smoe.org mailing lists
ivan@stellysee.de
| From | DanAbnrml9@aol.com |
| Subject | Re: Top Five Reasons Owsley's Career Is Over |
| Date | Mon, 17 Feb 2003 19:03:26 EST |
[Part 1 text/plain US-ASCII (2.8 kilobytes)]
(View Text in a separate window)
In a message dated 2/17/03 6:42:04 PM Eastern Standard Time,
flamingo@theworld.com writes:
> 1. He's a niche artist who signed with a major label, a situation that
> always ends in tears.
>
Noooo crap.
And I'm with you about everything else, too... including that bizarre BSB
reference (Neither the Backstreets NOR NSync sell many records anymore,
guys... they're done. That Spears chick, too. Done. People TALK about her
like people TALK about Michael Jackson. Doesn't mean they're buying MJ
records. Get it?). It shows a failure to truly recognize his audience. He's
on a major. He's griping about boybands, and how they rob sales/attention
from acts like him. Uh, no. Not really. It's evidence of a critical failure
to recognize WHO his audience is, or should be. I've noticed this a lot on
this list, too, from gripes about the stuff that populates top 40 radio and
how it's keeping guitar-pop, for what it's worth, in the background.
No, no, no.
The two things have nothing to do with one another. Top 40 fans are, by and
large, not particularly loyal fans--they'll like an act one month and sell
the CD to the used shop the next. The bands discussed on this list--and
Owsley I think is a perfect example of this--could become popular within an
indie rock/college rock realm, if they marketed themselves properly. Those
audiences are also, by and large, more loyal! Unfortunately, too many have
their sights in the wrong places.
The attack on MP3s is ridiculous, too; record companies are using MP3 as a
convenient scapegoat for the fact that their business model for the past
decade or so has ceased to be sustainable. When the focus is on a "fast hit"
rather than artist development, and the label focuses on signing too few acts
from few too genres and ignores bands who develop a dedicated cult following,
well, you don't build customer loyalty. It's simple business and someone
forgot to tell them.
But Owsley? Uhh, I think anyone who wanted an Owsley album would buy it,
thank-you-very-much, and I know I certainly bought both it and the Semantics
album (which I had a *damn* hard time finding, I should note). I would not be
downloading any Owsley MP3s, except for stuff i can't just go purchase.
Speaking of which, does anyone have a copy of "Rise", that rarity he threw on
a ridiculously overpriced compilation of Contemporary Christian artists? I
guess I'd download that.
If Will really cares about his own career, he should get his ass off that
label and to an indie that cares about promoting him. He has a built-in
fanbase; it shouldn't be hard to find a smaller deal as long as he can bust
out of Warner. He SHOULDN'T start whining and blaming targets that have
little to do with him.
Disappointed,
-Jason
For assistance, please contact
the smoe.org administrators.