I originally wrote this one in my posterous about four months ago, but since it has something to do with music (even if it is from a marketing point of view), I decided to re-post it here. And it goes like this:
Yeah, just try and make me!
Well, one lovely lady surely did. Her name is Imogen Heap and in case you haven’t heard of her and her music, it is high time to correct this and you can do so here. She is extremely talented and her music is great. But so is the music of a great bunch of other artists and bands. And while many of them have managed to find a way to promote and distribute their art independently and be happy with it, the majority is label-bound and hopes to sell some more copies of their albums legally. The problem with the second group is that fans do not always want to buy albums. Sometimes they prefer to download them for free and as an artist you just have to deal with the fact. Unless you have the superpower to somehow convince your fans that they have to buy your album instead of downloading it. It sounds heretically, doesn’t it? And here comes Imogen Heap with a valuable lesson for all of us.
Today, she released her new album “Ellipse” and to be honest, for the first time since Sigur Ros released their latest work, the thought of downloading the album instead of buying it hasn’t crossed my mind even for a second. And as much as I love her music, I’m pretty sure that there are bigger fans of her than me out there. So how did she do it? How did she succeed in convincing me that paying for this album is important? It is actually dead simple. Imogen Heap has a Twitter account. As you all probably know, it is free, everyone can join, if one wants. (In case you don’t know about it, heck, I don’t know where you’ve been living in the past year, but here’s a link to the service, sign up and enjoy!) First step she takes with her Twitter account is that she begins to keep us updated on the recording process of the album. And she does it with praiseworthy persistency. It gets interesting. As a fan of music I’m truly excited about this, ’cause I’m getting the chance to learn how a favourite artist of mine … well, makes her music. And that’s very nice, ’cause basically most of the time I only get the end product. Second step: Imogen Heap starts posting videos of her, puts sound samples of the songs on Twitter and most importantly starts asking the fans what they think about the stuff they’re seeing/hearing. This is where it gets deep. So, now I’m not only able to get first-hand information on the working process, but I’m also able to participate and give my opinion to it? This wasn’t possible some 10 years ago when the Chili Peppers were recording “Californication”! Yeah, it’s not exactly like filling the shoes of Rick Rubin, but it feels fancy and you know that the “Artist Almighty” on the other side of the line is, after all, human and wants to interact with other humans, just as you do (especially if they tend to be interested in his art). By the third step, Imogen Heap has already got my trust. The album is as good as ready and we’re just waiting for it to be officially out. The conversation’s relaxed now, Miss Heap goes to photo shootings for the covers, we’re commenting on the photos and advising her on one hair style or another. She informs us about the different release versions and we’re all eager to finally hear and see what we’ve done. Granted, most of the work’s been done by her – heck, all the work’s been done by her! But we’re friends now and everyone of us feels as if he’s contributed to this product. And that’s why I want to give my precious 9-something (or whatever) Euro for it – ’cause I value it more now that I’ve taken part in it, watched it grow and communicated with it’s creator.
In conclusion, here are the three golden keywords you gotta know, if you want to sell me an album: trust, communication, participation. Gain my trust by communicating with me about your work and letting me participate in it. Easy, easy, easy! And not only easy, but also possible in the age of Twitter and all other kinds of social media. And, of course, this does not go only for musical albums – it goes for practically anything from consumer goods to all kinds of services. And we’ve been talking about this emerging changes and re-definiton of customer relationships for over 2 years now. It’s pretty much time for the world to start listening.
P.S. On the music industry: sure, this is a single case and I do admit, that if, hypothetically, every artist I like starts following Imogen Heap’s model and makes me wanna buy his album, I soon will be out of funds. But in the current situation, when the stubbornness (to say the least) of the music industry doesn’t allow itself to see and correct its flaws, artists like Imogen Heap, Amanda Palmer, Mike Skinner, Trent Reznor, Radiohead and probably many others I can’t name right now are raising awareness flags and changing the ways we filter and listen to music. Hopefully the right people will see it and maybe something positive will come out of this in the next 10 years – will write about the issue again in 2019 ( :
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