I don’t care if you don’t care.<\/p>\n
This is not about Phish, this is about the future.\u00c2\u00a0 The future is establishing a tribe that never wants to be left out, even if it’s half a continent away.<\/p>\n
\nDear Bob,<\/p>\nI am watching the second set of the Phish webcast from MSG, NY right now sitting in Berlin, Germany. I happily paid 39,99 USD for all 3 nights and stay up all night (2am – 6am, CET) to see it. Last year I travelled to Miami but TECHNOLOGY makes it possible to follow my favourite band everywhere. Their "from the road" Twitter feed gives you setlists in real time, every show is downloadable 30min after it ends, they give away free download compilations of each tour to keep people hooked, downloads are now included in the ticket price, they film every show with 7 HD cams, post clips on vimeo, etc. If one band understands fans and technology than its Phish. There is nothing to be afraid of the future if you have true fans.<\/p>\n
Best,<\/p>\n
Holger Christoph<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
In other words, if you’re a one hit wonder, someone in all the magazines but with no real fans, you’re fucked.<\/p>\n
If you’re someone with a body of work and fans, you can exist in the new world.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve just got to get your head out of the traditional paradigm.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t think about a $13.99 CD, think about multiple price points, think about everything you’d want to own if you were a fan.<\/p>\n
There’s the autographed physical product.\u00c2\u00a0 Which people will overpay for since you gave them MP3s for free online.\u00c2\u00a0 You don’t charge for everything, you give away a bit to make more.<\/p>\n
And you can sell the same music again and again.\u00c2\u00a0 If it’s live, if it’s different.\u00c2\u00a0 People want to hear the warts, that’s what makes you human.\u00c2\u00a0 The music on the radio may be made by computers, but the music people want to see live, that they bond to and want to hear again and again, is not.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s truly analog.\u00c2\u00a0 It speeds up and slows down.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s imperfect, just like you and me.\u00c2\u00a0 Think about it, music is supposed to be a reflection of life…are you a robot?<\/p>\n
You can charge not only to actually be at the live show, but to watch it online.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe when you go home.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe it’s evanescent, it’s gone if you didn’t see it then.\u00c2\u00a0 Then again, maybe you can download MP3s, or FLAC if you’re into quality and willing to pay more.<\/p>\n
I’d like to tell you this Phish broadcast from MSG sucks.\u00c2\u00a0 That technology is not up to snuff.\u00c2\u00a0 But I’d be lying if I said so.\u00c2\u00a0 The majordomos at the labels may think the public is not ready for the future, but the public is already living in it!<\/p>\n
Hell, Phish just dropped "Auld Lang Syne" into the number they’re playing.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what you can do when you’re not locked into a corporate track written by hacks you barely know that’s been driven up the chart by the label which insists you play it just like it is on the recording, if you don’t mime to the recording to begin with.<\/p>\n
Don’t you get it?\u00c2\u00a0 It’s about satiating the fans!<\/p>\n
First and foremost you must own your own material.\u00c2\u00a0 This gives you the freedom to take chances, to experiment, to see what works.\u00c2\u00a0 The sky’s the limit, let your imagination flow, fans love the weird, the unpredictable, the cool.<\/p>\n
Then you must get fans.<\/p>\n
Fans are the people who pay.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s not critics, that’s not radio, that’s not any intermediary or filter.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s the person sitting at home on the couch, listening to your music on headphones just to survive.<\/p>\n
Forget trying to convince everybody who doesn’t care.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s not the future.\u00c2\u00a0 Who knows, you may get lucky and everybody might ultimately pay attention…\u00c2\u00a0 Then again, for how long?\u00c2\u00a0 Treasure every fan, treat each and every one like a blood relative.\u00c2\u00a0 Then they’ll continue to give you their money.\u00c2\u00a0 They’ve got to do something with it.\u00c2\u00a0 Investing in you makes them feel good, they believe they’re part of something.<\/p>\n
And if you’re trying to make it in the music game, it’s about the music.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not about the outfits, not about the videos, they’re just trappings.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s about what goes into your ears.<\/p>\n
Know that you’re not going to be successful overnight.\u00c2\u00a0 Do you play in the MLB the first time after you throw a ball?\u00c2\u00a0 Do you suit up in the NBA after your first layup?\u00c2\u00a0 Music is a calling, an adventure, you go on a journey and if you’re unique and good enough you gain followers.\u00c2\u00a0 But don’t let your followers imprison you.\u00c2\u00a0 Your music must satiate you first.\u00c2\u00a0 Because only by satiating ourselves can we truly inspire others.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t give people what they want, but what they need.<\/p>\n
Know that you don’t know when you’ll be successful.\u00c2\u00a0 That it will happen after you want it to.\u00c2\u00a0 Or, if it happens soon, it’s going to evaporate, because you don’t have a catalog and your fans haven’t had enough time to bond and form a tribe.<\/p>\n
Know that you charge last.<\/p>\n
OH FUCK!\u00c2\u00a0 THEY’RE PLAYING ROCK & ROLL!
Jenny said when she was just five years old<\/span>
There was nothin’ happenin’ at all<\/span><\/p>\nBut then she turned on the radio and discovered rock & roll!<\/p>\n
They say rock & roll is dead.\u00c2\u00a0 But that’s only if you’re listening to the radio, the critics, the prognosticators crunching data.\u00c2\u00a0 But music isn’t data.\u00c2\u00a0 Music is alive, it breathes, it’s something that gets inside and possesses you.<\/p>\n
I won’t forget the first time I heard "Rock & Roll".\u00c2\u00a0 On "Loaded".<\/p>\n
But have you ever heard the take on "Rock N Roll Animal"? WHEW!<\/p>\n
And we may be missing Dick Wagner and Steven Hunter’s interplay, that seventies magic, but last time I checked it was 2010, 2011!\u00c2\u00a0 And these young ‘uns in Phish are taking that nugget and making it their own.\u00c2\u00a0 Paying tribute and bringing it forward all at the same time.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s about the ENERGY!<\/p>\n
Come on, you know what it’s like to go to the show.\u00c2\u00a0 You don’t sit there passively, you’re energized, you’re alive, every other show and moment in your life is just a synapse away.\u00c2\u00a0 This is the essence of the experience, not nitwits dancing to click tracks.<\/p>\n
Stop swinging for the fences.\u00c2\u00a0 Contrary to what the old wavers tell you, technology is your friend.\u00c2\u00a0 It allows you to get ever closer to your fans, to know who each and every one is.\u00c2\u00a0 It allows them to interconnect and bond with each other and create a family even when you’re asleep…because music never sleeps, it’s playable always, now everywhere!<\/p>\n
The old model has been destroyed.\u00c2\u00a0 But don’t cry, we’re rebuilding right this very second!\u00c2\u00a0 And we don’t know how or where it’s gonna go.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s no formula.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s 1968 all over again.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s no kingpin, no programmer at MTV, no one telling you what you can or cannot do, unless you’re tied up with the old fogies.<\/p>\n
So don’t watch Phish live at Madison Square Garden tonight.<\/p>\n
But know that many are paying $19.99 for the privilege.\u00c2\u00a0 And lovin’ it.<\/p>\n
And unlike Justin Timberlake, Phish didn’t have to sell its soul to Mickey D’s, whore itself out to a corporation to be lovin’ it.\u00c2\u00a0 They just followed the yellow brick road of music all the way to Madison Square Garden, three nights in a row, with no hit singles, no ubiquitous television coverage, none of the things the rulemakers tell you you need in order to make it.<\/p>\n
There are no rules.\u00c2\u00a0 Except for the ones you make yourself.<\/p>\n
Live for the music.\u00c2\u00a0 Each and every day.\u00c2\u00a0 It will absolve you of your sins, it will save you, it will elate you, if you just respect it, if you don’t sully it, if you don’t bring it down to the gutter but exalt it.<\/p>\n
And where there’s music there’s money.\u00c2\u00a0 Always.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe not in the old ways, but in brand new ways, which are being invented right this very second.<\/p>\n
Happy New Year!<\/p>\n
\n