On 3/9/06, Carlo Capocasa <capocasa@xxxxxxx> wrote: > Yep, you heard me right. We need to MARKET our free music. Just because > it's free doesn't mean we don't have to work to make it acceptable to > the general public. And, we've got to convince people to press those > donation buttons once (preferably twice) a day. > > Right now, as Cesare pointed out in a previous post, CDs are looked at > to have enough added value to pay 20 bucks to get a booklet and liner > notes. Clearly, it's not the booklet and the liner notes. It's a ritual. > a 'CD' is kind of like a diploma... We live in a culture where people > just don't believe in themselves anymore. They need proof that an > external authority has approved this whatchmahallit and hence it is > 'good' (ie they may judge it 'good' and trust a lot of people will agree) > > College degrees. Course diplomas. Organic food. Plastic toy safety. > Certificates, certificates, certificates, everywhere you look. It > appears people somehow have this mysterious 'them' in their heads and > believe they must appease them. As soon as you act like an authority you > become a part of the mysterious 'them' and hence have credibility. > > Sad, but true. > > Of course there's a bunch of people out there with a mission to change > that... There's Serge Kahili King (http://www.huna.org) and Neale Donald > Walsch (http://www.cwg.com) to name two. They're all about 'What do YOU > think? It's about you! Start thinking!' (actually speaking of thinking > there's also Bob Proctor (http://www.bobproctor.com) but watch out the > guys a REALLY GOOD salesperson. > > So these guys are all working to create a free society and that's what > we should do to... A free society is one where people actually work to > find out what suits them, what they want in life, their personal taste, > etc. In other words, freedom of mental SERFDOM. > > But I do find it helpful to work with what people believe NOW in order > to lead their minds somewhere. So we should create just that... logos, > logos, logos. Brands. Marketing. > > We find our short, catchy message and then repeat it til the sun goes > down. And up. And down. And up. And down. > > "Downloadable music is superior to store-bought CDs" > "The OGG Vorbis file format is a sign of quality." > "Music that costs something is worthless." > "You are under a moral obligation to donate when you download music > for free and listen to it regularly." > > OGG Vorbis needs a logo. "VORBIS Seal of quality." Kind of like 'Intel > Inside'. People don't exactly know what this 'Intel' is that is inside > but simply assume they need it. People don't know exactly what this > 'VORBIS' is but assume it stands for freedom, love, good feelings... > > I believe the best 'brand' and 'credible authority figure' we can create > is simply 'Free Music'. You get some free music and you know what to > expect, and you know what is expected from you. Like in a well-known > kingdom in the middle ages (some things never change). > > So we have just created a music label that is truly free, that anyone > can participate in... That's pretty Sweet :) Now we're REALLY replacing > the middleman, not only in terms of distribution but in terms of authority! > > Anyone wanna gimme a hand? What do YOU think of this long-ass post? :) > > > ;) > > Carlo I read your whole post, but I think I forgot part of it already.. ;) Anyhow, I've been thinking a lot lately about removing the MP3s from my own website and leaving only the Oggs, but I think I'd rather have some great logos and information to promote it before - the timing would be right then. My suggestion would be to make any kinds of logos and things like that in SVG form, with a transparent background, as bands have different color schemes or button/banner schemes, etc. and it should really be fairly flexible. For example, if I have a black background, perhaps a white background for an "Ogg Rocks" logo would feel out of place, or whatnot. I say SVG because I like to have my images at certain sizes, and SVG is ideal for that. But these are just suggestions and I might not really know what I'm talking about. Either way, I'm really interested in supporting an initiative like this, even if my music isn't great and I have all of 3 fans. :) Dana
