Author: Lee Aase

Husband of one, father of six, grandfather of 15. Chancellor Emeritus, SMUG. Emeritus staff of Mayo Clinic. Founder of HELPcare and Administrator for HELPcare Clinic.

Weird Al: Nerdy Hit Machine

Thanks to Steve Rubel for pointing out this story about “Weird Al” Yankovic having his first-ever top 10 hit and top 10 album, 22 years after his Michael Jackson parody, “Eat it!” peaked at number 12 on the Billboard charts.

Weird Al

Steve correctly points out that Weird Al has used a variety of creative promotion methods, including YouTube. The article Steve references also highlights Al’s use of MySpace and his release of some free downloads from his website as important to his success.

I would only take issue a bit with Steve’s characterization of this as a Long Tail example. I understand the essence of the Long Tail as niche marketing, or as the subtitle of the book says, “Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More.” In his recent use of internet technology along with exposure in traditional media (CNN, etc.), Weird Al has his biggest hit ever. He’ll be on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Nov. 2. Al’s in the head now, not the tail.

The Long Tail is about making it economically viable for non-hits (or oldies) to still see the light of day, because inventory and delivery costs have essentially reached zero, and search helps us find even obscure titles. Weird Al has lots of songs that are truly part of the Long Tail: “Addicted to Spuds” can be available on iTunes even though it would never find shelf space at Tower Records. (Come to think of it, even the big hits aren’t getting shelf space at Tower anymore.)

Unfortunately, I’m not familiar with most of the new songs Al is parodying. I probably don’t “get” his jokes quite as well as I would have two decades ago. When he did “I Lost on Jeopardy,” “Girls Just Want to Have Lunch,” and “Like a Surgeon” they were songs from my high school days. Part of the humor was knowing what the next line in the original song was supposed to be, and seeing how Al would change it. Or how he would arrange the preceding lines of his parody so that the original song’s concluding lyrics would become the joke’s punch-line.

I listen more to spoken word podcasts and non-hit music these days, which are part of The Long Tail.
But I did download one of his new freebies, “Don’t Download This Song,” and even though I don’t know the original, I thought it was pretty good. Maybe someone can’t clue me in on the part of the joke I don’t yet get.

It’s interesting that in an age in which software companies and web sites (like WordPress.com) are giving away free services (or at least samples) to build an audience or community of users, most of the recording industry is still in 1980s mode. It’s cool that at age 47, Weird Al gets the new marketing methods of the digital age, even if I don’t fully “get” his songs.

Weird Al was an inspiration to me about 10 years ago, when I was working in politics, and for fun I was involved in a parody band that used to play for some parties. We even recorded some cassettes. Unfortunately it was five years before the iPod and widespread mp3 distribution.

Congratulations to Weird Al on his latest and biggest hit!

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Blog Business Summit Highlights

I met Janet Johnson last week at the ALI conference on blogging and podcasting in San Francisco. She led the preconference workshop, and you can see my posts on her presentation (and some of her posts from the last week)here.

At the time, Janet was a little sheepish about the state of her blog because she had recently left Marqui, was waiting to get the design done on her new blog and hadn’t posted much yet.

That’s no longer an issue.

Janet’s reports this week from the Blog Business Summit, particularly the tips from Maryam and Robert Scoble and the post on Brands as Symbols of Social Aspirations, are give a good window into the proceedings for those of us unable to attend.

Thanks for the highlights, Janet!

Getting Real: Toxic Meetings

The 37Signals gang has now made its magnum opus (or whatever the minimalist programming equivalent would be) available on-line for free on the web. If you want to take it with you, you have the $29 hardcopy option or $19 for a PDF.

The basic thesis of Getting Real is that for software, fewer features executed well beats the jack-of-all-trades approach. But as the authors say, their working philosophy has applications even when you’re not building an application:

Note: While this book’s emphasis is on building a web app, a lot of these ideas are applicable to non-software activities too. The suggestions about small teams, rapid prototyping, expecting iterations, and many others presented here can serve as a guide whether you’re starting a business, writing a book, designing a web site, recording an album, or doing a variety of other endeavors. Once you start Getting Real in one area of your life, you’ll see how these concepts can apply to a wide range of activities.

Here’s a sampling of this broadly applicable wisdom, from the essay entitled Meetings are Toxic:

Don’t have meetings

Do you really need a meeting? Meetings usually arise when a concept isn’t clear enough. Instead of resorting to a meeting, try to simplify the concept so you can discuss it quickly via email or im or Campfire. The goal is to avoid meetings. Every minute you avoid spending in a meeting is a minute you can get real work done instead.

There’s nothing more toxic to productivity than a meeting. Here’s a few reasons why:

They break your work day into small, incoherent pieces that disrupt your natural workflow
They’re usually about words and abstract concepts, not real things (like a piece of code or some interface design)
They usually convey an abysmally small amount of information per minute
They often contain at least one moron that inevitably gets his turn to waste everyone’s time with nonsense
They drift off-subject easier than a Chicago cab in heavy snow
They frequently have agendas so vague nobody is really sure what they are about
They require thorough preparation that people rarely do anyway
For those times when you absolutely must have a meeting (this should be a rare event), stick to these simple rules:

Set a 30 minute timer. When it rings, meeting’s over. Period.
Invite as few people as possible.
Never have a meeting without a clear agenda.

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Bob Dylan and Media Convergence

Today’s Minneapolis Star Tribune (registration required) has an article on Bob Dylan’s concert tour and his appeal to youth. It highlights the powerful team of new media and traditional media:

At 65, Dylan is drawing a broad audience partly because of his iconic status and historical importance, but also because he has been exploring new media — via a weekly show on XM satellite radio and a commercial for iTunes. He’s also opened up about his life, with a best-selling memoir, “Chronicles Vol. 1,” and the PBS documentary “No Direction Home,” while granting interviews to the likes of “60 Minutes” and Newsweek magazine.

Combine that kind of exposure with a surprising willingness to demystify himself and it’s no surprise that his new CD, “Modern Times,” released in late August, became his first No. 1 album in 30 years.

And iTunes made a difference: about 10 percent of the opening-week sales came from digital downloads — twice the industry average, according to Billboard.

“He has newfound respect,” said Lee Abrams, XM radio’s chief creative officer. “Five years ago, he was lumped in with stars of the ’60s. Now, he’s gone from being a classic-rock artist to somebody beyond definition — like the Beatles.”

The traditional media are unsurpassed at creating broad awareness. The new media enable users to get exactly what they want immediately. Instant gratification. Put them together, and they’re a powerful combination.

And, in keeping with Debbie Weil’s advice about using lists in blogs, here’s the Star Tribune’s 7 reasons kids still dig Dylan.

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