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Lefsetz Is Wrong

This guest post first appeared on Kate Bradley's  Outlandos Music blog. Kate served as  the Music Director of The Loft at XM, did stints at WYEP and WNCS and was a music supervisor at Pump Audio.  Outlandos Music is a consortium of resources for fans, artists, and businesses, including the The Daily Dose app offering free music discovery for adults, The Insiders Network consultancy for indie artists, the Rogue Marketing web-based social media marketing consultation service, and Cut Through The Noise, a political music insiders blog.

Wrong

Yes, being great at whatever it is you do has merit (for it). But quality isn’t nearly enough. You HAVE to huck it, kids. Every second of every day. Re: The Death of Marketing?  Sorry Bob, I respectfully disagree.

I don’t care how friggin spectacular you are… if you don’t have anyone to tell, it might as well not be true. It’s a chicken and the egg deal. Almost. Because, you CAN have real, passionate, loyal fans at every stage of your career, from fledgling to Trent; if I like you, I’ll help you. Period.

Think of it like this: the way you make me feel about your product handily trumps the actual product. In a heartbeat.

So… how do you do it? Um, it’s called MARKETING.

Singer-songwriter Seth Glier recently quoted a fan who said it best:

“You know Seth, I know we don’t see each other a lot but I consider you a friend…..Coldplay is JUST music to me.”

And Seth is hands-down one of the most spectacular self-marketers I know.

It works like this, in this order:

1. Make friends and fans.
2. Do/make something that’s meaningful to you.
3. Tell your friends and fans about it ASAP… DO NOT polish it to death or worry about it not being perfect (any successful entrepreneur will give you this exact advice). Get it out there as fast as possible. Make it pretty/hone your skills later.
4. Inspire and ask your friends and fans to help you/buy your stuff.
5. Rinse and repeat.

It really is that easy.

Don’t believe it? Here’s something I probably shouldn’t tell you. 21 people work for me for free. Our online views have increased 127% in four months. 6000+ people read our newsletter. And we’re in the black after less than two years. Certainly, I hope it’s because we’re doing great work but for sure, friends and fans made this possible. As in, 65% them. No joke.

Did someone say the value of emotional value? I’m just sayin.

Bruce Houghton on 09/23/2009 in Uncategorized | Permalink | Comments (20)
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20 Comments

  1. Leftsetz is an old romantic. He is shrewd and intelligent when it comes to the business of music but otherwise has the mentality of a wistful teenager. All you have to be is good? How I wish that were true.

  3. So are Coldplay friends with each and every person who pays $125.00 to see them at MSG? How about the people who pay $85.00…are they pals with all those people too?
    Being great might not be enough to get you in with the ivory tower crowd, but that is not being great’s fault….also, how’s that fact working out?
    bbb
    wheatus.com

  4. Please forward your business plan to the current Administration. Getting people to help you generate a profit by having them work for free is brilliant strategy. Capitalism in its purest essence.
    And when employees would eventually say, “When do I get mine?”, you can just cut them loose and go find some other naifs to take their place.
    Gene Oberto

  5. yeah…forgot to mention that…saying it out loud right now:
    Don’t you have a problem with being “in the black” while there are people working for you for free? Where I come from that’s called slavery and you’d be a big fat scumbag for doing it.

  7. There’s definitely something that happens between creating something great and having tons of people psyched about it. That’s really nothing new. But I wouldn’t call it marketing. It’s something that can’t be outlined in the cold, sterile world of a business spreadsheet or a corporate boardroom. And when it is, it’s usually worthless. It should be something more mysterious, organic, meaningful, and timeless. More magic, less marketing. Maybe that’s what Lefsetz is talking about.

  9. Lefsetz makes some good points, but the thesis is flawed: “give up on marketing because it’s often phony”. No, the answer is to market yourself without being a phony. It’s possible to be an honest person and still promote your music. Lefsetz clearly acknowledges that honesty cuts through the cynicism, and yet doesn’t acknowledge that honest promotion can create fans…

  11. Because the right frequency keeps you current. It shows the world that you are still alive and still working.
    The second you drop out of the eye of your fans or the public people start to forget about you.
    Also it means you can take people along for the ride.

  13. I don’t totally disagree with this, but just to play devil’s advocate, isn’t there something to ‘disappearing’ for a while, too? I get why you’d always wanna be top of mind, but you’ve gotta have a LITTLE space in between, say, albums or tours, no?
    I like pizza, but I don’t wanna be offered pizza as an option for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day…

  15. I guess to me the right frequency would strike a balance between good & current. While you can definitely go overboard trying to make it perfect, just constantly spewing unfinished/uncrafted crap at people isn’t very impressive either (at least to me, heh!).

  16. Nice! Pre-selling is a good idea, and selling multiple copies of the same CD (as a great excuse for fans to share music they love) is a good idea. Putting them together is a great idea:)

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