[NewMusic] Death of the record industry (cont'd.)

[Tim Perkis]

yeah, well this part is depressing and creepy -- this response to the  
dominance of 'word of mouth' -- the development of 'stealth marketing', 
where they hire cool looking people to go to hip bars and talk about 
something they want to sell, with the intention of being overheard. 
That's undercutting the basic social fabric in a way that the most 
intrusive advertising in the past never did.

I read an article about the incredibly successful stealth marketing 
campaign to rehabilitate Pabst Blue Ribbon, which depended on the making 
sure that no one knew that there even WAS a campaign for it... the old 
'regular guy' beer was taken up by hipsters not, as they think, because 
they are just so outside of the mainstream, but actually because they 
are so susceptible to hipster-targeted stealth marketing.... waaaay creepy

T



Matt Davignon wrote:
> Well, the word of mouth they're discussing is not about signing bands
> that have been creating a word of mouth buzz. Instead, they're trying
> to generate artificial buzz about groups that aren't getting any. That
> part was a bit depressing. Imagine being told by your job to go out
> and tell everyone you know that Velvet Revolver is awesome.
>
> "I think that band Train is doing something totally original. They're
> absolutely not the Bob Saget of 'alternative' music!"
>
> Matt
>
>   
>> Moe! Staiano moped:
>>     
>>> Pretty damn depressing in my opinion....
>>>
>>>   -M!
>>>
>>>       
>
> Then Tim Perkis was like:
>   
>> This doesn't seem depressing to me, it seems completely hopeful. What is
>> 'word of mouth' but authentic culture by real people? The fact that
>> these focus group people are finding out about everything by
>> 'word-of-mouth' means they aren't being influenced by what's being
>> pushed, but by what their peers think is interesting. To me that's
>> really an exciting development.
>>     
> _______________________________________________
> Bay Area New Music Discussion Group
> NewMusic at music.mills.edu
> http://music.mills.edu/mailman/listinfo/newmusic
>
>