Category Archives: Music

March 25, 2014 · 9:56 am

Nowhere To Run

I had a hard time about this week’s TunesDay selection.

Nowhere to Run (Martha and the Vandellas song)

Nowhere to Run (Martha and the Vandellas song) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Oh, the song itself wasn’t too difficult. Rolling Stone named it in its 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time and it’s from a songwriting team – Holland-Dozier-Holland – that cranked out many of the radio hits of my youth.  You might know the artists – Martha and the Vandellas – from Heat Wave and Dancing In The Streets.  This song is the third part of their top hit trinity – give it a listen:

Hard not bop along to the Motown house band (The Funk Brothers!) although I’m not sure running through the auto plant’s paint department without a respirator is great for one’s voice.  In any event, why did this choice give me trouble?  Maybe because it inspired so many business thoughts.  Let me share a couple.

These lyrics:

It’s not love
I’m running from
It’s the heartaches
That I know will come

‘Cause I know
You’re no good for me
But you’ve become
A part of me

made me think  of technology.  Every day there is a new story about someone invading consumers’ privacy.  None of us seem to have enough time in the day to focus on anything because we’re all too focused on everything.  In the tech world (and elsewhere) we’ve gone from taking the time to make sure what we produce is great to trying to crank out something – anything – that’s good enough.  After all, the product will be obsolete in a few months anyway.  Yet there is nowhere to hide – we depend on these devices and it’s hard to stay private when you’re using publicly accessible tools.

I also had a thought about customers becoming addicted to products.  Putting aside the obvious issues with a physical addiction to drugs or alcohol, I think some brands like the notion of having customers feel “you’ve become a part of me.”  True enough – fostering a conversation is where marketing needs to be but despite the upbeat music, this song is quite dark. Do we want our customers feeling there’s no place to hide, whether it’s from our ads or our prying eyes?  I think not – what do you think?

Enhanced by Zemanta

Leave a comment

Filed under Music, Reality checks

Tagged as , , ,

March 11, 2014 · 8:36 am

On Whose Scarecrow Are You Raining?

TunesDay, and this week it’s one of my favorite artists, John Mellencamp. Starting his career as John Cougar, a name he hated, he’s a member of the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame (2008) who has written some of the most American rock songs ever. Today we’re going to take a business point from one of my favorites – “Rain On The Scarecrow”. First – a listen:

As a founder of FarmAid, this has to be one of his most personally important songs.  It’s the dark cousin of his song “Pink Houses“.  Where does the land for all those houses come?  From the destruction of the family farm.  But the point I want to make today is buried in the middle of the song:

Called my old friend Schepman up to auction off the land
He said John it’s just my job and I hope you understand
Hey calling it your job ol’ hoss sure don’t make it right
But if you want me to I’ll say a prayer for your soul tonight

There are so many things I see these days where I wonder about what human beings are making the business decisions involved and, more importantly, how they live with themselves for having done so.  “It’s just business” is a lousy excuse.  That’s the “blood on the scarecrow.”  I know we don’t do politics here, but have a think about how the “profits over people” mentality has made this country and our world a little less human.

It’s impossible to serve our customers when we’re totally focused on the bottom like.  No, Schepman, I don’t understand.  Customers – and the people who work to serve them – aren’t numbers on a balance sheet.  Cutting staff or reducing their pay to improve profits hurts you because there are fewer (happy) staff to support customer issues.  It may be investors who make the decisions but it’s customers who pay the bills in a well-run operation.  Springsteen wrote in the similar-sounding “Cover Me” that

This whole world is out there just trying to score
I’ve seen enough I don’t want to see any more

Maybe it’s not our economy or our businesses that are in trouble but our priorities?

This is the title song from an album about the fading of the American dream in the face of corporate greed.  That trend has only become worse in the almost 30 years since the album was released (1985).  I may be too much of an optimist but I believe that can be changed.  As with everything, it’s people and not faceless legal entities called corporations that are doing this.  People can undo this too.  What say you?

Enhanced by Zemanta

1 Comment

Filed under Music, Reality checks

Tagged as , , , , ,

March 4, 2014 · 10:43 am

Roam

It’s TunesDay and I gave a lot of thought to our musical choice this week. I don’t know yet (we’ll see how this comes out) if it’s a good pick but the song that has been with me most of the week comes to us via the end of the 1980’s (1989 specifically) and my second favorite band from Athens, Georgia (R.E.M. would be #1): the B52’s.  Over the years this band has produced many serious pieces of ear candy but this is one of my favorites.  Turns out it has something to say about business too:

This song is catchy with a great beat, the chorus stays with you, and it’s easy on the ears.  That’s a tiny, obvious business point – the product needs to be appealing.  That’s where the simple stuff ends.

The B52’s are a band (they’re still around, you know) that often writes songs full of multiple meanings.  On the surface, “Roam” is about world travel and the freedom to pursue it without preconceptions or inhibitions.  As we’ve discussed before here on the screed, we don’t appreciate in business that the journey itself is the goal, not the just the end destination much of the time.  This song reminds us of that.

Then there is another layer of meaning.  The sexual innuendo in this band’s music is pretty apparent and this song is no exception.  The innocent song about taking extended vacations is actually a not so innocent one about stretching one’s sexual permissiveness to the limits (I’ll wait while you listen again!).  So what’s the business point there?

Great products can serve multiple purposes and audiences.  While Mom and Dad hear a catchy song about travel, the kids hear a song about sexual freedom.  A lot of music has those multiple meanings (go listen to “Little Red Rooster” and then explain to me how it’s about a chicken).  Smart business people define themselves and their brands but also leave room for their consumers to add their own meanings.  Our customers do define us in many ways just as much as we do ourselves.  Does that make sense?

Enhanced by Zemanta

Leave a comment

Filed under Music, Reality checks, Thinking Aloud

Tagged as , ,