I was driving through the desert yesterday and the thought occurred to me, what if this is as good as it gets? (Borrowing from the movie)
Did everyone catch the post where I shared some thoughts, maybe even some hopes and Ruroshen offered his thoughts on my thoughts? If you did not catch the post plus the comments, you should, good stuff. It is like an old Siskel and Ebert reviewing a movie or even older, a 30 year old Saturday Night Live with Dan Akroyd and Jane Curtain doing Point Counter Point, where I presented the glass is half full approach and Ruroshen, the glass is half empty. (I guess that comes from living in a climate that only has one month of summer)
It was unrehearsed and interesting. (oh no, that noise you now hear is Ruroshen's brain starting to work on another idea, they make more noise in colder climates)
I can see it now, Coming to America, Alizee, pros and cons...Ruroshen and Snatcher (no insult to anyone I just picked two names) reviewing the pros and cons.
What if...though an open discussion platform representing BOTH sides...you would come up with an idea that could be utilized. I would prefer you come up with a thought that would help bring her here and not more thoughts on why it would not work...but..."I say let... lets evolve, let the chips fall where they may" (Tyler Durden).
And if this is as good as it gets...
...if it ended today, I'd be ahead (from American Hot Wax, Alan Freed)
This post brought to you by Ruroshen forcing me think and putting up with my levity.
Alizee Lyonnet
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Monday, March 16, 2009
Alizee discussions - let's evolve
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1 comments:
HA! Well, you know what they say about the weather up here: “nine months of winter, three months of bad skiing”. :p
OK, I totally deserved that. I didn’t remember my post as being that “glass half-full”, but going back and reading it, it does come off kinda negative, doesn’t it? That wasn’t my intention, I did find your post genuinely interesting. My default setting just tends to be “devil’s advocate”.
Throwing a couple of positive ideas out there, then...a few ways in which I believe Alizée could grow her fanbase and possibly find success with the new album in America:
Music festivals (Coachella, Francopholies de Montreal, Virgin Fest, etc.): I’ve always thought that your idea of her playing Coachella, or similar music festivals, was a good one. Bringing Alizée here for a performance or two without the pressure and expense of a multi-city US tour would be a relatively low-risk way of testing the waters, gauging the depth of the North American fan base, and raising awareness of her here. As I’ve said previously, I think the response would shock a lot of people: I suspect she has many, many more admirers here than anybody realizes, but because they’re not “capital-F fans” (i.e. the kind who join or post on forums), they’re not registering on Sony BMG’s radar.
Case in point: check out the ‘active users’ stats at Alizée America or Lilly Town USA on any given day, and the number of “guests” (unregistered viewers) that are viewing the forums (or have viewed them in the last 24 hours) consistently eclipses the number of registered users by a factor of twenty to one or more. This translates into a lot of lurkers, or at the very least people who were curious enough to check it out.
Would all these lurkers necessarily translate into concert ticket sales? Probably not, which is why a full-fledged tour is a bad idea as far as a risk/reward ratio goes…but a festival appearance or two (where she’s not the only draw) would not only bring the fans out in force, but also the curious/lurker types…and give her the exposure to win over potential new fans, as well.
Embrace the geek/gaming subculture: How many of us discovered via YouTube, mainly thanks to the Night Elf dance from World of Warcraft? Her top three videos on YouTube over 23 million views combined. What if, in addition to music festivals, she made appearances at geek/gaming themed events in support of the new album? Somebody at Blizzard obviously digs her…why not play a set at next year’s BlizzCon? PAX? CCI? (Blizzard also has a big to-do at Toronto’s Fan Expo every year as well, so hey, if they want to bring her here too, I’d be totally down with that.) Even if there were only street teams at these events, distributing sampler CDs and promo materials (“Remember the sexy night elf dance girl? Check out what she’s doing now!”) could definitely work to increase her fanbase here, and possibly gain some attention from the mainstream as well…because geek subculture is (oddly) very, very hot right now from a mainstream media development standpoint.
(As an aside, kind of in the same vein, on the subject of endorsements: where the hell is my Alizée “What’s your game?” WoW commercial, already?! If William Freaking Shatner can be tapped for one, why not the performer who inspired the NE dance? They have done them in foreign languages/markets: Spanish actor Willy Toledo portrayed a Paladin in one last year. Lili as a Night Elf druid, maybe demonstrating some of the more social/multiplayer aspects of the game…then, y’know, pantomiming transforming into a bear and mauling an orc? Hells yeah! Yes, I’ve read that she doesn’t actually like the game all that much, but are you telling me William Freaking Shatner does?! Memo to Blizzard: get on this, please. Thank you.)
...wow, this has gotten really long! There's more I could think of (improving her online presence for one, and working on ways to direct, support and reward fans who orgainize to promote her for another), but I think we'll leave it here for now.
How about it, aw? Is this glass half-full enough for you? :p
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