Several months ago I kicked off HubSpot's Inbound 2012 conference in Boston with a keynote titled "Inbound Now" detailing how to get found as people search for products and services on the Web and mobile devices like Androids and iPads. The video of the talk is now available.
The presentation to 2,500+ entrepreneurs and marketing professionals focused on the 4 ways to create the information that search engines rank highly and that people share on social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Featuring Q&A with and a live performance by Cyndi Lauper!
Being a live music geek, I played off the conference theme Inbound Rocks to use music examples - including the Grateful Dead, Amanda Palmer, the Avett Brothers, STS9, and Cyndi Lauper - throughout the talk and was thrilled to interview Cyndi live on stage.
At about 7:45 is a one-minute video interview I did with Amanda Palmer. Amanda talks about how she engages with her fans on social networks. Amanda crowdsourced the funding of her latest album on Kickstarter in what is the most successful music funding effort in Kickstarter history.
At about 31:50 I go into the audience to show how the Grateful Dead engaged fans. I find out how many people are Grateful Dead fans and who in the audience has attended multiple Dead shows. This is to prove the "true fans come back for more & spend lots of money" idea. In 2,500-person audience, about 100 had seen the band live. About 10 had seen more than 50 shows. Three over 100 shows and the most was 173 times.
At about 40:30 I interview Cyndi Lauper live. We talk about how she stays relevant and engages with fans through social media. First thing out of Cyndi's mouth (after she compared our shirts): "I stopped listening to the record company."
And at 45:30 Cyndi and her band did a killer live performance of "Crossroads." Her band featured blues harmonica legend Charlie Musselwhite.
In the past few hours, two friends – C.C. Chapman and Justin Cambria - who both know I have written and spoken about rocker Amanda Palmer alerted me to a dustup around how the rock star is putting together bands for her tour.
Now there is an active discussion on Amanda's blog with nearly 200 comments as I write this, many negative. The people who are critical say that Amanda must pay her musicians and that it is not fair to ask people to play for free. Mainstream media has picked up on the story including this from the New York TimesRockers Playing for Beer: Fair Play? and from prefixAmanda Palmer 'Can't Afford' To Pay Her Backup Band.
New business models in the music business
I'm with Amanda on this one.
Because she specifically says "volunteers," it is perfectly clear what she is looking for. In other words, it is not a bait and switch of some kind. Importantly, this request was a post on her personal blog so she can tap her fan base – it wasn’t posted on a musicians' site or another outside forum.
Whenever new business models emerge, the people who work within the established system recoil in horror. That happened to me over the past decade as I talked up new ways to market products and services on the Web. Many traditional agency people hated the ideas and told me so, mocking that you can reach people on the Web for free.
The entrenched powers that be in the music business actively resist change. They shut down Napster. They sue kids who download music. To this day, many record labels forbid YouTube distribution of music which is crazy because having your song on YouTube is, as Bob Lefsetz says, "the new radio."
Journalism is another example of new business models evolving where the entrenched fight change. I write for free for the Huffington Post. I do this because by posting on HuffPo, I can reach a new audience. Many old guard media folks hate this. They say journalists should be paid. They say I am not a valid writer because I have no formal training. Guilty. So don't read me on HuffPo then. You don't have to read this blog. I'm cool with that.
Here's another important point: As models change, new opportunities emerge. For example, I've talked about the tremendous opportunity that journalists have working for companies outside mainstream media. Professional journalists can apply their skills at organizations of all kinds to create content. Companies as diverse as as Eloqua, Boeing, Inova Health System , and HSBC have all hired full-time journalists. For a professional journalist, as one door closes a little another opens wide.
As music models change, musicians should look to the positive, not the negative. Isn't it cool that you can make a website, blog, or YouTube channel for free to promote your music? That opportunity didn't exist a few years ago.
Sure you're not getting paid for Amanda’s gig. But it is your choice to play or not. Should you be an up and coming player, you can have some fun, get a credit, score some stage photos, and publish a YouTube video of the whole thing. You can then spread these via social media to gain exposure. For free.
This is a controversial topic that’s playing out right now in real-time. What do you think?
As you create products and services as well as the strategies to generate attention for your business, who or what do you compare yourself to?
Most executives have a relentless focus on the direct competition and use that as a benchmark for comparison. They look at the competition's products, price, marketing and try to do the same but with an incremental increase.
But the strategy of comparisons to your close competitor means that you are likely to become a "me too" that’s just a little better, faster, or cheaper. That's no position to be in.
Microsoft tablet computer anyone?
Compare to people and companies in other industries
True leaders forget about the competition.
Many look to other industries to compare to.
For example, in highly regulated industries like pharmaceutical, healthcare, and finance, the competition is very likely to follow the pack and be fearful of engaging the market with compelling content and social media. Comparing to this market means you’d also be fearful and say "no". If all the hospitals in my area don't have a YouTube channel, why should we?
Smart marketers like Chris Boyer and companies like Inova Health System don't worry about other healthcare providers. If they did, they would say no to blogs, twitter, YouTube and the like. Instead, they look to the best of consumer products companies as their model for success.
Learning from outside your comfort zone
It's always fun when nonprofits look to for-profit businesses. Successful B2B outfits take a page out of B2C playbooks. Service business look to product companies for inspiration (and vice versa). A lawyer markets like a novelist. And a novelist communicates like a journalist.
Try to get away from the comfort of your own peer group and see what you can learn from those outside your industry.
As for me...
I'm a huge live music fan. I've seen nearly 500 bands live and am interested in how musicians and bands perform as well a how they market themselves. So that's who I compare myself to.
When I go to a live show, I watch how the musicians interact on stage and I adopt some of the moves in my own live speeches.
As an example, at the top of this post is a photo I took (iPhone 4S tweaked with Instagram) of Tyson Ritter of the All-American Rejects at a recent Boston show (thanks to my friend Jodi who manages the band and invited me to watch from the photo pit). Tyson is way out front standing on a monitor and interacting with the audience.
The photo of me by Jay Blakesberg is at my NAMM keynote this year. I'm also way out front standing on a monitor and interacting with the audience.
I've got no musical ability but have always loved watching how rock stars move and interact. How cool that I can do the same but in a different business!!
I've never seen another speaker in the hundreds of events I've spoken at jump onto a monitor. I learned the move from someone outside my “competition”.
Another example: I looked to the Grateful Dead for inspiration about sharing content. Learning from the Dead, I give lots of content away for free (with no email address required).
I'm convinced that by learning from musicians and bands, I've developed a more personal style than had I just copied other business authors and speakers.
How about you?
Do you copy the direct competitors? Or do you look outside your industry for inspiration?
There are now over 21,000 backers, including me, Steve, and many of our social friends including Denise Wakeman. I'm looking forward to Amanda’s Boston art opening and concert. If you go to the Boston event, let me know.
Imagine that. Tens of thousands of Amanda's fans backed her new album before they even heard it. That's the power of a fan base and using social media to connect with fans.
One way to do an album is to have a record label fund it. As Amanda shows, there’s a better way: Have your fans fund it and then you retain control.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
On April 6, 2010 after a two year fight Amanda Palmer finally freed herself from her record deal with Roadrunner Records. For the seven years prior to her label divorce, anything she had written and recorded (either solo or with her band, The Dresden Dolls) has technically been owned and under the ultimate control of the label.
As I write this, within two days, more than 6,000 people have backed the project with an incredible $350,000. And there are 29 days to go. (Each time I refresh Amanda’s Kickstarter page, the total grows.)
One fan at a time
Amanda connects with her fans every day and has built a tremendous fan base. She's very active on social networks - 550,000+ Twitter followers at @AmandaPalmer for example. Her site is a great example of a content rich resource for fans and her blog is always a great read (often with hundreds of comments on a post).
Amanda writes: "since i'm now without a giant label to front the gazillions of dollars that it always takes to manufacture and promote a record this big, i'm coming to you to gather funds so that i have the capital to put it out with a huge fucking bang. i think kickstarter and other crowdfunding platforms like this are the BEST way to put out music right now - no label, no rules, no fuss, no muss. just us, the music, and the art. i'm also making sure EVERY PRODUCT sold through this kickstarter is unique to this campaign, to reward all of you who KNEW ME WHEN and were willing to support me from Day One."
There are packages starting at just $1 (a digital download of the album) to $10,000 (dinner with Amanda plus all sorts of extras). I dig the $5,000 level, which includes Amanda coming to your house for a party. The package I chose was a pledge of $300 and includes tickets to a VIP party and intimate show with Amanda and the band in Boston (there are similar options in other cities).
We are the media: Amanda Palmer and the future of music
In just a few days, Amanda has raised more money via her fans than she would have gotten from her label for producing her album. And she retains complete control. Who knows how much she might end up with at the end of the month?
To succeed at this technique, a musician has got to build a fan base one person at a time. Social media is a great way to connect before and after the live gig, but the personal connection is essential.
"Being a touring musician means meeting fans," Amanda told me. "I go out and meet fans after every gig. It's important to make contact in real life and not just online in social media like Twitter. If you don't meet fans in real life too, then you're a fraud. If you're not comfortable getting into the sweat with them and talking with people at shows, then how can you do it successfully online? I love connecting with fans. Speaking to people at the merchandise table after the show is great. I can stay there forever."
The future of your business
If you read this blog, you know that I am a huge live music fan. I see parallels to all kinds of businesses – including yours.
While your work may be completely different from that of a rock star, Amanda has something to teach you.
Your product comes first and must be created with passion. You’ve got to engage with your customers on a human level. Social networking can help you build your fan base. And if you do these things well, you can build a great company and a fantastic career.
I've enjoyed creating this week of blog posts centering around live music, a passion of mine.
Today we talk about how brands engage with live music fans. I've had several conversations about this with my friend Jay Blakesberg.
Jay is a well-known rock photographer who has shot rock royalty for more than 30 years. His photographs have appeared on numerous album covers, in Rolling Stone, and many other publications. He also produces video and other content for brands and bands.
People like me are passionate about music. We make live music an important part of our lives. Being the geek that I am, I have a database with a listing of 436 live gigs I've caught since 1976.
The challenge for companies is to tap into this passion. There's a music lifestyle for brands to engage with, if they are clever about it. Music can connect a brand through mobile, the web and social media.
In this video, I speak with Jay about his ideas for social media engagement, especially with Facebook. It's simple really – if you create some great content, fans will share it. Better yet, the bands will share it with their fans! Some artists have 100,000 or even 1,000,000 Facebook fans.
The power of the Facebook share worked for me just this week. On Tuesday, I posted as part of this summer music series: Do what you love which included my video interview with Grateful Dead percussionist Mickey Hart. Well, Mickey shared my video on Twitter and on Facebook (where more than 60 people "liked" it in just one day). This drove a bunch of views to the video and gave people I didn’t know yet exposure to my book Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead. How cool is that?
Tuesday:Do what you love. I interview Grateful Dead percussionist Mickey Hart to learn what has kept him pushing his work forward for more than 50 years.
Thursday:Always move forward. I write about the Gathering of the Vibes music festival and how it moves music forward. Includes an article I wrote for Huffington Post and a video with quotes from Perry Farrel, Elvis Costello, Wavy Gravy, and Ken Hays.
Friday:How brands engage with live music fans. I interview rock photographer Jay Blakesberg and we explore how to tap into music fans and the bands themselves to promote your work.
Photograph shot at Gathering of the Vibes 2011. Copyright David Meerman Scott
This month marks the 35th anniversary of The Doobie Brothers' platinum album Takin' It To the Streets. The songs from this album seemed to be always on the radio when I was in High School.
Bands that have been around for decades sometimes struggle to maintain their existing fans and grow new ones. So I was interested to see how that the Doobie Brothers took a page from fellow San Francisco band The Grateful Dead’s marketing playbook when they launched their new album World Gone Crazy.
The Doobie Brothers wanted to launch using social media and teamed up with Cisco to hold a free concert broadcast via Cisco TelePresence and USTREAM, performed at Cisco HQ in San Jose.
Partners AT&T provided the business exchange network communication that delivered the show live to a dozen cities and Marriott made available public suites where people can rent the technology by the hour.
During the TelePresence session, there was time available for people to ask band members questions.
Around that time, I was San Francisco for a keynote and had a chance to talk to Xander Uyleman to find out how Cisco pulled the gig off. (Yes, my interview was filmed for real with this stunning backdrop – this is not faked!)
This interview is delivered using technology from VisibleGains.
Xander told me that teaming up with the Doobie Brothers not only helped the band reach 20,000 people with the free streaming show but also drove visibility for Cisco, AT&T and Marriott.
The band also used this occasion to drive fans to the Doobie Brothers Facebook page. From an initial fan base of just 1,000 people, they moved to 50,000 around the time of the launch and 100,000 fans now, a few months later. Upon release, the album debuted at #39 on the Billboard charts no doubt helped by this interesting launch.
A few weeks ago I spoke at the San Francisco MusicTech Summit, an event that brings together smart people at the intersection of music and technology.
I spoke on a panel called Engaging Your Community. And later in the day I sat in the Artists Panel to see what they had to say.
I was amazed at how utterly different the discussions about social media were at these two panels. The artists were so resistant. In fact, I asked a question of the artists, which began: "With respect, the vibe here is of a bunch of big babies..."
It seemed to me that the artists pined for the good old days where radio, Billboard Magazine, major labels, and CDs were the rule and "stealing music" on the Web wasn't yet a pain in the ass.
I got news for artists. We're not going back to the good old days.
But why complain in the first place? My gosh, for the first time in history it is easy to reach fans. My sense is that artists are okay with that. But many of the artists I spoke with with were so damned egotistical. The fact that fans can reach them is an issue!
I was amazed that many on the artist panel advocated ghost written social media entries. Well, okay. They must lip-synch at their live shows.
As I looked around the standing-room and sitting-on-the floor only audience, my sense was that many were not agreeing with these artists.
In a stunning twist, the entire Summit is available for free audio download on Archive.org. It's amazing to me that what so many artists hate (free downloads) are exactly what they want in an event like this! Kudos to Brian Zisk, Summit Executive Producer, for making the content available.
Here is a video I did with Meredith Chin about how artists can use Facebook to build a fan base. Meredith works with many artists. She cites Joe Purdy and Javier Dunn as two non-superstar artists who have done a good job on Facebook.
Joe and Javier are not big fat lip-synching social media babies.
See? Artists like Joe Purdy and Javier Dunn engage with fans.
The tone was set for the panel by the moderator, Tamara Conniff, who was formerly the chief editor of Billboard. Her first question was: "What's too much? The artist used to be shrouded in mystery. But some of that has been lost with too much engagement in social media. How do you keep the artist to fan romance alive."
I reject the entire question! But I wasn't on the panel, so I couldn't say that.
This is the sort of big media "woe is us" kind of question that people who worked at a place like Billboard ask about social media. All this pesky interaction! All those bloggers who are not real journalists! All the time it takes to be on Twitter!
The recurring theme on the panel was: "Who cares what I had for breakfast." This lament came up so often from the big babies.
Most of the artists seemed to miss the point that social media is much more than Twitter and breakfast. Now you can reach your fans directly without your label babysitting you!! Facebook, YouTube, and blogs and other forms of media are good, aren’t they?
Lip-synching your way into social media
I was disappointed that many on the panel advocate that artists use third party people and companies to handle social media. Ugh.
Isn't ghost writing your Twitter feed the same as lip-synching at your live show?
Here are some choice (paraphrased) comments I wrote down:
Dan Lebowitz (Lebo) - Animal Liberation Orchestra (ALO)
I want to focus on writing music. I could spend my entire week on social media.
Raul Malo – solo artist.
Social media has opened up some negatives. There should be a certain mystery. I don’t want to know everything that my wife does. There should be a fine line. An artist should communicate through the music and the live show. We need to maintain a balance.
Del The Funky Homosapien
You need other people to handle things like Twitter.
Evan Lowenstein - Evan and Jaron / StageIt
We need to pull back like Colonel Tom Parker did with Elvis and help the artist leave the audience wanting more. There is a romance that needs to be between fans and the artist. Getting too close can make the romance sour. Artists should not be talking about the weather. We create experiences for fans.
I ask my question at 48:20 – With respect, the vibe here is a bunch of big babies. Since 1995 we have the Web to communicate. There are three billion people on the Web and a half a billion on Facebook alone. Do you listen to people?
Got a few whoops from the audience. The answers were interesting.
Special commentary for any artists reading this
I had some side conversations with artists who said: "You don’t understand!"
Oh, but I do.
We're in the same fundamental business, you music artists and me. We make our living in the exact same way. You create content and do live gigs for a living. I create content and do live gigs for a living.
You create music content and choose to self-publish or publish with indie or major labels. I create text content and choose to self-publish or publish with indie or major publishers.
You can choose to open your music up and make it free (or clamp down and say "no"). I can choose to open my content up and make it free (or clamp down and say "no").
You can tour and play your music live. I can tour and give live speeches.
You can choose to engage your fans in social media (or not). I can choose to engage in social media (or not).
Amanda Palmer is not a big fat lip-synching social media baby.
We're lucky to be able to engage. Why does it seem such a problem?
Bonus for Grateful Dead fans
At the Summit, I connected with my friend Jay Blakesberg who did the photos for my book with Brian Halligan Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead.
I also met Betty Cantor, the Dead's live recording engineer for many years (of "Betty Board" fame). It was a particular thrill to meet John Meyer, CEO of Meyer Sound Laboratories, who worked on the Dead's stunning live sound system during the band's heyday. Here I am with John (who is holding our book).
PS > If you are an artist, you must read Bob Lefsetz, the best music writer on the planet.
An interesting aspect of real time marketing & PR is how organizations work towards an event happening at a fixed, known time. Here in America, for example, we’re in the thick of the midterm elections happening on Tuesday November 2.
I like the approach of HeadCount, a nonpartisan organization that works with musicians to promote participation in democracy. A particular focus of HeadCount is getting young people interested in the process, registered to vote, and to the polls on election day.
Learning from what works in other industries
I'm convinced that all organizations can learn from others' success in the real-time world – it doesn't matter if you work at a B2B company or an ecommerce site or in the music business.
Several months ago, HeadCount led a voter registration effort where musicians placed a link on their Facebook pages linking their fans to a HeadCount voter registration page with state-by-state information. People who pledged to register could download free music. These sorts of efforts have led to nearly 175,000 people registering to vote since HeadCount was founded.
Now, as the election is just one week away, HeadCount is working with artists to get people to the polls next Tuesday. Fans may sign up to get a reminder phone call from their choice of participating artists
While most calls will be automated, what makes it particularly interesting is that many musicians will be making personal phone calls to randomly selected fans.
Choices include Bob Weir, Wille Nelson, Wayne Coyne, Grace Potter, Warren Haynes, Jon Fishman, Marc Brownstein, Matt Berninger of The National, Yim Yames of My Morning Jacket, Brett Dennen and Adam Gardner of Guster.
Since I'm a member of the digital media advisory board of HeadCount, I was able to participate on a conference call yesterday with some of the artists. Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead (and now touring with Furthur) says he wants people to think about the implications of voting and why voting is important. He says he is planning to make a lot of personal calls because he wants to hear from people to get a sense of where to take the get out a vote effort in the future.
"People have busy lives," Bobby told us. "Younger people, by the nature of their lives are a little more scattered. They have a lot of irons in the fire. Voting and participating in the process is one more nagging interest in your life. We're trying to subtly bring them to the awareness that you've got to do it. It’s going to make a difference for you and your future and your children’s future. We need to remind people at every election. You've got to make yourself heard if you want things to go your way."
As you think about your business, what event is coming up that you can play off of in real time?
In August 2009 a group of over 80 Radiohead fans descended on the Výstavištĕ Holešovice Exhibition Hall in Prague on a mission to capture the band playing live using as many different video camera angles as possible.
Most used inexpensive Flip Video cameras and the 50 or so camera angles were edited into one seamless two-hour concert video.
The band lent support by providing digital masters of the audio track for the entire concert. The result is stunning. Check out the trailer. Widescreen here.
This crowdsourced project shows that fans will support you if you let them.
Last week I spoke about this project to a professional cameraman. He was hostile the idea. He said the video would be shaky. That amateurs can’t do it right. He told me without a proper setup with booms and cranes it won’t look good.
Last I checked, Radiohead was doing just fine thank you. And this project cost them nothing and gained more exposure for the band.
(I’d like to try this sometime duding one of my speeches…)
![](<a href="http://www.webinknow.com"><img src="http://www.freshspot.typepad.com/DMS_WIN_sidebar_032712.jpg">Download DMS_WIN_sidebar_032712.jp"></a>){kind=link}