Posts Tagged ‘Marketing’

The Precarious Balance Between Self-Promotion and Creating Art

Posted by Brian on Wednesday, May 5th, 2010

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I hope David doesn’t get mad that I published one of his ‘protected’ tweets, but especially in this DIY day and age, the issue of finding a balance between creating your art / product and spending time promoting it a good one to talk about. (Though it’s not just self-promotion that takes artists / composers / musicians away from their work, there are also ‘relevant‘ ‘debates‘ on terminology n shit to tend to.)

I’ve known composers who were exceptionally skillful self-promoters / marketers. And I’ve also known composers who were uninterested / awful at that part of the game. There have been times when I’ve thought a skillful self-promoting composer of mediocre music got more attention / recognition than a composer not very adept at self-promotion but who wrote ‘better’ sounding / crafted music that, in my opinion, deserved the attention much more than the savvy marketer. I’ve known musicians who have some really interesting / inventive ideas about how to present music but lack the skills on their instrument to be a truly engaging, powerful, and respectable proponent of that music, yet they insist on ‘promoting the shit’ out of themselves instead of spending time actually perfecting their craft. I’ve also known some ridiculously talented musicians who toil away in practice rooms and end up completely unnoticed despite their considerable gifts. I realize that this is subjective to a certain extent, but I’d bet that you’d be lying to yourselves if you didn’t think the same exact thing at some point in your musical career whether you’re a composer or a musician.

Can you blame the clever marketer for promoting his/her music with great skill so that they get ‘mad press’ even though you might think it’s half-baked?
Is it the ‘better’ composer’s fault for not taking the time to get their stuff out into the world?
Is there a correlation between hours spent self-promoting and the quality / skill of someone’s work?
What is the optimum balance between developing / creating / mastering your art / music / craft and promoting what you do?
Do you wish you had a manager or is it more fun to DIY?
What does the model musician in 2k10 look like?

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Posted in Composers | 4 Comments »

Who The Hell Stole Vijay Iyer’s Watch At The Stone?

Posted by Brian on Sunday, March 7th, 2010

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This guy did. Video footage surfaced this week from a Vijay Iyer show at John Zorn’s LES club The Stone, which shows some dude totally ripping off Vijay’s watch. [fig. 1.] Renée Fleming gets an indie makeover. The New Statesman is sponsoring a Young Critics Competition. Some UK classical taste-makers weigh in on how to sell classical music to the masses. And gays should be able to marry because of all the beautiful music they’d give birth to. Relax and take it all in: your weekly starred items.

• The best part about this Vijay Iyer watch heist video is what you might imagine this guy was thinking as he carried out the act. Like, he’s standing there text messaging something at first. Maybe his txt was like, “I m gonna jack this watch. TTYL.” And then he’s all, “Hey, yeah, I’m gonna check this piano out. Oh cool, I love playing chords in the really low register.” Then the quick glance around the room before snagging the watch and then gesturing that like “this is totally mine. I left it here before Vijay started playing. He asked me to.” when he realizes he might have been spotted. The little finger point is classic. But then! But then he’s like, oh, I’m gonna go to the bathroom and the door is already open because some girl was coming out when he was grabbing the watch. I love the little fumble as he tries to pocket the watch when he realizes this happened. What do you think he did when he got into the bathroom? Did he txt his friend again and say, “Just stole VIs watch. I m the man”? [Mind The Gap]

• The Peoples’ Diva Renée Fleming will release a new indie album called Dark Hope this summer featuring the music of Arcade Fire, Death Cab For Cutie, and The Mars Volta, among others. This has raised many important questions about the ‘burgeoning’ indie classical movement, including is it all over now? No word on what the album cover is going to look like yet though you are encouraged to speculate openly. [Guardian]

• The New Statesman, in association with the Royal Academy of Music, launched a brand new Young Music Critics competition this week. The competition is open to kids under 30 with an equal passion for music and the written word and hopes to cultivate a new generation of classical music critics who aren’t smug musicologists bent on telling you how much smarter they are than you. Among the members of the star-studded jury are BBC Radio 3 presenter Suzy Klein, tenor Ian Bostridge, and “America’s Own” Alex Ross. [New Statesman]

• Twelve British classical taste-makers were asked by The Times Online what they would do to start selling classical music to the masses. The responses ranged from the practical (make concerts later (10 p.m.) and/or earlier on the weekends) to the strange (keep the lights low so they can focus on the stage. N.B. that one was from Nicola Benedetti). My personal favorite, however, came courtesy of Marcus Davey, chief executive of the Roundhouse: “Authenticity is essential. If you’re doing Mahler’s First Symphony don’t put a rock band in the first 20 minutes just because you think it would engage a younger audience.” Glad to hear somebody else thinks that’s pretty much the dumbest idea ever. [Times Online]

• In the midst of California’s Prop 8 trial, there’s been a call for Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears to become the unofficial mascots of the same-sex marriage movement. Although same-sex couples can’t reproduce together biologically, their chemistry can result in the birth of lots of really beautiful music. There’s definitely not anything wrong with that. [SFist]

Figure 1.
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Posted in Starred Items | Comments Off

Pull Quote: Proper Discord

Posted by Brian on Friday, February 12th, 2010

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The Proper Discord blog commenting on the Philadelphia Orchestra’s universally laughed-at, though widely discussed, new Unexpect Yourself campaign.

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Posted in Pull Quote | Comments Off

Poop to Not Poop Ratios

Posted by Brian on Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

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If the pie charts tell us one thing for certain, it’s that new music is a niche market. I mean, since the ratio of Poop to Not Poop in both New Music and Pop Music is equal (+/- 1%, of course), then it stands to reason that the skewed popularity ratio between New Music and Pop Music is not the result of Pop Music possessing greater quantities of Not Poop, but rather that Pop Music is, well, more popular. Question: Is there anything wrong with being a niche market? Think about it, but also think about the following quote from this mostly Not Poop post via the Proper Discord blog:

“All too often, we confuse ‘niche’ with ‘endangered’ when in truth the top end of any market is usually quite unpopular. Mercedes Benz has a 3% share of the US car market. They aren’t worried about extinction. Why should we be scared?”

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Before going any further, let’s highlight some of the similarities between Mercedes Benz and Classical/New Music. A Mercedes Benz is a solid, well-crafted, finely-tuned machine. Classical musicians are highly-trained and capable of great precision. A Mercedes Benz is expensive. So too are tickets to many classical music concerts. People who can afford a Mercedes Benz are generally part of an elite social caste. People who like classical music are stereotyped as being elite. So with all the similarity, why doesn’t Classical/New Music share the same sort of niche market perks as Mercedes Benz? Here’s one possible reason:

mercedes-snob

I don’t think being a niche market is all that bad. (N.B. This is coming from a lifelong Red Sox fan. Translation: I have been raised to root for the underdog.) I also don’t believe that being a niche market means being headed for extinction. Ain’t gonna happen. Too many people pay too much money to go to college and learn the craft of classical music to let that knowledge just sit around and rot in their heads. We’ve just got to do a better job getting that information out there in a manner that says, “Hey, this is neat. You should listen to it,” and not, “Hey, I’m way smarter than you.” Are there ways we can change from perceptions of elitism so that we might move away from snob characterization to hot chick characterization?

It’s also not impossible that a niche market gains a following, becomes more popular, and then more mainstream. Remember MTV in the 1990s? That whole alternative music, Seattle grunge scene thing? But if mainstream acceptance like that happens you’ve got to be prepared for name calling (“SELLOUT!”) and the possible loss of the music’s true soul and quality. Surely there are ways to have your cake and eat it too. Right?

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Posted in Graphs | 3 Comments »

Get Your Head In the Game and Move Product Like Jay-Z

Posted by Brian on Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

Did you watch Super Bowl XLIV this past Sunday? Did you see this Jay-Z/Rhianna/Rutgers Symphony Orchestra collab?
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Like me, you might have thought, “Yeah, whatever, Jay-Z in front of an orchestra. What’s the big deal? I’m not gonna go get all musically significant over this.” And seriously, I wasn’t gonna go and get all significant over it until Molly did and I read this article from MyCentralJersey.com about the Rutgers Symphony/Jay-Z partnership. Here’s the money quote, via the bubble inhabited by Maestro Kynan Johns, the orchestra’s conductor:

“Johns said he knew little about Jay-Z prior to the performance and went to Wikipedia to get an idea of the rapper’s accomplishments.”

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So, um, yeah, wait a second… [scratches head.] You’re telling me that in the year 2k10 a musician—and a youngish-looking one, at that—can be more or less completely unaware of who Jay-Z is? I’m not saying that everyone should know that Jigga went from bricks to Billboards and from grams to Grammy’s, but he’s become such a modern cultural icon that you’d kind of have to have been living under a rock, had your head in the sand, or holed up in a practice room for 12 hours a day, to not have noticed Jay-Z’s contributions to contemporary society (not to mention MUSIC).

All throughout the land, people are bemoaning the death of classical music, the death of opera, etc. WE R ALL GOING 2 DIE! However, if indeed the future is so grim, maybe it’s because classical music has too many ostrich musicians. Please don’t misinterpret me here. I’m not saying that hip-hop needs to be included on the listening list for the 20th century unit in history of Western music courses. (But why not?) Nor am I saying that orchestras need to engage big time rappers-cum-orchestral soloists to sell tickets. (Though wouldn’t that be something?) But in the current age in which we find ourselves living, where things are becoming more—not less—connected, I’m saying that interfacing with all aspects of cultural relevance should be part of any musician’s diet. And since pop music is music, let’s just say that that’s a pretty logical place to start.

Sure, you could argue that pop music is centered on marketing, that the level of talent and brilliant musicianship among most pop stars pales in comparison to that of top-notch classical musicians. It’s not all about marketing though. The product still has to be decent. (Well, that’s also up for debate. I listen to enough pop radio to know that some pretty bad music gets ordained as “good.” And for the record, I am not talking about Lady Gaga, who happens to be brilliant.) It’s certainly easier to sell a good product, but it’s not impossible to sell a bad product (see previous parenthetical aside). Really, though, we should focus on the product. Right, Stringer?

Hey, maybe that’s it. Maybe people should stop whining and being all “nobody cares about classical/new music” and start focusing on putting out some better products? Is that the problem?

**

N.B. Though Jay-Z with orchestra was cool, my “Best Use of Orchestra in Pop Music Tune” award goes to Peter Fox’s “Alles Neu” (The Beatles “The End” notwithstanding):

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Posted in We Can Learn From This | 8 Comments »