I hate people I’ve never even met.<\/p>\n
No, let me narrow this down.\u00c2\u00a0 I hate musicians whose music I’ve never even heard.\u00c2\u00a0 Because of the endless hype.<\/p>\n
There’s a fascinating story in today’s "New York Times", entitled "When Flood Of E-Mail Pitches Recedes".<\/p>\n
Turns out, the closer online retailers got to Christmas, the fewer promotional e-mails they sent.\u00c2\u00a0 You see they were worried about pissing off their customers.<\/p>\n
If you get down to one week…many people have already completed their Christmas shopping, and it’s impossible to guarantee delivery with standard, cheap, often free, shipping.\u00c2\u00a0 So, retailers stop e-mailing pitches to maintain their lists.<\/p>\n
Do you get this?\u00c2\u00a0 Rather than eke out a few more sales in the short term, sellers are holding back, for fear that those on the e-mail list will sign off, for it’s incredibly difficult and expensive to acquire new e-mail list subscribers.<\/p>\n
In other words, you blast your message again and again at what cost?<\/p>\n
Continuing to live in the twentieth century, too many believe all publicity is good publicity.\u00c2\u00a0 That saturation is the key to success.\u00c2\u00a0 But it’s not, because of the backlash.\u00c2\u00a0 Ever hear of hard core fans abandoning an act when it becomes popular?\u00c2\u00a0 Same thing.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s cool to see your old fave in the press once or twice.\u00c2\u00a0 If they appear every single day, online, on the cover of multiple publications, you’re turned off and abandon them.<\/p>\n
Ever since the advent of MTV the music industry has focused on the casual fan.\u00c2\u00a0 Get the last person on earth to buy the CD, even though early adopters have been burned out on the tracks for years.<\/p>\n
It’s not that different in the concert business.\u00c2\u00a0 Let’s charge a lot for an extravaganza of the latest top forty wonder in an arena.\u00c2\u00a0 People come once, and then, if the act can tour again, it’s theatres, that they don’t even sell out.<\/p>\n
It’s no longer about casual users, it’s about fans.<\/p>\n
It’s too hard to reach everybody today.\u00c2\u00a0 And you piss off those who truly care.<\/p>\n
I got the message.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t beat me over the head with it.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t send me another e-mail with the same damn content. Fans pay attention.\u00c2\u00a0 They caught it the first time.<\/p>\n
So, start with getting fans.<\/p>\n
The top forty acts usually don’t have any.\u00c2\u00a0 At best, listeners are fans of the song.\u00c2\u00a0 And they’re searching for another great song, not to hear another song by you!<\/p>\n
Feed your audience great material, that they can pull when they want to.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t make them sign up for your e-mail list to get some reward, they’re just going to be pissed off at you when you keep dunning them in the future.\u00c2\u00a0 Let people sign up at their option.\u00c2\u00a0 Otherwise, they’ll use fake names and you’ll end up with a shit list anyway.<\/p>\n
You’re now in a relationship with your listener.\u00c2\u00a0 Before you abuse him, think of how you’d treat a spouse, or a friend. That’s how you have to treat a fan today.<\/p>\n
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