When I originally outlined my presentation for SXSW, my plan was to set the stage for a passionate and engaged conversation by sharing the inspiration for my new book, The End of Business as Usual.
The more I thought about it, I realized that I could do more. To me, SXSW is a celebration of culture, art, innovation, and vision. The End of Business as Usual isn’t just about “business,” it’s about the end of everything “as usual.” So, I thought, what if the world of any business prioritized the same pillars as SXSW…art, innovation, culture, vision? What if everyday consumers, we, became the cogs in the business machine?
Then it dawned on me, what better way to celebrate our role as the connected customer that’s shaking everything up than with a special guest?
Well, I’m proud to announce that Smashing Pumpkin’s Billy Corgan will join me on stage to discuss “No More (Music) Business As Usual” and I hope you can join us.
We’ll discuss key themes from the new book as it relates to the music industry and how Billy Corgan and The Smashing Pumpkins plan on shaking things up. We’ll focus will be on changing the methods that artists use to deliver music by re-inventing new systems that can work hand in hand with the art they created. The goal? To put the art of music back to the forefront by ignoring the continual need of the music industry to standardized systems to promote and sell music in an era of constant change.
Billy will also discuss how social media and technology will play a part in the release of their new album Oceania and share his vision for reinventing the album experience overall. As Billy shared with Mashable in a discussion about our SXSW session, “Our aim is to turn the ‘social’ into a new way to experience an album,. By taking the medium one step further we will create an experience with Oceania online and off-line that transcends the single and the single mentality in all ways.”
Share your questions here…What would you like me to ask him?
Add it to your calendar!
Monday, March 12, 3:30PM – 4:30PM, Austin Convention Center, Ballroom D
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VERY cool. Would love you to ask Billy what he thinks of Neil Young’s recent comment that “Piracy is the new radio.”
Will do Allen…
Ask Billy why he has to resort to gimmicks to release his music nowadays. He can blame extenuating circumstances all he wants — music business imploding, the digital revolution, etc., but if the music were still great, people would pay attention.
Amen. If it’s not in the grooves, then it won’t matter how you deliver it. Corgan was a factor in the 90s but we’re a long way from that time. Unfortunately for him, most people seem to have moved on from Smashing Pumpkins fascination. In a Billboard interview with Gary Graff last fall, Corgan had this to say: “I just saw that we weren’t reaching the sort of casual person who still
gets their information from traditional sources. So I thought, ‘What do
I need to do?’ and then I thought, ‘OK, I’ll go back to making an
album.”
http://www.billboard.com/#/news/smashing-pumpkins-large-scale-release-ideas-1005370782.story
I’ve wanted to ask Billy this for so long. He’s always talking about how it’s dead and how it’s not coming back or how it might come back but that he hasn’t seen it yet: What is Rock and Roll?
What does Billy think of fans who seem to totally disown bands they once liked due to original members departing? The issue seems like a very important one in this day and age considering how information is disseminated. Not to mention the organic growth of a group of people partaking in an artistic endeavor for many years, members might logically outgrow the group and move on. Where does the fan’s sense of ownership/involvement (having theoretically invested in the “original” band) end, and the artist’s own right to their own brand begin? How does someone convince fans who react negatively to the departure of original members that they have a right to continue making a body of art under a given name?
Alot of people know of him whether they like him or not. Does he plan to use social media to widen his audience or to reach out to his existing fanbase? Also, was Jessica Simpson his sexual nepalm as she was for John Mayer?
1) How can new artists (or even well-established artists, such as yourself) capture a broad, international audience in the post-MTV+major record label world?
2) Now that major labels and MTV are no longer controlling our exposure to music, do you think talent and creativity are more important to the longevity of an artist’s career?
3) Do you think music has become less important to people today than it was in the 90s?
4) What do you think will become of the remaining major music publishers over the next 10 years?
5) What was important to you in your choice of a new publishing partner for Oceania? Will this be a one-time-only partnership, or are there plans for a long-term relationship?
6) What were the lessons you learned from the Teargarden project, and how did those lessons inform your decision for the release of Oceania?
7) Do you plan to continue to release music under the umbrella of the Teargarden project?
8) Thank you for everything. You are so loved. (not a question, but important nevertheless). 🙂
Wait – one more question: Who do you see as real innovators in today’s music scene (artists, companies such as Spotify, etc.)?
The Smashing Pumpkins made some unforgettable music videos. How important is the music video as an artistic expression? If music videos are no longer valuable as marketing tools, is it worth the investment to make a video for the sake of art? Do you plan to make any videos for Oceania?
1) How important are fans in helping to spread music or a band’s existence nowadays? Is it now a bigger responsibility for the fan to keep his/her fav music around by advertising since there’s not much label support for PR lately? Is this how social media will play a role in the music industry?
2) What is the product in this changing music industry? Is music the product anymore or was it ever? Especially since a lot of people don’t pay for music as frequently. Or should we look at the band as a brand/product and music is just the promo for the shows and the t-shirts.
3) what does Music mean to the music industry now for both consumer and provider?
As a long long time and big SP fan (dare I say more and reveal my true age!) and as a long long time B2B marketer, this is dream come true. Can’t wait for it!
I read Billy hopes to utilize super fans as a means to promote the new album. Being a super fan I would love to know more about this point. Look forward to the talk!
Cool post. Expecting this kind of information