From the Road 20 July 07
Friday, July 20, 2007 at 05:57AM 
I was talking to Marilyn Ingram in Roanoke the other night. She not only has a delightful trio called Aura, but she also manages Shoe Suede Blues, Peter Tork's Blues Band (www.petertork.com). We were talking about how difficult it is to find and develop an audience and began discussing what they call focus marketing research. That's where you determine what you actually do, who might actually like it, and where they are. I realized, as we were talking, that I have been playing and touring for my whole life without really ever thinking about who might like what I do or how I could reach them. My plan was to play everywhere I could and to try to gather people who liked what I do, slowly building an audience. This worked before, but now, with so much media input, no one can see it all, digest it all or even notice it all. Plus, no one has unlimited time to do this kind of relentless touring and promoting without having some other part of their art suffer. There has to be a better way.
Now I believe that you need to tour. I am not suggesting that you can get around that. In fact, you need to perform live, in front of an audience, in order to grow as an artist. But once you have your chops, it only makes sense to perform where you'll have the most impact. That's what I'm talking about.
Here's what I've decided to do and I suggest it to you as well. Take a long, hard and honest look at what you do. Who really enjoys what you do? As a professional musician with a degree of expertise, I have found that given the right circumstances, I can reach people from any culture, race, religion, etc. I am not talking about that. Using me as an example; I play a kind of finger style acoustic guitar; I sing in a melodic, pleasant and smooth vocal style; I write mostly mellow songs; I write intelligent, poetic lyrics; (it's important to me that I not only say something, but that it is said in the most artful way I can do it). Now that's just the positive stuff, but that's what we have to use. You're not going to find your audience by listing all your shortcomings, unless you are coming at it from the intent of eliminating who wouldn't like you. Maybe that would work too, try it and get back to me. In the meantime we'll go with my positive approach.
So, given what I do and how I do it, what else can I do to give focus to this research? How old am I? What kind of education do I have? All these things influence what I create and once it's created, who is going to enjoy it? More than likely, people who have similar backgrounds and/or sensibilities. And once I determine who these people are, where do I find them?
I don't have the answers right now, but I am suggesting that we all take a look at everything I mentioned and share our investigations and results. What I do know is that there are acoustic associations, house concert series, and organizations like the folk alliance. I am a member of the Far West Folk Alliance, (www.farwest.org) as well as the National Folk Alliance (www.folkalliance.org). They have enormous resources and support all genres of acoustic music.
So what I need from you all is some input to this idea. Let's see if we can help each other reach our potential audiences and enjoy the success of performing music well in front of appreciative audiences. Feedback, please.
Reader Comments (7)
First, I love that you have a blog, and I've been meaning to comment... It's interesting to me that you can write well in prose, in addition to using notes instead of words to compose.
As far as the demographic goes, a few things come to mind (even though this is my totally non-professional opinion, lol). One is that if you were a twenty-something, you would be playing colleges (if not something larger!). (And you used to play colleges at some point, right?) Your liberal/intellectual mindset, your schooling, your topic choices would all fit the college environment. It's more a matter of college students not always realizing that age makes no difference when the message is there. "Image" seems to matter more and more in music these days, though.
Different areas of the country would respond to your politics better, obviously, but I also think it might be interesting to play where nobody else plays, where a genuine concert is somewhat of a novelty because major concert tours don't reach those locations. That way they're hearing you with fresh ears and are possibly more receptive to your performance. You know how the first time you do something, it often has more impact than later times? Something like that. And then make sure it's heavily promoted so that it's looked upon as a significant event and people are curious enough to come and see what it's all about. The way it's presented is the way it's perceived, for many people.
Ok, now let's hear from someone who actually knows what they're talking about. ;)
cass, thanks for posting. good comments and certainly food for thought. the image thing does make the hurdle higher, but I have found once people hear me play, they don't really care how old I am. But getting them to hear me is the hard part. And getting hired where no one has heard of you is the other hard part. You can't go for free because the people putting it on won't do anything as they don't have to. You need to get them financially involved so that they too will do all they can to insure an audience. But I do play places all the time that have never had anything like me before. That's part of the joy of the house concert phenom.
just testing this thing.
James,
I really, REALLY appreciate the blog...it's a great forum for sharing your professional expertise with those of us who don't have this down like you do!
At this point, offering YOU feedback seems goofy to me, as I'm a babe in the woods as a songwriter, only a barely competent guitarist (in comparison), and not anywhere near as experienced in front of live audiences. I think I can claim some solid ground as a singer, but it's pulling the whole package together that has been the challenge.
If you figure out how to find your target audiences, I'll be right here to read about it. I seem to be an acoustic, reasonably clever writer, who likes unusual chord voicings and progressions. It ain't formula pop, so it's a hard sell.
Looking forward to more wisdom and advice!
Thanks,
Gayle
James, I think this is a great idea to have this blog. Thank you for sharing a part of your life with the people who truly care for you and your wonderful music that has the ability to embrace my very soul. I do not really know how to gather a large audience short of running a costly advertising campaign which may not be feasible to do. However, the people who you have so deeply touched by your tremendous gift of music and your angelic voice seem to always return to your shows. I know that I will because your music has enriched my life a great deal. Thank you James. I wish you all the best. Love to you, Sindee
James, somewhere on your "About Me" page you write that you want to focus more on downloading. Does this mean that you will not be selling your future music in CD form? My computer is old and decreped (like me) and I can not download anything on it at this time. So, if your music will only be available thru downloading, then my decission to purchase a new computer will have to take place sooner than I had expected. Still, I wish you much success in all of your endeavors. Love to you, Sindee
sindee,
thanks for the kind words. as far as the downloading thing goes, i believe that at some point we will not be manufacturing cd's any longer, and by we, i mean everyone. for the time being i will be doing as i've done since the seventies. creating music, albums, covers, concepts and then manufacturing them, but i don't know for how much longer. i'm gonna try some download only stuff and see what happens.
james