If you want to make the big money in the music business, one of the ways to do it is to invent something that catches on. The "invention" doesn't have to be something brand new...it can be an offshoot of or an improvement on something which already exists.
Think about creating a style of music (or specific song) which is associated with a type of dance. Even better is having somebody develop a dance, just for your song. The easier the better... Go to a wedding and you'll see what I mean.
People like songs like Macarena, YMCA, Electric Slide, Cha Cha Slide, etc. Why? Because people love to dance. Unfortunately, it's not that easy for most. Dancing in front of people in a bigger fear than public speaking.
If you want to make really big money, what you develop has to be easy and something which everybody can do...of at least thinks they can do. Again, think Macarena, YMCA, Electric Slide, Cha Cha Slide, etc.
There are hundreds of ways to use this concept to make money. The video below is of a dance based in Memphis, which has helped to get some great publicity for the entire city. Although not something your grandmother or frat boys will be able to take on, it works, because it's very interesting to watch.
This isn't the first time something like this has come from Memphis. Rufus Thomas had a number of hits in the late 1960s and early 1970s, notably a string of songs that were tied to a then-current dance craze: "Do the Funky Chicken," "(Do the) Push and Pull," "The Breakdown," and "Do the Funky Penguin." In 1972, at his Wattstax performance, he lead a crowd of 40,000 in the "Funky Chicken." If you want your song to really take off, the dance associated with it has to be that easy.
Every scene, band, and genre of music has the opportunity to do this. Are you doing anything specific in your area or with your music which is similar? Post comments below...
This is what I'm currently working on setting up:
Having worked with Internet marketing the past 2 years, I discovered an incredibly powerful (and free) way to take advantage of famous rock band's popularity, by placing my own music right in front of thousands of their fans, via a sort of "sponging" off of their videos on youtube. I'm targeting major bands whose fans consistently add themselves to my myspace and show interest in my music.
Once I get them to click on my link, I capture their e-mail by using another technique. Then, from there, a relationship is built by way of them receiving regular mails from the autoresponder-sequence I've set up, which at a certain point point gets monetized.
I'm also working on a unique youtube video, which they'll of course be directed to, which I'll also be using tons of tricks & SEO on to get it to go viral.
This all leads to...capitalizing on the surreal, bizarre chain of events that happened to me from 2005-2006, which I'm currently writing a book about. The book will be free - online. It will be set up as a unique, interactive experience, designed so that by the end of the book/experience, the viewer will know my crazy story, my music, and (if I do my job right), they will be rooting for me enough to spread the word to their friends (which the book-experience/site will be optimized to do).
The book also inspires the reader to understand that they can achieve anything they want in life. Sort of like "The Dirt" meets Jack Canfield, wrapped in a very rock package.
The goal is to become a viral phenomenon by leveraging on great music, a message of hope & inspiration, an unusual story and out-of-the-box marketing tactics.
I'm currently putting it all together. Can't wait to see what other people are cooking up here - thanks for the great thread David!
Posted by: Toggo | May 09, 2009 at 08:42 AM
Interesting idea. I'm not sure this dance has the same marketability as the macarena or ymca, etc. mainly because I couldn't tell that it has the same clearly definable patterns of movement at specific times that these other dances have. Then again, I may just be getting old... :-)
On the other hand, even though I'm not into hip hop, I appreciate the fact that they sampled The Clash's "Straight To Hell" for a cut. They're at least sampling good music, even if they aren't significantly changing it to make it interesting for my tastes.
Posted by: John Thomas | May 10, 2009 at 07:14 PM
Good points!
I should have been more clear in the post, because I'm actually talking about a couple of different things and the Jookin example I gave was a bit blurry.
You are 100% correct that a dance should be really easy for it to take off. YMCA is a perfect example of this. Anybody can do it.
If anybody has examples of something like this you've done with your music, please post something!
The dance video above is really a better example of how to be associated with a specific style of music or geographic area. Search "Jookin" or "Jukin" on YouTube and you'll hear a lot of music which has a very specific sound and mentions Memphis by name.
Posted by: David Hooper | May 10, 2009 at 07:48 PM