a0 Before your image is tarnished.\u00c2\u00a0 United is faceless.\u00c2\u00a0 One mistake as a band and you’re finished.\u00c2\u00a0 Remember Billy Squier?\u00c2\u00a0 That pink video killed his career!<\/p>\n
As for new artists…\u00c2\u00a0 The reason you don’t know most of the names is they’re growing slowly, their careers are in the hands of their fans.\u00c2\u00a0 A few acts will break through, and you’ll wonder where they came from.\u00c2\u00a0 Suddenly fully realized.\u00c2\u00a0 But there will be ten years of hard work under their belt, and thousands of hard core fans.\u00c2\u00a0 They won’t want to align with big label hype, that will kill what they’ve got.\u00c2\u00a0 Which is based on humanity, not bullshit.<\/p>\n
United backed down.\u00c2\u00a0 These companies always back down.\u00c2\u00a0 Because when you’re wrong, you’re wrong.\u00c2\u00a0 The labels backed down on DRM, additional P2P lawsuits…\u00c2\u00a0 Now, we’ve even got reasonable Webcasting rates.\u00c2\u00a0 Why don’t they realize it’s better to be reasonable from the get-go?<\/p>\n
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