With Independence Day coming up soon, I decided to put together a playlist of American artrists my whole family (from 60 to 6) could enjoy around the pool. So that means clean versions of hip hop classics along with songs that go back to Elvis. What did I miss?
I enjoyed the premise of this article about how a Harvard Business Review study found that the ratings of books on Amazon end up being the same as critics. From this, the conclusion drawn is that you don’t need to listen to book critics since you can rely on the Amazon crowed sourced review to be just as bit as ‘accurate’. I think this conclusion should not be surprising and completely dismisses the true job of the professional critic.
As two of my favorite Music Critics (Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis) say on their podcast Sound Opinions, “Everyone’s A Critic.” Human nature is to evaluate everything we come in contact with. Such is the case with people, cars and bars of soap, as it is also is with art. And since we are a social species, we utilize the experiences of those who we come in contact with to inform our evaluations. So the fact that a crowed-sourced evaluation like Amazon, Netflix, or Rotten Tomatoes reviews gets it right is not surprising. Crowed-sourced evaluation accuracy is well documented.
But being accurate is not the true job of the critic. They exist to fill a couple of critical voids beyond accuracy of their evaluation. First, they alert the public of important work. They can’t review everything, but the access they have to art and the artist is unprecedented. The best of the best use this to bubble up great, important work and champion it. Since I love indie rock, the place I go to fulfill this need for me is Pitchfork. If an album makes their 'Best Of' list, I’m going to give it a spin. Their evaluations more often than not align with my sensibilities.
This brings me to another critical job. They should mirror their audience. Or more accurately, their work should find an audience that shares their sensibilities. Over time, you should learn about the critic on a level that illuminates the way they think beyond just their evaluation. They need to inform their readership on 'Why' they came to their conclusions.
Finally, their evaluations must entertain us. I don’t mean that they have to be full of fireworks and glitz. But rather, they must touch our heart, mind, and soul. Basically, their work must be art as well. If it isn't, than it’s just basically a long winded set of Amazon stars. This last one is why we need a class of professional critics. Because their art moves souls and uncovers meaning through the basic practice of always criticizing. Anyone can have an opinion, and with social media, anyone can find important work and broadcast it to their network. A professional critic tells a story that enhances the reader’s relationship to the reviewed work. And this can be just as valuable as the work itself.
That doesn’t mean it won’t be tough for the professional critic moving forward. All content creators are in limbo as everything rapidly changes. But the good ones that just can’t help themselves, and continue to work at their craft to get better at finding great art, communicating its meaning to their followers, and doing it in a way that touches their audience will survive one way or another. God willing.
I’ve really enjoyed the thought provoking blog posts about the future of music started when Bob Boilen, the host of NPRs All Songs Considered wroth this post about his experiment deleting all his digital music, and moving to cloud services. As a person who makes his joyful livelihood by accessing the latest in music, his endorsement of this new future norm means something.
In response, Emily White, one of Boilen’s college summer interns wrote a thought provoking piece about how music lovers of her generation have never ‘bought’ or ‘owned’ music. They’ve ripped it since they were young enough to do so. She called for the industry to meet the desire of her generation for access and convenience that also pays the artist.
Then, last night, I read this response by David Lawery at The Trichordist to Emily and her generation. David is a professor at The University of Georgia teaching about the music business. So he knows a thing or two on the total economic impact of today’s digital new norm. His argument is it is now extremely easy to buy digital music (you can have whole new album on your iPhone in 10 min wherever you have cellular access) so convenience is no longer an excuse. So he respectfully laid out the importance of the industry, and why everyone who is pirating music is truly stealing from the artist. It’s a really good read.
This led to evaluate my own moral code when it comes to piracy. Everyone I know has a line they will not cross. And we all have created a strong but false moral code they have weaved their actions to. Statements like, “I pay because I use a service like Spotify or Rhapsody, and I rip tracks to make my access more convenient,” or “I go to concerts to help support the artist,” are just excuses for us to pay less for what we want.
The good news is convenience is increasing tenfold quickly. Spotify, to me, is paving the way with their easy-to-use celestial jukebox. The big question is can this model actually support the artist?
I am not trying to get preachy with this to all my friends. Like I said, we all have a piracy line we justify. I obviously have one myself since I enjoy making mixtapes and getting them heard. And I’ve been making mixtapes and making copies for my friends for over 20 years in one form or another. I’ve never had a moral dilemma in doing so, and can’t imagine a world where I would. So I certainly can’t judge those like Emily that have tens of thousands of songs, but have only paid for 15 CDs in their life. But I do agree with David, that we all can work to make it better for the artist by do more to get our money in their hands.
Do you think technology can
This weekend I finished Kevin Maney’s book Trade-Off. It’s a few years old, but the thinking behind quality (or in his music analogy, fidelity) vs convenience is holding up in the warp-speed changes in marketing. Specifically, he cited the launch of Amazon’s Kindle. When it came out, it was priced at $300 bucks, making it play to early adopters like it was in improvement in reading quality. But the truth was it wasn’t improving on theexperience of reading. By quickly over the past couple of years dropping the price significantly to as low as $74, it has made their device access meet the convenience level it has in it DNA with functionality like the ability to store dozens of books, and download them quickly. Amazon righted their ship quickly, and have made their product ubiquitous with digital reading. Very smart. That doesn’t mean they are out of the woods, since Apple and all other Tablets would love to challenge them, but it gives them a leg up in the race.
I had my own fidelity vs convenience experience this past week. If you haven’t noticed, I’m a big music nerd. And one of my favorite artists, both recorded and live, is Ryan Adams. This past week on his Facebook page, he announced to his fans that on Friday, his personal label would be selling a 15 record vinyl collection documenting his European acoustic tour last year. For a music fan like me, this is the type of fetish item we crave. In the announcement, he didn’t even talk about what it was, or what music it contained. Just a picture of a beautiful box. To me, this is the epitome of a fidelity experience. A limited edition, thoughtfully designed set that allows a true fan to immerse themselves in the artist’s world. When the cost and details finally leaked, I already owned it in my mind. It was just a matter of clicking a few buttons to purchase on the sale date.
So then, I asked myself, what brands would I do this for? Are there any that I’ve a relationship with that such a “fidelity” experience would lead me to justify a large purchase? I’d put Apple on the list, because I consistently update my iPhone even when my current one works just fine. Also, there are certain restaurants I’ll gladly pay more for a meal for the total immersive experience. Certain luxury clothing brands like 7 for all Mankind also make the list. These are brands I love. They help me define who I am. And I’ve used them to weave part of the fabric of my life. And none of them are convenient in the true sense of the word.
The problem is, as a marketer, I am asked so many times to make things both. Make it easy on the customer. Cut cost. Convenience. You can certainly win going this direction. Just look at Wal Mart. But I am also asked to create remarkable creative that ‘inspires loyalty’ at the same time. That just can’t begin at the tactical level. The key pieces that make up a quality experience start with the DNA of the brand. Therefore, if you want to create love for a brand at the level I have for Ryan Adams, you have to start with the question “Why does my brand exist?” If your succinct answer is about convenience, take on your marking issues with that clarity. Stop trying to inspire love. It won’t work.
But if your brand exists to inspire an authentic, quality relationship - one that could lead to a fool like me smiling happily, begging an artist to take my money, stop trying to take on those selling convenience. You won’t win. Instead, start selling your story, and be a paintbrush in your consumer’s story. Much like Ryan Adams is in mine.
What brands are woven into your life like an inspiring artist?
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