Re: [ARSCLIST] Record Business vs. Music Business: The Shakeout Continues.

["Steven C. Barr(x)" <stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Roger and Allison Kulp" <thorenstd124@xxxxxxxxx>
(not sure WHO actually said this...
> As for the Internet, it's utterly amazing to me how ineffective it has been
> as a promotional and marketing vehicle for new artists now that we have more
> than ten years of experience with it. In the '90s we could legitimately talk
> about its potential but today most of that talk has proven to not be very
> meaningful. It's little different than saying with Yellow Pages listings
> being what they are, marketing can be only a small problem.
> 
The problem with the Internet is quite simple...it is simply TOO DURN
BIG! If I want to look up something on the web...unless I am VERY careful
making my search-engine entry...I'll be directed to ten/hundreds of
thousands of sites...and I don't have the time nor ambition to check
out EVERY lead!

For example, I tried entering "blues," since that would be the search
that an uninformed musicophile would use to discover either of my two
CD releases (which aren't yet promoted on the web anyway...)! Result?
158,000,000 possible sites...including those on various sports teams
which use the "Blues" nickname, and gawdknows wot else...?!

Even particularizing the search to "blues Oshawa" results in 163,000
"hits"...and "blues 'steven c'" in 46,600 (of the first ten, I show up 
in one...)...if someone happens to know the title of my more recent
CD, he/she/it gets 26,000! The earlier recording, having an effectively
unique title ("43rd & Queen") does produce a more realistic Google
result (10 sites).

So...it seems that folks who already know about my recordings can find
out about them...but my "ideal" buyer...someone who has never heard of
me, and will be pleasantly surprised by my work...is unlikely to dig
through the gazillions of "false hits"...!

Steven C. Barr