You, me, the internet, South Park, the white house, even Kanye West knows that Kanye West is a “jackass”… So reflecting on his recent interruption of Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the MTV music awards, I wonder if it was another Kanye blunder or a slimy marketing stunt from a fledgling industry.
I’m not the first to call bullshit on this entire incident. My wife, a former “big label” gal, called foul from the moment it went down. She has spent too much time in music industry boardrooms not to suspect the whole thing a PR stunt.
A quick search confirms her evidence: Taylor Swift’s signed to Big Machine Records and Kanye West to Island Def Jam — both distributed by Universal Music Group. Taylor Swift is holding at #2 in Billboard this week, MTV Video awards are relevant again (at least for the moment) and Universal is laughing all the way to the bank.
Not to mention this is Kanye’s M.O. Remember his statements about George Bush on a live TV Katrina benefit? Right or wrong (although it was hard to disagree with him in that instance) his single (appropriately named “Gold Digger”) lit up after that move. Kanye West is back in the charts again this week.
In the blog post “The Death of Marketing”, legendary music blogger Bob Lefsetz writes:
“The public has been manipulated so many times, that when something extraordinary happens, that becomes instantly viral in our networked world, many people cross their arms and say not fucking real.
Who’d blame them? What with Borat and Eminem at the previous MTV awards show.
Sure, the ratings for the VMAs were comparatively good, up from last year. But isn’t focusing on the immediate bottom line, going for instant results, what fucked up not only the music industry, but the whole economy?”
This entire incident is very suspicious. Regardless whether this was planned or not, we are buying the records and talking about it. Do the means justify the ends? If this was a marketing stunt, it was an amazingly successful social media one.
Beyond the mainstream feeding frenzy, the online conversation has been abuzz; from the Imma let you finish meem, to various websites and mashup videos that have popped up over this incident. They are plentiful. Kanye was a trending topic on Twitter more than once this week, and we bloggers are still writing about it (guilty as charged).
You have to wonder about the sustainability of a business that requires this kind of stunt to build relevance, planned or not. Remember when it was about good music?
Lefsetz concludes:
In order to truly make it today, you’ve got to be honest, you’ve got to have the goods, which have been honed over years. Otherwise, you’re just another scammer trying to make a buck. And the public knows. Major media companies are complaining about the audience, the mistrust involved. Well, if you were manipulated so many times would you still play along?
If you want to make it today, focus on marketing last. And know that online, greatness spreads. Could take a while to catch fire, but if you’re great on a sustained basis, you’ll make it. Although making it might mean being known by a coterie, not everybody, and having one house, not three, still…who’s entitled to all that? The days of more, more, more are over. It’s just that those in the media haven’t realized it yet.
Here’s one of those remixes, earning over 2 million views in the last 72 hours:
The biggest lesson I have learned from this? You can succeed in social media yet fail in radical trust.
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12 Responses to “Imma let you finish, but there are social media lessons in Kanye’s mistakes”
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September 18th, 2009 at 8:56 am
Reading Collin’s new post: “Imma let you finish, but there are social media lessons in Kanye’s mistakes” http://bit.ly/XdIjK
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September 18th, 2009 at 10:18 am
Social Media lessons in Kanye’s Mistakes. A new radical trust blog post! http://bit.ly/XdIjK
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September 18th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Yeah Collin I guess you are right, you can succeed at social media but fail at trust. I just hope history separates the two into appropriate categories…which I have a hunch it will, thanks to social media. Is it not blogs like this that expose bullshit?
Love the Lefsetz quotes. I think this type of manipulative PR stunt serves a fucked up purpose for the few remaining mega stars and the dying conglomerates that back them. Doubtful this type of monkey business will benefit an unknown, evolving, or emerging artist though.
Great post man!
September 18th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
was kanye vs swift a set up? @collindouma has a great post up http://tr.im/z5oY
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September 19th, 2009 at 10:52 am
Yep, definitely a lesson from @CollinDouma about the distinction between social media success and radical trust. http://bit.ly/IGi6j
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September 19th, 2009 at 11:00 am
This is far too out there to be a planned stunt. The Eminem/Bruno thing was obvious to most, but this one is too odd to have passed the sniff test of a music exec. “JB…here’s our pitch: we’ll sell more AutoTuned Kanye records if he insults that America’s sweetheart on the stage at an awards show that nobody really watches. People will boo, other artists will curse him on Twitter and bloggers will riff on it for a week. All this “Kanye is a douche” energy will translate into a sales bump that will blow your mind. If this works, wait until you see what we have planned for Bono at the Grammys: he’s going to French kiss Sinead O’Connor while dressed as the Pope.”
if the music industry had a clue about what sold records, I wouldn’t put this stuff by them. But they don’t.
September 19th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
@davefleet You should read @CollinDouma’s post about Kanye. Interesting companion to this discussion. http://bit.ly/IGi6j
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September 22nd, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Maybe. What about Beyonce? Is she in on it? How is her label. Were did the Red Dress come from for Taylor? So are you saying the whole thing was planned because they knew Taylor was going to win, or they planned it just in case? Doesn’t an accounting firm do the tallying and nobody knows? Would be a big reputation hit to them if that came out it was leaked. If it was “planned”, it doesn’t seem like it would be a very difficult thing to find out, there would have to be email, etc. some smart journalist would surely expose that, no? Maybe not. Maybe I am not cynical enough, seems like it would require planning beyond just a few people.
September 23rd, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Rick… Good point.
But it’s not like there isn’t a precedent. The point isn’t if it was planned or not, but rather how it effective it is at selling CDs.
I’m not a cynic, but rather somebody who has worked in PR and Marketing my entire career, and have been part of planning these types of things… So i pose the question.
Controversy is a good PR tool to raise record sales. Idiot stunts is a good way to do it (Think eminem vs. Bruno)
Every time Kanye West opens his mouth it seems to cause a Meem, so… rather then focus on the conspiracy, focus on the state of the industry.
September 23rd, 2009 at 4:48 pm
Lets not forget that what Kanye did was very wrong, but what he said was right. That Swift video is terrible and Beyonce’s is indeed iconic. If a stunt (which this isn’t) speaks the truth then I’m all for it.
Also, when has the music industry ever been about ‘good music’? They are about what sells. Case in point, the #1 song from 1969 (one of the greatest years in the history of modern music) was Sugar Sugar by the Archies. Not the Beatles, or the ‘Stones, the Archies.
As for conspiracy…the music industry is just not that clever. They are reactive Luddites and there is no precedent suggesting they could put something like this together.
September 23rd, 2009 at 11:03 pm
There is a ton of precedent Trevor, but thanks for the comments.
September 23rd, 2009 at 11:28 pm
I’d say there’s just as much precedent for Kayne simply ‘going off’, but you’re welcome. : )