I guess I should’ve clarified that.

It’s a shame that publicists are holding Philly against you, but I must say that I don’t know many seasoned music marketers who care where a company is located as long as it has some buzz and delivers results.

When it comes to music, Comcast doesn’t have buzz. I certainly support you in your drive to change that, but I don’t think getting the content alone isn’t going to be enough.

Also, as concerns the Comcast brand: I don’t think it gets in the way at all, but is more a matter of getting publicists to understand, as I’ve written before, that there’s a tremendous opportunity to get their artists in front of huge audience. When people are wondering where they should look now that Blender has been relegated to an online-only presence, I want them to know that I’m looking to work with bands, provided that “working with” means more than getting an mp3 to stream.

Could it be that the Comcast brand is getting in the way? Is it possible that the people who will go to Comcast for music are more followers than influencers and a part of the greater mass of casual music listeners who are simply more passive anyway?

Music has never just been about the tunes themselves and since the explosion of sonic identity with ringtones and personal MySpace pages, it has becoming so much more than the soundtrack to our lives.

As for OK Go, most hit singles are from one hit wonders. Reliable fanbases are built from great live shows and consistently strong recordings, not one attention-grabbing song, regardless of how it got that attention.

I’m in the camp that says if the only way music will be heard is to give it away, then so be it. No more advertising supported anything. No more over-paid PR. No more wildly gouged ticket prices. Just people. Playing instruments and singing. And sharing it, in whatever form – live, home recording, whatever – with their friends. Some folks actually make a living at that. See: Amanda Palmer.

Then again, I hang out with a bunch of experiential avant-garde folks who will probably never make a dime off their art anyway, so maybe that effects my opinion on the matter.

I think you’re missing something important about the big portals though. They’re still a huge part of Internet traffic and are real hubs for lots of people. I personally am thrilled at the opportunity to take Comcast.net’s music page into the next generation and try to reach different audiences with varying degrees of interest in music content. As I see it, we have the eyeballs it takes to expose people to all sorts of music content; it’s just a matter of getting labels to see that they can’t ignore a site like Comcast.net just because it doesn’t have a footprint in Los Angeles or New York City. It’s just too big an opportunity to pass up!

1. The unknown act, who is looking to SPREAD.
2. The established act who can do what he likes.

I think FREEMIUM works to help spread ideas. it’s a marketing technique. if you already have a massive audience, then you can generate more buzz by offering your album for free, but that’s up to you.

It’s the underground bands that can really benefit from a freemium model, and here is how:

http://flapsandwich.blogspot.com/2009/03/does-freemium-work.html