Community Building

I've spent the better part of two weeks trying to sort out some marketing support for MaJiKer. We've been trawling the networks to find someone in France who can compliment the work we are doing to build his fanbase. 

It seems that most people working in music PR are still trying to do things the old way. They think working for an artist means they simply need to send volumes of press releases and albums out to lazy journalists. We know that this is no longer the case - we know how important it is to form a loyal community, and how to nurture it.

Thankfully Seth gave us further wisdom this week to support the approach. And even more thankfully it looks like we have found some energetic, fantastic individuals to help us with our french campaign.

The new approach to marketing is, of course, a hot topic for the music industry - as demonstrated by an email I received from Music Week announcing their latest conference: Making Online Music Pay. For a mere £199 you can attend to hear the experts pass down their wisdom on areas such as "identifying possible uses of social media channels".

One way to make online music pay is to whip together a panel and charge tickets to talk about it. Someone isn't learning their lesson (or alternatively, we're all in the wrong business!). Save your cash - here's some tips:

THE ARTIST IS AT THE CENTRE OF THE COMMUNITY

Work with them - involve them in the marketing strategy. Get them interacting with their fans. Genuinely. Ebb has always written back to the fans that take the time to email him. And MaJiKer is starting to develop an addiction to Twitter. Its easy to interact so just do it.

STOP THROWING AWAY CASH AND INVEST TIME

Advertising to the masses  is like drift net fishing - its a waste of money and you have no control over what you'll catch. Spend the time instead - build a targeted community and earn loyalty.

GET CLOSER TO THE COMMUNITY

Stop relying on a cast of misfits to work for you. The music industry has always put up barriers between the artist/label and the fan/customer. Distribution companies, record stores, managers, PR agencies. Remove the middle man.

THE POWER OF THE LOYAL FEW

Calvin Harris was whinging the other day that Mike Skinner had more Twitter friends than him. Quantity means nothing if your intention is simply to rack up numbers. If you've got volume, are you investing the adequate resource to nurture the community?

GIVE SOMETHING BACK

Your community deserves thanks. So give it to them.

Image by Pete Fletch on Flickr

Less Industry, More Music

"The music industry is really focused on the ‘industry’ part and not so much on the ‘music’ part. This is the greatest moment in the history of music if your dream is to distribute as much music as possible to as many people as possible, or if your goal is to make it as easy as possible to become heard as a musician. 

There’s never been a time like this before. So if your focus is on music, it’s great. If your focus is on the industry part and the limos, the advances, the lawyers, polycarbonate and vinyl, it’s horrible."  -- Seth Godin

Seth often chooses to look at the music industry as an example of how the world we live in is changing - and how the challenges presented are actually vast opportunities. I couldn't agree with him more. At Gaymonkey, we have always been about making brilliant electronic pop music.  Of course we like to make some money - but only so that we can make more music. 

And we like to share that opportunity with new people we love - like Ebb or MaJiKer. Or the boys from the Feed collective.

One of the greatest lessons I have learned on this journey was summed up on day in Amato's board room, when our account manager asked why we couldn't just get a "really good remixer to fuck up a track so that you can sell some records". A year later they went out of business. We're still making music.

Image by bdesign.be

Coffee Table Music

"Designer lives. Designer films. Designer music." 

Thus proclaims The Guardian (Friday 11th July) in their analysis of thirtysomething lifestyles. The thesis? As we get older, we lose our edge.  We begin to consume, shall we say, more highbrow fare that is easy on the ear or eye.  And with music, the "coffee table" genre is born.

Music that you put on in the background to set a mood. Stuff The Guardian reviews. Bands you might hear at the Latitude Festival.

There is no need to apologise about the coffee table music in your collection.  In fact, as I was reading the article, Sigur Rós's 'Untitled 3' came onto the pod, followed by The Beloved. Attributes such as melody, a downtempo pace, and artistic integrity tend to get bands tossed into the genre (just look at every Mercury Prize winner for the past five years ... pre-Klaxons of course).

Maybe I'm just being defensive.  Gaymonkey did deliver Ebb to the world, after all.

Ebb - "When Dusk Begins"

taken from Loona 

Gaymonkey (GAY17)

DJ Culture

There hasn't been much capturing my ear musically lately.  But two events did catch my eye today - namely the visit of two of my favourites to London this weekend.

Jori Hulkkonen is at Satellite 31 (at Egg) on Saturday 7th June.  Jori of course did a fantastic remix for our Ebb release - "I'm All Made of Music" ... I have yet to have the pleasure to experience his DJ sets but the rest of the Gaymonkey crew are big fans.  Jori's fantastic new album Errare Machinale Est is out now on FComm - Ebb has returned the favour by appearing on the track "Forgive Me Father For I Have Synth".  Genius.

And one of the dons of all thing electronic François K is at Fabric - naturally, on the same night. It never rains but it pours ...  

We forget sometimes how lucky we are to live in London - where on any given night you might get the opportunity to experience brilliance.  The flip side of the coin is that we make ourselves too busy to appreciate such joy ...

Ebb's Disco

It was great to get the chance to hear Ebb perform this weekend in Stockholm for the first time this year.  He's been in his studio for the past few months working on his new album - which was marred by a bit of a setback last autumn when the side project he was working on was abandoned due to "creative differences" with another musician (and former Gaymonkey ...).

Pleased to say the new material is stunning - trademark Ebb beats and emotional hooks, but packaged this time into more traditional song structures.  We were treated to 4 new tracks - all of which will develop into strong contenders for new found favourites.

Sugar Bar provided an odd backdrop to the event - however, they do have the most fantastic jukebox ...

Gaymonkey Labelnight in Stockholm

Our first Gaymonkey night of 2008 will be at Sugar Bar in Stockholm this Saturday 5th April.  We have been invited to host a night by the guys from Lobotom - a very cool Swedish electronic label.  The venue has historical legacy - its been a hotspot for Stockholm's electronic scene, and was one of the first live gigs I did in the city when "Silence" was released.

Ebb is going to be playing some new material - he is also working on a new album which will hopefully be ready for release in the autumn.

Sugar Bar

Kammakargatan 9

Doors at 8pm.