One of my all-time favorite quotes is this one: “The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.” It’s credited to the late Hunter S. Thompson.
Well, the industry is living up to its reputation quite well, thank you very much, if the news on The Journal’s front page today is any indication.
YouTube kool kids, you’ve been had. Tricked, scammed, bamboozled.
Note to music industry (and this label’s part of the Disney brand, for crying out loud!): the new world of marketing and promotion on the web is about transparency and honesty and disclosure. Not cheap Hollywood tricks and lies.
And the nice little rich girl from Brentwood, Marié Digby, ought to be ashamed of herself, too. This kind of front page exposure in the WSJ is definitely not what she and her parents had in mind.
You have to hand it to the Journal, though. My hat goes off to reporters Ethan Smith and Peter Lattman for bringing this one to our attention.
I’m really fascinated by what this kind of thing says about we consumers, and the fact that each time this kind of behavior is uncovered (from Milli Vanilli to Marie Digby), we are outraged at having been hoodwinked. As a performer myself (http://www.myspace.com/leezukor), I want to say that it should be about the music itself — if the song is good, it’s just plain good, right? But the truth of the matter is that we invest something of ourselves in our tastes, and when we tell our friends we like something (remember Oprah and “A Million Little Pieces”?), we can’t help but feel betrayed. So the art has a hard time existing outside of its context. Great topic, great post.
hey, Lee — i had no idea you were a musician! you mean, you have a cool gig at a great new startup (Wize.com)….AND you make music, too? what a life, dude 🙂
say, I was over at your old stomping grounds yesterday, Best Buy — wow, what a palace that new building is
cheers,
Graeme
What is the difference between this girl and that author that Oprah went all ballistic on? She was so peeved that she ‘had been lied to’…isn’t this the same thing?
Where is the outrage for this one?
I agree — Carson Daly has some serious apologizing to do to his viewers, too. He and his show were hoodwinked by Hollywood Records’ PR hack….
Even though I agree with the opening quote about the music business, I don’t find this story that outragious. Most musicians/bands/groups are terrible at the business/marketing side of things. The business side is actually more important to success, the music (talent) is a given (well, maybe not, there are plenty of examples of the talentless being promoted to stardom). This story is really no different than any branding marketing effort. I mean, is Yoplait yogurt really french? Didn’t think so. Was eBay really started to sell a girl friends Pez dispensors? Didn’t think so. Was Colonel Sanders really a Colonel? Hmmmm.
I instead applaud the effort, great plan using the tools available. Something the gal probably wouldn’t have thought of herself or been capable of executing. At least someone recognized talent, devised a plan and now one new muscian has a career. The only thing I find annoying is if they “outright” lied.
You might find this link…muscian struggling in the digital world…interesting…
http://voices.allthingsd.com/20070905/calling-all-recording-gurus-ive-got-nothing-to-prove-but-i-still-need-your-help-see-my-video/
@PXLated (first comment)…
yes, I agree that the promotion strategy, incorporating YouTube, was well advised….what record label or music promoter can possibly NOT be looking at leveraging YouTube these days?
but you’re right: it’s the lying that just doesn’t cut it….why did they have to do that? how could they possibly think that people wouldn’t quickly see through that? or that some smart reporter wouldn’t call them on it? it boggles the mind that they would try to do this, in the current environment of web 2.0 and social media, with everything becoming so transparent….
– Hollywood Records lied and misrepresented (as did their PR people)
– the artist herself lied and misrepresented (carrying on the ruse)
– then they got others, like Carson Daly, to propagate the scam
it’s shameful, and goes against everything the new marketing and PR is all about…and it shows again how out of touch the traditional music industry really is
but, hopefully, it sends a message to others in the business who are watching:
not only should you not be *suing* your customers — you shouldn’t be *scamming and lying* to them, either
g