What It Takes to Succeed in Music

There are a lot of people who will tell you what you need to do to succeed in (or at least making a living at) music.

Unfortunately, people are recommending all sorts of strategies, some of it conflicting.

I decided to make a list of many of the suggestions I've read.

MAKE GREAT MUSIC.
Lots of people start with this, although not everyone does. (People can cite examples of musicians who don't make great music, but still do well.)

But what exactly is great music? Who decides? If it sells, is that a sufficient indicator? Does it have to be perceived as great now, or does great mean it will be revered 30 years from now?

Do you have to write it yourself? Or can you cover someone else's as long as that is great? Or does the music have to be original but not necessarily written by you?

Can great music consist of mashups? Can combining other people's music be the path to success?

How much great music must you put out? A new song a week? A new song a month?

HAVE GREAT PERFORMANCE SKILLS
Since recorded music is getting harder to sell, some people say the key to making it is the quality of the live show. But what is a great performance?

Do you need to play an instrument? Do you need to play it well? Or just in a showy manner?

Do you need to be able to sing?

Does dancing count as a great performance?

Is a well-rehearsed show the way to go? Or is impromptu better? Or are you supposed to make it look impromptu, but you've really heavily rehearsed all of those meaningful moments?

RELATE TO YOUR FANS

On stage?

After the show?

In a blog?

In videos?

In a newsletter?

On Facebook?

On Twitter?

Do you have to do it yourself, or can a team member do it?

Should you hire a band member precisely for his/her social skills and give him/her the job?

Are you running contests for your fans so they are creating videos and remixing your songs?

HAVE STUFF TO SELL

Do you have great looking merchandise? Or maybe not so great looking merchandise, but you made it yourself and you're marking up the price like crazy?

Are you offering merchandise at multiple price points?

Do you have something for the guys and something different for the girls?

Limited edition items?

Vinyl?

A snazzy display table?

A sexy merch person?

Have you created special events?

Are you selling membership subscriptions?

TECHNICAL SKILLS

Can you make frequent videos? At home? On tour? Using split screen? Animation?

Can you do all of your recording in a home studio that you've put together yourself?

IMAGE

Are you authentic?

Or maybe you've totally invented yourself and you keep the fans guessing? What will you be this week?

Have you built a good story? Around yourself? Around your music?

And how do you look on stage? What are you wearing? Do you have lights?

What's your one line description of yourself? Of your music?

EXPOSURE

Do you have a website?

Are you blogging?

Are you microblogging?

Are you on YouTube?

Are you on ReverbNation? What about all the other music websites?

Have you gotten your music on TV yet?

And have you mailed out your music to college radio stations?

And have you contacted all relevant music bloggers? And gotten to know them first, before pitching your songs?

And are you giving away your music everywhere you can? And collecting email addresses? Or not.

Are you going to music conferences?

TOURING

Are you touring? Or maybe you're staying local until you're selling out there first.

Are you booking lots of shows? Maybe 200 a year?

Are you living in a van and/or sleeping on people's floors and couches?

Have you raised money on Kickstarter for touring? Or sold lifetime show passes to 1000 of your best fans to buy a van?

Okay, folks. Now do it. Do it all. Or maybe don't any of it. And then if you succeed anyway, people will go back to figure out why you succeeded and then recommend that as a blueprint.

Have I left anything out? Have you gone to a music conference and then left with your head spinning because you've gotten too much advice, particularly conflicting advice? If so, what didn't work for you?

Suzanne Lainson
@slainson on Twitter

Art and Conversations about Art

In the last few days I've

met with a musician I used to work with so we could get caught up on what was happening in our professional and personal lives,

had a meeting with a group of people I am working with to discuss new forms of artist funding,

been monitoring what's been happening in the world of music and the arts,

have been commenting about music on a variety of blogs hosted by people other than myself.

Add to the mix a rather animated discussion going on at Amanda Palmer's blog about her latest project (Evelyn Evelyn) which has triggered comments from her about what it means to be an artist today (including what it means to be engaged with and accountable to fans). And a discussion over at Music Think Tank on "elaborate plans."

All of the above led me to jot down some ideas about making art and talking about making art, which I view from two perspectives: as a person who creates (I've been a professional writer for 30 years) and as a person who deals with people who create (musicians).

Over the last year, I phased out much of my work with individual bands/artists and have instead been focusing on the future of the music business as a whole. I still am approached by artists wanting help, but I haven't jumped back into it other to lend a hand on some short-term projects.

The primary reason is that I don't have the time. The secondary reason is that I've "been-there-done-that." But this last week it occurred to me that there's a third reason. My day-to-day conversations about music are now much more interesting.

When I was working with individual musicians, my conversations revolved around practical issues: booking, PR, mailing lists, ordering merchandise, touring, and so on. I volunteered to do much of it because I wanted it to get done. And I have no regrets doing what amounted to office work. It's absolutely the best way to understand the music business, especially in these days of DIY artists. However, doing all of that didn't come with an easy way to connect with musicians at a creative level. Many of them express themselves primarily through music. Which means if you aren't co-writing or playing music with them, you live in separate worlds, even if you are working alongside them. (The same thing happens to non-musical boyfriends, girlfriends, and spouses. They live with musicians and yet often find themselves leading separate lives because they aren't sharing a creative experience.)

In contrast, after I rejoined the writing world, and started tapping into conversations about music, theater, media, culture, and technology, I connected with people who wanted to talk about creativity and innovation. Noteworthy are the artists who get us thinking not only about their "product" (e.g., visual arts, film, music, theater, design) which they are usually hoping to sell, but also their process. Unlike those who hate to blog, these communicative artists have enough introspection to be cognizant of what they are doing as creative people, have the ability to write down those thoughts, and have the necessary social skills to engage others in the discussion. They may even have a sense of purpose, not just to create a work of art, but also to create a synergistic community.

Pre-Internet, if you didn't know artists personally, there were limited options to find out what they thought. Maybe you could read a profile in a magazine or see one on television. Perhaps you could take classes or workshops if they offered them. And even if you got that far, rarely did you get the chance to have an on-going dialogue with them. But now blogs, and in some cases Twitter, have opened up the discussions to many more of us. Here's the perfect example, Jerry Saltz. He's the art critic of New York magazine. His art is writing about art. In the past, his work appeared on paper, but more recently he has also moved into a more interactive medium.

In the year or so since, Mr. Saltz’s Facebook page has become a phenomenon, having undergone an unlikely, organic transformation that turned it from an inconsequential personal profile into a highly trafficked, widely read discussion board about the art world. Populated by dedicated and predominantly serious-minded artists, curators, gallerists and assorted art-world denizens—many of whom check the page compulsively and post their thoughts multiple times a day—the page has become home to a vibrant community and an essential extension of Mr. Saltz’s practice as an art critic. ...

“I find it a pleasure and a thrill,” he said. “It’s exciting to be in this room with 5,000 people. It’s like the Cedar Bar for me, or Max’s Kansas City, neither of which I was ever in and probably wasn’t cool enough to be in. Now I get to kind of be one of the barmaids in this place, to put an idea in the air and see what happens.” "The Many Friends of Jerry Saltz," The New York Observer, 2/16/10.

My first post about artists blogging about being artists came out a few months ago. Taking those thoughts a step further, I want to link to six blogs which I think are good examples of conversational communities. They aren't all written by artists, but what they share in common are high quality posts with high quality comments.

Amanda Palmer The best musician blog that I've seen.

Monitor Mix Blog This is a blog on the NPR site by Carrie Brownstein, a member of the rock band Sleater-Kinney. She covers a variety of topics, some focused on creating music, some on music business, and some about listening to music. Here are a few posts to check out.

• Now Is The Time: Who Or What Inspired You To Play Music?
  
• End Of The Decade: Concluding Thoughts
  
• Roundtable Discussion: The Role Of The Record Label

Jerry Saltz These are the Facebook notes cited in the above quote. They should be viewable to you even if you aren't his Facebook friend.

Music Think Tank One of the best music blogs that I know for fostering discussions about music (both by musicians and by music industry people).

Nathan Bransford - Literary Agent I just discovered this. It's directed to writers, so it's not surprising that there is a big community of commenters who express themselves well.

A VC A non-music blog by venture capitalist Fred Wilson. It's noteworthy for its active and intelligent group of commenters. Here are a few posts from his blog that deal with art, culture, and music:

• Thinking About Etsy In The San Telmo Markets
  
• What Comes After Post Modernism?
  
• Lupe Fiasco's Enemy Of The State Mixtape: A Study In Music Business Models
  
• From Scans To Listens

Suzanne Lainson
@slainson on Twitter

When the Rock Star Invites You to Her Party

Quite a few people have picked up on Amanda Palmer's story.
Amanda Palmer Made $19K in 10 Hours on Twitter

Some people are excited because she appears to validate that idea artists don't need major labels anymore.

Others are excited because her experience appears to validate social media, and Twitter in particular.

And still others see it as a model for the music business of the future. I've got some thoughts about that. But since this is a short week and people are still processing Michael Jackson's death, I'll save those comments for a future blog entry.

For now I'd just like to toss out my take on the Amanda Palmer experiment.

Palmer sold T-shirts. Lots of artists sell T-shirts, so that part of her money-raising effort wasn't unique. People buy T-shirts to (1) show support for the artist, (2) because they like the design, (3) to show they attended a show, or some combination of those reasons.

What made Palmer's spur-of-the moment T-shirt sale work, I think, was that it was an insider's club formed by people staying home on Friday night cruising Twitter. And what gave the club status was that a music celebrity created it and invited people to join.

Think about it. How many times do people who are home on a Friday night get to say they were cooler than the folks who went out? Now, rather than missing all the action, they were part of a party. And they have their very own T-shirt to prove it. And even more important, the T-shirt comes with a story: the night they hung out with Palmer online. This was not a T-shirt sold by some roadie at a show. This was a T-shirt they helped to create, or at least inspire.

Similarly, the online auction was also an insider's club. Fans got to make suggestions about what Palmer could sell (like chewed postcards). I'd venture to say that people were buying the stuff primarily to interact with Palmer. If someone else was selling Palmer's stuff, I doubt there would have been nearly as much interest.

And then finally the studio party. The first 200 to respond on Twitter got in. Since Palmer is often announcing short notice gatherings, fans who want to participate in them need to keep tuned into Palmer's messages. Again, an insider's club for those who want to play.

The Amanda Palmer experience is kind of like a reality TV show that the fans get to join.

Suzanne Lainson
@slainson on Twitter

Marketing Music to Moms

Last week I saw this.

A new pr and marketing program from Child's Play Communications dubbed Music Moms hopes to tap into that market by putting music in the hands of influential mommy bloggers. Music Moms reviews music across all genres including children's music, and Universal Motown has already used the service. "Mom, I Need Help Marketing My Music" Hypebot.com, 6/19/09.

That got me thinking about mothers as a target market.

I can see pitching songs about motherhood to them. For example, here are songs from two Denver-based singer/songwriters written after they became mothers.

Wendy Woo, "Another September"
Angie Stevens, "Sleepwalking"

I can also see interviewing artists about juggling music and motherhood. Here are a few examples I found.

I wasn’t even married. Now I’m a wife and a mother of two. ... My priorities are always going to be my husband and my family now. That’s a huge, huge thing. "Gwen Stefani," ELLE, July 2009

[My daughter's] only eight months old, but already I have less time to do my thing, which is good. I have this little boss now, who insists that I step away from work - pretty unique in a boss. Work less! Work less! I think it's good for me not to get so far inside my own head. "The radical singer Ani DiFranco on music, motherhood and politics," The Guardian, 10/10/07

The twins have gone on tour with us since they were 12 weeks old, so they’re old pros at it now. It’s definitely a balancing act. It’s a crazy road and I would leave it to raise my children, but I feel God has created me to do music and be a mom. It’s a unique and beautifully chaotic life. "Natalie Grant balancing Christian music stardom and motherhood," Everyday Christian, 5/27/09

I love being a mother. It's very satisfying to me but it is hard. I spend time with Ruby on the phone. When I'm on the road, I call in every day. I have her homework faxed to me so we can go over that on the telephone."Suzanne Vega,The Art of Balancing Motherhood and Music," celebrityparents.com

You can find even more interviews at Musicians parenting articles - CelebrityParents.com.

And here is an entire book on the subject. Rock Star Mommy: My Life as a Rocker Mom.

There are also blogs by music-loving mothers.
MelodicMom.com - Mommy Blog, Rock Music, and Motherhood
Rock and Roll Mama
The Motherhood - Music Mamas

What I'm not sure about is any concept that mothers are a definable music-buying market. What unites mothers are some common lifestyle interests/needs. They need clothes and supplies for their kids. They spend time involved in parenting. They want to learn about schools, kids' activities, and meal planning.

In terms of music, many of them get exposed to kids' songs through children's TV. They may also be looking for live music events that are family-friendly. So I can see where having children influences their decisions in these areas. And because they generally (1) have less free time to get out to see live music, (2) may need to be home at a reasonable hour, and (3) may not have a lot of money to spend on outside entertainment, there are opportunities in providing concerts and club shows that meet the needs/interests of that vast underserved market of music fans: parents.

But in terms of their own listening preferences, mothers, I believe, are as diverse in their musical tastes as anyone else. Some like country. Some like hard rock. Some like soft rock. Some like indie rock. Some like jazz. Yet, based on some of the artists being targeted to the mom blogosphere, I'm getting the impression that music marketers equate the mom market with the Oprah market. The artists being showcased at various blogger conventions and events seem to be young, good-looking, single, singer/songwriter types, both male and female. There's definitely a market for artists like this, but is it mom music?

If the artists themselves aren't mothers, aren't singing about parenting, and aren't singing music for kids, what's the mom connection? Is it that although moms have as diverse tastes as the rest of the music-consuming public, they prefer to learn about and discuss music with other moms? Are recommendations from other mothers going to influence their music searches? I'm asking, as both a music fan and a mother.

Suzanne Lainson
@slainson on Twitter

The Evolving Definition of Talent

I just ran across this blog entry.

The Economics of Creativity, Ooga Labs, July 12, 2008.

The author explores how musicians with different skill sets have been rewarded over the years. In the 1800s, the classical artists who played live in front of the European elite were the rock stars. Then radio lessened their value. Once recorded music hit its peak, those who did well in a recording studio moved up the value chain.

He doesn't discuss the shift to the video age, but as many musical history writers have noted, that's when appearance became especially important. Janis Joplin would probably not have been signed to a major label contract had she tried to make it in the MTV era.

And now, social media and the ability to create communities around your art have become important "creative" skills.

While music has been important for centuries, what elevates a subset of artists into stardom has been in flux. As technology changes, so does the definition of desirability. Within any given culture, what becomes valued are qualities perceived to be rare.

Let me start by illustrating my point with some non-music examples. Back in the day when commoners worked in fields and could barely get enough to eat, the upper classes were pale and plumb. That's what people aspired to.

Then when the lower classes turned pale from working inside factories all day, the status look was to have a tan, signaling that its owner had spent time at the pool, on the golf course, or on the tennis court. Thin became the desired shape because the poor were eating cheap food that made them overweight.

In terms of music, there was a time when being able to play and sing on key was important. That became less of an issue with the introduction of studio tricks which could fix flaws. So then, when everyone could do a decent recording, appearance became the determining factor setting the top stars apart from everyone else.

But now that we have an overabundance of sound-alike, great-looking performers, we're shifting back to artists who exude more authenticity. Amy Winehouse is distinctive because she is the antithesis of the pretty, packaged pop star.

Currently the new technology in music isn't in recording or performing, but in marketing and distribution. Those who excel at using those tools may be the next rock stars. It isn't that music performance has become less important. It's that we're looking for different filters to separate the good from the great. Talent now includes being able to relate to your fans in a more intimate way. Think of it as a new version of stage presence.

Suzanne Lainson
@slainson on Twitter

The Renaissance Musician

I've been exploring the idea that today's successful musician is expected to communicate well with fans in addition to writing and playing music. 

But after reading this by singer/songwriter Shaun Groves, I realized what we really want are renaissance musicians. We need them to be creative across multiple platforms.  

... labels are used to creating and maintaining the image of an artist: focusing and filtering, controlling who can and can’t have access, and how much, when and where. There’s one official bio and one fact sheet carefully crafted in a record company office and then parroted by every media outlet. That’s not possible on-line. And that’s distressing, fatal even, if an artist has nothing to say or, worse, has lots to say about things that don’t matter to anyone but them. Hair products, high priced jeans and guitar pedals aren’t all that interesting to folks with real jobs. The public is now discovering through an artist’s blog what publicists have known for quite some time and expertly covered up: This guy’s just a singer. And that’s no basis for a relationship. "If the Music Business Dies,"Shlog, 5/21/09

The online world accentuates the differences between those who are especially creative and those who are fundamentally dull and unimaginative.

Of course, we've always valued musicians who have pushed boundaries. The Beatles not only wrote and performed music, they starred in movies, they gave funny interviews, and they went on spiritual pilgrimages. In addition, Lennon wrote fiction, drew pictures, and staged performance art.

More recently we've had David Byrne who, in addition to founding Talking Heads and collaborating with Brian Eno, has scored operas and a ballet, started a record label, and exhibited art, photography, and design work in a number of galleries. 

And even more recently, we've had Nellie McKay who, in addition to being a critically acclaimed singer/songwriter, has performed on Broadway, has appeared in a movie, does book reviews for the New York Times, is a social activist,  and is currently scoring a musical.

Looking for examples of multi-taskers who are also very active online, there's John Mayer. He writes, records, and performs music. He's also written for Esquire, done stand-up comedy, and hosted a TV special. And he has become a Twitter celebrity.

Even more influential in cyberspace is Trent Reznor. 

Trent Reznor, frontman and mastermind of Nine Inch Nails, has become the poster boy for modern artist etiquette, having paved the way for an entirely new music business attitude through forward-thinking marketing concepts that center on communicating with fans directly, rather than the bureaucratic multilayered insulation of the past. Reznor never hides behind a larger-than-life character persona, instead representing himself as a real person, very frequently posting updates to his own site and sharing his insights/fears/hopes/frustrations with his fans directly. He's even active on Twitter. But as remarkable as that somehow still is, it's small potatoes compared to the bigger outside-the-box schemes Reznor's pulled in recent years. "Trent Reznor: Rewriting the Playbook," CraveOnline.com, 3/3/09

And someone I have cited in a number of blog entries is Amanda Palmer.

Flavorpill: Do you think of yourself as an artist, or as a musician, as someone who’s involved with theater, in literary endeavors, things like that.

Amanda Palmer: I don’t really think much about it. I know how I don’t feel. I don’t really feel like a songwriter, even though I do it all the time… I certainly don’t feel like a piano player. I feel like a hack in all of those categories. I’m also not an actress, and I’m not really a director. I’m not really a writer. But I do all of these things… When I clean my apartment, I clean one fork and one spoon, and then I go thumb through a book on the floor. I used to think that was fucked up, but now I realize that just how I work. I don’t feel so guilty anymore. And, you know, eventually it’s clean. The people that I saw when I was a kid, my idols – Cyndi Lauper and Prince, David Bowie – those people were never just doing one thing. I was lured into that particular job. "Amanda Palmer On Why Dresden Dolls Are Over and Roadrunner Is Out," Flavorwire, 5/20/09

So we may be missing the big picture if we put so much emphasis on social media as a music marketing tool. Many artists will bomb at it. The ones likely to excel will be those who are fundamentally interesting. It's going to be less important for an artist to look good. It's going to be much more important for an artist to be someone you'd like to be stranded on a desert island with.

Suzanne Lainson

UPDATE 6/10/09

Trent Reznor has decided to get off Twitter. 

What you've seen happen with the marketing and presentation of NIN over the last years is a direct result of living next to you, listening to you, consuming with you and interacting with you. Directly. There's no handlers or PR people here, it's me and my guys - that's it. There's no real plan, even - it's just trying to do the right thing that respects you the fan, the music, and me the artist. That's the goal - a mutual and shared respect.

When Twitter made it's way to my radar I looked at it as a curiosity, then started experimenting. I thought it through and in light of where I was / am in my career I decided to lower the curtain a bit and let you see more of my personality. ...

... The problem with really getting engaged in a community is getting through the clutter and noise. In a closed environment like nin.com a lot of this can be moderated away, or code can be implemented to make it more difficult for troublemakers to persist. It's tedious and feels like wasted energy doing that shit, but some people exist to ruin it for others - and they are the ones who have nothing better to do with their time. "Online communities, etc." NIN Forum, 6/10/09

UPDATE, 6/20/09

Here's part of a great interview with Amanda Palmer talking about being a multi-tasker.

I simply feel blessed that I’m an emotional exhibitionist right around the time is seems to be expected and en vogue. I love it - so I'm lucky. Plenty of musicians and artists out there AREN'T built that way, and so there's a level of unfairness.... I also feel lucky because I only loosely define myself as a musician. I got into music and taught myself how to play the piano and write songs as a means to an end - connection and art. I never wanted to be a great piano player, or a great singer.

It's closer to say I wanted to be a great PERFORMER. Of any kind. And performing via blog, twitter and twitpic is completely legitimate; it feeds my needs just fine. Whereas if I'd really been interested in just being an artist solely respected for my virtuosic musical talents (like, perhaps, a classical musician might), I might find all this connecting and online performing very bothersome. But I don't. I enjoy the medium it as a satisfying end in itself. If asked, nowadays, what I am, I could easily say "I'm a musician...and an online performance artist". Why not? "Interview: Amanda 'Fucking' Palmer (Part 1)," Hypebot, 7/20/09.

More on the Demands of Social Media

I have added some updates to my previous post on this topic, but I didn't want keep adding more material for fear it would get buried.

I just came across this blog entry and the author, singer/songwriter Shaun Groves, describes very well the new realities for musicians today.

Artists aren’t accustomed to being so accessible, accountable and out of control. Artists are accustomed to being in front of audiences that care about what they do, audiences they know are fans and they keep in the seats for a couple hours by charging a ticket price. But on-line, where spending time with an artist is free, anybody can wander into the crowd, boo, change the subject, or walk out. And they will. "If the Music Business Dies,"Shlog, 5/21/09.

He talks about the old system, where artists had handlers who did everything and shielded them from any unpleasantness.

... artists are used to hiring people to handle their relationships for them. That’s at least 90% of what a manager does. Labels congratulate and critique through a manager, for instance, who adds his own diplomatic spin to every word so the artist’s feelings aren’t hurt and the relationship is preserved. Not so on-line. Someone can be hired to hit the “publish” button on a blog post that gets e-mailed over, invite people to a Facebook event and even write to people for an artist and signed their name (it happens), but no one can convincingly be the artist every day in post after post or interact with commenters regularly. Artists can’t hire anyone to be them 24/7 and the internet demands those kind of hours.

Most of the musicians I talk to do not want to put in the time to relate to their fans. They feel it is sufficient to write, record, and perform good songs. They think that is their job and all they should have to do. But as Groves notes, "If the music industry dies it won’t be because everything changed. It will be because artists didn’t."

Suzanne Lainson

UPDATE 5/25/09

Billboard.biz just posted a good article on the use of Twitter by musicians. There have been other articles on the topic, but this one actually mentions CD sales pre and post Twitter fame. "How Twitter Is Changing Music," Billboard.biz, 5/30/09.

The Demands of Social Media

Each time we change our music marketing tools, what we expect from artists also changes.

For example, the music video age ushered in a generation of highly attractive performers. Good looks became at least as, and often more important than, singing and playing ability.

Now that social media and fan relationships have begun to define the new music business model, online communication skills are being added to the mix.

"It really comes down to a new 'survival of the fittest' paradigm. Only a small percentage of artists have that rare combination of musical chops, stage presence, likeable qualities, marketing smarts, communication and social skills, discipline, drive, passion, etc.

Sure, there are ways to lighten the workload, involve your fans, and pay people to do design work and other technical tasks. But the most effective artists are hands-on with many aspects of their promotion. It's something they accept and embrace and make the time for." "Gatekeepers & Music Promotion Overload: The Good News,"Bob Baker's Indie Music Promotion Blog, 4/28/09.

What I don't think has been fully sorted out yet is the extent to which social media is a must-do versus a nice-to-do. Presumably all things being equal, the more interactive artist will have the advantage. For example, there's Jill Sobule. She has been widely cited as someone who funded her most recent album entirely from fan contributions. She credits personal interaction as a plus.

"I’m really accessible. I get an email from a fan, I email them back. I’m still at the point in my career where it’s possible to do that. It’s not like some generic site where people invest in a band they don’t know. It was something personal for these people. They knew they were contributing to a real person who was going to put the money to good use." "Reinventing the music business: Fan donations pay for new Jill Sobule album,"Chicago Tribune, 3/18/09.

Another artist who works social media hard and well is Amanda Palmer (known both for her work as a solo artist and The Dresden Dolls). But she says there is a downside in terms of creativity.

"I'm spending a lot of time connecting with fans... and I don't feel as much of an artist as much as a promoter of Amanda Palmer. All of this instant connection has taken the place of making art. An idea that might have translated into a song before might now go into my blog instead." "D.I.Y. & the Death of the Rock Star...," Digital Music News, 3/29/09.

(Read more about her social media activities here: "Amanda Palmer don’t need no stinkin’ label," Online Fandom, 4/5/09)

Both Sobule and Palmer have had label deals, so their online activity isn't so much about generating fame in the first place as it is about maintaining a presence in an increasingly fan-focused world.

In terms of unknown artists, there have been multiple stories about artists who launched themselves via MySpace. But many of the stories have been more hype than reality. If you dig deep enough, you find that there was already a label, a manager, and/or a publicist engineering the "grassroots" campaign.

However, I recently ran across someone who I know truly has done it herself, so I asked her about her online fan and social media activities. She's a Colorado artist who goes by Danielle Ate the Sandwich. She has no team of handlers, or even a band for that matter. Just herself. But she also has over 10,000 YouTube subscribers and her videos have been viewed more than one million times.

1. How much time do you spend connecting to fans online?

I check MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube quite often and make sure I have a feel for what's going on and what people are liking and wanting more of. I'd say it's about an hour or two every day.

2. Do you try to respond to everyone, or just a few?

I used to try to respond to everyone, but it became a little ridiculous. And I found that if I stopped corresponding, some people would become upset with me. Nowadays I try to hit back a few, especially those who say interesting things, are funny, or pour their hearts out in ways that generic compliments don't.

3. How has it helped you in terms of selling CDs and/or finding places to play?

The majority of my CD sales have come from my videos on YouTube and being featured on blogs or written about on message boards. I haven't had too many offers to play at specific venues from my online popularity, but I have gotten an idea where I have fans and where they would come to see me. It helps me plan where to tour next and what kind of crowds to expect.

4. Did you have a plan when you started uploading videos to YouTube, or did it just evolve?

It did just evolve. I think it's impossible for me to be serious, so I did tiny silly things in the first few videos and then eventually turned them into 1-2 minute skits with costumes and songs and ridiculousness. Now, it's hard for me to not to have something at the beginning of my videos. But I do feel that some songs need a video all their own. When I want people to JUST LISTEN and not laugh and look, I try to only play the song. Also, some days I just don't feel like spending hours planning out a skit to do!

Some days I wish I was discovered in a coffeeshop or a county fair, like the old days, but I am so thankful I was discovered at all! And the Internet has been so good to me! It's a great medium for a person like me. I tend to be very anti-social and would prefer to be in my apartment all alone than talking and networking in a club. The Internet allows me to be a personality and be personable, but still remain somewhat anonymous and escape from people and the attention when I need to.

I was playing a show in NYC and this man shouted after one of my songs that I was the leader of the revolution of music. I could do it all from my apartment and book a show without a manager and without a team of professionals. Talent was what got me this far and he seemed to be postive that this was how it was going to be for musicians from now on.

I was a little rattled from a fan shouting a 2-3 minute speech on how I was the revolution. Then I played my next song thinking, "Hey, leader of the revolution might not be such a bad gig."

Welcome to the revolution.

Suzanne Lainson

AN UPDATE 5/17/2009

The comments function on this blog doesn't allow easy editing, so I am going to add my updates this way.

On Friday night (5/15/09), as Amanda Palmer was sitting at home, she invited everyone who was doing the same to join the "Losers of Friday Night On Their Computers" club.

Then she drew a logo and started selling T-shirts on the spot. On Sunday afternoon (5/17/09), she posted this on Twitter:

holy fuck! we've sold over 200 #LOFNOTC shirts. this shit is nuts! http://bit.ly/lofnotcshirt

And then, as orders started approaching 300 shirts, she wrote:

you're all paying my fucking rent!!! i love life.

Now, that's the way to do realtime market research.

If you want to follow the thread, go here:

Twitter search for #lofnotc

If you just want to read Palmer's comments on the topic, go here:

Amanda Palmer (amandapalmer) on Twitter

UPDATE NUMBER TWO 5/22/2009

One week after her LOFNOTC, Palmer posted her story of it:

Amanda Palmer's blog

UPDATE NUMBER THREE 6/23/09

Here's how the LOFNOTC story continued to play out.

How an Indie Musician can make $19,000 in 10 hours using Twitter

Gotta Serve Somebody

Bob Lefsetz, who publishes a widely read newsletter about music and music business, recently wrote that true artists "don’t give a shit what anybody thinks." "We Can Be Heroes, Just For One Day,"Lefsetz Letter, 4/21/09

But that's not the new music business model. If anything, that is now less true than ever before.

In the past, the rebels could fight the corporations, the record labels, the system. In many cases they were able to play the game from both sides. They would get the contract (which they could justify as a necessary evil to get their music out to the world) and then, if they chose, complain about it. Protest songs were written and sung by artists on major labels. The system insulated them, in a way, from the dirty work of making money. Rather than being part of the money-making machine, they could legitimately claim they were its victims.

But now there isn't a system to complain about. You are free to do whatever you want in pursuit of your music. If you hope to make any money at all, you have to talk to your fans.

Twitter, Facebook, and the other forms of social media are about staying in touch with your fans, communicating with them, making them part of your family. You give them a great concert experience. You build communities for them. If anything, it has never been more about what people think. If they don't like you, they move on to someone else.

As Lefsetz also wrote in that newsletter, the alternative to not caring what people think is this: "You need to appeal to everybody. You need to take everybody into consideration."

That, rather than the "don't give a shit" attitude, is what music is about. If you aren't relating to your audiences, you are playing for yourself. And if you are playing for yourself, then you might as well play in your basement.

Suzanne Lainson

A Closer Look at the Susan Boyle Effect

Susan Boyle continues to be a story, at many levels.

According to Visible Measures, which tracks videos from YouTube, MySpace and other video-sharing sites, all Boyle-oriented videos -- including clips of her television interviews and her recently released rendition of "Cry Me a River," recorded 10 years ago for a charity CD -- have generated a total of 85.2 million views. Nearly 20 million of those views came overnight.

The seven-minute video that was first posted on YouTube and then widely circulated online easily eclipsed more high-profile videos that have been around for months. Tina Fey's impersonation of Sarah Palin has clocked in 34.2 million views, said the folks at Visible Measures, while President Obama's victory speech on election night has generated 18.5 million views.

But it's not just in online video where Boyle, the unassuming woman from a tiny Scottish town, has dominated. Her Wikipedia entry has attracted nearly 500,000 page views since it was created last Sunday. Over the weekend, her Facebook fan page was flooded with comments, at some points adding hundreds of new members every few minutes. The page listed 150,000 members at 1 p.m. Friday. By last night there were more than a million.

"Scottish Singer Susan Boyle's Web Popularity Is at Numbers Never Seen Before," Washington Post, 4/20/09.

I'm one of those who have been totally taken by Susan Boyle and her story. I'm not easily impressed with performers, but to my ear, her voice and style are the real deal.

Her version of "Cry Me a River" would hold up against anyone.

What is most remarkable to me is that she has made it this far. Were she to have grown up in America, her career would likely have been stymied any number of times:

1. She might not have gotten singing lessons. Most families don't invest in professional vocal training for their children.

2. Even if she had gotten some lessons, if she wasn't turning out to be a cute child or teen, she might have been discouraged by her family from pursuing singing on the assumption that vocal talent alone is not enough.

3. If she had continued with her professional training, but she hadn't broken into show business by the time she was in her early 20s, she probably would have been told she was now too old to "make it."

4. And finally, she might have been told not to enter Britain's Got Talent because she wouldn't stand a chance and would only expose herself to ridicule. I don't watch these contests because I don't like to see people humiliated. The whole concept of putting untalented people on camera and insulting them makes me uncomfortable. Of course, that's the part that has pulled so many people in. Everyone expected her to be ridiculed, but talent won out.

We're hooked on Susan Boyle because she triumphed over a number of adversities. Not necessarily devastating problems, like surviving a terrible accident. Rather, her story is more about the postponed and often unachievable dreams we all have.

And even if there had been no backstory, she's got a hell of a voice that deserves to be widely heard.

Suzanne Lainson

Community, Music, and Marketing

As a new co-contributor to this blog, I want to establish a context for my posts rather than randomly riffing on the topics of the day. I’m going to approach music within a theme: community-building. Not only do I consider it relevant, it's a subject I’ve previously written about, albeit with a somewhat different focus. A few years ago I created a blog discussing the cultural, social, and economic value of local music scenes. It was in conjunction with {noise:floor}, a Denver-based TV series created and produced by Isaac Slade (lead singer of The Fray) and his business partner Kelly Magelky. We all moved on to other activities, so the last entry was in 2007, but it is still online.

Let me start by saying that technology has given us more tools than ever before to promote community, and people are taking advantage of them.

If you are even moderately involved in Facebook, you know people are finding each other, commenting, exchanging photos, and so on. And if you are on Twitter, and particularly if you are following the social media discussions on and about Twitter, you know that leading edge marketers are looking for ways to insert themselves into social networks in some manner.

Other developments (e.g., the high cost of fuel over the summer, the economic decline which is encouraging a return to basics, the success of the Obama campaign at the grassroots level) have made us even more aware of our need for community.

Music is one of those community-building tools. It has long been used to bring people together. In tribes. In churches. At events. During wars. During protests.

According to Daniel Levitin (author of the book, Your Brain on Music):

Throughout most of our history as a species, music was a shared cultural experience. Early Homo sapiens coupled music with ritual to infuse special days with majesty and meaning. Before there was commerce, before there was anything to buy, our hunter-gatherer ancestors sat around campfire circles crafting pottery, jewelry and baskets, and they sang. Early humans didn't sit and listen to music by themselves -- music formed an inseparable part of community life. So much so, that when we sing together even today, our brains release oxytocin, a hormone that increases feelings of trust and social bonding. ("Do You Hear What I Hear?" The Wall Street Journal, 12/12/08)

Music can energize people. Calm them down. Inspire them. As Levitin notes:

Evolution selected music as an information-bearing medium precisely because it has this stick-in-your-head quality; all of us are descended from ancestors who used music to encapsulate important information.

If you haven’t considered using music as a tool to foster and enhance community, you may be missing an opportunity. According to Mary Dillon, CMO of McDonald’s, “Marketers that don't understand the power of music will simply be left behind." ("Sonic Branding Firms Get Increase in Sales Volume," Brandweek, 4/3/06)

Suzanne Lainson