Authentic Discovery

Digital tracking of online behaviour is so robust now, it would blow your mind what companies know about you. Fans are delivering so much intel to music industry experts these days, that it’s no wonder they are getting better at giving us what we want. 

I remember debating with my brother (now Innovation Leader at PwC) about the merits of Facebook, etc. knowing so much about me. He argued that it will help market to me what I will actually like. But I’m still weirded out when I look at something on a store’s website and then that thing is advertised to me on Facebook - especially if I actually already bought the thing. Don’t they know? 

But here we are. Spotify recommends music based on my favourite bands, Bandsintown sends me notifications of live music shows in the city and YouTube predicts what music video I want to see next. I still have my tinfoil cap on about this stuff, but most of the time, the algorithm (or the intern) gets it right. The machine is working and new music is promoted - generally to the right people. (And just in case you think the algorithm ISN’T working, you can change your preferences on sites like Facebook to give you more appropriate ads.)

But I can’t help yearn for a time when I just stumbled into a club and heard a new artist that became a favourite - partially because of the music, but mostly because of the experience that came along with the music. That authentic discovery is hard to get online.

I had a “stumble upon” experience here in Los Angeles recently when we were bar hopping on a Saturday night. We were on our way to another place, when we saw a gorgeous, retro-style record store with beautiful vintage audio gear, music memorabilia and a ton of vinyl, called The Record Parlour (pictured above). 

The place had emptied out, but we walked in and were handed free local brews and instantly became friends with the music-loving staff, who were deejaying with the vinyl from the store. I was loving the tunes so much I asked Chris, one of the founders, to find me his top recommendation from the store. He ran off, digging through the stacks like a machine and came back with this:

It’s a 1975 Osibisa album with a ridiculous cover. I was expecting to be totally blown away by this unknown piece of music...and I was. It was awesome! So I bought an album by an artist I’ve never heard of for $30 because the experience of hearing that piece of music was so great.

My second example is a night out I had recently with some new friends. I’m pretty impressed by this group of women I’ve met - funny, smart and working on independent careers in fields that they love. We were sharing ideas and hanging out before going to a show and feeling good. On the way there, our Uber driver asked if we wanted to play any tunes. A friend plugged in and played Past Lives, by B?RNS

And now I love this song and have followed the artist more closely and will definitely go to his next show. But the question is, how could I not? Here I am in this primed state of receiving good things and when I’m presented with a great song, of course I’ll adore it. It helps that the music is good. But would it have had the same effect on me if I had clicked on an ad in Facebook to listen? I don’t think so.

So the question is, how do artists enable more authentic experiences for fans to receive their music in the best possible state of mind?

As with the experiences I had, sometimes you just need a good tastemaker, trendsetter or curator to create the experience. Figure out who your top fans are and make them your street team. The key is finding the people who have a great combination of being a tasteful sharer and an influencer.

This is something that has become a bit of a science at Black Box (where I’m currently working) - figuring out who your top fans are based on data and offering them something that they’d want (merch, tickets, music). The hope is the artist will further entrench themselves in the hearts of those super fans or aficionados and those people will help spread the word about their music.

At the end of the day, word of mouth is still one of the top ways of finding new music and the stickiness factor depends on the how the recommendation is delivered, who is delivering it and the music itself. You may not be able to force an authentic experience, but you can set up the conditions so the chances of it happening are that much more likely.

(originally published on my tumblr blog: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/thesyrupfactory)