Seth Godin on the New Music
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Seth Godin continues his talking on the future of the music industry in a transcript of one of his presentations: The Live Music Talk. He begins by explaining why the record industry during his youth was “a perfect industry.” There are many positives and his reasoning makes sense. He then goes on to explain what has happend and offer a few suggestions for where to go.
One thing he said that I particularly liked was:
I have every record Ricky Lee Jones has ever made including the boot legs that she sells. Rick Lee Jones should know who I am! … I desperately want Ricky Lee to drop me a note telling me when she is going to be in town. I want her to ask me, “should I do a duets album with Willie Nelson, or should I do one with Bruce Springsteen?”. I want to have these interactions. And I want her to say, “I’m making another bootleg, but not until I get 10,000 people to buy it as patrons before I make it”. Because I’d sign up. I’d buy five if it would help, but she doesn’t know who I am. She doesn’t know who I am, she never talks to me.
This is the new paradigm: talk to your audience. Make it easy for them to talk to you. I could write hundreds of new pieces a week, but it wouldn’t matter if I weren’t writing what the audience wants to hear. Does this mean I can’t use new media or new techniques and push the boundaries of the “typical” “classical” music? Of course not, but I just have to connect with that audience that is interested in those things.
With the Long Tail, we have tremendous opportunity to reach people who care about us, who want to hear what we have to say, who want to hear what we’re creating. There are people out there who want to listen to our music and then help us get better, who want to play that music, who want to enter a relationship with us and become a better thing becasue of it.
If you out there are into new music, specifically chamber and vocal music, let’s talk. Whether you perform it, write it or just like listening to it, I would love to hear from you and begin that relationship of mutual interest.
Welcome to the tribe.
