artisanal economics

Huh? Well, this is a bit of a stretch but please bear with me - it might be interesting.

I'm reading "An Omnivore's Dilemma" and saw a reference to an article by Allan Nation which draws on theories of Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter.

Basically it discusses how "artisanal" production methods (which consist of selling something special rather that as a least-cost commodity) must not adapt to "industrial" production models.

If I apply this thinking to creative music, that means creative musicians:

• should do everything they can to appear cutting-edge or at least unique
• should never try to achieve financial growth for the sake of growth (e.g., simply because that's what you're supposed to be doing). This is contrary to conventional wisdom that you should always be expanding your market. I take this to mean we should only strive to expand our market if it is truly meant to somehow better support our artistic endeavors.
  
• don't strive for uniformity. I suppose you could interpret this a few ways. But why not perform on the edge? Some nights might be rough, others might be stellar. If you're not challenging yourself, why bother? People pay for artisanal products because they expect outstanding results sometimes and can live with less desirable results occasionally. Consider fine wine. Sometimes bottles are undrinkable but we've come to understand this as part of the artisanal production process. If you choose perfection over art, you get something like supermarket wine as a result.
  
• Focus on local markets. Follows on from the above point: artisans can't scale to satisfy global markets. Consider how to optimize your impact within your local market.
• Rely on reputation, word-of-mouth instead of advertising

I'm finding thinking about this concept very interesting. Obviously, I don't have a strong backlog of evidence to prove this is the right path for creative musicians. But I like the ideas now. Do you have thoughts about this? Reactions to this advice (which seems opposite what most musicians are doing)?

Thanks,
Tom

del.icio.us

the impact of online media options

I've been struggling with the growing trend in the US where people just tend to stay home. :-(

We've grown into a society where we just don't hang out anymore. Fast food, fast coffee (think Starbucks) and increasingly, fast entertainment. iTunes and the ubiquitous iPod have been increasing the rate with which we can go grab whatever media we want, when we want it.

On the one hand, this is fantastic! When I hear of a new recording, I can go preview it, buy it and listen to it almost immediately. Now with the introduction of TV and movies, we're moving closer to that. And, of course, there's YouTube which gives us a whole new genre of video entertainment: fanstastic "bootleg" videos of our favorite musicians (just search for "Eric Dolphy" or "Art Tatum" or "Woody Shaw" or "John Coltrane" or whoever - it's truly amazing what's lurking within that site).

But where is all this headed? The BBC recently posted an article asking that question. They're already seeing an impact to "normal" TV watching.

The graphic shown here shows 43% of people are already choosing online or mobile video instead of normal TV. I like it! It means people are empowered to take a more active role in their entertainment - instead of passively just turning on the TV and watching whatever is on.

Maybe, if I dare to dream a bit, that will lead to more people seeking out live music, interacting with real people and getting a far more enriching experience!

It's quite a dream, I know. But it's one of my hopes for the future: where people grow weary of home entertainment and seek out something better: art museums, theatre, live music, performance art, etc.

del.icio.us