I was going to talk about the value of music. But as I started to write, it got way too cerebral and I even bored myself.
So I decided to just write about some stuff on my mind. So here’s some stuff I’m not too crazy about.
1. Priority Mail
Clearly Priority Mail is NOT the post office’s priority. For some reason, it is far less reliable than regular first class mail, and it costs a lot more. I’ve even asked the Post Office about it, and they just kinda shrug their shoulders and reluctantly agree. And don’t bother with delivery confirmation, because the only thing it confirms is they don’t know where your package is.
As long as I’m talking about the post office. Has anything good ever arrived via certified mail? If you send us a demo cd this way, chances are, it’ll get special treatment, but not the type you were hoping for.
2. Myspace
I would compare myspace to an out of control kindergarten run by a spastic Big Brother. Dysfunction seems to thrive here. In the early stages, myspace was a terrific marketing tool. You could put together a simple web site at no charge and market yourself to others. A good concept, run amuck. As people started to use this tool, two things happened. One, myspace restricted people’s marketing efforts to the point where almost everyone is considered a spammer. And two, people who don’t know any programming have over utilized “pimpmysite” tools to create the largest collection of disorganized crap the world has ever seen! Myspace does have some value as a web host and marketing tool, but frankly, I’d rather stand in the airport security line than surf myspace.
3. Large Unsolicited e-mail files
You’d think this is obvious. But I’m always amazed at how inconsiderate people are. Because we’re listed in Billboard and a lot of other music directories we get a lot of unsolicited submissions. I’m actually glad about this, and hope people feel comfortable submitting their music to us. However, please be professional enough to send an e-mail with a link to your music. Most people abide by these basic internet etiquette guidelines. However, about once a month, I get sent a 5-10 mb file from someone I don’t know. Now if it was just one file, I could live with it. But without question, it always ends up that I get sent that same file at least 10-12 times. And of course, it’s always at the time that I’m awaiting an important e-mail from someone I actually know.
If you enjoy hate mail, this could be the marketing technique for you.
4. The Amtrak Acela
For those of you on the U.S. east coast, you probably are familiar with the Acela train. In theory, this is a faster train that will get you to your destination quicker. And in reality, this is true, but it’s for the wrong reasons. A few years ago, some genius at Amtrak convinced people to make what’s got to be 100’s of millions if not billions of $’s investment in these new fast trains called Acela. Now my understanding is these trains can go like 130 mph when the current train goes like 70-75 mph. The only problem is, you need what’s known as a seamless track for the train to achieve those speeds. Otherwise they go the same speed as regular trains. And guess what, in the US we don’t have seamless tracks, so these new trains go the same speed as the old ones! I sure hope someone lost their job.
So how is it that these trains get to their destination quicker. Well here, I have to give it up to Amtrak. Their marketing people figured out that for the business traveler going from DC to New York, every minute is valuable, and they would be willing to pay a premium to save those precious minutes. So they created a premium service utilizing these Acela trains to go from DC to NYC and back, and in order to maximize the time savings they just eliminated several stops on this service that would be normally included in the regular service.
So walah, problem solved sort-of. But for the money, if I've got some extra time, I'd rather take the slower train. They're actually more comfortable.
As always, if you found this Blog helpful, informative or entertaining, help support Independent music and visit our websites: Act 2 Records and Mp3 Music Store
All the best,
RAH
