We’re in the midst of a cultural shift.<\/p>\n
A few years back, I became addicted to a Discovery Channel show about climbing Mt. Everest.\u00c2\u00a0 Discovery is channel 3 on my Time Warner system.\u00c2\u00a0 In fact, Discovery’s got great placement on all viewing systems.\u00c2\u00a0 Still, I could not find a single soul who’d seen the show until I talked about it on the radio and someone called in.<\/p>\n
This was frustrating.\u00c2\u00a0 The danger, the personalities.\u00c2\u00a0 Mt. Everest is not an abstract concept.\u00c2\u00a0 Was I the only one who could relate?<\/p>\n
No.\u00c2\u00a0 But maybe I was the only one who knew about it.\u00c2\u00a0 Or had time to see it.<\/p>\n
We’ve been living in a Tower of Babel society.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, we all speak English, but that’s just about our only common bond.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, we don’t even utilize the same news sources.\u00c2\u00a0 The right watches Fox News, the left MSNBC.\u00c2\u00a0 Even online…\u00c2\u00a0 The right’s got Drudge, the left’s got the Huffington Post.\u00c2\u00a0 And when it comes to popular culture, it’s worse.\u00c2\u00a0 "The Hurt Locker" won Best Picture and almost no one had seen it.\u00c2\u00a0 But still, the Oscar ratings went up.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re the best they’ve been in five years.\u00c2\u00a0 Not because of ten nominated pictures, not because of youngster presenters, not because of the quality of the show, everyone agreed it was subpar, but because suddenly, everybody wanted to feel included, a member of the tribe.<\/p>\n
This is vitally important.\u00c2\u00a0 This is a 180 from where we’ve been going the last decade.\u00c2\u00a0 Suddenly, the ratings for all these awards shows have gone up.\u00c2\u00a0 Does this mean everyone tuned into the Grammys was a Taylor Swift fan?\u00c2\u00a0 Did everybody watch the Olympics because they favored Lindsey Vonn?\u00c2\u00a0 No, everybody watched because they wanted to be a member of the group.<\/p>\n
Call it Long Tail backlash.\u00c2\u00a0 After diving incredibly deep into our own niches, we’re now resurfacing.\u00c2\u00a0 We want a community feel.<\/p>\n
And it’s funny how politicians and culture-perpetrators just don’t get it.<\/p>\n
The story isn’t that we’ve got the Tea Party on the right and the disillusioned Netroots on the left, but that everybody wants a better economy and we want someone to lead us to it.\u00c2\u00a0 In other words, ignore the hysteria at the fringes and play to the middle, it’s VAST!<\/p>\n
Just like in popular culture.\u00c2\u00a0 Hip-hop\/beats appeal to a minority of the population.\u00c2\u00a0 Let’s not judge this sound, let’s just say that many people dislike it.\u00c2\u00a0 And if you want to appeal to many, you’ve got to purvey something different.<\/p>\n
Radio, after the Telecommunications Act of 1996, is all about niches.\u00c2\u00a0 But we’re niched out.\u00c2\u00a0 We want one station we can all believe in, a few acts we all like.<\/p>\n
Let’s be clear.\u00c2\u00a0 Not everybody watched the Oscars or the Olympics.\u00c2\u00a0 The key isn’t to appeal to everybody, but MOST people.\u00c2\u00a0 And never forget that the fringes are the most vocal.\u00c2\u00a0 If you pay attention to them, you’re screwed.<\/p>\n
Maybe it’s time for more stadium concerts.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe that’s why U2’s trek is so successful.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, the music appeals, but it’s a TRIBAL RITE!\u00c2\u00a0 You can talk about the show in advance and with your buddies thereafter.\u00c2\u00a0 And those who weren’t included feel left out and will attend next time.<\/p>\n
In other words, we may be on the brink of an explosion of mass culture.\u00c2\u00a0 We might be ready for the next Beatles.\u00c2\u00a0 Something that isn’t calculated like "American Idol" that blows up overnight because of the ease of spreading the story online.<\/p>\n
Think of this as Kardashians with talent.\u00c2\u00a0 We all know who these nitwits are, but there’s no real reason to pay attention.\u00c2\u00a0 What if there were?\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, we’re paying attention to Snooki and Tiger because it gives us something to talk about, to connect with, both online and at the water cooler.<\/p>\n
It appears to be human nature.\u00c2\u00a0 We want to belong.<\/p>\n
That’s the story of the future.\u00c2\u00a0 Not how we can rip off our concert customers, but how we can make them feel like members of a club.\u00c2\u00a0 That grows and grows.\u00c2\u00a0 Not how can we create something just like everything else, but something outside the niches that appeals to all.\u00c2\u00a0 That was Lou Pearlman’s genius.\u00c2\u00a0 To create boy bands that could perform material that was catchy and appealed to all.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, the explosion was aided by MTV and CDs sold because it was pre-Napster, but isn’t it funny that the idea came from the outside, not the usual suspects, and that the underpinnings, looks, harmonies, singable material, were so basic!<\/p>\n
People go to see "Avatar" to belong, to be a member of the group, to get a chip so they can express their opinion.\u00c2\u00a0 This is VERY important!\u00c2\u00a0 Now’s the time for mass, not niche.\u00c2\u00a0 Now’s the time to create something of quality, that is not dumbed down, that the public can rally around.\u00c2\u00a0 Niches will never die.\u00c2\u00a0 But the public hungers for mass appeal.\u00c2\u00a0 Whether it be TV shows, music or anything which they can dissect and have an opinion about.<\/p>\n
It’s not about the winter.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not about Twitter.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not about texting.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s about a hunger for commonality.\u00c2\u00a0 Pay attention.<\/p>\n
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