Cathy and I sat and we more talked than interviewed about the life of 930 Club over the years she has worked there. She let me know that their marketing strategies have pretty much remained the same; they still use volume, fliers, posters, all of the same newspapers, and recently they have come to add social media to the list- most specifically DC area blogs, facebook and twitter, which make it easiest to track progress and fans as "followers" or "members". The social networks 930 club is a part of give Cathy instant information. She told me that each of their advertising methods offers something unique and different; Their social media is the creative, free space full of personality- the official website is purely informative and easily accessible, and their volume(post-mail) and eblast(e-mail) is a monthly compilation of upcoming shows and events at the club each with their own in-depth passages, sent out to their fans all over the country.
I imagine 930's nationally growing fan base has to benefit immensely from their presence on facebook and twitter. And as successful as it has been for them, Cathy admits that it was "purely experimental!" Most often she would find out about recent news and trends from interns or students she was working with at the club, and decided to take a chance on these emerging networks. Then in no time at all, social media took off and became a HUGE market.
When I asked her which resources she finds herself using the most and least, myspace was quickly offered as "the graveyard of the internet". Aside from artists creating their own pages for fans to easily access and sample their music from, myspace has become the ugly duckling of the social networking competition. Facebook and twitter take the prize once again, as the club finds itself more popular and more visited among both.
I also asked Cathy if she has and iPhone and what she thinks of it. She held up her pale pink iPhone and looks at me to say, "I'm not really... iPhone happy."
She explained how it was a chore to cipher through all the apps because anyone with an iPhone can create one... its overwhelming and too much to choose from. She likes the simpler things iPhone has to offer besides the black hole of apps; the email and internet access especially. It is nice on the go but she gets an enormous amount of emails, and on the iPhone they can get lost or looked over as she has difficulty keeping up with the reduced inbox space on her phone.
I was curious about the way she saw the future, so I asked where she saw the 930 Club and the music industry ten years down the road (keeping in mind the iPhone was only introduced three years ago). She expressed that technology has made some things easier and thus certain jobs get done faster. But since more gets done in less time, greater results are expected in less time. However she sees concert promoting as the safest part of the music business because fans are steady and loyal. Even despite the economic recession we've been going through recently, concert sales have not declined at all. How would you explain this?
I would guess people see it as something worth spending money on no matter what, because it is so timeless and such a fulfilling feeling to see the music you love performed right in front of you. I would also say you can't get that feeling online- you can watch a video or listen to a song but the concert experience is entirely unique and special no matter how many times you've listened to an album. I think music just does something for human beings that nothing else can; for some people it fills that hole, and it turns feelings into something slightly more real. There's nothing else like it in the world. But you know, for the more realist readers out there, I would be glad to hear your opinions and thoughts, because I feel no explanation is entirely right or wrong and I think there could be more factors playing into this than an irreplaceable feeling.
ANYWAY... I digress.
By keeping their traditional newspapers, volume and eblast in use while expanding their reach to the newer generation who seek information on facebook and twitter, the 930 Club seems to be covering all their bases. Cathy and group of very social, fun-loving people keep the club up-to-date with their audience and the best way to reach them. Much of what Cathy and others at the club do is based on getting information to the most of their audience in the simplest way possible (because people don't like complex), and this demands an understanding of popular trends and regular habits. I'm curious to see the direction social networking will go in the future and how far venues like 930 Club will follow to stay in tune with their national audience. They go so far just to understand the people they speaking to (and it differs for every single show) . . . perhaps it is exactly twitter-strides like this that make Nightclub 930 one of the best and well known music venues to date.
Final Thought:
If you love it...
show it!
show it!
via facebook
via twitter
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