Has Music Geekery Lost Its Chic?

“creating hit songs” post, if you’re looking for one), let’s take a quick glance at hype and story, and over-generalize for kicks:

• If you can leverage a brand new tool or technology before any one else, you have a chance of becoming a “case study” or “poster child” for it.  (If you’re a new band that just joined Twitter, or has a SellaBand.com account, or a podcast, no one will care.)
• If you can think of a creative song, video, or other publicity stunt that is amazingly unique, funny, or simply impressive, you may have a viral story on your hand.  (Note the word “unique”.  If it’s been done, forget it.)
• Cover songs are popular for a reason — familiarity attracts fans of the original work, and can breed new fans.  If you can produce a creative spin or meme from an existing popular concept or creative work, you may attract attention and fans.  (Think of the “Double Rainbow” spin off tracks that topped iTunes charts, or the artists that were discovered via cover song renditions in YouTube.)

New tech tools, music promotion websites, and discovery engines seem to launch weekly, AND they’re accessible to pretty much everyone.  Simply USING new technology is not nearly as cool as it used to be…  But HYPE is as powerful as it ever was.  If you’re an artist, find your unique, impossible-to-ignore story — a hard thing to do — and launch it.]]>