Was the new Who album any good?\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe we should ask people.\u00c2\u00a0 But what was the name of it again?\u00c2\u00a0 Ever since we went to CDs, never mind iTunes and iPods, titles no longer stick.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not like we’re studying the cover while we’re staring at the speakers.\u00c2\u00a0 Or maybe it’s just that there’s too much information, and that which isn’t utterly vital, like what time to take your medication, your alarm code number, drains out and is forgotten, only to be replaced by new useless information which will then be replaced by…you get the idea.<\/p>\n
Let’s say you’re cute and have a manipulative personality and after gathering a core of handlers you get a deal with a major label which gets you all over television and terrestrial radio, are you then a star?<\/p>\n
Well, maybe.\u00c2\u00a0 But not the kind of star we used to think of.\u00c2\u00a0 A star used to be someone who did something great, who we believed in.\u00c2\u00a0 Now a star is Anna Nicole Smith, famous for…being famous?<\/p>\n
But still, let’s say you do get all that exposure, will everybody know you, never mind your music?<\/p>\n
Chances are they’ll know you better than your music, since we live in an image-based society, but chances are they won’t know you either.\u00c2\u00a0 Not that mass media will let you in on this.\u00c2\u00a0 Because if no one is paying attention, why should advertisers pay all that money to be featured in their rags\/programming?<\/p>\n
We all know George Bush is President.\u00c2\u00a0 But was Iraq behind 9\/11?\u00c2\u00a0 Or the Jews?\u00c2\u00a0 You’d be stunned how many people believe these falsehoods.\u00c2\u00a0 But they care, because they’re in fear.\u00c2\u00a0 As for your puny little art, that doesn’t even have traction, it’s hopeless.<\/p>\n
The paradigm has been to get as much recognition as possible, and then capitalize on this.\u00c2\u00a0 But now, anybody can get a modicum of recognition, it’s an endless parade of wannabe famous people, just look at YouTube.\u00c2\u00a0 But to stick?\u00c2\u00a0 That’s not a paradigm for longevity, just ask Lonelygirl15 or the people who made that video series, they’ve already been forgotten.<\/p>\n
But the Who were known once.\u00c2\u00a0 Shouldn’t people care?<\/p>\n
Why?\u00c2\u00a0 The band’s core audience is just too busy now.\u00c2\u00a0 They don’t have time to listen to albums and angst about their future, this is their future.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe when they’re in the retirement home they’ll have time.\u00c2\u00a0 But will these acts be able to make music anymore, be able to perform, be able to hear?<\/p>\n
In other words, almost nobody is listening.\u00c2\u00a0 You can spend all that time in the studio, but no matter how great the product, not only do most people not care, they’re not even aware of what you’re doing.<\/p>\n
Oh, you could take an ad in a targeted publication.\u00c2\u00a0 But that’s just awareness, you can’t hear the music in a print ad.\u00c2\u00a0 And the elder audience is used to being turned on by the radio, which they no longer listen to.\u00c2\u00a0 And the younger audience is used to being turned on by their buddies.\u00c2\u00a0 So what’s going on in the so-called mainstream is really the sideshow.\u00c2\u00a0 And the mainstream is so complicated, so full of so many elements, that it’s almost indecipherable.\u00c2\u00a0 Or, to put it another way, maybe there just isn’t a mainstream.<\/p>\n
And if there’s not a mainstream, how do you get noticed?\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to get noticed, right?<\/p>\n
Maybe by your peer group.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe by the people you know.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe by your fans.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s all you’ve got.<\/p>\n
Top-down marketing, if not quite dead, is a tiny facsimile of what it once was.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to come up from the bottom now.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to build slowly, knowing that you may never be ubiquitous.<\/p>\n
In other words, fame isn’t what it used to be.\u00c2\u00a0 Just doing your job, albeit extremely well, is not enough for everybody to know you.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to kill somebody for everybody, well, most people, to know you.\u00c2\u00a0 Or get kidnapped.\u00c2\u00a0 Or have some personal trauma that has train-wreck value or speaks to the fragility of the human condition.\u00c2\u00a0 And what does this have to do with music?\u00c2\u00a0 Not much.<\/p>\n
So you’re spending all that time creating and marketing your music.\u00c2\u00a0 If people don’t really care, then what?\u00c2\u00a0 That’s the question.\u00c2\u00a0 But institutions don’t want to focus on it.\u00c2\u00a0 Because it’s the opposite of their business paradigm.\u00c2\u00a0 Institutions are about fronts, consolidation.\u00c2\u00a0 But if no one is paying attention, there’s not enough money to fund their operations.<\/p>\n
The networks learned this, so they bought the cable channels.\u00c2\u00a0 If only the major labels would take heed, and dominate the independent sphere, it’s their only hope against marginalization.<\/p>\n
But now advertisers are averse to network TV, the scattershot approach isn’t cost-effective, when you can advertise on Google and only pay for those impressions that count, the people really interested, who click through.<\/p>\n
But that’s a pull world.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to want to know.\u00c2\u00a0 What if you don’t want to know?\u00c2\u00a0 How do you reach these people?<\/p>\n
It’s very difficult, almost impossible.\u00c2\u00a0 They only trust and are interested in the words of their peers.\u00c2\u00a0 But maybe their peer group is not large enough to sustain broadcasting, maybe it’s just a niche.\u00c2\u00a0 But can’t we goose it?\u00c2\u00a0 But if we goose it, we kill it.<\/p>\n
So make your record, believe you’re still a superstar.\u00c2\u00a0 But know that almost nobody cares.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, the Eagles are going to put out an album and even if it’s as good as "Hotel California" it won’t be a cultural milestone.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, they’ve tied in with Wal-Mart to insure advertising and sales, but even though Wal-Mart is gargantuan, their outlets are not in every city, not everybody shops there.\u00c2\u00a0 And most people don’t talk about what they come in contact with there.\u00c2\u00a0 They shop at Wal-Mart, but it’s not a hotbed of cultural discourse.<\/p>\n
Then you’ve got the fact that no one expects the album to be good.\u00c2\u00a0 Because most records just aren’t.\u00c2\u00a0 So even if it is good, you have a hard time spreading the message, because people aren’t paying attention.<\/p>\n
So, make music if you want to.\u00c2\u00a0 But know that it’s no longer an easy way to fame or riches.\u00c2\u00a0 Follow your heart, build a following, play live.\u00c2\u00a0 And grow patiently.\u00c2\u00a0 Fame, ubiquity?\u00c2\u00a0 That’s for somebody else.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s for the endless parade of instant fame white trash wannabes.<\/p>\n
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Was the new Who album any good?\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe we should ask people.\u00c2\u00a0 But what was the name of it again?\u00c2\u00a0 Ever since we went to CDs, never mind iTunes and iPods, titles no longer stick.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not like we’re studying the cover while we’re staring at the speakers.\u00c2\u00a0 Or maybe it’s just that there’s too […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s96vPs-traction","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}