Why Video Is More Important to Your Career Than Your Music
August 6, 2008 by Eric Hebert in MarketingComment
Let’s get one thing out of the way; your music is important. It’s your art, it’s why you’re here on the planet, and you’ve got to pour your blood, sweat, tears and soul into it. It has to be real and you have to feel it. They have to feel it. it’s all about the music.
What you have to understand, however, is if you want to make a decent living recording and performing your music, you have to understand how to capture the attention of your audience. You have to figure out how to create an emotional connection with them. This is the secret to building a fanbase and becoming successful.
The secret is INTERACTION.
Your first and foremost interaction is through the music itself. And the more someone listens, the more they become attached.
The problem is that the music is not enough to fuel the tank on the road to success. People are bombarded with new music everyday, and it’s the artists who take advantage of all methods of interacting with their audience who will make the biggest impression on them.
Your next weapon is your blog. You connect with the audience using words and pictures, bringing them into your world.
Did I say pictures? People love pictures. It’s how we remember our lives. They see pictures of you in the studio, you back stage. Pictures of you drunk. Pictures of you eating a cheeseburger. When people look at your pictures, they connect with you - you are alive and living your rock star life.
But VIDEO is the biggest gun in the battle. It takes both of our most important sense and grabs our full attention. Video is the outlet that really makes people feel apart of your life.
With the way the industry is changing, there needs to be other methods of monetizing your art. You’ve got to give away music, and your blog has to be free to read and subscribe.
Video, however, can be something you can charge extra for. You rope them into your art with your music and your blog, with your pictures. And once they’re in, they want to be REALLY IN! They’ll spend the extra thirty bucks to join the fan club and see the behind the scenes footage of you in the studio laying down the tracks, of you bickering with the producer, of the girls you brought to the after party.
And you’ve got to keep the video cranking. If you’re in the studio, document every part with video. Get as much tour video as you can get. And yes, get some video of your band hitting up the Taco Bell at three in the morning. Mix it up.
There’s a line you can cross where it no longer becomes about the music, so be careful. Keep it as much about the art as you can, with the occasional goofy bit or personal side.
Give a taste away - that’s where the viral and social perks of video will help you get the attention you need.
But for the hardcore fans, the ones who will make or break you - save the documentary style stuff for them, and offer it in an affordable fan club package. Look at what Metallica is doing with MissionMettalica.com; Staind is offering a similar style product for their new Illusion of Progress album.
And sell it along with the music. Hell, I just paid twenty seven bones for the new Staind CD, a t-shirt, access to their video fan club, and three exclusive tracks. Not a bad deal.
And I can’t wait for not only the album, but for the VIDEO. I can’t wait to see Arron and the gang screwing around in the studio.
So if you’re trying to figure out how the hell you’re going to make a buck in this industry, just remember that being a musician isn’t all just about the CD or the digital tracks or the gigs. It’s all about the EXPERIENCE and the INTERACTION. And as far as media is concerned, nothing showcases the experience like the interaction via video.
Whether you play guitar, smash drums, or scream through a microphone, there’s one instrument that every musician needs to embrace: the video camera.
Here’s my first foray into doing some video myself. I shot this a while back with no script and no editing, and it’s kind of funny. Reminds me of an extended UPS commercial (gotta love my silly drawings!)
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Matt@Kurb on Wed, 6th Aug 2008 4:33 am
Hey man, been checking out your blog for a while - was impressed by your ideas about bringing IM concepts into the music biz, cos thats where I'm at. But unfortunately we're not in the weight loss products market so “connection” and “engagement” are also ideas I been talking a lot about, and I think bruce warila introduced good discussion of it in the “create, validate, sell” post on music think tank.
The validation process of engaging users to actually give a shit is essential now.
A lot of artists I deal with only front up to me 6 weeks out from an album launch and I'm like: the internet - you're doing it wrong. A lot of these guys seem to think that because they've recorded an album, people will want to buy it because they're friends on myspace.
But because I agree with you in principal and I know youre a lefsetz reader I will play devil's advocate. Even though he's an older guy and comes from a different era, I don't think you can argue with the idea that there simply is nothing more powerful than great music.
Some artists i've encountered - you could tell within 15 seconds their music was brilliant and they were going to break through within a year.
But because of what you're saying and the skills that people like you and I bring to the table, it is possible to make a career out of slightly above average music now. Or basically, being an entertainer who records music as part of a broader platform providing digital content online.
Just some finer points I wanted to add:
I'm fond of bombastic statements on my blog too. I believe Google means regular blog copy is still more important than your video at the early stage.
I'm all for monetizing online communities but I don't know if video is the right carrot.
I'm trying to ramp up my videos too, gotta practice what you preach! Just wanna get more conscientious about my standard of presentation ie: lose the moviemaker titles and kill that background noise - i noticed you had a couple of vehicles go by also.
Bro I thought you were going great until you scrubbed out mtv and radio because you left a grey “why?” area for the viewer when up until then you'd been really tight.
Personally I don't really soft sell either. At the end of the video I would have popped a proposition and I display my mobile number as well as email. (buy now!)
I'm at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDloaLsM1xk
if anyone wants to check me out.
evolvor on Wed, 6th Aug 2008 12:19 pm
Great points Kurb. I think video is powerful and that your really hardcore fans will pay extra to see it.
As far as my video, I kinda was hesitant to put it up (I shot it 6 months ago) because I did no pre or post production - I just turned my camera on one day and did a “test” run. I still think it gets some points across, and the silly nuances I have make the video more genuine if you will, not just another “the internet is great” silly sales pitch video.
I do also agree that most artists don't get it. 6 Weeks? Try 6 months, maybe even a year to get some press. Online marketing and branding is a long-term kind. Unless you got the deep pockets.
The music is important - everything else reinforces it. As far as making a living, however, I see that its all the components that revolve around the music that give you the potential to make money in other ways, and video captures all of that.
Plus, video reinforces the connection, bringing you closer to the band, which means you'll spend more on them in the future!
Will on Thu, 27th Nov 2008 6:33 pm
Yes! Bands need to build a membership site and charge access to protected content, whether that be videos, photos, song demos, fresh content and so on. Don’t just focus on trying to sell songs. You can even distributed the songs for free to drive attention to your paid site.
Nowadays it’s pretty easy and cheap to set one up. I teach people how to build a simple membership site if anyone’s interested.