Live & Touring

Richard Florida On Designing Musical Experiences

In a recent column in the Atlantic, Richard Florida talks about a subject that aligns perfectly with an interview I am running tomorrow, featuring Rich Huxley from Hope and Social, also the author of the essay Music Is Not Our Currency.  In it, Huxley argues that if we can all now make, distribute and sell music, to succeed, artists have to differentiate themselves from the crowd and give people something they can’t get elsewhere.  So then, he asks, what can we give people that is unique?  What is not repeatable or copyable?  To this, he answers, "A feeling, or an experience." Because of this great essay, I decided to interview him.  What is even better though, is that Florida has written a great piece that compliments the thinking behind our interview segment on creating experiences.

image from www.tcnj.edu "It's pretty well-known that our
economy—and society—
is transforming from one where wealth and prosperity
came from industrial products and material goods to a system where new
ideas, human creativity, and experiences play a greater and greater
role
… Music was one of the first industries to experience the brutal
effects of the digital transition, and it's clear that the ability to
make money has shifted
—even for the most established acts—from selling
albums, CDs, and even digital downloads to live performance and, well,
designing experiences." 

Read the rest. If you haven't read his latest book,
The Great Reset, you should.

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3 Comments

  1. Touring as holy grail of bands is profitable for the better known acts but without deficit financing and loads of promotions I do not see touring as viable for most unknown acts.
    Imogen Heap gave her fans something of an “experience”, but when it come to creating the concert she wanted it was a financial issue. The fans were either not enough in numbers or unwilling to pay the cost for all the bells and whistles needed for the “experience”. Plans had to be revised. Twitter and social networking go only so deep and those are the only tools that are free, the rest is paid for and not cheap.

  2. “Huxley argues that if we can all now make, distribute and sell music, to succeed, artists have to differentiate themselves from the crowd and give people something they can’t get elsewhere.”
    The underlying assumption of the above statement is that all artists are making music of comparable quality and sophistication – which is clearly not the case. I don’t need the added ‘experience’ if I don’t appreciate the music to begin with. The music should speak for itself and invoke some kind of emotional response from the listener – if that isn’t happening, then you can add whatever ‘experience’ you want, and I’m still not going to be interested.

  3. Fair comment. I guess what I’m trying to say is that we all have an equal opportunity to make great music, and to take advantage of the opportunities such as direct to fan relationships and the like.
    That a band has to be great is often forgotten, though for me, like you, it has to be a given.

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