Quite
When asked if Tribes were intentionally built into DNA of The Roots business model, ?uestLove asserts that it wasn’t. Social media made it possible for him to have “personal interaction [that] wasn’t necessarily a fan club.” Dissatisfied with fan clubs of the past where you’d sign up, mail in, and get an “autographed” photo of Whitney Houston or whomever, ?uestLove wanted to “create a place to communicate with fans.” It wasn’t until 2 years went by did he realize what an impact this conversation had on the bands’ bottom line. “The power of our following on the net is what convinced the label to let us out.” Concerned with the amount of money their label was pumping into the band in relation to the yield, ?uest made the case for Geffen’s more efficient approach. “Your audience is on the internet!”
“Do brands want to be famous?” Andrew Katz expressed Pepsi’s commitment to “adding value to the conversation” today’s consumer is having within its culture. “The world doesn’t need another Britney Spears,” he says. They don’t want to just staple themselves to what’s hot now, but embed themselves into the very nature what’s NEXT. “We want to be iconic.” B.B. King, Elvis, Marilyn Monroe – not simply famous. “What he said,” ?uest says in agreement followed by a roareous laugh from the crowd – he couldn’t have said it better himself. I’ll note that Pepsi announced in December 2009 its plans to forgo the traditional route of Super Bowl ads this year and will pump the $20 Million dollar budget into online and social media. The boldest move by any major brand, yet.
Marisa Bangash and Katz agree that labels are just middle men and that the days of “brands as content distributors and curators” could be in sight. “The Roots album – brought to you by Downy!” ?uestLove chimes in with a chuckle. But this could very well be the most viable way for all parties – the artist and consumer – to be satisfied with the music experience. “Music should be a utility bill,” ?uest says. The argument for artists to be empowered by their content – and not a slave to it – is very much here. “The Roots have always operated outside of record sell,” ?uestLove states proudly. “I learned from the beginning I have to produce, write, drum, blog for others…[I had to] be ubiquitous…be so spread out that the label couldn’t drop us.” He’s surprised that most artists are still relying solely on record sales. His advice? “Artists must change their mentality – be more creative. What else can you do? Can you blog? Can you teach?”
And the A&R guy? “He’s the new ad agency,” says Katz. ?uestLove references the breakout success of hot new artist Santigold being measured not by album or single sales – but by licensing deals inked (Prefixmag.com estimates that up to 75% of her debut album has already been licensed to the likes of beer and hair product commercials). “It’s the new platinum record.”
Run Tweet That.™
Photos by Nick McGlynn
7 comments
So bummed I missed SoundCTRL! Looks like it was awesome! I had RSVP’d and even had a few friends attending. Next time……
Well written JS.
-dion
Interesting. Well Written. Good Perspective.
Wow.. I always tell people how proud I am of you. I’m happy we can share things like this together. It still blows me away that we can. Whoever would of thought right? great job. i love you.
I look forward to it as well! You are an excellent writer – very informative and insightful with a dash of flavor! You kept me engaged… as only a few things do. You’ve won me over.
Stoked! Thank you, guys!
Artists deserve their due. I’m just glad to be here to see it.
This “shift of power” and “remix” of the the music industry is really fascinating, from a marketing perspective. You definitely captured that and provided detailed insight. I look forward to reading more from you…KEEP IT UP! -natalie
Excellent blog post. Interesting and well written. I am a new fan.
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