That's right, after its third day of its month-long run, Trump's blog never exceeded 15,000 hits a day!
That's right, the most famous man IN THE WORLD couldn't go it alone. Proving, in case you wondered, that Mark Zuckerberg is more powerful than the President. Furthermore, just try hiding Zuck's communications on Facebook, it can't be done. Yes, in other words, Mark Zuckerberg has greater reach than anybody on the planet, think about that.
But even more, think about the inability of gaining an audience in today's world. You can build it, but if you think people are going to come, you're almost definitely wrong.
As for Trump himself?
His fame was built in the pre-internet world, and in the twenty first century by network television, which presently gets anemic ratings, everyone having gone to streaming outlets, or having buried themselves in TikTok or YouTube. Trying to make it today?
Be thankful you have an audience at all!
That's one of the reasons the acts of yore can tour to such prodigious numbers. People know who they are, irrelevant of whether they like the music. A number one act today? Olivia Rodrigo...well, chances are unless you're very young you didn't even see her on the Disney Channel, but even more important, most of America HAS NEVER EVER HEARD HER MUSIC! Trump is in the news every damn day, what are the odds some musical act can gain equal mindshare?
As for the youth... Check the numbers on social media. That's where today's stars live. And they don't live for long, providing content each and every day burns you out, but their numbers are stratospheric before they crash. Look at it this way...blogs are passé. The internet ball keeps rolling. Remember LiveJournal? Now it's about Instagram and TikTok, outlets that didn't even exist back then. Will the buck stop there? Probably not. Platforms have power in the twenty first century, but social media outlets are fads, no youngster wants to spend their time on the social media site of their parents, which is why you can't find a youngster on Facebook, only oldsters. And even more interestingly, Amazon may compete with you and force you to sell or go out of business, but it doesn't work that way in social media. The old site imitates the new site's features...unsuccessfully. Instagram Reels? Furthermore, if you want to keep the players happy you've got to pay them. The relationship between TikTok and its stars is very close, TikTok is a manager as well as a distributor, it knows the platform relies less on tech than its talent, keep creators happy and users will continue to flock to the site. This is not YouTube, this is not Google, at arm's length...if you're not reaching out to the "acts" getting views on your site, helping them maintain their profile and make bank, you're going to be superseded, the younger generation is all about ethical treatment, ignore the mores of youngsters at your peril. Another element in the desires/beliefs of Gen-Z? AUTHENTICITY! Fake it and they're out. Credibility is key. And fascinatingly, you can be sponsored on social media and still be authentic, because you're beating the man, you're building your own business. But not in art itself, in art the system is supposed to reward you plenty, and if you're going outside of it to drink at the trough, get more than you deserve, people resent you. Yes, music has more status, more gravitas than social media, not that the purveyors don't do their best to undercut this.
Which brings us back to Olivia Rodrigo. Musically, her album is not a ten. But when it comes to lyrical content? Rodrigo is displaying all the angst of the greats of yore, putting her feelings, holding back nothing, right in the grooves/files, no platitudes whatsoever. Rodrigo is the opposite of the TV singing shows, she knows the essence is more important than the shiny exterior. It's not that Rodrigo is so damn good, but how did we get so far from the garden?
Trump just can't reach people. To get people to gain new habits is the most difficult thing to do. They'll check their texts. Maybe their e-mail. And then they've got their regular sites, and that's it. They're already overwhelmed with data, they just can't handle any more.
Like this fiction that we need a new musical site, that you can create a meaningful business selling/streaming on your own site. THE EX-PRESIDENT CAN'T EVEN DO IT, WHAT CHANCE DO YOU HAVE?
As for streaming sites...we already have too many. It would be better if everyone was on the same platform, it would be easier to gain attention and build stars. But the labels didn't want this because they wanted to be able to play one against another economically. So what we end up with is fearful oldsters at Apple, paying but not listening too much, trusting the Cupertino giant, and stealth Amazon, playing to people who see music as secondary, pricing accordingly, and then the big kahuna, Spotify, which gets all the heat, to a great degree from people not even using it. Music was biggest when we had one site, i.e. MTV, but the labels couldn't stop bitching that the television station was making all the money when they weren't. Well look at things now, MTV is essentially out of the music business and almost no one is watching, yet the labels still own their catalogs, and Universal will go public at a giant number. You see ultimately it's about the long game. But you've got to play the short game with your eyes open.
The hardest thing to do today is build a star. So, the majors just glom on to train-wreck, it's easier, because to build block by block...hell, the executive in charge may not even be there when the act finally breaks through. Sales are so hard, that marketing has eclipsed content. There's a fancy box, but air inside. Which is one of the reasons why a lot of today's "stars" are more famous for the penumbra, their shenanigans, than the music itself.
Don't keep your content from the platform...EMBRACE THE PLATFORM! It's your only way to significantly build your audience. As for remuneration...there are more ways to make more money in the music business than there ever were in history. To bitch about streaming payments is to miss the point. Furthermore, instead of complaining you're not making enough money, take a close look at your streaming numbers, how do you increase them is the question, not how do you get paid more for their anemic number.
It's not like everybody forgot who Trump is. They just didn't have time/want to go to a new site. Furthermore, Trump is the king of the bite-sized, and that's not the blog paradigm, which is extended, no, that's the essence of Twitter. Think about that... The world complains that Twitter is bits and bytes, when the truth is that's a feature, because in a fast-paced world the content is digestible! The other criticism of Twitter? It's a subset of the world, not everybody is on it. DUH! No platform, no media outlet has everybody, NONE! You should be embracing Twitter for its benefits, the core people in any field are participating, you can gain information which will help you in your outlook/career directly from the source!
As for Clubhouse??
Already passé. Have you heard anybody talk about it in the last month? A failed concept. No one wants to sit endlessly on the phone listening to wankers bloviate. They want it fast and furious unless it is worth going on a deep dive, and that's not what Clubhouse provides.
And it's too hard to build your own audience on Clubhouse. And when this is the case, the platform always dies, just like Trump's blog.
At least give the Donald credit for realizing his blog wasn't working. Instead of analyzing the flaws, most people today, especially oldsters, just double-down, believing if they just try harder they'll break through... BUT THEY WON'T! Trump's numbers weren't going up, he saw the writing on the wall. Meanwhile, your numbers aren't going up, on Spotify or YouTube, and you keep blaming the system...ever think it was you? Change or die in today's world.
So if you're starting from zero today don't reinvent the distribution wheel. Go to the platform. BECAUSE DISTRIBUTION IS KING! Didn't matter what Trump was saying on his blog, because NO ONE WAS READING IT!
And know that if your goal is to grow your footprint, your audience, in today's world, it's unbelievably hard. Sure, you can be a flash in the pan, but even that's hard. Rather you've got to pay your dues endlessly, be a lifer. This is what happens when everybody can play, when the barrier to entry is so low, when it's hard to separate the wheat from the chaff, the good from the bad. And never forget it was the OLDSTERS who kept saying no one would make music in the new world, and those who didn't complain, i.e. rappers, went to the PLATFORM known as Soundcloud and gave it away for free to build an audience and then when Spotify broke through they dominated. That's what happens when you adjust to reality.
And the reality is everyone can be known, but almost no one is, at least not by many. So if you want to be known, you must be really great and be where the most people can discover you. And while publicity/advertising can help, it doesn't reach most people and the target audience dismisses it out of hand. As for becoming a brand... The bottom line is it's easier to sell clothing and perfume and alcohol than music. Those are established lines. It's not like anybody is selling topless bathing suits, which were even a failure when Rudi Gernreich tried half a century ago, or a scent that smells like dung...no, the merchandise is very traditional. But hit music usually is not. It's a harder climb, often a Sisyphean task. But a great track lasts forever, great merchandise does not. Proving, once again, it's hard to create and become a star. Unfortunately, even if the music is innovative and great, it's even harder to reach people today. Sorry.
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