Rage Against The Marketing Machine?

[john]

Hi

In the UK the winner of X-Factor Joe McElderry was announced the 2009 winner. Expectation was that Joe would get the Christmas No.1.

This year someone somewhere decided to campaign to get Rage Against the Machine to the No.1 spot with the rallying cry effectively "It's not X-Factor - buy it and keep them from Christmas No.1". A sudden ground swelling of support for Rage Against the Machine? Hmmm. Smacks of a campaign to me. What better than to harness the backlash against X-Factor pop domination? Cunning.

So on Sunday we found out that Rage Against The Machine had taken the No.1 spot. They can proudly say they are not an X-Factor product.

Why do I write this post? Well, I guess all too often people think these things "just happen". It goes unremarked and we swallow it hook, line and sinker. Call me a cynic but many ground swells of spontaneous support are the result of, or are hijacked by, marketing campaigns. Hats off to the marketing boys on this one. To out market a huge publicity engine by guerilla advertising and viral marketing. Spot on. Lets face it, I am sure X-Factor also uses viral marketing.

So I thought I'd draw attention to the power of viral marketing. At the very least the viral nature of Rage Against The Machine's rise to pop No.1 is an impressive display of the power of the word of mouth and why more and more marketing campaigns are focused on these means in order to promote their products.

At the same time I find that I am somewhat saddened that music popularity is so much due to marketing and publicity.

Cheers

John

[Retrosaurus Rex]

You should have named the post "Rage Against the Marketing Machine"...

[Retrosaurus Rex]

There's a great book about this, "Hit Men: Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Business" by Fredric Dannen. I'd be surprised if you're not aware of it, John, but if not, you (and any others out there who are interested in this subject) should check it out...

Distasteful as it is, the reality is that people don't know what they like, they like what they know. In ancient times, like the 70's, the industry gatekeepers were powerful enough that you couldn't really expect to gain a groundswell of popularity without going thru them, now there is so much of everything, it's hard to keep anybody's attention for very long...

[musicthom]

I don't think it matters how you look at it, the Rage Against the Machine single only got to No1 because people wanted to stick 2 fingers up at Simon Cowell

it never reached no1 for its musical merit , to be honest i dont think the song deserved to get a chart position never mind no1 there are better songs on here

lets just get one thing straight the manufacture of music/ artist is not a new thing from as far back as the Monkeys bands have been put together just to sell an image or style

I put a band together to promote my songs so in essence it was manafactured by me to try sell my songs, so if i wrote a great song would it be ok to just get behind another song because i manafactured my band

so many great bands have bit the dust simply because someone somwhere deemed them not the product that should be "IN"

Edited December 23, 2009 by musicthom

[Steve]

I heard that Cowel was furious! Not really sure why? I suppose it just proves that he's not the God he thinks he is? I also heard that he admited that there were probably quite a lot of people that didn't watch X factor...? Pompous twit! Just for that statement alone, I'm glad that Rage against the Machine beat him to it!

[john]

hey

I think there a few interesting things here:

1. Getting a No1 is not about the music

2. It's not about spending millions on marketing (although that generally helps)

3. It's about connecting with people, tapping in to popular ideas

4. Viral campaigns are the way to promote your music most effectively, but your idea needs to be damn good

5. For individual artists this is pretty good news. The playing field is much more level than before

6. On a musical level it is both sad and bad, but if you want a career you'll need to accept marketing in all it's forms and learn how to make the most of them.

Cheers

John

[musicthom]

hey

I think there a few interesting things here:

1. Getting a No1 is not about the music

2. It's not about spending millions on marketing (although that generally helps)

3. It's about connecting with people, tapping in to popular ideas

4. Viral campaigns are the way to promote your music most effectively, but your idea needs to be damn good

5. For individual artists this is pretty good news. The playing field is much more level than before

6. On a musical level it is both sad and bad, but if you want a career you'll need to accept marketing in all it's forms and learn how to make the most of them.

Cheers

John

Ok you win go ahead and market me

[john]

*waits for a fat fee to land on his lap

I'm happy to help advice wise on the boards where I can, but I'm no marketing expert.

[john]

You should have named the post "Rage Against the Marketing Machine"...

Your wish is my command

[Steve]

*waits for a fat fee to land on his lap

Yeah, I had that lap dancer on my lap! Couldn't walk for a week!

[john]

lol

[musicthom]

*waits for a fat fee to land on his lap

I'm happy to help advice wise on the boards where I can, but I'm no marketing expert.

I was joking

[john]

so was I Thom, hence the big wink

[musicthom]

Thank god for that thought you were trying it on lol

[Prometheus]

1. Getting a No1 is not about the music

This...

6. On a musical level it is both sad and bad, but if you want a career you'll need to accept marketing in all it's forms and learn how to make the most of them.

...and this are pretty much why I've been on the forum less of late. In the last couple of years I've become jaded to the point where trying to keep my head down and work in the music industry requires a degree of self abasement that I no longer feel capable of.

All I've done for the last twelve months is do projects with local people for fun and produce my own songs, and sadly fun and producing my own songs doesn't pay the rent.

[musicthom]

I still believe that the way the track was got to the no1 slot is not any diffirent than that of Mr Cowels way

so what is the diffirence between that or the birdie song getting to the top?

i think none! anyway most decent artists never get to a high chart position there are hundreds great musicians who never get any position on the charts

[john]

This...

...and this are pretty much why I've been on the forum less of late. In the last couple of years I've become jaded to the point where trying to keep my head down and work in the music industry requires a degree of self abasement that I no longer feel capable of.

All I've done for the last twelve months is do projects with local people for fun and produce my own songs, and sadly fun and producing my own songs doesn't pay the rent.

That's a shame, as the boards are about making music in all it's facets, commercial or not.

"... doesn't pay the rent"... alas the eternal conundrum and one that we all face.

One thing you may consider is that music is not special. It is a skill with which we barter ourselves through life... we may feel it is special, but so does a carpenter or any skilled tradesman. We abase ourselves to get money in most cases trading skill, principle or both. For me i think the thing is to do it honestly, but that is me.

[john]

I still believe that the way the track was got to the no1 slot is not any diffirent than that of Mr Cowels way

so what is the diffirence between that or the birdie song getting to the top?

i think none! anyway most decent artists never get to a high chart position there are hundreds great musicians who never get any position on the charts

Completely agree. I guess that would be my point... if the woman that started this doesn't think the success of her facebook campaign is down to a marketing group actively pushing it she is deluded.

[Prometheus]

That's a shame, as the boards are about making music in all it's facets, commercial or not.

"... doesn't pay the rent"... alas the eternal conundrum and one that we all face.

One thing you may consider is that music is not special. It is a skill with which we barter ourselves through life... we may feel it is special, but so does a carpenter or any skilled tradesman. We abase ourselves to get money in most cases trading skill, principle or both. For me i think the thing is to do it honestly, but that is me.

Well, I have been thinking of writing an quasi autobiographical book about the Scottish music industry using barely disguised monikers to avoid being sued. I think that might make me feel better about the whole thing...

Some of the antics that have occurred in my career have been hilarious. The time I told half a dozen executives that Mozart couldn't analyze a piece of music in thirty seconds for example. It's not often you have to run for cover from a bunch of grey suits...

Edited January 2, 2010 by Prometheus

[Prometheus]

absolutely!......the bottom line is that marketing directed against other marketing......is still marketing

It did somewhat restore my faith that the two people involved in the escapade refused Cowells offer of a well paid job in his promotion department.