But the time away has been good, because it gets me back to the original purpose of the blog.  As many of you know, I’m a marketer.  It’s long been my contention that helping Black rock move closer to the mainstream isn’t a matter of finding better ways of marketing artists.  Rather, it’s about finding better ways to facilitate the discovery of the music, particularly by African American audiences.  This was the impetus, also, behind BoldasLIVE: Give folks an opportunity to get know the artists AND hear their music.  That’s the point at which audiences can make a better decision as to who they’ll support.  Of course, audiences won’t be into every artist they see in this format, but at least they’ll have the full story.

The point here is that it’s about the audience, not the artist.  More importantly, artists will have to start thinking like this.  As hard as it will be for some, I believe success in the future will be based on an artist taking a services approach.  This means knowing your core fans: Who they are, where they are, and what specifically they like about you.  And it’s about treating them well, like they’re members of an exclusive fan club.  Trent Reznor gets it.  So did Black Kids when they released their indie EP for free.  Understand that it’s the fans who will rush out to buy or download your new album.  These are the ones who will make an effort to get to your shows (no small thing as people get older, start having kids and begin having significantly less discretionary time).  They are the ones who’ll talk you up to their friends.

So, yes, let’s get back to our ongoing discussion of the mainstreaming of Black rock and the evolution of the new Black imagination.  But know that I’ll also share tools and approaches that may be useful to Black rock artists as they build their relationships with their fans.  And without the fans, Black rock will stay on the fringes.

Nona makes a great point here: As much as Black culture is co-opted, there’s an equal amount of abandonment that happens because we don’t value what we’ve created.

“You gotta find a band.  The only way that’s going to happen is if there’s a band to rally around.”

This makes sense, particularly if you look at the challenge from a traditional marketing standpoint.  After all, having a focal point, be it a band or an individual artist, creates a simplicity of message, something that Chip and Dan Heath talk about as necessary for an idea to really be “sticky”.  For example, is it a group like J*Davey, who blew up on the streets and is about to make their major label debut? 

But, focusing on an artist or band is tricky.  How do you find someone that a good mass of people will like and support?  That could be easier than you think.  An article in yesterday’s NY Times Magazine indicates that “hits” are not just an accumulation of a significant number of independent choices.  It’s not just about impressing individuals with your talent.  Rather, everyone who likes, say, Justin Timberlake (the article’s example), is to some extent influenced by others.  So, you can’t predict what will ‘stick” based on what’s worked in the past.  As the article points out, companies involved in the culture industries try this all the time and their failure rate tends to be high. 

While I’m not willing to discard this path of inquiry, I do suggest we put it aside and think about the problem from a different angle.  In the case of Black rock—multifarious as it is—a vibrant community exists.  Hell, if you just count the time the Black Rock Coalition’s been in existence, it’s a community that’s been growing for over 22 years.

My point is that what’s needed is something that will bring galvanize this community, speed connections between the various “cells” of this network, and register on the general market’s radar.  What’s needed is a call to action, a reason to transform a community into a movement.  The single artist/band is vulnerable: They become another piece of clutter in a hyper-crowded marketplace, and are left to navigate the medium of culture on their own.  But a single artist or band backed by a movement can capture the public’s imagination.

What I’m searching for is a simple idea, one that will spark the imaginations of both children and adults.  We need a response that’s simple, elegant and powerful.

If you have any thoughts on this subject, I’d love to hear them.

The way we frame Black rock is critical. 

In an effort to prove it’s different from what’s available to the masses, Black rock has fallen into the corporate pigeonholing trap where everything requires a specific label (no pun intended!), it’s own little box.  Unfortunately, Black rock’s box is in no way related to the music experiences of the majority of Black folks who are weaned on a daily diet of commercial hip hop and R&B.  Problem is, the current frame doesn’t easily make room for new sounds or categories.  In an effort to bring a bigger audience to this music, managing expections is going to be a key challenge. 

Seriously, we absolutely have to stop calling it “alternative,” as in “alternative Black music.” Here’s why.

Look up "alternative" on Dictionary.com and here’s some of what you get:

employing or following nontraditional or unconventional ideas, methods, etc.; existing outside the establishment: an alternative newspaper; alternative lifestyles.

Yes, it’s true that Black rock in all its forms exists outside the established world of commercial black music.  In fact, “commercial” Black music forms the entirety of the world for most people.  But, we’ve got to stop using this word.  To the average person, it sounds vague (needs further qualification) and at worse it conjures up images of some weird-sounding shit that they probably don’t like.  So, it’s for all of those people who are turned off by the word “alternative” that I say stop using it.

Here’s another definition:

one of the things, propositions, or courses of action that can be chosen

This isn’t exactly correct either: I’d venture to guess that the majority of Black folks don’t even know that this music exists.  Given that—if you’re not aware of the option—then it can’t be a choice, which means that it’s not an alternative.

The other challenge that arises from the use of the word are the connotations.  For those who’ve had little or no exposure to the music, “alternative” or “Black rock” makes them expect something that’s completely unfamiliar from anything they’ve heard.  Now, that could be good or it could be a bad thing.  Either way, you’re taking a chance.  For most, my assumption is that whatever this “alternative” thing is, it’s going to require work for them to process.  The reality is that, for the most part, the music is much more accessible than most might initially think. 

Here’s some advice for artists: The next time someone asks you what kind of music you play, just say, “The kind of stuff you like.”  No, I’m not telling you to lie.  I’m just stressing the need to help people orient themselves and get their ears and minds prepared for something different.  If you say “rock,” then you’re fighting against some heavy preconceptions of what that is, i.e., it’s loud, the domain of white boys and largely devoid of anything they understand as soulful.  That’s a specific frame, one in which there’s little room for you.  What I’m suggesting is that you find a way to talk about your music in terms of that they’ll readily understand.  People have no anxiety when they’re dealing with the familiar.  So, If you can get them to listen without the anxiety, to willingly look for the familiar, you’ve just made it easier for them to take a step towards this wider spectrum of music.

Marketers at brands large and small are struggling with how to make their communications clearer for multiple audiences.  Those of us involved in Black rock are not exempt from this challenge.  In fact, we might—as some marketers are discovering—begin to develop different communications for audiences that come to the music in various contexts.  The challenge and the goal is to develop communications that can be calibrated and customized based on a specific consumer’s familiarity with the both the music and the concept of Black rock.

The most useful takeaway is the idea of meeting people where they are.  That is, being aware of what people are used to hearing and understanding the context those sounds create.  From there you can determine how and where they are most likely to enter new sonic territory.  From there a bridge can be built between the familiar and the not-so-familiar.

I think one of the key pieces of this audience development effort will to give people places through which they can enter new musical areas.  The trick is, I think, that early stages have to bear some resemblance to things they’re used to.  After all, like/dislike decisions are made based on context, and if there’s no context in which new information can be evaluated, that information is typically discarded.  In concrete terms, you can’t take someone who’s had a steady diet of current commercial hip-hop and R&B and expose them to the hardcore punk sounds of Bad Brains.  Most will have to get used to the water in the shallow end of the pool before the tackle the deep end.

For example, Exhibit A.  “Awnaw” was a single off the 2002 debut album from southern rap group Nappy Roots.  However, at the end of the album is this gem, the rock remix of the song, featuring
Marcos Curiel of P.O.D.

MP3 File