Interactive Music: Personality 2 Person
I can’t tell you how important I think new digital media is to upcoming bands and musicians. In a world where we have everything at our fingertips and where we are just a router away from any virtual entertainment, we are quite literally raising the bar for the game to be played online. Music is not about the sound anymore, it’s not entirely about the message or words pushed into predetermined melodies. It’s all about the style at which personalities are broadcast to you, the person.
People want it real. They don’t want a polished turd from a pretentious band that’s quietly and patiently holding a price behind their backs as they throw their bait, waiting for you to get hooked onto their line. People are getting smarter, more selective, more refined and compiling diverse musical tastes. The downfall of record stores and the mental inferiority of record labels has left self-discretion at it’s peak in a virtually untouched indie atmosphere; the internet. It will be a few years until main stream media infiltrates the new and exciting creativity of online music and attempts to monetize the extent at which that creativity is governed (there’s some guy and a major corporation working on that right now, I guaranfuggintee you).
People have the desire to know what is behind the music. In addition to finding you genuinely interesting and real, they want to be virtually immersed in the life of you. They want that reality show they can’t get on television, they want to know what your dreams are, what video games you play, what images you think are funny, what news articles you read. They don’t want to wait for your ‘Behind the Music’ in 15 years, they want photos and blogs and videos and documentaries to discover for free, banners to display on their personal web page to express themselves and so they can tell their friends and feel important, exciting ways to keep up with you other than a mass email. They want to interact with you in their underwear at a computer whenever they want. They want it different. If they like what you’re creating and (more importantly) like you and your personality; congratulations, you’re winning loyal fans.
Your street team is your online army.
The street attack is getting old, and it’s a baseless form of gaining any social reputation with good economical sense. You can play gig after gig and reach a few people that you can converse with, maybe get them interested in kicking around the idea of buying your shit so you can get that gas money you need to get home. When it’s all said and done though, and you’re left to packing up your gear and taking off to the next venue, where do you leave your brand new fans? At the last club listening to the horrible band after you? With a hand shake and an overpriced cd or t-shirt? No. Give them a card with your main web site hub address where they can access your personal social networks and links to explore your interactive streams, photos, videos, and merchandise. Draw a heart around your band name, buy them a beer, tell them a story they will remember for the rest of the night and into the next morning, and spend time with them off and online. It’s a moral imperative.
[Photo courtesy of p2p-weblog.com]
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