O carismático líder dos Nine Inch Nails (NIN), Trent Reznor, conhecido como um pioneiro de novas formas de contacto directo com a sua audiência específica (ver aqui, aqui e aqui, por exemplo), acaba de publicar num dos foruns do site da banda uma série de conselhos para todos os que tencionam ter uma carreira autónoma.
São indicações concretas, a pensar no universo da música, mas seria talvez interessante tentar reflectir sobre se algumas delas não teriam possibilidade de aplicar-se a outras áreas da comunicação (faça-se, por exemplo, o curioso exercício de substituir ‘música’ por ‘informação’).
Excerto:
Forget thinking you are going to make any real money from record sales. Make your record cheaply (but great) and GIVE IT AWAY. As an artist you want as many people as possible to hear your work. Word of mouth is the only true marketing that matters.
To clarify:
Partner with a TopSpin or similar or build your own website, but what you NEED to do is this – give your music away as high-quality DRM-free MP3s. Collect people’s email info in exchange (which means having the infrastructure to do so) and start building your database of potential customers. Then, offer a variety of premium packages for sale and make them limited editions / scarce goods. Base the price and amount available on what you think you can sell. Make the packages special – make them by hand, sign them, make them unique, make them something YOU would want to have as a fan. Make a premium download available that includes high-resolution versions (for sale at a reasonable price) and include the download as something immediately available with any physical purchase. Sell T-shirts. Sell buttons, posters… whatever.
The point is this: music IS free whether you want to believe that or not. Every piece of music you can think of is available free right now a click away. This is a fact – it sucks as the musician BUT THAT’S THE WAY IT IS (for now). So… have the public get what they want FROM YOU instead of a torrent site and garner good will in the process (plus build your database).
[Foto tirada durante a passagem da ‘Wave Goodbye tour’ por Paredes de Coura, no último dia de Julho]
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