There’s a New York Times article on the new way the internet allows musicians to reach out to their audiences. It’s not exclusively about Jonathan Coulton but he’s a big part of it. It’s an interesting read for the Coulton information if you’re a fan and just about the music industry in general.
I noticed – and wanted to comment on – this bit about Coulton in the end, and how the immediacy and completeness of fan feedback impacts the creative process.
His fans, he realized, were most smitten by his geekier songs, the ones that referenced science fiction, mathematics or video games. Whenever he branches out and records more traditional pop fare, he worries it will alienate his audience.
I myself encountered Coulton by way of Coverville, a podcast of nothing but cover songs, when they played his cover of Baby Got Back, though obviously I’m a big dork and enjoy his nerdy songs as well. My thought about this matter is this: the people who come to Coulton for their fix of DorkMusic aren’t going to be driven away by more standard pop, though it’s certainly possible they may consume it less. However that’s looking at the wrong half of the glass: some of them are going to consume that non-nerd pop and they wouldn’t have consumed it otherwise.
Let’s face it, if you want standard pop music there’s no shortage of it or places to get it. I can turn on the radio and get a not-so-random sampling. If I’m lucky I’ll hear something that I dig enough to get it so I can hear it again and if I’m sufficiently impressed I’ll check out the rest of their offerings. However I’m not predisposed to any of those new bands. Coulton, on the other hand, I am.
So while he might be on the cutting edge of The New Music Marketing, in this it’s the same as it ever was, same as it ever was. If you want to bring in an clientèle, you have to find a differentiator to attract them. Once you attract them, you need to have some way to keep them and that’s some combination of quality and price.
JoCo could maintain an audience with just nifty and funny niche appeal songs – what he does is fun and enjoyable enough in that space to keep drawing enough new people to replace the inevitable attrition as the folks who require novelty fall off. However he’s got the quality to keep them and grow them into new areas. There’s nothing genre about When You Go – it’s just a good pop ballad. You Ruined Everything might qualify as genre if there’s a genre for slightly sappy I-Love-My-Kid songs like “Butterfly Kisses” but it’s not the nerd genre. Shop Vac nails the fear of suburbian misery, and if that’s a genre then it’s one that American Beauty and plenty of other media aren’t afraid to occupy.
If JoCo wants to worry about being stuck in a formula it shouldn’t be fear of making nerd music, it should be fear of bringing people in with a hit and then trying to keep them with across-the-board quality and appeal with what we would have called a “B-side” some years back. Which makes about as much sense as being concerned about using the formula of working hard and getting noticed in order to work your way up the corporate ladder – it’s the way it gets done, and if you have some talent you’ve got a shot at pulling it off.
Which is my way of saying I don’t think Coulton has anything to worry about at all.