Dear Christian Music Industry,

My goodness!  It’s been literally almost a year since my last letter to you.  You’ve done so well with this whole “social networking / connect with the fans” thing that we’ve talked about so many times.  You’ve jumped on Twitter, embraced blogging, focussed on Facebook and to be honest I’ve stood here like a proud second uncle or something watching you become something great.  But this week I’ve realized that you’ve started slipping.  And you’re tricking me at the same time.  You might not even realize it, but it’s happening.  And I think it’s time we had a little talk.

Now, if there’s one thing that we’ve all seen, or at least heard the cliche’ saying, we know that history will repeat itself.  ”But what do you mean Brody, we’re never going back to Myspace and lame flash based websites.”  No, you might not be but let’s take a look back.

Let’s go back to a few years ago when Myspace was the ‘cat’s pajamas’.  Yeah, I said it.  Cat’s.  Pajamas.  Remember that?  Remember when that was the new and exciting way for artists to connect with their fans and show them music at the same time?  They could blog, they could update shows, and they could well…. interact to some level.  Then what happened?  The race was on to ‘out friend’ the other band.  It wasn’t uncommon to hear a label person ask “How many Myspace Friends does Artist A have versus Artist B?”.  The race for email addresses and phone numbers were the goal because it didn’t matter about interaction.  What mattered was numbers.  Right?

Then there was this massive social networking “movement”.  Chris Anderson wrote a book called “The Long Tail” and everyone connected to an artist with a fan base ran out and bought their copy.  We truly believed that with a firm, cultivated, dedicated fan base we could revolutionize the way people bought music.  If we just would pour into those ‘True Fans’, the numbers didn’t matter.  Now, here we are nearly two years later.  We’ve seen amazing examples of success, we’ve seen some things that weren’t so successful and you know what?  You’re heading right back into the pit you just climbed out of.  And you’re pulling me with you.

Let’s take a look at Twitter.  What a fascinating way to connect with your fans right?  I mean you can just send a text and anyone who’s Following you gets it.  Brilliant.  There’s no tricking them into Following you.  No secret sign up, no “exclusive” content.  Or is there?  What we’ve got now are companies completely based around getting you more Followers on Twitter.  You can run contests where people can download something but only if they ‘Re-Tweet’ what you have to say  and are Following you.  We’ve got things like Twitter Grader letting you know who’s got higher numbers than you and clearly an artist with more Followers is more ‘socially connected’ right?  Seems a little like a numbers game again, doesn’t it?

“How many Myspace Friends Twitter Followers does Artist A have versus Artist B?”

And what about Facebook?  These same “we can get you Twitter Followers” companies are going to labels and telling them all the magical things they can do with Facebook.  They can do “Fan Only” content because after all nothing is Free right?  You want to see this video?  Click the “Like” button because I’m willing to sacrifice this “free” video content as long as that number on the left is higher than a comparable artist.

“How many Myspace Friends Facebook Fans does Artist A have versus Artist B?”

What about email lists?  This one has been around for a while.  We’ve seen every trick in the book to con people into giving their email address.  And I’ve seen some pretty massive lists.  Hundreds of thousands of email addresses.  And you, Christian Music Industry is placing such a high value on it still.  Would it shock you if I told you that just a few weeks ago I saw an email blast report sent out to nearly a hundred thousand emails and came back with 82.2% of the emails never even opened?  Never.  Opened.

“How many Myspace Friends Email Addresses does Artist A have versus Artist B?”

Now, I know this letter is getting long but stick with me.  I feel like we’ve grown a lot together and I feel like I can trust you and you can trust me.  Because of that I feel like I can say this and not offend you.

Stop sucking me into your traps.

What I mean by that is this.  I know there are neat, gimmicky companies out there that can help you play the numbers game.  I know there’s these things out there impressing you with their glittery number making machines.  And you know what?  The talented boys at SkörInc can play that same game if they need to. We can get you your sneaky Twitter following page, we can get you your “Fan Only” content on Facebook, and we can get your numbers up, we can get your email list massive, but here’s the deal.  There’s still no shortcut to connecting with real fans.  It’s still not a numbers game and it never will be again.  It still takes time, dedication and work.  It’s still a job, and your fans are still not idiots.  Let’s stop treating them that way.

As always, I hope the kids are doing well.  I miss seeing you around more, but I know we’ve both been busy.  Until next time.

Brody

Read Dear Christian Music Industry Parts 1-11
Read But It’s Still Not Happening Parts 1-4