EDIT

This is a really neat conversation that goes far and wide. So much so that my lead post below is basically, completely off-topic.

So why fight it? I have changed the title of this discussion
from: How do we tell them it's safe to come out now?
to: Thoughts on a rainy afternoon about Bose, Live Music, Guitar Hero, Wannabes and more

I have reposted my original question here: How do we tell them it's safe to come out now?

Old lead post follows below...

Entertainment in many forms is toxically loud. I think that people have gone into hiding. Although it is difficult to quantify, I am certain that there are those who simply refuse to put themselves in harm's way for the sake of some entertainment.

I believe that there are people here, musicians, entertainers, presenters and more, who have discovered that we do not have to be painfully loud to "sell the show".

If you are using your L1® to deliver the goods (the music, the entertainment, the words) and doing it without inflicting pain and potentially harm ...

What are you doing to tell your audience, "It's safe to come out now"?

A little background to this question.

Brian Beveridge just started a discussion about Movies being too loud.

quote:

Originally posted by Brian Beverage
I do not go to movies anymore. Even with earplugs its painful. Why do they have to have it so LOUD???. There is some great music I missing. Couldn't BOSE come to the rescue?Ken?

At least with respect to live music, Bose has offered the world a solution. I think that there are many people here who have chosen to avail themselves to that solution and to share that with our audiences.

Perhaps the movies got loud to compete with live performances. Maybe they got loud to compete with television. Maybe they got loud and big(ger) in every way to compete with all other forms of entertainment. But whatever the reason, to the extent that there are people who make this volume issue a decision criteria in where they spend their entertainment dollars, there is an opportunity for us.


I think that movies are our competition, along with all kinds of other entertainment. We may have a competitive advantage now (with the L1®) - or rather - by turning down the volume, we may be less toxic than some of our customers' other choices. But we also have a challenge:

How do we tell the customers - the listeners - that it is safe to come out now?


If you want to chat about the question about please follow this link:

How do we tell them it's safe to come out now?


Thanks!

edit: spelling Beveridge

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ST,

Hi. ST. Just a note on the name its Beveridge not Beverage. It's half Irish half Scottish. Like to drink but don't like payin' for it. Seriously though, having suffered some high hearing loss this is a huge issue for me. I think BOSE could/should develop a marketing plan around this.
Maybe I am preaching to the converted on this forum but I certainly do promote the BOSE sound when people make comments and I am handing out my card. Note to BOSE folks I don't have it ON my card. I have yet to hear a negative comment on the sound was too loud! As Obama says YES WE CAN! Cheers!
Brian

Hi Brian - I am sorry about the spelling - I've corrected it above. Thanks for pointing that out.

With respect to the marketing plan: I think that there is a lot of merit to developing a plan that includes all of us.

Bose DOES tell the audience that the L1® allows us as performers to play at lower levels while delivering our sound. See: L1® Benefits Statement. This is echoed in many ways on the main Bose site: http://www.bose.com/musicians


I'm hoping that we can explore way that WE (the converted) can reach our audience; especially the portion that we or other musicians drove away from our shows because of excessive volume. How do you talk to people who have left the room?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ST,

How about a slogan like this:

Demand Bose when you go out to hear live music!

It seems to me that the people who hear me play, that already own a Bose product seem to “get it” a lot quicker than everybody else. They have a mindset that it will sound good because of the quality they experience with the equipment they own. Maybe a good Bose Ad would be a couple getting ready for an evening out. The wife is putting on makeup while listening to a Bose radio. The man is patiently waiting while watching TV with his Bose surround system. They get in the car which is also equipped with a Bose system and head to a concert where the musicians are using L1’s. A complete package of perfect sound.

Hi Tom,

quote:

Originally posted by Tom Munch:
How about a slogan like this:

Demand Bose when you go out to hear live music!

I'm trying to figure out how to reach people who are NOT coming out to hear live music. This seems addressed to people who are already coming out to hear the music.

I do want people to aspire to higher standards but I am uncomfortable

telling them to demand anything

when I am still in the mode of

asking them to choose live music

when they have so many other alternatives.

This is very interesting ST. There are so many options for people right now. Why should they hear live music? A good question without an easy answer.

Hey ST....when you use the term "live music" are you referring to music by live musicians or are you including deejays as part of it?

Only bringing it up 'cos I think it's a whole new can'o'worms as to why people don't come out to see "live music" and it has nothing to do with volume...

JD

The economy is hitting hard here in Savannah. The clubs that are doing well are the clubs that have Guitar Hero nights. What does it say when people will go to a club to watch other people who can’t play an instrument pretend to play an instrument? Have the masses become so bored (not sure if this is the right word) that we as musicians don’t fill a need anymore?

quote:

What does it say when people will go to a club to watch other people who can’t play an instrument pretend to play an instrument?

I've been concerned about this too...I sure hope young people haven't gotten too complacent to pick up and really learn an instrument.

I know this should be a new thread...and maybe one we should leave alone in this forum, but it's of major concern to me. My own 22 yr son doesn't get it, when I bashed the new Guitar Hero TV show, for keeping kids from taking up real music. He only said, "Why would I want to watch someone play Guitar Hero on TV, when it would only make me feel bad because he's so much better than me". He didn't get my point, that they are not even musicians.

I can only sigh.

It's obvious that a lot of people don't value live music, so are we crazy for playing it or are we just bad at drawing people to it? Usually in a down economy (I've been told) that people are drawn out of their houses to attend events - whether live music or movies. I think this down economy will tell us a lot. I'm just rambling with a thousand ideas in my head, but there are times when I think that we don't really understand the importance of music in our culture since we're musicians. I still think that music is oxygen, but I wonder if the general public does.

quote:

What does it say when people will go to a club to watch other people who can’t play an instrument pretend to play an instrument?

Roy and Pete....somewhere along the line we've become a culture of wannabes.

At the risk of sounding like an old fart... it used to be about playing football, guitar and biking after school....now it's about impersonating it on video and TV and yes, in the clubs.

JD

Just this week, I was contacted by a person who had recently heard us and they solicited a price for their corporate xmas party. I know for a fact that we were the lowball compared to the other 3 proposals.

Who got the gig?

The deejay.

Tommy, you ain’t <kidding> that live music ain’t valued anymore!

JD

[ken-at-bose changed a disallowed word]

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Ken-at-Bose,

Not to derail this thread, but I've even had a friend of mine say that he thinks royalties are on the way out because they are impossible to collect. He thinks that all writing & music will be free eventually because the people who make it can't help themselves from making it.

It seems to me that artistic endeavors will always be considered a luxury to some folks, & that in our culture it is too easy to get decent quality artistic material for free.

So what's an artist to do?

How can we tell people that live music really IS oxygen & that they need it for their well-being?

Hey Tom - I think you are in the right direction. We live in a download pay for view world. Songs are sold as singles not albums anymore. We still think of making a CD. I had a a late super with a friend who is mixing a CD for an upcoming guitar hero. He said why write an albums worth of music. Write one or two good songs, promote them in the right place and sell them as singles. We have talked in the past about selling our music on line. If you have a good song why wait until you write 11 more. Start selling that one. And now this thread is really going in a new direction. Roy

I find comfort in the simple fact that consistently, people who HEAR "us" (me) really enjoy what "we" (I) do for them. Now, I do not play music to make my living, so my perspective is different than yours Tom - I play to feed my soul, not to put food on the table. But I DO breathe it all the time, it is my oxygen too, so that IS in common. We just gotta hang in there, keep doing "what's right", and have faith that people will always enjoy music, and will continue to appreciate and admire us for making it for them. We just have to hope for and work for continued opportunities to do our thing.

Kids? Pete's point is absolutely right, but... I just found out that the 17-year-old son of a classmate, and his 17-y-o friend died senselessly in a car accident last night - hearing stuff like that kinda resets your perspective. Playing those games instead of more "real" activities - you can put up with that! Hug your kid and tell them you love them!

Good on us for being music makers!

Mike

Wow,

Just looking at all the responses - something hit a nerve.

Here are some major threads that I picked up

Bose

I think we are in an interesting position here with Bose and the L1®. If we are successful then we can justify our investment in the L1®s and perhaps more importantly, we can model our successes in ways that others can undertand and duplicate. If we succeed in showing our competitors how to compete with us then we may suffer. If we succeed and create more demand then I can only hope that this is good for everyone.

quote:

Originally posted by BrianBeveridge:
...
Maybe I am preaching to the converted on this forum but I certainly do promote the BOSE sound when people make comments and I am handing out my card. Note to BOSE folks I don't have it ON my card. I have yet to hear a negative comment on the sound was too loud!
Brian

Brian, you have just reminded me. I am tired writing http://www.bose.com/musicians on my business cards. And even weirder to write is http://bose.infopop.cc (the address of this message board) and then http://toonz.ca/bose/wiki (the address of the wiki).

I'm just going to print those urls on my cards and be done with it.

Hi Tom,

quote:

Originally posted by Tom Munch:
How about a slogan like this:

Demand Bose when you go out to hear live music!

I fear that I may have sounded like I was coming down on you in my first response to your post.

I apologize if it came across that way.

My intent in starting this discussion was to see what others were doing to reaching the silent majority(?); those people who long ago voted with their feet by choosing NOT to come out to live music. Sure, this is the Bose Musicians Community message board, but my question was not directly about Bose, promoting the L1® or interacting with people who actually come out to here live music. I really do want to explore how to rekindle a relationship with people who not longer come out to live shows.

Hi Roy,

I really like the holistic thinking here.

quote:

Originally posted by Roy:
It seems to me that the people who hear me play, that already own a Bose product seem to “get it” a lot quicker than everybody else. They have a mindset that it will sound good because of the quality they experience with the equipment they own. Maybe a good Bose Ad would be a couple getting ready for an evening out. The wife is putting on makeup while listening to a Bose radio. The man is patiently waiting while watching TV with his Bose surround system. They get in the car which is also equipped with a Bose system and head to a concert where the musicians are using L1’s. A complete package of perfect sound.

Wouldn't it be great if we could reach those people who are enjoying their Bose gear at home and in the car... and get them to come out to see and hear a live show instead. Then I'd love to give them a recording of the event so they could listen at their leisure. This second and subsequent listening event would serve to remind them of the great time they had, and in that, encourage them to come out and do it again.

Live Music

Hi Roy,

quote:

Originally posted by Roy:
This is very interesting ST. There are so many options for people right now. Why should they hear live music? A good question without an easy answer.

I hope we can figure this out. I don't know if we can do it alone or collectively as musicians. I think we have to ask our audiences. But more difficult and yet I think more valuable, would be the answers we need from people who DO NOT come out to hear live music.

I am just guessing that some of them would come out to hear a live show if they had a reasonable expectation it wouldn't hurt them to do it.

I was in a music store today and there were a couple of guys who worked there talking to a couple of customers. They weren't talking about instruments or gear. They were talking about the volume at live concerts. At one point one guy had his hands over his ears and his elbows pointed out like alien antennae. He was describing how he and his date had spent the entire evening at a concert. He complained that his ears were ringing for days. He was cursing that he had forgotten his earplugs.

When asked why he had gone to the show in the first place he replied, "Free tickets. I would never have paid to go to a show like that."

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ST,