The Short of the Long Tail

I’ve been finishing my reading of Chris Anderson’s “The Long Tail” recently (bought it a year ago on special, started reading then got sidetracked). I know it’s a bit out of vogue now but I think it still has a lot of valid and valuable arguments and it bats for the hobbyist content creator such as myself.

I’m actually writing this post because of an inspiring round-up of his at the end of chapter 9 where he talks about the ‘dangers of Hitism’ and the cynical mindset that affects society in general regarding the entertainment industry. To give a couple of examples: The belief in society that everyone going into the music industry ‘wants to be a star’, or they’re ‘in it for the money’. The former attitude is further reinforced by the likes of the Idol franchise, and the latter by the image of hiphop stars and producers, and a gleaning through Billboard might not help either.

Does that mean that success in music (i.e. talent etc…) and success in the music business are almost unrelated? Is it all just about a self-indulgent grab for money, fame and attention?

The dangers and tyranny of ‘hitism’ doesn’t mean that people going into the industry are necessarily like that, but that the public perceives it to be so. Anyway, the positive point of the longtail is that many artists can make a comfortable living without being a part of the ‘hits’ culture, through online niches and the wonders of social networking. There are still hits, but the non-hits don’t necessarily mean misses. Since the attention of the mainstream media only has room for a handful of stars like Lady Gaga etc, I still recommend this book for all kinds of content-creators.

My latest cartoon character: “Marketingman”

Just for fun… Even though ‘Rise of Reflux’ first series has ended (my cartoon about a wannabe rockband), I just may put this character in the next series if I continue. My original idea was ‘The Three Marketeers’ but there are already companies around the world using the name, so this is more generic -like ‘Superman’.

But while Superman can defy the odds and do the impossible in the physical world, Marketingman does the impossible in the marketing world, which is what everyone really wants. Who needs a downing plane to be rescued? Who cares about the stranded girl on top of the Empire State Building? Get my product out to the masses! Make my brandname a household name! Let me grab the leading market share! Let my website/song/Youtube video go viral!

Sometimes it seems in the music industry the emphasis is on marketing and promotion rather than a good product (i.e. the music). If the marketing works, and the numbers are impressive, it pretty much defines it as ‘good’ -but depends how long it lasts. People can be like lemmings, they follow whatever seems to be the flavour of the month. But perhaps a good band or act proves it has something special when it grows despite of little or no marketing. Then it doesn’t need Marketingman to do the impossible!

DIY artists on Youtube

When I’m on Youtube I’ll try to follow any ‘DIY’ artists and singer-songwriters that I come across, and the following two seem to have made a lot of impact. The main common feature about them is their hard work and perseverance….

Mary Win -Singersongwriter:

And Alex Chudnovsky -An Australian guitarist.

Success of Susan Boyle

(http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1627906/20091209/boyle_susan.jhtml)
I’m not cynical about the Susan Boyle phenomenon -good luck to her if she can inspire millions of people around the world! But I think her success reflects some things about the nature of music and marketing:

<>The general public wants to listen to classics and familiar tunes, regardless of the genre -and Christmas time is a peak of that.

<> They want to hear it performed well -in fact sensationally, which Susan Boyle has achieved.

<> A good background story  makes a huge difference -Her story was second only to Michael Jackson’s for the year in music:
(http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g3lGx7GBpN1xvudw8sa6aQJnWTfgD9CNLH480)

“Facebook… Killer” article from Guardian (via SMH)

I came across this, but it’s probably all over blogland already… Interesting how Facebook can have such an impact.

(http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/music/facebook-campaigner-kills-x-factor/2009/12/21/1261243841126.html?page=2)

And another article about a Facebook “no-good thieving scoundrel“, but no, he’s not in the music industry.

(http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/catch-me-if-you-can-barefoot-teen-delinquent-becomes-internet-idol-20091218-l5os.html)

Competitive Musos and the ‘Cottage Songwriter’

With the internet allowing all music to be displayed almost on a level playing field, perhaps music will be more like a big competition, a tournament, if you will. So I suppose you’ve got to be in it to win it, as they say.

I’ve only been in one sports competition in the last few years, and that was a Korean martial art (when I was living in Pusan, Korea). I didn’t get past the first round, but I was somewhat of a hobbyist who practiced a few times a week after work, where as I was up against some pretty fit, competitive uni students. But it was a great experience, and I learned a lot about myself (and how unfit I really was -after 1 minute of sparring in the comp I was breathless).

I guess if you want to make money from your music in the ‘music biz’, you’re either just supernaturally talented and gifted, or you’ll have to be fiercely competitive, hardworking, dedicated (and talented).

Think about sportspeople who make a living: they have to be competitive, hardworking and dedicated, right? These days it seems pro sports has the training and lifestyle down to a science -even knowing when and how to rest for muscle development.

But arts people don’t like to see things that way sometimes, and sure, art is more about self expression, how can it be competitive? But if you watch successful artists, whether they be of paintings, novelists, songwriters, directors or what have you, they usually go the extra mile to come up with something worth the public attention. They’re often visionaries who know that to realize their vision they’ll have to break through a few barriers.

But back to the internet -as songwriters we see things like Myspace and Youtube and they offer ways for us to ‘compete’ in the great online tournament. Sure, for songwriters it’s not an even playing field when major bands have publicity machines and good production behind them, but I think there are also people searching on the internet for something inspirational. I, for one, like to check out the ‘cottage songwriters’, but that’s because I am one. And even if a few hundred or a few thousand listen to your song, that’s a privilege.

And it’s motivating to keep going, to write a song that just might connect with people, or inspire someone to cover it etc… And it’s interesting to see which songs may be more popular compared to others, though on something like Youtube you don’t know if it’s because of the song or the tags etc… But it’s still a great way to get feedback.

Trouble with social networking revolution…

… is that it can get very distracting.  For DIY musicians how do you divide the time between all your social networking jobs and actually practicing and doing music?  I think it’s better to practice your music first and maintain a minimum presence on the net, updating only when you need to, rather than get distracting by the ‘marketing’ aspect of the net.

If you can provide good music, do something remarkable, write a great song or perform something well, then you can let people online do the recommending for you, rather than be focused on self promotion that sucks precious time needed for developing your own talents.

Take heart, we’re all prosumers now

I’ve put a view more vids up on Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/donakrv), and the great thing about Youtube is that everyone and everything is on Youtube. Music-wise it has both established artists and bands as well as all sorts of ‘struggling musos’ and hobbyists.

And it means that we’re moving into a ‘prosumer’ society, where we’re less content to be passive absorbers of culture but rather creaters and consumers. We can participate more in the music and media and we’re becoming more aware of the creative and production process.

I guess it’s got good and bad news for struggling musos. The good news is Youtube and other sites offer an avenue of expression and public display of their work.  That also allows them to gain feedback and keep trying and improving, and they can grow a grassroots fan-base in the process.

The bad news (and in a sense good news for listeners) is that since the barriers of entry are lowered, making music as a business is going to get more competitive and potential consumers are going to demand more in quality and quantity, for less of the price (depending on the selling model of the future, like Spotify etc…).

And another aspect of the bad news, for DIY musos anyway, is the amount of time needed to promote online to develop a good fan base. (Even if a song goes viral, is it going to be remembered after the next viral thing comes along 15 seconds later?). How much time will you have for music compared to updating profiles, writing blogs, posting pics and vids, answering fan-mail, twittering, joining in discussions etc etc? Perhaps it’s going to require skill time-management. But that’s another post…

Does Myspace understand itself???

Andrew Dubber has written a responce to an article about Myspace showing some ‘love’, and I must say I agree with what he’s saying. His post is here:
(http://www.musicthinktank.com/blog/happy-quit-myspace-day.html)

Is it that News Corp don’t understand what Myspace is about? Are they just comparing it to Facebook? If you compare other free services like WordPress and Youtube, who provide all kinds of stats and info because the owners undstand the type of tools they are, Myspace seems to be losing the plot.

Artists who suck

Downloaded a few more talks from the AMBConference. Great stuff.

One thing that struck me was Lefsetz’s talk, with one main point to 99% of musos out there hoping to make a dime in music: you suck!

 And it’s true for most of us as amateur musicians. We suck. And all those musos out there on Myspace and Youtube etc… We all suck.

He talked about who the greatest bands are among teenagers today, and came up with the three dinosaurs: Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and ACDC. (I’m guessing not far behind would be Metallica and U2).

Since everything is available at our fingertips, in one sense we’re all compared to these top bands, so we automatically suck anyway. But as struggling musos we’re starting at the bottom, and Lefsetz’ main point was, work on getting good. It’s not about vying for the A&R attention or hoping you’ll be discovered by a music exec, or even so much about hard online marketing.

Just get good, and friends will do the rest.

He took himself as an example. He has tens of thousands of fans (in a blog or ‘online letter’) he writes each day. He never asked one of those people to listen to him, but he’s built up a following by his passion and by getting good at what he does.

I think the biggest danger for musos these days is getting distracted by online promotion and marketing. Sure there are things you can do to get your music out there, but it’s better to practice three hours a day and spend one hour online than three hours online and one hour practicing.

Jon Satterly also gave advice in his speech: don’t be crap, and be awesome. That’s the only advice really, because only 0.01% every make it (in the old system).

Something I remember from seeing an interview with Leonardo DiCaprio which he said roughly: don’t have any expectations, or don’t hold on to expectations, and you’re therefore unburdened to have a go at an industry that can so easily disappoint.

That’s something I’ve decided to take on board, and wish I had back in the 90′s trying to play in a band. It’s the problem with most people wishing they could ‘make it’ in the music business, because it’s the sort of hopeful thinking that leads to misery and frustration.

But in the new media environment, that doesn’t matter so much. You do what you do, and what you can, and put your music, your thoughts, your talent out there. In a way, you’re only limited by your own efforts and resources, and even if you only impact 10 people, that’s still a privilege to contribute to art in public domain.

Down the line you may be able to monetize it, and if you persevere maybe even make a living. Even if not, it’s still an avenue of your talents, whether  via a blog, Youtube or Myspace etc…And it could lead to other opportunities.

And the other plus about being an amateur musician, you’re not under pressure from record companies or managers or even album buying hardcore fans… You can change genre, be as experimental as you want, record a ten minute song, write about any subject your want, incorporate any instrument you want. It doesn’t matter, you have that freedom and you can still let people out there hear your stuff. So what if it’s only a few. It’s a form of self expression.

Ten years ago you couldn’t do that so easily. You may record in your bedroom, but only friends and family would hear it, or an empty pub. And then you’d send out hundreds of demos from addresses you picked up from the music industry directory, only to have absolutely no reaction. And that’s just soul-destroying, because it’s all wasted. There was no avenue back then for self expression, and it made you feel like a loser. Now you can express your music online, and if only a few come back and say ‘hey, I dig that song’, then it’s worth it. And it motivates you to keep trying, to keep writing songs, even as a hobby. There’s a way for it to become a serious hobby, rather than feeling like the amateur songwriter/performer who will never get anywhere because the industry is ‘all or nothing’. Now it’s more like we have the resources to say, ‘we can make of it what we will’.