Out From Behind The Curtain
Andrew Bird
By Bryan Reed
Before releasing his (excellent) latest album, Noble Beast, singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bird participated in “Measure for Measure,” an online series hosted by The New York Times, in which he traced the creation of the album’s lead single, “Oh No.”
In a sense, this move was really no different than an artist releasing demo versions of album cuts, except that these demos were unveiled in real time, before the final cut, instead of after the fact. What Andrew Bird elected to do with “Oh No” didn’t retroactively show that he doesn’t actually birth his songs as fully-formed entities, he invited his audience into the maternity ward to watch every contraction that went into creating one of the year’s shiniest indie pop gems.
We hear a lot about how Web 2.0 and Social Media are moving brands – and make no mistake, artists are brands – toward interactivity. Permission marketing guru Seth Godin might have phrased it best – or at least come pretty close – in this post about the music industry: “You used to sell plastic and vinyl. Now, you can sell interactivity and souvenirs.”
In issuing this series of checkpoints in the formation of “Oh No,” Bird was inviting his fans into his creative process – something that had previously been attained only in glimpses at interviews, or demo versions packaged as bonus tracks.
The rock star has stepped down from the stage, which I think is what we all really want anyway.
We demand it more and more of the other brands with which we interact on a daily basis. We expect prompt customer service via tweet. Windows makes sure we know that Windows 7 was “our” idea. The smart brands get it and are looking to engage us. Many are still afraid. What will we think when we see what goes into the hot dogs, right?
What we’re finding, though, is we still like the taste of the hot dogs. And we want to offer our feedback, so we can love the things we love even more. We want to take ownership of the things we consume beyond the point of purchase. We want to be loyal to a brand; we just need a reason to be.
Plenty of artists make music that is pretty and engaging like Andrew Bird’s. But by inviting his fans to see the man behind the curtain, by stripping away the mythology, Bird gave his fans a reason to care about more than just his music. He gave them a reason to care about him.
Photo Credit: tankboyprime
Bryan – excellent take on the humanizing ability of new technologies. It’s one of the great ironies that the biggest fear I hear from technophobes about new communication is that people are losing touch with each other. While that can be an issue (and on that topic, I recommend checking out Seth Simond’s latest post on the Social Media’s Second Coming at sethsimonds.com), the more important reality, is that we can now interact with stars and brands in a way that we never could before.
Through websites, blogs, social media, etc., I’ve exchanged e-mails (like real, personalized stuff, not form letters) with numerous bestselling authors in the past year. I can’t imagine having been able to do that five years ago.
I already loved that Andrew Bird song before I knew about this and this makes it even better!
I am 100% in favor of brands/artists being more interactive and open with their audiences, especially when it comes to passion brands like musicians or food.
I blog about music and marketing and LOVE to hear and share stories like this.
A lot of musicians don’t realize that connecting with people socially is social media or social marketing. To them, it’s just what they do.
Others think that there’s no point, and think that using social media to talk about their work and connect with fans removes some of the mystery surrounding their music, which detracts from the enjoyment of the listener.
Opinions range, but I’m firmly on the side of “pro social media” and happy to see you share this wonderful story.
Katie,
I totally agree (I mean, I did write the thing). But I do feel like I should acknowledge that the idea of mystique can be a selling-point. It usually doesn’t work on a large-scale, though.
I wonder if maybe there’s somebody out there who abandoned the Andrew Bird fandom when he disrobed his creative process. I doubt it, but I would like to hear from that side, assuming it exists.
Do we all really want to know who are favorite artists are when the house lights come on?
Mystique CAN be a selling point. Take Burial for example (an IDM/dubstep artist). For YEARS this guy refused to say who he was, play any gigs, etc. He just put his music out onto the internet, sent it to a few DJ’s, and it started getting played.
It worked. He eventually revealed who he was (in 2007) – here’s the Guardian piece on him: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2007/oct/26/urban
Watching videos of the creative process happen doesn’t reveal the “magic sauce” to me, even as a former musician. I can hear someone talk about why they changed this riff to that, or this chord progression to that other one, but until I can get inside their brain and feel the genius at work, it’s all still a bit mysterious.