Everyone has fans — every individual, group, business and organization of any kind. But now, thanks to social media, everyone also has a stage, aka a broadcasting platform (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs). The challenge, for fans and online broadcasters alike, is the same: How do you cut through the noise?
As music industry veterans here at OUTLANDOS MEDIA, we turn to what we know — and what modern music neuroscientists have proven: while processing music, our brains draw heavily on experience. Familiarity is the gateway to meaningful connection. The take away: music moves us by eliciting innate nostalgic emotion. How fans feel is directly proportional to how they act.
Not surprisingly, it’s our belief that the very same emotional connection found in music-fan psychology motivates all types of fans to passionately support whatever it is they love — be it soft drinks, actors, fashion, kitchen sinks, journalists, grocery stores, jobseekers, entrepreneurs — you name it. The trick then, for online broadcasters (that’s you, in fact nearly everyone, these days) is to both identify and leverage fan-driven emotional value. That’s where we come in.
In the coming months, look for a few changes around here as we transition from OUTLANDOS MUSIC to OUTLANDOS MEDIA. Don’t worry, we aren’t leaving our music roots behind… just using them as a stepping stone to grow.
5/24/10 | Comments (0)Tags: social media —
Hiya kids. Time for another edition of IN SHORT, our monthly hodgepodge selection of stuff — sometimes music stuff, sometimes not. A team effort this week (thanks for your suggestions).
And um, as they say: Rah-rah ree, kick ‘em in the knee. Rah-rah rass, kick ‘em in the other knee. Go team.
1. The Coolest Soccer Ball Ever
Brilliant and cleverly named. Meet The Soccket, a soccer ball that generates and stores enough energy to power a small LED light for three hours for each 15 minutes of play. Want one? Try e-mailing Team Soccket to see what’s what re: retail. Just think. Socckets for everyone you know for Christmas. Those guys better get on it.
2. Facebook Time-Waster of the Week
Telling Sarah Palin She’s Full of Crap
Thumbs up, Team LefTake. Of all the things people have asked me to “like” in the last couple of weeks, this one actually made the cut. Sorry Dad 
.
3. Actual Musical Talent Caught on Video
Team Faux recording most of Abbey Road (Side Two), live. 18 minutes and worth it.
The Fab Faux – Abbey Road Side 2 (mostly) from The Fab Faux on Vimeo.
xo
5/17/10 | Comments (0)Tags: abbey road, IN SHORT, sarah palin, soccer, the fab faux —
Knowing that people make decisions based on connections and caring overwhelmingly above any other factor, you’d think nonprofits would have it in the bag; after all, emotional value is precisely what inspires nonprofit work — inherent emotional value in spades.
Yet there seems to be a general hesitation to adopt social media within the nonprofit landscape. Perhaps because social media strategy is so “entrepreneurial,” so “for-profit.” Indeed. Funnily, no one is more masterful at it than those clever, nonprofit rockstars over at NPR.
Case in point. The most listened to time on public radio stations across the country is during a fund-drive. Think about that. They remove what we love (programming) for an entire week or more and we keep listening! What’s more is they ask us for money! And because we’re fans, we give it to them. Again and again, year after year — long before Twitter even existed.
Enter Web 2.0. Now, more than any other time in history, accessing fans — connecting with them in real and meaningful ways, and then using this connection to achieve your goals has never been easier. Not just for NPR… but for anyone. Which is why it’s also never been more difficult.
For one, the scale of competition has increased exponentially, dividing all of us into two teams — broadcasters and fans — many of us straddling both to the point where literally everyone is vying for attention/fans; from Coca-Cola to suburban mothers to the CIA (yes, really! FB login required). In short, social media is everywhere, and has emerged not just as a way to reconnect with old college buddies but as a defining litmus test of sorts — a public measure of viability and integrity for both individuals and businesses. To be sure, if you’re not involved, you’re not relevant.
But it’s not enough to simply participate. Because oversaturation is rampant, we all must fight harder to stand out… to cut through the social media noise. Which means you also have to do it well.
Remember: social media runs on sharing. You could say that sharing is the very thing which makes it social. And people are naturally inclined to share. In fact, they are most likely to share content which creates civic value (vs. content which creates mere entertainment value). After all, civic value is emotion-based. Again… nonprofits = civic value in spades.
What’s more is, according to a recent Pew study (via Air Force Director of Public Affairs Capt. Nathan Broshear) 61% of people believe in someone like themselves, meaning: personal, relatable experience — a “story” — enhances emotional value. So ask yourself: what’s my story, what’s my emotional connection to the work? Because nothing is more powerful than this connection and one’s ability to relate it to others. After all, humans connect with other humans… not mission statements, not websites, not initiatives, not strategies….
The trick then, is to get comfortable communicating in a way that marries personal experience with company goals (note: “personal” not “private”). Take White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs for example, a few of his latest tweets:
1. Company-Centric:
Find out if you can save $$$ on your taxes thanks to recovery plan #arra – pass it along! http://bit.ly/av84Lk
2. Company-Rooted/Entertainment:
Hope folks got to see Obama and CBS analyst/former All-American college hoops player Clark Kellogg in a game of POTUS http://bit.ly/aYox4Q
3. Personal:
WOW…said I couldn’t wait to see @jasonheyward play for the Braves – hits home run in FIRST major league at bat…just unreal
What’s common throughout the above is Sec. Gibbs’ ease with the platform’s vernacular (the platform in this case being Twitter’s 140-characters-or-less parameter); short, concise, relatable, conversational — the overarching language characteristics of so-called digital natives. Not button-down formal but jeans-and-T-shirt casual, which, in Gibbs’ case, also equals likable. Share-ometer = high; translation: invaluable word-of-mouth publicity.
Think of it like this: your content only has life if it’s shared, only if you have an audience, only if you have fans who are listening. And Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, WordPress, etc… all of those companies are in the business of sharing. Their success literally relies on us, every time we share their product. Which is why they’ve made it ridiculously easy to do exactly that. Remember: sharing is an innate human tendency. People want to tell others about the emotional value you’ve brought into their life. Your job is to make it as easy as possible for them to do so, in part by participating within the social media platforms where your fans already exist.
Time to show ‘em how it’s really done.
5/10/10 | Comments (0)Tags: NPR, Twitter, web 2.0 —
Here goes with another edition of LETTERS FROM THE ROAD, our guest post series where we invite musicians we genuinely adore to take over and write whatever they like. 2 rules: it has to be in the form of a letter, it has to have something to do with music. Proud to say this week’s LETTERS FROM THE ROAD guest author is a friend, a brilliant singer-songwriter, Beatles videographer, baseball biographer and more (words can never really do him justice)… Seth Swirsky.
A drawing Seth made of Paul when he was 7, Sgt. Pepper had just come out
MEET THE BEATLE!
By Seth Swirsky
Dear Sir Paul,
I thought you might enjoy a story of what it’s like when a very longtime fan of yours has the opportunity to meet you, unexpectedly.
When I saw you running on the treadmill at my gym, it didn’t register for a good, long moment that it was you in the flesh. I couldn’t help but walk over – not to get an autograph or a picture – but to see if the treadmill next to you was taken (it wasn’t!) in hopes that you would allow me a “hello” or something.
Could you ever really know how deeply you affected so many people’s lives like mine? I was born to 18 year-old parents in 1960. They bought Beatles records from the beginning in 1964, so I “got” it all at a very young age.
By 7 years old, in 1967, I was taking guitar lessons already knowing what I wanted to be when I grew up: you! By 8 years old, I was playing “Hey Jude” and “Yesterday” in front of my entire grade school assembly. At that age, I thought John was very cool, I liked George just fine and Ringo sang “With a Little Help From My Friends” and “Yellow Submarine” which both made me feel good as they do to this day. But, you were the coolest.
Inspired by you, I became a staff songwriter with Warner-Chappell Music and EMI Music for over 20 years, writing hits for a number of artists and becoming a recording artist myself. So, to have a chance to even just say “hello” to you would have been a major life thrill.
So, back to the treadmill! I got on the one next to yours, inconspicuously. But I made sure I wasn’t giving out the vibe that I was just another fan looking for an autograph or something.
I noticed out of the corner of my eye that you had turned up the speed on your machine to 7 miles an hour. That is really fast for someone even half your age (nearly 67 at the time). I was impressed and felt I had to at least match that!
So, I put the speed of my treadmill up to 7 miles an hour and scrambled in my mind for something I could say to you if you gave me that ½ a second “opening”.
Now, for the past 5 years I’ve been making a documentary called “Beatles Stories”, which consists of filmed interviews I’ve done with a myriad of people who have a cool story about themselves and The Beatles. While trying not to fall off the treadmill, I was thinking of who would impress you that I’ve interviewed. Graham Nash? No. I needed someone more personal to you, Sir Paul. Perhaps, Sir George Martin? No. You’ve known and worked with him for so long. Mention of his name wouldn’t intrigue you. Sir Ben Kingsley, Art Garfunkel, Justin Hayward? My mind was scrambling as I noticed you ramping down your machine. 6 miles per hour, 5 miles per hour…I had better think of someone quickly…
Then, as your machine stopped and you started toweling yourself off, I noticed you turn slightly towards me as if to say, “Ok. You look like a Beatle person. I’ll give you a shot to ask me a question.”
That’s when I turned to you and said, “Sir Paul, I’m making a documentary and a few years ago I interviewed your original engineer, Norman “Hurricane” Smith (Norman was not only at The Beatles audition in June, 1962 — in which he re-mic’ed Paul’s amp so that they would sound good — but he was their main recording engineer for every song they did up to and including the Rubber Soul album. In short, Norman helped make “the sound” of The Beatles).
I can still see how your eyes lit up, Sir Paul, at the mention of Norman’s name. I told you, that I really understood how ‘you guys’ — as I said it — would love Norman, because, in my afternoon at his home in Sussex, England, I too, had great affection for him. I remember telling you that he was like your favorite uncle that you loved because he let you do stuff your dad might not. He’d be mischievous with you.
Then, you said, as we stood, face-to-face: “Yes, we were young guys (as I’m thinking, THIS IS PAUL MCCARTNEY TALKING ABOUT THE BEATLES!!!) that took a great liking to Norman. He was, as you say, like an uncle to us, very playful and fun.”
We talked a bit more about Norman and you stayed facing me, NEVER giving me the feeling of “ok, you’ve had your Beatle moment now, now move on.”
Then, unexpectedly, you asked me my name as you put out both your hands and took my hand and shook it. After I told you my name you said to me: “Thank you very much for bringing up this memory for me today. It was a real gift.”
I couldn’t believe that the man who had been the great influence of my life was so decent and kind.
So, thank you, Sir Paul, not only for your unparalleled music but for being the really cool person I hoped you would be if I ever got to meet you.
Sincerely,
Seth Swirsky
5/3/10 | Comments (1)Tags: paul mccartney, seth swirsky, the beatles —
Oh, I know… I’m being obnoxious. But he’s dead wrong on this one.
And here’s how strongly I feel about it.
You can pre-order hard copies of the new Silver Seas album Château Revenge here. If any of you are inspired to buy a CD and you don’t like it, I’ll buy it back from you.
I’m totally serious.
Why?
Daniel Tashian is by far and away one of the most talented songwriters and performers alive today. And as someone who receives hundreds of records in the mail each week… I don’t say that lightly.
What’s more, Château Revenge is easily my top pick of 2010. I’ll be surprised if that changes.
Confession: I didn’t love it at first. But those are the best albums, aren’t they? The ones you grow to love, the ones that sneak in and grab you by surprise. That’s what makes music timeless.
Simply put, I believe in this band (LOL, you think?). Heck, I actually believe that music can change the world — that Daniel Tashian’s voice can change the world. And if I can help, awesome.
What’s the Drawback? Using your newsletter/blog power to diss perfectly amazing talent.
4/26/10 | Comments (1)Tags: Bob Lefsetz, daniel tashian, The Silver Seas —
