By board member Kristin Hersh
Humans, and by extension, corporations, are pretty good at corralling the resources they need. We have a history of putting cows where we want them to make them easier to catch, plants where we want them to make them easier to pick, and customers where we want them to make it easier to pick their *pockets*. Where corporations corral customers is a kind of mindset: “we tell you what you want, then you buy it from us.” In other words, “please remain reliably gullible.”
The handy thing about this approach is that you can offer inferior product and your customers don’t know the difference. The problem with this approach is that when you treat customers like they don’t know any better, the customers you end up with really *don’t* know any better. They don’t actually like your product, they’re just willing to swallow whatever trend is declared most attractive by the people selling it.
When the product you sell is music, this is a dangerous group of people to corral. Trendiness by nature demands a consistent supply of new trends, because even people who don’t actually like music lose patience with vapid product. These customers will not be there for the next release. Discerning music listeners, on the other hand, reject trends, looking instead for quality. Without these listeners, you’re essentially trying to sell music to people who don’t like music. This, in a nutshell, is the marketing approach that led to the collapse of the recording industry. After twenty-five years in the business watching this train wreck up close, I was ready for another approach.
When we started CASH, it was to reach the untapped audience of discerning music listeners, who could be counted on to stick around for the next release and the next one, thus making a career in music possible, without musicians being asked to play lousy music. To provide a quality product, to reach listeners who actually like music, to reach them directly, and, in my case, to make my listeners my sponsors, is making *my* career in music not only possible, but everything it should have been all along.
Well-said. Now, more than ever before, it is truly ALL ABOUT THE FANS. Building a strong band-fan relationship and earning fan loyalty is the key to establishing a successful, long-standing business. A music-based enterprise can not be supported by “impulse buys” — it needs repeat purchases of high-value, high-margin goods & experiences. This is, by definition, a customer base made up of true fans and passionate listeners.