Music Marketing

Forget About The Net. It’s Still Old Fashioned PR That Breaks A Band

How much credit can the internet really be given when it comes to breaking a new band; and how much is just good old fashioned PR?

Arcticphoto_1"Don’t believe all you read about web-driven musical phenomenons. Old-fashioned PR and marketing still have a big part to play in their success…" according to the UK’s Guardian Unlimited."…there’s Sandi Thom, whom newspapers have hailed as a webcasting phenomenon, broadcasting to the world – and signing a record deal – from her basement in Tooting, south London…"

"What all these stories actually demonstrate is that the labels have adapted much more quickly to the new technology of the internet as a means for boosting artists than the media. For when you examine each in detail, you find the music business letting the media believe what it wants to about the "bottom-up" internet – and hiding the top-down PR at which record companies have excelled for decades."

Future_of_music_1The article goes on to talk a critical look at the success of MySpace, The Arctic Monkeys and others concluding that while the net is a great tool to spread the word; it’s old fashioned press and PR that still drives traffic online and into record stores.  It’s a convincing argument and in some cases like Sandi Thom the net has been used as the latest promotional scheme to be smartly exploited.   In all instances the internet like any media needed to be "worked" by some combination of the label, pr staff, fans and even as with Hawthorne Height by the band itself. 

Whatever the source the net has created a more level playing field; one usually less under the thumbs of giant corporations or the highest bidder as radio has been. The line between good PR and organic buzz will always be blurred, but a more democratized net with endless blogs and comments at least gives us many more choices as to who we want to trust.

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4 Comments

  1. I think it all comes down to the discovery process for the genre of music. Some forms of pop music (inclusive of Hip Hop, R&B) fans are still pretty much guided by traditional radio, cable and specialty TV, and club spins.But metalheads, alt/indie rockers, and punk/hardcore kids have always fallen outside the norm.
    So,what helped Clap Your Hands And Say Yeah or Editors (whose fanbases are made up of early movers on the web) is not necessarily good for Gretchen Wilson or Chingy.
    Personally, I find the bulk of my new music from podcasts, blog RSS, online magazine RSS, and word of mouth from friends and the bands on my label. They give me a reason to want to hear it and then I follow the links to check it out.
    It’s rare I use MySpace or even PureVolume because there is no easy way to separate the wheat from the chaff, or locate it.
    And while the folks reading this blog may have a similar story, I know that there is a majority out there that does not, and just because there are X million iPods in the world, it doesn’t mean the same number of people are discovering music in any new way.

  2. The NY Times had an article during SXSW that talked about all the wheeling and dealing that’s still involved as many of the buzz bands find fans through the Internet. At the end of the day there are still promoters, labels, retailers and tons of other people involved in bringing a band up the ranks. The Internet alone can’t do it. Old fashioned PR and elbow grease are still required.
    As for MySpace, I think it’s great for discovery (every band has a MySpace page) but it’s not really a way to find new music. You have to go looking for something specific. You don’t just happen across something good very often. The search costs are too high to just click around and look for something you like. But if I hear or read about a band and I go to the MySpace page. All the time. And I hear a few songs and get some basic info, and then I move on. Easy as pie.

  3. -Traditional media. (big newspaper, radio, TV still hold the biggest audiance attention, but all of them are not growing or at least not as effective as it used to)
    – My space is a nice webpage, where artist can put everything they need in one page. And people know where to look for. (And google search it too) plus the fact oodles of people use myspace does help.
    – Blog. The scene is still small, but it’s where die hard music fans hang out. Specially indie rocks. Give it more time, the influence will grow.
    The greatest mystery is still, how do people search for music?
    (They definitely shifting away from browsing brick and mortar stores/radio/music magazine. But online stores only doesn’t fill the whole picture.)

  4. OK here’s the deal. The net is a great resource with ever growing potential it is empowering many DIY artists & creating new opportunities. However if you’re aiming at the mainstream the industry is still media driven by TV, Radio & Press – in that order.
    Just think of the numbers, how many people watch prime time TV?
    BTW the Sandi Thom thing is a bit misleading, it was the mainstream media which brought traffic to the web, not the other way round as many a story would like you to think.

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