Justin Bieber Connects With His Fans Via Shiny Nail Polish
from the One-Less-Lonely-Girl dept
Around here, we're always on the lookout for cool and interesting ways that musicians can connect with their fans. But oftentimes, the criticism against experimenting with new business models that don't rely on "selling music" tries to assert that "not everyone can do that!" -- and that not every artist can make a living from selling T-shirts or concert tickets. But those arguments miss the point. It's obviously true that not every artist can make a living by just selling T-shirts or by playing putt-putt golf with their fans. The point is that there are an infinite number of ways for artists to sell unique offerings to their fans -- stuff that fans will want to buy because there's a connection to the artist.Now, I'm not a Justin Bieber fan, but the news that he's designing his own line of nail polish targeted at teenage girls -- sounds like another example of an artist trying to connect with his fans (and make money by doing so). Clearly, not just any musician can sell nail polish with heart-shaped glitter suspended in it. But this nail polish line highlights the fact that musicians can endorse almost any product (no matter how silly) and expect a reasonable business model -- if the endorsement has even a hint of authenticity.
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Filed Under: business models, justin bieber, nail polish, scarcities
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Let me be the first
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Re:
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hi
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Re: hi
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AHA! I knew it.
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lol
Although, it will definitely sell well, since his fans are mostly tardly teenyboppers. But then again, they would buy a turd wrapped with a bow, just as long as it had his name on it.
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If Gay...
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You know, at a certain point
Remember the days when doing a Coke commercial meant you were a sell-out?
Sure, for artist-as-entrepreneurs, this is all well and good, but not all musicians fall into that mold.
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Re: You know, at a certain point
There's supposed to be a mold?
And name one artist who made a living off his/her art that isn't a sellout. Here's a hint...there aren't any. Every single one has, and will continue to, pander to their audiences.
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Re: Re: You know, at a certain point
What'd I win?
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Re: Re: Re: You know, at a certain point
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Re: Re: You know, at a certain point
Like you, I think many artists question whether they should have to fit into any sort of mold. In fact, if the artist is iconoclastic (as many of the great ones are), the whole idea of neatly fitting into a label or category is anathema. So in a sense, this expectation that they think of exciting merch or novel personal services ("For $5,000 OK GO will WASH YOUR CAR and give you autographed polaroids of the experience!") is just the sort of thing to make a point to avoid. Why would you feel the need to radically fetishize the inherent and delineated meanings of the music with personalized glossies or elaborately constructed jewel cases designed for nothing more than the physical marketability of their own construction, anyway? As an artist, why would you want to pander to such fans?
Come on, admit it: such an enterprise slowly eats away at the soul of an artist and threatens to dull what gave spark to the inspiration behind their art, no?
And I think it's rather cynical to believe that there aren't artists who can live off of their art without selling out. Sure, the most commercially successful artists--the ones who live off of fame--have all been co-opted by consumer culture, but that is because that is the world they choose to inhabit. "Sell-out" or not, that was their choice or it was their compromise to make.
That said, simply because an artist may make money outside of their music doesn't mean they have sold out. It's the blending of the two enterprises that brings about corruption. If you play in cafes at night or on the weekend and make land deals in an office during weekdays, you can live as an artist without selling out your art. Know what I mean?
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OMG
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haha
He himself was made popular because he had the backers of Disney for god sake. It was inevitable that he became the next "preteen sensation". There's absolutely no way this would NOT have worked. You should do more posts on small bands that are making a living with absolutely no large corporation help and by touring constantly. Yonder mountain string band, cornmeal, the ragbirds, the string cheese incident(a big example) keller williams, sound tribe sector 9, umphreys mcgee.... i can go on and on and on and on.
All these other bands tour constantly and ALLOW us to tape and freely trade their shows. Almost all of them allow the videos of their shows on youtube. Their open taping policy has done NOTHING but help and i have yet to see you really report on any.
2 posts above me says it the best.
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Re: haha
All up-and-coming bands tour a ton, absolutely none of them would sue fans, and every last one of them will use YouTube and every other available resource to promote themselves.
You'll find dozens of articles here explaining exactly that.
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Re: haha
In any case, the point of this post is that artists of any size (in this case: megastar) can sell things that are "not music" and expect to do well if it's executed properly. And as you point out, the marketing folks behind this move could not be executing this better -- they've even got WalMart involved to push Bieber nail polish.... so this will most likely be a slam dunk for Bieber.
It's obviously harder for small bands and individual performers to coordinate a "nail polish" line... but coming up with things to sell that "fit" with an audience is critical. We'd love to hear about more examples of small bands coming up with "stuff that engages their fans".... because small bands have to be more creative than "nail polish" to get attention and gain more fans.
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nail polish
Hey,dibs on that idea...
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Nail polish artist?
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art
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