My Vision Of Success For Anyone Involved In The Music Business

B

Bongo John

Guest
Greetings & Salutations,

I have a vision and a plan that could be realized that would allow for great success for both artists and companies in the music industry which has absolute integrity and staying power.

Regarding radio air-play for artists, what I'd hope to see happen is the possibility of local radio stations airing music that is a reflection of the demographic of listeners in a given locale. I call this holistic targeted marketing. The end result would be more successful than current marketing techniques in the long run, given that people would more likely tune in to hear a local band, a favorite song, etc.

Picture tuning into the radio while driving down the coast playing island music. Picture college radio stations playing local artist music or songs by regional acts that frequent the local music scene. Or driving into New Orleans to hear in depth documentaries of famous or up-and-coming jazz artists.

In other words, let music that is indicative of a given culture in a localized area be the focal point of radio in that particular locale. Simple survey information could be obtained whenever anyone signs up for iTunes or similar. What could be established is a group of say three stations per major city [i.e. Station P1, P2, and P3] that would broadcast said programming. It makes better sense to do this because more artists would be heard nationwide and success for artists would more accurately reflect what music is truly popular in a given town or city. Holistic targeted marketing could also be implemented with signed artists who are already successful.

There are no losers with this strategy.

Technology now exists to readily determine more clearly what people like to listen to when it comes to music.

Regarding the sales of digital downloads to consumers, there are certain guidelines that must be maintained to preserve the integrity and staying power of the current system with how artists make money.

For all intensive purposes, a system of checks & balances needs to exist within the Code of Ethics of every business, particularly in dealing with sales and/or transactions with artists and consumers. When digital downloads are in essence 'virtual' assets, with no real physical definition, it is all the more crucial to maintain the integrity of accounting for the sale of each download.

Specific laws and organizations outside of any given company should already be in place to insure that the integrity of any given company is resolute and legitimate.

It is important to reiterate that any artist utilizing or being represented by a company to promote their music needs more than just a pledge of honesty. Otherwise, more problems will occur when procedures are not clearly defined. Corruption can easily manifest in the bounds of a nebulous definition of trust.

Again, the very nature of digital media is intangible, therefore it is essential that technologies such as ISRC coding eventually be required for all artists who submit their music to digital download companies to insure that digitally downloaded songs can be accounted for.

Applying holistic marketing in the approach to radio play and allowing third party companies that perform 'checks & balances' on digital download companies are both great ways to improve the revenue for the music industry as well as remove doubt from artists making their bread & butter through their art.

It would make great business sense to take such steps in rebuilding relationships between artists who feel neglected by the music industry and companies who would hope to profit from rendering a service that has staying power.

Such a plan is entirely feasible and no one loses.

All in all, honesty in the representation of the great artists of the world is the most rewarding pursuit in finding the solution in revealing the world of music to all people, while insuring the stability of great success and hope for the music business.

Sincerely,
John Metcalf aka Bongo John
 
That's the way it should be But now with syndication and the corporatizing of music and media we are a long way from that.
 
With the advent of new technologies, let's hope there will also come a new mind set and philosophy. HD radio is going to be the wave of the future for listeners, unlike XM radio which you have to pay for... Now it's just a matter of seeing how consumers will move on to the HD radios for their vehicles, etc. It will be a good five years before this happens. However, many major radio stations already have put HD equivalent broadcasting channels in line.

I really don't want to see the spirit of radio take another fall to the approach of presenting a narrow selection of artists. It's in everyone's best interest to allow for a more accurate representation of more artists - this doesn't seem to be Curtis Media's or Time Warner's goal at this moment - hopefully they will abandon their archaic formula and get with the times... Not allowing LCD marketing to dominate their focus.

Best,
Bongo
 
Back
Top