The Pill Box

1,000 Classified Fans...

2009-11-07T08:09:00.000-08:00

At one point in my career, I was a career development consultant. I would help clients assess their skills and tailor a resume per a job description they might be interested in pursuing. It’s the very nature of human nature to want clarification. The job seeker wants to be clear about what they have to offer and the potential employer wants to be clear about what they want in an employee so they find the right person for the right job. Hmmm…

So, here’s the thing about where we are in the music business at the moment. As we focus on the 1,000 True Fans model, everyone is very clear about what it means from the artist’s perspective. It’s about cultivating email lists and metrics and merchandise and sales targeted at a smaller, more specific group of fans. There is the job description for the artist.

What’s missing is the job description for the fan. Think about it. It is so much easier and more motivating to do something when we know what is expected of us and when we know specifically how to accomplish something. Fans need to be told how to be one of those thousand true fans.

At a house concert for Amy Petty a few weeks ago, one of the guests said to me, “She’s fantastic. I know she’ll be rich and famous someday.” Fortunately, I was not on auto reply at that moment and the simple, “I agree” or “I hope so” is not what I thought to say. Instead, I explained to this new fan that if Amy is going to be successful, she (the fan) needs to follow Amy carefully….stay in touch with her, read her newsletters, give her feedback, attend on line events, spread the word…and of course, buy her music and go to Amy’s shows and concerts.

I know it may seem too simple and too obvious that a fan is supposed to do all the above, but trust me, in the weeks since I gave that fan a job description, I’ve given the same to other fans and have engaged in dialogues that I really feel help secure the kind of relationships necessary to implement the 1000 True Fan model.

Think about a classified ad and a job description for fans. Don’t think only in terms of telling fans how important their support is. Tell them how to support a music career.

Patience and Repetition

2009-08-10T08:05:00.000-07:00

Patience and Repetition

I was just noticing that my friend and Red Pill partner, Jacob Detering, had listed his Facebook status as "patience and repetition."

Patience and repetition. Hmmmm.... it's a mini-mantra that anyone who knows me has heard me say over and over and over year after year after year. There is a story and a lesson behind it. Aren't you all surprised?

More than a few years ago, I was in the glass studio with my friend Antonio Bourgeacq, who is truly one of those just-this-side-of-sickeningly talented people. Glassblower, sculptor, painter, poet, guitarist, drummer, philosopher, coin-tossing I Ching-consulting master of the seven-minute panic attack. And really, that's just a partial list of his gifts and skills set. Anyway, back to the glass studio...

There I was, with a molten glop o' stuff at the end of a blowpipe. My annual foray

into the Christmas ornament making process. I watched the dance of the other two glassblowers, elegant and effortless, with Sting's music in the background. I love glass, and I am forever promising and threatening that I will learn how to be a glassblower, or at least attempt to conquer the requisite repertoire of skills necessary to assist anyone on the glassblower’s bench.

I always mean to get to the studio and take lessons. I always mean to practice. I always mean to be prepared to live with the failed attempts and ugly results that come with the wannabe territory of a newbie amateur. But my intentions never seem to line up with my implementation. And so, on that day, as I tried and tried and failed and failed and cursed and swore over and over… nothing -- absolutely NOTHING was showing up for my big day of effort. So, in a more pissed-off than pleasant tone, I looked at Antonio and demanded to know, "WHAT is it going to take to make ONE (fill in the blank) ornament!?"

His reply: "Patience and repetition, patience and repetition…patience and repetition, patience and repetition, patience..."

"Alright, alright!! I get it," I shouted.

"No! You really don't get it because if you did, you would have been patient enough to listen until I was finished saying patience and repetition."

As a Chinese proverb says, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”

Parenting, playing a musical instrument, booking a gig, recording, writing, painting, waiting in line, learning a new language, making puff pastry... what could you or would you do more effortlessly in a few days, weeks or years by allowing more patience and repetition to appear in your life?

The New A & R...

2009-08-05T22:19:00.000-07:00

In music business speak, “A & R” has long meant "Artists and Repertoire." It is a term that refers to the elusive brass-ring-key-to-the-kingdom-Holy Grail for many musicians when they ask, "How can I get the attention of the industry?"

A&R people have traditionally been the gatekeepers of glory; those sought-after staffers at record labels who find talent and roll them up and out at the door of "the deal." As we all know, the music world has changed. Forever. So, I'm proposing a new interpretation of the term A&R. I believe we have moved into the era where those letters will more accurately stand for "Advocacy and Radar."

Artists and fans now have more autonomy and power than ever before. Major labels no longer represent the exclusive supply side of recorded music. And while more recorded music is being made than ever before, traditional ways of distributing and consuming music are in flux and flow. What artists need now, more than ever, are structures to support the kinds of conversations and communities that help create their art in sustainable situations and connect with new audiences.

In this way, yes, musicians must work harder to reach their fan base, but in the brave new world of social media, the very act of working to reach their fan base via Twitter and/or Facebook cultivates the radar necessary for fans to find them. Yes, some free music will be shared along the way and some potential sales will be "lost"... but, my guess is, what can be found in its place is a currency of even greater worth.

I tell musicians all the time that I am here to hopefully help them; to help them find the tools and the means to help them make their music heard. In other words, I will work passionately WITH them to advocate for their craft. But, musicians must also realize that self advocacy is their new role in this new world if they wish to reach new audiences and find their way onto the radar of the new industry...

Welcome to the new A&R...