I forgot Rumblefish.
Yesterday, I gave a talk to the marketing group of the Association of British Orchestras on marketing records. It went something like this. There isn’t a well-established best practice for marketing ...
I read with interest Philip Hensher’s article in Friday’s Independent, entitled “Will nobody mourn the death of classical music“. Having just started a company that sells clas...
There’s so much bullshit in the first paragraph of this article, the only way to tackle it was with footnotes. A lot of them. Before we let the pedantry commence, I should explain the point to ...
I’ve been doing some work on label branding this week, looking for simple ideas to communicate a strong identity, and it got me thinking about ECM. If you’re at all familiar with their al...
…and I made this to entertain you. A little bit of housekeeping: When I started this blog, I kept it loosely anonymous in an effort to keep casual readers from confusing what I write here with ...
Based entirely on my own limited personal experience and the common sense that some “publicists” appear to be remarkably adept at surviving without, here are some tips on soliciting cover...
“This devoted band called itself the Eldorado Exploring Expedition, and I believe they were sworn to secrecy. Their talk, however, was the talk of sordid buccaneers: it was reckless without hardihood...
I’m spending my day trying to put together a PowerPoint presenation for a bunch of stuff that is: 1) Too complicated to put on a single slide 2) Too interdependent to put on multiple slides and...
If you can read this, then the world didn’t end at the weekend. Either that, or they’ve got Internet in heaven (or, perhaps more likely, a Boingo hotspot in hell). Let’s take a mome...
This has to be one of my all-time favourite comments about something I’ve written on this blog. There was certainly something slightly hypocritical about that last post. It is itself formulaic....
Have to come up with 1500 words by the end of the day? Stuck for ideas? Recycle one of these: 1) Is X the new Y? Pick a person. Compare them to somebody they’re not. Point out some similarities...
The exception doesn’t prove the rule. An exception proves that the rule is an imperfect analogy that you can’t count on. It’s not quite as catchy, but it is pretty much the entire f...
On May 1, a financial news website called 2/47 Wall Street published an article entitled “The Death of Classical Music in America”. My last post addressed the faulty reasoning on which ar...
A lesson in philosophy from the marketing department of the Podunk Symphony. Further reading: Appeal to Popularity Appeal to Authority Post hoc Fallacy Problem of Induction Straw Man Gambler’s ...
Nobody ever seems to say this out loud, but if good reviews don’t lead to sales, maybe you didn’t deserve them?
Do you ever get the feeling the world would be a better place if it was slightly harder to release an album?
Oh look. I found another idea to steal. Click to enlarge: The extinction of the dinosaurs was part of the same process that led to the evolution of mankind and the development of language, indoor plu...
Drew McManus asked me to write something for his “Take A Friend To Orchestra Month” – a project where a bunch of guests write about – you guessed it – taking friends to ...
If you think old people are in increasingly short supply then you might like to take a look at this. Still, it’s probably not a bad idea to try to get some young people to come to a concert onc...
I’m not going to apologise for it, but I will warn you that this post contains some unusually lurid language, paired with both religious imagery and Harmonia Mundi albums, so if you hold either...
I’ve admired the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment‘s publicity materials since I was a student. Early music has known its share of ill-considered outfits and dated hairdos, but the OA...
As a strict vegan, she didn’t find “say cheese” very funny. …and then they would pay. Oh yes. They would pay. No. It’s mine now. I’m not giving it back. They’...
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