The Social Music Evolution

50 Records intern, Kyle Bylin, continues his contributions to Hypebot.com with an in-depth look at the evolution of music business. Read his article "The Social Music Evolution" (Part 2 to be posted tomorrow).

The Social Music Evolution

The Evolution of Tribal Curiosity

*As featured on Hypebot*

Yesterday on Hypebot, Bruce raised the question, “What fans should artists listen and pay attention to?” My answer is: all of them, but there's a big difference between listening and truly caring. Be approachable, start doing something, and answer those emails. If you are leading a tribe of followers, you have to pay attention to all of them, but the key is to empower the curious.

There are many types of followers, but it's the curious fans that count. Not because there are a lot of them, but because they are the ones who talk to the fans that are stuck. They're stuck on your last album, stuck on what everyone else is listing to, and stuck somewhere in the mid-1990's. Whereas the curious fans are trying to find out when the album is going to be out and when your going on tour next. The curious fans are the mavens who are driven by the desire to discover and champion new music.

The Evolution of Tribal Curiosity

Anthropologist Elman Service defined four classifications of the stages of social evolution: hunter-gatherer, tribe, chiefdom, and state. It is my belief that these four categories also provide insight into The Evolution of Tribal Curiosity in music fans and the power of influence they acquire over time.

1. Hunter-gatherer: Fans who are generally egalitarian or characterized by their belief in the equality of all bands. They relentlessly search for music in all territories and don't discriminate against anything. Up to almost 80% of their music is obtained by gathering, but they have very little social influence.

2. Tribe: Communities of fans in which there are some limited instances of social rank and prestige. For instance, some of the members become more established opinion leaders, and emphasis is placed on who was first to discover a new artist. They gave a broader reach then the hunter-gather.

3. Chiefdom: Stratified tribal societies with...

established opinion leaders or chiefs. Think about music blogs (pitchfork, stereogum & brooklynvegan), where new artists are brought forward by a single source, and echoed down through different ranks and layers. Embraced by certain tribes, but not by all. Their reach differentiates, but wider spread.

4. State: Civilizations, with complex social hierarchies and organized, institutional governments. Examples: MySpace, Billboard Charts, Rolling Stone, and Top Radio. High rates of discrimination of what makes “good music.” They are influencing and reaching the masses far and wide.

In a world where people now have way more choices and far less time, the obvious thing happens, people start ignoring you. But, no artist should ignore any fans, because they are more connected than ever. You have to be constantly empowering curiosity and amplifying faith of your followers, because that is the only way you will rise above the the ranks and gain their acceptance.

The Evolution of Tribal Curiosity

Tribes: Music For a Movement

*Inspired by Seth Godin's new book Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us.

There are many artists who attract large crowds when they tour, but only a select few attract large tribes. Fans come and go like passing trends as they grow older, but the followers of a tribe grow together. In his new book Tribes, Seth Godin describes a crowd as a tribe without a leader or communication. The leaders of tribes instill passion into their followers to the point of loyalty beyond reason. These cults of heretics form communities around artists, establish a connection and relationship, and demand music that is real, authentic, and meaningful.

Bill Starkey and Jay Evans were two teenagers from Terre Haute, Indiana who transformed a shared interest into a passionate goal and desire for change in January of 1975. They began contacting their local radio station WVTS in order to get their favorite artist played, but the program director, Rich Dickerson, turned them down. Not to be discouraged, the two kept campaigning the station with letters that were signed: Bill Starkey – President of the KISS Army and Jay Evans – Field Marshall. By July of 1975, Rich caved in and began to play their records, often referring to the KISS Army on air. It wasn't long after that listeners began calling the station asking how they could enlist. Though leveraging the tribe to allow it to grow and gain new members Starkey and Evans started a movement of their own.

When KISS announced it would be touring to the local venue, the Hulman Center, in November, Dickerson saw the marketing potential of the Army. Working with Starkey and Evans to provide advanced promotion...

for the concert, he let the two begin to take phone calls on the air to recruit as many members as possible. As a result of their efforts, the show on the 21st sold out all 10,000 seats, a feat Aerosmith and Lynyrd Skynyrd had previously failed to achieve. The KISS Army was an organization that sought out to destroy the status quo and won. Recognizing their efforts, the true leaders of the tribe, Gene and Paul, brought Starkey on stage and presented him with a plague from KISS.

In 2004, twenty nine years later, another tribe went on-line. With 23,678 registered members who've posted 228,063 times, and launched chapters worldwide, The Black Label Society is tribe of passionate followers who are led by Zakk Wylde. Addressed as family members, brothers and sisters, they are grounded in respect and admiration for the leader of the tribe and for the other members as well. Seth goes onto say that “Tribes are about faith–about belief in an idea and a community.” For these family members, the brothers and sisters of The Black Label Society, it's the about lifestyle and the deep seeded beliefs, the love and respect for everyone in the community, and, above all giving a fallen brother or sister a hand if they've fallen in the mosh-pit.

The most notable of tribes are the metal fans themselves. In this culture, not everyone is a leader, but the followers come out through the woodworks when addressed. The metal tribe has a strong belief system, much like the KISS Army and The Black Label Society, but much more complex. Patrick Hanlon's book, Primalbranding: Create Zealots for Your Brand, Your Company, and Your Future goes on to explain that the belief systems of tribes contain seven pieces that work together to make them believable, called the Primal Code.

• The Creation Story – There are many stories that elude to the creation of metal, but the most famous one started when Tony Iommi's industrial accident caused him to lose the tips of his middle and ring fingers of his right hand, which impacted the sound of Black Sabbath because he to detuned his guitar.
• The Creed – Their mission, to destroy the status quo of popular music and as Patrick states, “The image of iconoclastic youth.”
• The Icons – Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Pantera, and Slayer
• The Rituals – The albums, mosh-pit, the black t-shirts, camouflage, tattoos, and the thrusting of the metal horns popularized by Ronnie James Dio.
• The Nonbelievers – Everyone else.
• The Sacred Words – "Generals gathered in their masses." "You've got another thing comin'." "Master of Puppets I'm pulling your strings." "The Number of the Beast." "We're the cowboys from hell." "Angel of death, flying free."

The last and most important piece of all is The Leader. Ozzy Osbourne and James Hetfield, were Agents of Change, who organized massive crowds, provided leadership, and communicated their intent. They gave legions of metal fans everywhere something to believe in. They never attempted to manage their fans, they successfully united and lead their followers. In his closing statements, Seth Godin says. “All I can hope for is that you'll make a choice. Every leader I've ever met has made a choice, and they've been glad that did.”

-Kyle Bylin

Will you make the choice to lead the followers of your band, record label, or new music business idea?

*As featured on Hypebot

Tribes: Music For a Movement

The Fall of Communization and the Rise of the Music Fan

It has become very apparent that when author, marketer, and blogger Seth Godin talks, people listen. In his Ted Talks video "Sliced bread and other marketing delights" he covers a wide range of topics that I would like to expand on today.

He argues that at the heart of spreading ideas is TV and stuff like TV. Within the system that he calls the TV-Industrial Complex he explains the process of how early companies figured out how to spread their ideas by buying ads, which got them more distribution, this allowed them to make a bigger profit, and they then turned around to use the money to buy more ads, thus completing a cycle.

He goes on to say that companies used this complex to touch people in a way that they weren't expecting, in a way they didn't necessarily want, with an ad over and over again until they bought that product. What the marketers who brought us the likes of Fruity Pebbles and Pop Tarts have found over the last couple of years is that these old ways are no longer working. Record Labels used a system very similar to this idea, but they of course added a few steps.

1. Release the single 3 months before release
2. Pay mass radio to play song, 3 times an hour
3. 1 ½ months before release send MTV and Fuse video
4. Release album on a Tuesday with other popular artists
5. Rise up the billboard charts
6. Use profits to buy more distribution and tour support
7. Release the second single 2 months after release
8. Pay mass radio to play song, 3 times an hour
9. Top the billboard at #1
10. Make second video
11. Start tour of the United States
12. Halfway through, release third single
13. Make third video
14. Finish the tour dates
15. Use whatever money the label didn't take to go on three year journey
16. Find your inner self before continuing to work on second album
17. Do it all over again

What record labels found out years after CD Release Complex stopped working, their money had been spent, and the bands they threw at pop radio no longer stuck is that the environment of the music industry had changed as well. No one cared about what they had to say. In a world where people now have way more choices and far less time, the obvious thing happens, people start ignoring you.

To bring this full circle, in the YouTube video "An anthropology introduction to YouTube" professor Wesch highlights that there is a cultural inversion happening where people are becoming increasingly individual and the more individualized we become, the more we value this sense and want for community. We become more independent yet long for stronger relationships. There is commercialization all around us; therefore, we now seek out authenticity.

This cultural inversion that he speaks of is a perfect example of how the way people interact with music has changed. Many of us have developed very diverse and complex listening habits. We now form communities around our favorite bands, we want to establish a connection or relationship, and we have a strong desire for music that is real, authentic, and meaningful.

As music fans we are now walking in a crowded room where everyone wants our attention and what happens naturally is that we've tuned out the frequency of noise in our lives. The permeability of the walls we put up around ourselves now only lets certain messages through. You now have to be smarter about what you do, because it's no longer as easy to buy your way into our headphones.

What relationships are you building, where is your community, what connections are being made, how authentic is your message?

-Kyle

The Fall of Communization and the Rise of the Music Fan