Thanks to a friend, I just ran across a brilliant article on Lefsetz Letter, written by Bob Lefsetz.
The article is a bit long, so here’s a quick synopsis:
Motorola created a hit with the RAZR in 2003, but neglected to keep up with technology trends as users began to demand more than just good looks from their mobile devices. Motorola now has a small market share and is in absolute turmoil. Jump to media (back in 1949) and the beginning of widespread TV. NBC invested, and lost, money hand over fist in the new medium, gambling that it would pay off in the future. It did. Music experienced a similar crisis beginning in the 1990′s when music began moving from CD’s to MP3′s and a service you may have heard of called Napster came out.
However, instead of investing money hand over fist in the new medium and adapting, rather than digging in their heels, the music industry has been partying like it’s 1999 since…. 1999. Radiohead moved on from EMI and has made quite the tidy sum in their self-directed path.
The artists that are still with the labels are whining becuase they’re not making any money, yet everyone (ok, most people) are still stuck in the old business model. Key? This model doesn’t work anymore. It’s the business equivalent of trying to paint a room with a hammer. Pretty ridiculous.
Here’s where the article gets interesting (even more interesting, I mean).
Don’t focus on albums, focus on fan relationships. A dedicated fan will want all the material, in whatever form it can be acquired. He’s going to want the bootleg and the authorized live performance. When you give away music, you don’t lose money, you invest in your future!
The Internet is the new medium. It’s not only killed physical retail, it’s put a huge dent in radio and now television. To try to corral people into old behaviors is as fruitless as getting people to refrain from buying televisions in 1949.
We live in an attention economy. How can you get someone’s attention and keep it? Advertising doesn’t work. And train-wrecks and spectacles get no repeat viewing. You’ve got to start small and honest, the antithesis of major media, who try to dun us into paying attention with their saturation advertising campaigns. HELLO! WE’RE NOT PAYING ATTENTION!
Who says the revenue generating transaction must be for recorded music on a disc. Didn’t Radiohead sell an expensive collectible box of “In Rainbows” two years ago? Why aren’t labels selling collectives on everything? Because people don’t want a collectible of the crap being purveyed on Top Forty, it’s got no intrinsic value.
These three short paragraphs make me want to stand up and applaud. If you read the words above through the old, broken music marketing business model, you’ll think “We’re screwed”.
HOWEVER, read the above without the assumption that you have to make money by selling your music (the A –> B relationship). Open up your mind to exploring other possibilities (here’s where I mention Mos Def’s t-shirt again.).
I’ll say it plainly – focus on your fans.
Focus on your true fans, you know who they are. They’re the ones standing in line at 4am (or overnight, depending on how big you are) to get tickets to your show. They’re the ones who buy every CD, t-shirt and coffee mug you plaster your gorgeous face across. They’re the ones who write you letters (or emails), or post on your forum, comment on your blog or wait in line to get your autograph at a show.
Your fans, your TRUE fans, are the ones that will save their money to buy your shit, whether it’s your music in digital or printed form, your schwag, or a chance to spend time with you.
Save your time trying to reach the masses and getting them to care and instead start to focus on your niche that already does care.
Go ahead, argue with me and tell me that doesn’t make sense.
