How Much Do You Really Want To Know About That Band?

Being a music fan is much different these days than it was even five years ago. As fans, we have so much information available to us about our favorite artists. Do a quick Google search for any musician, and if they are anywhere on the radar screen, chances are you will turn up hundreds if not thousands of hits.

Even if you had time to read and digest it all, would you really want to? I am certainly guilty of spending hours behind the computer screen checking out the latest blog entry or video some band posted from the road. Recently though, I have decided to make a conscious effort to try and avoid some of the never ending sound/text/video bites. The main reason, I am actually losing interest in some of these artists that are “too” connected to their fans.

I think that over exposure and too much information can actually hurt an artist’s career. There are some music industry marketing types that may disagree with me. Some people buy into a theory that if you are trying to make it in the music industry, you need to be everywhere, maximizing your exposure at all times. I believe that an artist needs the right type of exposure at the right time in their career (more on this in the future). I also believe that an artist at any level needs to maintain a bit of mystique.

There is a great article written by Brian McCollum that came out in the Detroit Free Press earlier this week. He nails down this idea that with all of the information available to fans theses days, many artists have been demystified to the point where people begin to lose interest.

After the twentieth YouTube video, not only does the novelty of using short videos as a promotional tool wear off, but if the videos still have fresh content at that point, there is probably not much else to learn about an artist. People will eventually tune it out and look for something else.

I’m not saying that all of these new ways of promoting artists online (videos, blogs, social networking sites) are detrimental to their careers. In fact, if used the right way, most of it can be helpful. But be careful. Use some moderation. I love to see the occasional behind the scenes video, but leave a little mystery on the table. As McCollum points out in his article, back when artists didn’t reveal everything, “It strengthened their grip on our imaginations. It gave them staying power.”