17th
You know what I hate? I hate that I can’t just ENJOY this. I hate that I can’t just see this video of dudes who got their instruments stolen and decided to be creative and still find a way to play their music.
I hate that there’s an ongoing debate via Bob Lefsetz and his community of music professionals about whether or not this is cool or uncool based on whether or not it’s “real” or “orchestrated” (no pun intended) as a part of some marketing scheme.
I hate that I forget whether I like a great marketing strategy thought up by a group of music marketing professionals or that I like a group of creative broke musicians coming up with this type of brilliance on their own.
I have lost track and lost sight of whether I think someone deserves credit for the exceptional marketing concept to sell something ordinary or the simple plan to sell something extraordinary.
This band isn’t writing “Hey Jude” and they’re not playing “Bohemian Rhapsody” and they’re not selling iPhones (as to my knowledge Apple hasn’t paid them for this video). So what are they doing? They’re becoming “the iPhone Instruments Subway band”. They are BECOMING a set of google search keywords. “iPhone, instruments, subway, band”… go ahead google that phrase and watch how quickly the results point you to the video and the “viral marketing” controversy that accompanies it.
I WORK in this business and I’m so tired of rolling my eyes at the most recent “genius” used to make musicians famous.
Music claims to be so high and mighty just because you have to have SOME level of talent to remain famous once whatever got you “fame” dies out.
Take OK Go for example. I saw that band in TINY clubs in Hoboken, NY, NJ, Philadelphia, etc. for years before they got famous enough to be spokespeople for clothing chains and have billboards on Sunset Blvd. Damien wanted us all to vote and he wanted to teach bands how to market themselves (I still have the essays he used to write about it). The only reason OK Go got famous was for their dancing music videos (often choreographed by Damien’s sister and done in someone’s backyard in Chicago), but the only reason they STAYED famous was because they are great songwriters and talented musicians.
Had it not been for their talent and plethora of ideas for songs and clever video concepts, those guys might’ve been little more than a clip on The Soup or a mention on Ellen. Then it would be back to the obscurity pool, but for a few followers who’d been there all along and a few girls who think Damien’s hot (I was always a bit partial to Andy Duncan a.k.a. the “old” Andy)
Either way, musicians who get famous from some marketing stunt get to self-righteously write it off as a means to an end. This Machiavellian take on gaining popularity to get fans or attention for an otherwise overwhelmed music business has simply got to stop.
Simply put, it’s exhausting to have to evaluate it all.
I like to think for myself; I like to see or hear something and develop my own thoughts and ideas about a film, book, politician, song, speech, work of art, or whatever means of expression is out there.
Every internet phenom gets talked about and sometimes it’s made a profound impact on me like PS22 to name one. But having to watch them all and decide what I think about them is at times annoying and far too time-consuming. It’s hard to know which is worth it and which will be 3 minutes of my life I won’t get back.
And NOW you know why music and I are not really seeing much of each other anymore, I’m dating sports now… EUROPEAN sports.
