Those of you who enjoyed my post on Secrets of a 20-Year Music Career will enjoy this presentation on Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, which gives a lot of detail on exactly what he is doing to connect with fans and give them reasons to buy.
Here is an updated version of the same presentation, with extra footage at the end, which explains how these techniques can work for musicians who aren't as well known...
Thoughts? Post 'em below!
hey david-
yeah, this keynote is brilliant. i'm very inspired by the marketing strategies trent reznor and nin have been using the last few years. i actually got a chance to watch mike masnick give an updated version of this keynote at the leadership music digital summit this past march. the way masnick has dissected what reznor and nin have done to connect with fans turns their strategy into an incredibly easy to understand and inspiring case study.
masnick posted the video to this updated keynote presentation at the leadership music digital summit on his techdirt blog. i'll post the link below.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090422/0407024607.shtml
Posted by: stinson | July 03, 2009 at 02:47 PM
Thank you! Wasn't aware they released this one. Have updated the thread.
On a related note, another guy from the Digital Music Summit, Jim Griffin, was recently brought on by Warners to spearhead a controversial plan to bundle a monthly fee into consumers' internet-service bills for unlimited access to music.
http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/top-5/2008/03/27/Warners-New-Web-Guru for more info on that.
He has been talking about this for years, so I'm glad he's finally getting his shot. He's definitely one of the sharpest minds in digital music.
Posted by: David Hooper | July 03, 2009 at 04:19 PM
Yeah, if you guys look for other bands. I know one (who probably isn't doing this on purpose) that is doing a ton of stuff that reminds me of Mr. Reznor.
Taylor Swift.
Honestly, look what she is doing. Twitter, MySpace and Facebook. She is now putting out some singles on YouTube with download links (like her American Girl cover). It seems she is doing what Mr. Reznor is doing by bridging her current album and her next album together with these songs.
Also look at Ms. Swift's video blogs. She does an aweful lot of those to keep fans connected. She may (or may not) even be doing this on purpose, but it seems she's following Mr. Reznor's model. To me, she doesn't seem like the person to listen to NIN so who knows?
Either way, the music industry is pushing this direction and that's definately what I'm going to be doing with my band! Thank you MusicMarketing!
Posted by: Ron Carr | July 06, 2009 at 11:27 AM
An easy way I've found for bands to start this journey with free music is www.noisetrade.com. It allows you to collect email addresses to CwF or "pay what you want."
Derek Webb is doing something very similar to NIN with his new album Stockholm Syndrome www.derekwebb.com
Posted by: Steven Kippel | July 08, 2009 at 11:06 AM
Wow, brilliant videos. Makes me even more excited about remaining an "indie" artist.
$750k in less than 30 hours ... Wow... Trent is truly genius.
Posted by: Teft | July 17, 2009 at 06:48 PM