A few weeks back, I (along with other bloggers) received the below email from Will Brierly, of musical marketing co. Snowrunner. It immediately struck me as a brilliant, most thoughtful idea; what’s more, I admired the evident passion in Will’s note:
“Hi
“For years I have run my publicity and marketing company for the music industry, Snowrunner Productions. For the past five or six years I have noticed a shift in the way people are learning about music, and I feel like blogs are a part of this revolution. As a result, my job as a music publicist might become obsolete, and in many ways I don’t really mind. In fact I think might be what’s best for everyone. Technological advances have made it easier and faster for people to learn about new music, to be able to write about it and share it as fast as possible.
“So with all these changes, where does that leave me? I still do the traditional publicity because in some cases there is a time and a place for it, and in one way or another it will always be around. But I feel like a new approach has to be taken.
“Here’s my idea about the next phase of publicity that I will be launching very shortly: completely brand-less music promotion. Instead of sending onesheets, promo discs, photos etc., I give writers and editors access to a special section of a website that has my clients’ tracks on it that are just about to be released. No band name, no track title, no label information, no branding; just a song. If you like it, you click a button and we can send you the information on the artist or anything else you might need.
“This way there is no pitch, no follow up phone calls, no giant stacks of cds, no wasted money on promotional materials, paper, and plastic. Just sharing music for music’s sake, and trusting that listeners can make their own opinions on music without outside influence. I think this is a better way to get the word out to writers, editors and other media outlets about a new release.
“What do you think? One thing I have always thought about music industry is that it should really be about the music. Not the label, the look, or the band name. Those things just distract us from the music. Think back to a time when you heard a song and it completely blew you away, moved you in ways you never thought possible; that is what I love about music. It is rare when that happens, but it is the best feeling in the world.”
Wow, huh? I really like this idea: it’s very easy to like a band because you think you should like them, or to frown on something because you’ve already got a negative association with the artist. To be a neutral listener is so, so difficult: even if you think you are being one, most times you aren’t. I never liked any of the old Primary 1 stuff; sitting down to hear a new song, I almost expect to dislike it, regardless whether they’ve changed their style. It’s very hard to defeat those subconscious emotions. One of my greatest challenges as a blogger is to give every artist a clean slate, a fair listen with an open mind.
Will’s kindly let me reproduce that email, even if it does reveal a bit of the machinery of music marketing, and he’s also let me tell you readers about the site he’s made. To get to it, visit www.soundplacement.com and then click the inside of the ‘b’ in “about” – that’s a link to the secret media page. Who doesn’t like a secret page?! Click on the > symbol to play a song. The idea is, if you hear something you like, hit the @ symbol next to it, and you’ll be set up to send Will an e-mail asking for information on that artist. There’s an excellently wide variety of stuff to listen to, with some loose information on the genre of each song.
Enjoy – and if you have any thoughts to add, or feedback on the site, do let me know, by comment or email, and I’ll pass it on to Will.