My Pet Peeve with Music Marketing

I got all fired up when I saw this.

No, it’s not the typo, but how I feel about how music is often marketed these days.

The Tone is Too “Corporate”

I know, it’s called the “Music Business” for a reason. But which word comes first? Good music is art, and art doesn’t often mix well with business. But PR and marketing types can do us all a favor and lose some of the tone that would be perfectly appropriate for a corporate earnings press release, but strips away any sense of the art that should be the focus of their efforts. It’s not just press releases, but site content, media kits, bios, etc.

Top offenders:

…opened for the likes of…

…exploded on the scene…

…combined 20 years of music experience…

And my new fav:

…song was featured bumper music on MTV’s Tool Academy.

If it’s a professional wedding band, go ahead. If your focus is on placing music in TV, that’s great too. For talented artists that aim to reach new audiences with original recordings and performances, this kind of publicity content simply sucks. Not to mention it can strip the artist of artistic dignity and credibility.

At the very least, keep content designed for industry audiences separate from content designed for public consumption.

One last thing: I know it’s tempting – and often required by business types like booking agents and label reps – but not every artist is a mashup of two or more other artists. Sure, we all have influences, but does your client really sound like John Lennon tripping over Liberace’s piano stool?

Isn’t it time for Rock ‘n Roll to be destroyed once again?

Advertisement

Get Clogging with Amplify

If you’re like me, the combination of Twitter use and time constraints have taken it’s toll on your blog. I’ve been pretty busy (a good thing), and when I’m online, I’m either devouring content or engaging with others on Twitter and Facebook rather than spending time blogging here. Clogging may be the perfect middle ground for individuals as well as a powerful information-sharing tool within the enterprise.

WTF is a Clog?

A clog is a “Clip Blog,” and clogging is how Amplify aims to transform how we share what we’re reading with others.  Increasingly, many blog posts consist of little more than a few quotes from another article or blog, with a short commentary. In a sense, these are proto-clogs. The folks at Amplify (who are also the folks behind clipmarks) have created a platform for quick and easy clogging – with tools to make sharing this content very easy.

How it Works

When you find interesting content online that you think others (friends, colleagues, etc.), you use the “Amplify” plugin (currently for Firefox and IE) to highlight a portion of the content that will post on your clog, along with tags, categories, and a short commentary or introduction. Simple enough.

Tools are available that enable you to post each clog to your twitter or facebook account (think: “What I’m reading…”), and visitors can subscribe via RSS, leave comments, bookmark to delicious or stumbleupon, or post to facebook or twitter.

Amplify for Business

The economic downturn is putting pressure on businesses of all kinds, and the ones that do a better job of capturing and disseminating knowledge internally can have a leg up on the competition. I like things that have silo-destroying potential within organizations, and Amplify can be a great silo-smasher. Sales can read up on what Marketing is reading. Product Development can learn about market trends. Executives get up-to-date insight into competitive activities. And they can all converse around what they’ve found.

An Amplify clog can be open to the public (the likely setting for a personal clog) or private (ideal for an internal organization clog). Organizations using amplify can enable any or all of their employees to post to the main clog. While many employees may be hesitant to blog on an internal company site for fear of saying something stupid, a clog doesn’t have the same hurdles to adoption. It’s easier and quicker to do, and it’ s really as much about what you’re reading than what you have to say about it.

Amplify is currently in beta, but follow @amplifytheweb on twitter to get an invite.

My Amplify clog