Very interesting points David….and you are correct in that engaging your community is the most important part of the “Sale.” Looks like an interesting conference. Would love to hear some other points you made:-)

i love that you stress you should never treat your community as an entity to ‘advertise’ to. most people don’t respond well to being force-fed and do respond well to thoughtful engagement. it’s been interesting (and fun!) to see how an artist can turn their creativity to harnessing the possibilities that the web and social media offer.

i used to work for a company that developed web apps and i currently work in the music industry (sometimes it feels like i took a step backwards!) and it’s really exciting for me to see a recording artist embracing the technology that the music industry has tried to ignore for so long.

Alright, lots of matter to think about

@jodi
we are back to a village model. you have to get out there and talk to your community. you cant sit in your tower and hope that people will listen:) everyone has choice now to pay attention or not. attention is the new currency.

The main thing, this currency shouldn’t be phony…soap bubble

i feel respected as a fan..woah.

Sometimes I believe some musicians think because we love music and it excites us that we are a bunch of ding-a-lings.

you challenged that thought.

How do you interact? What else should we all be doing?

I do totally different things than you but here are a few things that make the difference in a good a and crappy shift.

1. I need to leave the office.(outside of the box).
2. I need to make eye contact.
3. Timing is everything!!!
4. I need to be strong but not afraid of vulnerable; keeping it real in other words.
5. I can’t generalize, people are individuals and have their own history and perspectives.
6. My way isn’t the only way.
7. I am not the expert, try not to judge others on their own journey.
8. Prepare to laugh and to cry in the same breathe.
9. The one moment i have with someone may be my only one, so make it meaningful.

that’s a start. i don’t know if any of it is applicable.

You might want to start thinking about writing a book of some sort….based on the blog. That would be a very cool interaction!

To Stormy: Notice, those who considers their audience as ding-a-lings, they are not right in the head often

I don’t think artists take advantage of the new economy enough.

An example of a guy who does is Jonathan Coulton. Jonathan Coulton made a song a week, and sold them or gave them away on the internet. You could either buy it or get it for free. Recently, apparantly, he has been making a lot of money doing music. More than he ever made as a computer programmer. It occurs to me that one of the reasons he was able to do so well is the quantity of songs. Since he had 52 songs, the hardcore fans could buy all 52. If he was a regular artist, he’d pick the best 12 and do an album, but then he would only make 12 dollars instead of 50.

What if artists stopped being so selective and only selling there best songs. What if John Mayer or someone like that released 50 low production songs a year every year. One a week. Sure, the songs wouldn’t be as great, but doesn’t it come down to taste? There can be a favourite song for everyone.

That’s it, that’s my idea.

i agree that artists can release way more material now in different stages of development. no gatekeepers so all thats left is, ‘try it’

Ya, that’s what I want to do.

the thing is so far my home recordings haven’t been at the level I need them to be. I don’t mind about guitar/piano/vocal recordings, but for some reason my recordings always seem to lack honesty. (one thing about Jon Coulton is his home recordings are amazing).

But I’ve been learning about protools and I just bought a large diaghram condensor mic which means I can record vocals and guitar at the same time and have it sound decent, so hopefully that will help.

Also, hopefully it will make the sound on my youtube videos way better, but i’ll have to wait and see with that one.

Just the simple idea that i can write a message here, and you will read it, maybe, and it has a difference, and you respect what i have to say…that means the world to me as a fan, it gives me the utmost respect for you as an artist, it makes me want to buy your cd, not because i couldnt just get the music from the internet, but becuase I want to own the cd and through it in my cd player and listen to it, for a week straight, then maybe i’ll download some songs that have special meaning to me, then i’ll use that for mp3 player. But I bought the cd because I genuinely want to support you. We shouldnt be ployed into buying something thats not geniuine in our eyes. Its scary in the era of mega stars, they seem untouchable where the closest we get to the them is the media, its unreal, you remind your fans that, you are a human being, who is writing music, and working, just like the rest of us, your not put on some false pedestal and admired from a tv screen per se, its more that you are genuienely respected, and adored because of your commitment to your fans, and keeping the source of your inspiration something shared. Its what we need as consumers of music, we need to feel a part of it, other wise, we its just soulless.

What i do is just use my facebook to post my favorite music videos, i watch the videos like my own personal much music. i post them in my fun wall, so it doesnt show, to my whole community that i posted it, i dont bother people with my videos becuase theyre are there for me to watch when i am bored. If someone shows interest in me, then they can check out my videos, I try and reflect my life and feelings in the videos i post. other then that i just use my computer to write in a journal and i use email, and surf the net But other then that I dont use it to interact, i fear people have hacked my computer, i came home one day and my yahoo msn was on and it was under a different name, not mine. so I dont know i always feel paranoid about it, i dont like to use my computer unless I feel safe, but i just take the attitude of nothing to hide, who cares, I dont post my address or any personal information, so let the hackers have there fun, if i ever catch them then, i will report it. other then that i dont what else to say, except you are really special artist David, thanks again for doing what you do.
Kev

here’s an intellegent question, whats the oppostite of a ding a ling?

probably the big bang Kevin

for the record, it’s 9:49 am montreal time and it said 1:48 pm.

David,

I think you really are doing it right. Absolutely.

I’ve been through the major label machine as well and I think that you are forging a path that guys like me would be stupid to not emulate in some manner.

stace

Ya, I would agree that anything that reconnects the listener to the artist creates a value point of reciprocated respect. Example, when Joe Satriani put released his new album in April ans released a podcast each day for 11 days prior to the album release. Each day took a song with him playing it on his own in the studio and then talked about why he wrote the song and then played a quick clip of the finished version. This added immense value to me and though I haven’t bought a Satriani album for YEARS (early nineties) I bought this album.
I think that you are doing a great thing David!

My husband works in marketing world and he always tells me the way he runs his business and getting clients, which is pretty close to that last sentence you mentioned. In fact, trying sell products indiscriminately is no longer the way to marketing, but rather, finding the right match between client/customer/consumer and the company/agent/producer. Give them what they want. And if what you got ain’t what they need, then don’t even bother trying to ’sell’ to them ‘cos it’s really force-fed and also you don’t need that business anyway - better to focus that energy on someone who’ll actually want it and give you the long-term business. Though I don’t think everyone in business or working with consumers are actually aware of this concept yet.