Panic In The Boardroom
Panic at the Disco? No, seriously. Panic at the Disco is what you guys at NBC came up with for your Midnight act on New Year's Eve? Who's sleeping with the band over there? I learned through their website that they've been on Carson Daly and Conan in '06 so someone over there must love them. Oh and let Carson Daly know that we "appreciate" him too. Not!
What bugs me the most is that I'd never heard of Panic at the Disco before they played New Year's Eve. I try to stay somewhat current even though I'm sandwiched in classic rock radio land. I mean, I even know the platinum selling rappers and I don't listen to hip hop. These guys are platinum sellers? How? They seemed like next gen 80's new wave. And was that a lyric about divorce? Oooooh now that's a happy topic to sing about on what's supposed to be the biggest party night of the year.
C'mon man! New Year's is supposed to be all about fun! I expect big name headliners, or at least well known ones. I never expect to like them, but I do expect to know them. This is the best you can do? ABC's got Christine Aguilera, which makes sense since she's a big pop princess. Even Fox has some pop chick I've heard of. CBS? Shit, they didn't even try! They're running the news and CSI reruns. Wait, something's going on here!
In my youth, the networks used to pull out all the stops for New Year's Eve spectaculars. You'd see big name pop stars singing their latest hits all night. You'd see some global highlights, but, starting with New York, you'd see the New Year rung in across the country. Apparently, that's not the case anymore. I guess that people are tuning them out making a big investment in celebration coverage a matter of diminishing returns. I mean, CBS didn't do anything! And the other networks were done by 1AM EST. I'm guessing that local affiliates handled their own countdowns. 24 hour cable news channels kept the old tradition going. CNN and Fox News had the other time zones (I stayed up for Chicago/New Orleans). MSNBC ran more prison documentaries.
Fox News showed Times Square either just before or just after 1AM EST and it was EMPTY. Everyone was gone? Does that happen every year? I thought people stayed up and partied all night. It was relatively warm (40's as opposed to 20's). Did everyone go inside the bars? If so, why didn't I see anyone out there? Maybe CBS had the right idea.
So I have to think that maybe The Long Tail is bigger than I thought. For those of you unfamiliar with that term, a short, imprecise definition is that more money can be made selling niche products than going for blockbusters. Having a thousand club bands on your roster is better than having one Mariah Carey. While I was convinced a year or two ago when I'd first heard about it, I didn't expect to see it have such a pronounced effect: i.e. no coverage on CBS, an "unknown" niche band playing on a major network.
If you read this excerpt, you'll see that there's been a line of diminishing returns on blockbuster movies, TV shows, radio station listeners, albums, books, etc. thanks to the Internet. We have access to so much more than we ever did. Sites like Google, Amazon, MySpace, coupled with iPods, Napster or any of its successors, make it possible for niche products (books, music, movies etc.) to find a home. Referral engines make suggestions: "If you like A, then you might like B, C, D, or E" increasing the sales potential of items that can't find their way onto store shelves. One no longer needs to have a major movie studio, music label, or book publisher to crack into retail. While the burden of marketing falls onto these small DIY stalwarts, they have access to the tools to make it happen. With perseverance, and maybe a little luck, it's possible for nobodies to become somebodies. Those somebodies might not become household names, but they might get a gig on New Year's Eve.
\_/
DED
What bugs me the most is that I'd never heard of Panic at the Disco before they played New Year's Eve. I try to stay somewhat current even though I'm sandwiched in classic rock radio land. I mean, I even know the platinum selling rappers and I don't listen to hip hop. These guys are platinum sellers? How? They seemed like next gen 80's new wave. And was that a lyric about divorce? Oooooh now that's a happy topic to sing about on what's supposed to be the biggest party night of the year.
C'mon man! New Year's is supposed to be all about fun! I expect big name headliners, or at least well known ones. I never expect to like them, but I do expect to know them. This is the best you can do? ABC's got Christine Aguilera, which makes sense since she's a big pop princess. Even Fox has some pop chick I've heard of. CBS? Shit, they didn't even try! They're running the news and CSI reruns. Wait, something's going on here!
In my youth, the networks used to pull out all the stops for New Year's Eve spectaculars. You'd see big name pop stars singing their latest hits all night. You'd see some global highlights, but, starting with New York, you'd see the New Year rung in across the country. Apparently, that's not the case anymore. I guess that people are tuning them out making a big investment in celebration coverage a matter of diminishing returns. I mean, CBS didn't do anything! And the other networks were done by 1AM EST. I'm guessing that local affiliates handled their own countdowns. 24 hour cable news channels kept the old tradition going. CNN and Fox News had the other time zones (I stayed up for Chicago/New Orleans). MSNBC ran more prison documentaries.
Fox News showed Times Square either just before or just after 1AM EST and it was EMPTY. Everyone was gone? Does that happen every year? I thought people stayed up and partied all night. It was relatively warm (40's as opposed to 20's). Did everyone go inside the bars? If so, why didn't I see anyone out there? Maybe CBS had the right idea.
So I have to think that maybe The Long Tail is bigger than I thought. For those of you unfamiliar with that term, a short, imprecise definition is that more money can be made selling niche products than going for blockbusters. Having a thousand club bands on your roster is better than having one Mariah Carey. While I was convinced a year or two ago when I'd first heard about it, I didn't expect to see it have such a pronounced effect: i.e. no coverage on CBS, an "unknown" niche band playing on a major network.
If you read this excerpt, you'll see that there's been a line of diminishing returns on blockbuster movies, TV shows, radio station listeners, albums, books, etc. thanks to the Internet. We have access to so much more than we ever did. Sites like Google, Amazon, MySpace, coupled with iPods, Napster or any of its successors, make it possible for niche products (books, music, movies etc.) to find a home. Referral engines make suggestions: "If you like A, then you might like B, C, D, or E" increasing the sales potential of items that can't find their way onto store shelves. One no longer needs to have a major movie studio, music label, or book publisher to crack into retail. While the burden of marketing falls onto these small DIY stalwarts, they have access to the tools to make it happen. With perseverance, and maybe a little luck, it's possible for nobodies to become somebodies. Those somebodies might not become household names, but they might get a gig on New Year's Eve.
\_/
DED
Labels: music
posted by DED at 2:14 PM
3 Comments:
been on Carson Daly
Carson Daly has a TV show?
Yeah, he's on after Conan O'Brien.
It takes commitment to not be a party pooper. Back in the day we'd spend a whole paycheck getting ready for New Year's Eve bash. Young people today, going to bed early, what's the matter with people? Wimps.
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