Music fans don’t want to just listen, they want an experience!

Last night at the Montreal Jazz Festival I met up with my business associate and friend Arnold Schwisberg, an entertainment lawyer based in Toronto. Arnie and I have worked together over the past eight years on various projects and always end up dissecting the music industry whenever we meet up. Having dinner with him overlooking the throngs of people milling about, watching and dancing at the Jazz festival, gave us front row observation seats to how people interact in the physical presence of music.

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The gratification of buying music in a physical format along with it’s percieved value has almost been diluted with the rise of digital distribution. Music is available on demand. The consumer controls how and when they are entertained. Entertainment is from the bottom up and no longer the top down. The record labels no longer pull the strings, and the consumer doesn’t just dance to any tune. So what was really interesting to observe out on the street tonight was that just the musical attachment and significance to such an event as the Jazz festival was enough to satisfy Jazz aficionados, music fans of all genres, families, children, teenagers, retirees, vacationers and even pets! From the hundreds of Jazz Festival logo merchandise items that were flying off the shelves, to the 200,000 or so people that crammed themselves into the main stage area the previous night to watch Stevie Wonder perform live (and for free) to the throngs of event goers cramming themselves into the Archambault music tent that was selling thousands of Jazz CDs (yes CDs) It was obvious that a music experience is still a bigger promoter, captivator and marketeer than the humble single or the declining album. Even the radio industry is suffering but yet thousands of people come from all over the world to experience the experience that is the Jazz Festival.

From looking at the atmosphere there tonight, it was hard to believe that the music industry was going through such a (for some companies, tragic) change and that there is an impresssion that music is just another throw away commodity that has been devalued. What other genre of music can attract so many fans who just sit and listen and soak up the music and the atmosphere? I believe that whatever genre of music you like, from Reggae to Blues to Rap to Classical to Rock, Jazz music has something in its genetical makeup that satisfies everyones ears. It could just be a riff, a beat, a rhythm or a tone. Whatever the magical formula is, it was alive here tonight and for once the atmosphere gave music and all who create her a encouraging slap on the back.  Maybe music fans have changed their listening habits but the experience and the atmosphere that goes with it can never be reproduced online.

Related posts:

1. Musician Imogen Heap on connecting with your fans
2. Gerd Leonhards presentation “Music 2.0 – The Time is NOW”
3. Mission Bicyles: Transfering an online experience to a physical store
4. If you don’t adapt you will die
5. Artists at work – The Snake The Cross The Crown