From: Bob Davis (earthjuice_at_prodigy.net)
Date: 2003-10-15 14:29:23
Someone sent me this quote the other day....
From Rolling Stone:
"People buy a CD when it's good, and they don't buy it when it's crappy.
We've had bootlegging forever in our industry. We have ourselves to blame, too. In the
music business, we don't concern ourselves enough with value or quality. The reality is that
we're suffering because we sell a lot of
sh*t." -- LA Reid
I agree with the general intent of this statement.
The simple truth being stated here is that people want quality and they are willing to pay for
it when they find it...
The other day I was looking at our server logs and was checking the page rankings on the
Soul-Patrol website and saw something that I have certainly seen before, yet it continues to
amaze me each time that I see it...
19. http://www.soul-patrol.com/funk/wooten.htm
This of course is a very simple web page that exists on the Soul-Patrol website.
It contains only 3 elements
- A CD review
- Links to purchase the CD
- Links to listen to the CD
The artist in question is Victor Wooten.
The CD in question is "Live In America".
Victor Wooten's music isn't easy to put into any of today's narrowly defined music
categories...
It's jazz, rock, blues, urban contemporary, hip hop, soul...
...and more all at the same time
(and being played by "virtuoso musicians")
As some of you might recall, that CD was named by Soul-Patrol as the...
"BEST FUNK CD RELEASED IN THE YEAR 2001"
In short, this was a "high quality product".
In fact I am quite willing to state that the 2001 CD release...
VICTOR WOOTEN - 'LIVE IN AMERICA'
Is one of the Top 10 CD releases of this century...
Soul-Patrollers went to this page in droves to read the review and listen to the music that
was available there because I encouraged people to just take a listen and "see what you
think".
People went and listened and as they did they commented on the CD.
Some even went to see Victor Wooten and his band play live and commented on the AWESOME live
performance of the band in concert.
Since that time, we haven't really discussed the music of Victor Wooten very much here on
Soul-Patrol.
He was one of our sponsors for a short period of time and we did some promotional work on the
internet for him.
After that his popularity on the site (based on the server logs) took off like a rocket and
has never subsided
Yet two years later that page ranks as the #19 artist web page on a web site that is
presumably about "old music".
(two years after we have done any significant promotion for it)
Victor Wooten's web page on Soul-Patrol ranks just behind Soul-Patrol's Marvin Gaye page and
just ahead of Soul-Patrol's Chi-Lite's page (just for a little context).
In addition to that, the Soul-Patrol.Net internet radio broadcast featuring Victor Wooten at:
http://www.soul-patrol.net/wooten.ram
Has consistently been ranked in the TOP FIVE INTERNET SOUL-PATROL.NET RADIO BROADCASTS FOR THE
PAST TWO YEARS.
You all know this because I regularly publish this data.
This facts continue to amaze me each time I look at them.
But it really shouldn't.
All this is really telling me is that what LA Reid is saying is an ABSOLUTE TRUTH.
All this data is telling me is that music fans will seek out and find high quality music.
There is a lesson in all of this.
It's pretty easy for me to see.
Victor Wooten and his band are outstanding and the fact that is music has been literally
"boycotted" by "KNEE-GRO MEDIA" (jazz radio, urban radio, knee-gro music festivals, knee-gro
tv stations, knee-gro music/culture magazines, etc)...
HAS NOT STOPPED 'REAL MUSIC FANS' FROM SEEKING OUT AND DISCOVERING HIS MUSIC
1. Victor Wooten will one day become a MAJOR STAR
2. It isn't going to have ANYTHING to do with "knee-gro media"
3. It's going to be all about the QUALITY OF THE MUSIC
4. It's going to be honest
5. His music is of lasting value
I am under no illusions about this data, however it is useful as an indicator of a "trend".
It's telling me (and you) about the direction for the future.
I am told that soon Victor Wooten will be releasing a new CD.
I wish him well with it.
It's going to have to be a SERIOUS CD to top the QUALITY of 2001's "LIVE IN AMERICA", so he's
got a tough nut to crack.
The music industry is changing.
We are defiantly in a transitional period, and just what the future will hold isn't exactly
clear at this moment in time, however what we do know is that it's going to be different...
Because his music of Victor Wooten has been literally "boycotted" by traditional media outlets
his success is going to be pinned to "non traditional mechanisms" (ex: touring, internet, word
of mouth, etc...).
hmmmmm
"touring, internet, word of mouth, etc"
I kinda like the sound of that.
What it amounts to is music fans discovering new music on their own and coming back to it time
and time again because of the HIGH QUALITY OF THE MUSIC.
That is the bottom line.
The artist literally creates their own "long term music scene/fan base", based on the
continuing loyally of their fans due to the HIGH QUALITY OF THE MUSIC...
And for me the lesson is that whenever I think about how I first discovered the music that I
care about the most (back in the "stone ages") all of this begins to resemble that "business
model", even though some of the technology involved is different.
The lesson for artists should be that QUALITY IS JOB 1
(and that patience is a virtue)...
_________
Bob Davis
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