Volume 1, Issue 3 |
| Scott Kirsner |
IAE: Where are you from and what was it like growing up there?
SK: I attended New World School of the Arts, a performing arts school in Miami. While at New World, I played
the saxophone, but eventually decided to pursue a career in journalism instead of music.
IAE: What college did you attend and what was your major?
SK: I attended Boston University where I majored in journalism. During my time at BU, I was the theater
reviewer for the student newspaper, so I got a lot of free theater tickets which was the big “perk” of the job
(laughs). By doing that, I got the chance to attend a theater show every other week while I was in college. Upon
seeing a show, I would write my reviews for the paper. I also stayed involved in the arts, while in college, by
joining a sketch comedy group.
IAE: What inspired you to become a writer and what was your first job in that field?
SK: I was always interested in writing and thought that I would enjoy a career in it. Even though I attended a
performing arts high school, I didn’t look at music as my only option. While in high school I wrote concert
reviews for a music magazine which was distributed in Miami to local music stores, back when record stores
existed (laughs).
So when I got to college, in addition to the student newspaper, I wrote music profiles and feature stories on
different jazz and pop musicians for various magazines. I met the double Grammy Award-winning band, They
Might Be Giants, very early in their career and did an interview with them in Boston that wound up running in
Keyboard Magazine. It was my first big story that I actually got paid for.
IAE: Could you tell us what your book “Fans, Friends, & Followers,” is about and what compelled
you to write this book?
SK: It’s really about how any artist can build a fan base and earn a living doing so, in the 21st century. Things
are changing so drastically from how things worked in music prior to the new millennium. Back then an artist
would do all these various shows and independent album releases hoping that a record label would come
along and give them a lot of money (laughs). But in the 21st century, it’s all about Do-It-Yourself (DIY) which
requires you to take responsibility for your own career growth and trajectory.
My inspiration for the book came from me spending a lot of time talking with independent filmmakers, writers,
and musicians about some of the challenges they face today. Upon doing so, I noticed that most of them
struggled with the exact same issue of not knowing what kind of new skills and technologies they would have to
be abreast of in order to build their own fan bases and get those fans to support them.
IAE: Speaking of new technologies and skills, do you think mass email marketing services like Fan
Bridge and Constant Contact are necessary to grow a fan base and get their support?
SK: Yes! Having an extensive email list is 100% necessary in today’s entertainment world. Also having a
Facebook and Twitter page specifically made for keeping in touch with your supporters is necessary. But with
the email marketing, it’s definitely something you should be on top of. It’s just that you have to know how to use
it properly. Sending people 5 emails per week is not good, so you have to definitely use it in moderation. But
email is a medium you control, versus the social networks. If Twitter or Facebook were to go out of business
tomorrow, how many people have an email list of their online followers, so that they can keep in touch with
them? Not very many. Also, it’s key to know where your fans are located, and for that I recommend this free
website, Eventful.com because they allow you to geo-target your promotions.
IAE: In your opinion, what are the top 3 mistakes that you’ve seen most entertainers and companies
make when trying to build an online following?
SK: That’s a good question! The first mistake is being too promotional and not giving people enough for their
support of your efforts. You want your fans to feel like they’re a part of something unique and special, not just
some mass campaign to get them to buy your products. Instead, you should be offering them things in
exchange for supporting you. Like letting them help you pick your next song release, or giving them exclusive
footage from backstage at one of your most recent concerts.
The second mistake is not maintaining your fan base. Many people only send out emails when they have a
new product out. Filmmakers make that mistake all the time. They make the movie first, then they say, “Okay,
now let’s go build a fan base!” The same goes for musicians. You can’t wait 9 months and then try to reach out
to your email recipients and expect them to want to check out your new material. You have to stay on top of
your fan base building, even when there’s nothing really going on.
Number three is a mistake that people make with their website. They have all this flash animation and cool
design, but there’s no actual text on the site. When there’s no text on your site, it’s very hard for Google to
crawl the web and find you. So people who spend a lot of money and time building a flashy website, are
missing out on valuable web traffic.
IAE: What’s the next big thing in social media?
SK: I think it’s going to be real time information, kind of how Twitter is, where you can create happenings right
away. For example, Amanda Palmer put on Twitter that she needed extras for her video that she was shooting
on the beach and I think she got 50+ people to show up in costume. So more real-time and location based
things are probably the wave of the future so-to-speak.
IAE: What is CinemaTech?
SK: CinemaTech is a blog that I started in 2005. It covers mostly the film business, but often I will cover new
technologies that are impacting the rest of the entertainment business. I also talk about how people create
viral videos and why people share those videos and find them interesting enough to send to their friends and
family.
IAE: Where can people keep up with you online and buy your books?
SK: I write for Variety sometimes, but I have a blog on the Boston Globe’s website (boston.com/innovation),
and you can keep up with my latest information at www.scottkirsner.com. As for my books, people can get
those on Amazon.com and my website. I have my two most recent books that people can get on those sites,
one is Fans, Friends, and Followers, which we discussed earlier in this interview. Then there’s, Inventing the
Movies, which is a technological history of the movie industry. Inventing the Movies is for those who have a
strong interest in the movie industry. It focuses on the invention of the movies in the 19th century all the way
up to YouTube and iTunes.
IAE: So what do you see yourself doing in the next 5 years?
SK: Wow, you ask good questions (laughs)! I’m really interested in following the way that the entertainment
industry is changing, and the way that the relationships between artists and audiences is changing, so I want
to keep writing about that. I’ve also gotten into hosting various conferences, with some friends of mine, in which
we focus on mostly the film industry. We did a conference out in California last year called “The Conversation,”
which was pretty successful, as well as a day long event on the campus at USC called “Distribution U.” We’re
doing a second edition of “The Conversation” in New York this spring, on March 27th. The web site for that is
http://theconversationspot.com. So I want to do more events where people can get together and talk about the
internet and how it’s changing everything.
SK: I attended New World School of the Arts, a performing arts school in Miami. While at New World, I played
the saxophone, but eventually decided to pursue a career in journalism instead of music.
IAE: What college did you attend and what was your major?
SK: I attended Boston University where I majored in journalism. During my time at BU, I was the theater
reviewer for the student newspaper, so I got a lot of free theater tickets which was the big “perk” of the job
(laughs). By doing that, I got the chance to attend a theater show every other week while I was in college. Upon
seeing a show, I would write my reviews for the paper. I also stayed involved in the arts, while in college, by
joining a sketch comedy group.
IAE: What inspired you to become a writer and what was your first job in that field?
SK: I was always interested in writing and thought that I would enjoy a career in it. Even though I attended a
performing arts high school, I didn’t look at music as my only option. While in high school I wrote concert
reviews for a music magazine which was distributed in Miami to local music stores, back when record stores
existed (laughs).
So when I got to college, in addition to the student newspaper, I wrote music profiles and feature stories on
different jazz and pop musicians for various magazines. I met the double Grammy Award-winning band, They
Might Be Giants, very early in their career and did an interview with them in Boston that wound up running in
Keyboard Magazine. It was my first big story that I actually got paid for.
IAE: Could you tell us what your book “Fans, Friends, & Followers,” is about and what compelled
you to write this book?
SK: It’s really about how any artist can build a fan base and earn a living doing so, in the 21st century. Things
are changing so drastically from how things worked in music prior to the new millennium. Back then an artist
would do all these various shows and independent album releases hoping that a record label would come
along and give them a lot of money (laughs). But in the 21st century, it’s all about Do-It-Yourself (DIY) which
requires you to take responsibility for your own career growth and trajectory.
My inspiration for the book came from me spending a lot of time talking with independent filmmakers, writers,
and musicians about some of the challenges they face today. Upon doing so, I noticed that most of them
struggled with the exact same issue of not knowing what kind of new skills and technologies they would have to
be abreast of in order to build their own fan bases and get those fans to support them.
IAE: Speaking of new technologies and skills, do you think mass email marketing services like Fan
Bridge and Constant Contact are necessary to grow a fan base and get their support?
SK: Yes! Having an extensive email list is 100% necessary in today’s entertainment world. Also having a
Facebook and Twitter page specifically made for keeping in touch with your supporters is necessary. But with
the email marketing, it’s definitely something you should be on top of. It’s just that you have to know how to use
it properly. Sending people 5 emails per week is not good, so you have to definitely use it in moderation. But
email is a medium you control, versus the social networks. If Twitter or Facebook were to go out of business
tomorrow, how many people have an email list of their online followers, so that they can keep in touch with
them? Not very many. Also, it’s key to know where your fans are located, and for that I recommend this free
website, Eventful.com because they allow you to geo-target your promotions.
IAE: In your opinion, what are the top 3 mistakes that you’ve seen most entertainers and companies
make when trying to build an online following?
SK: That’s a good question! The first mistake is being too promotional and not giving people enough for their
support of your efforts. You want your fans to feel like they’re a part of something unique and special, not just
some mass campaign to get them to buy your products. Instead, you should be offering them things in
exchange for supporting you. Like letting them help you pick your next song release, or giving them exclusive
footage from backstage at one of your most recent concerts.
The second mistake is not maintaining your fan base. Many people only send out emails when they have a
new product out. Filmmakers make that mistake all the time. They make the movie first, then they say, “Okay,
now let’s go build a fan base!” The same goes for musicians. You can’t wait 9 months and then try to reach out
to your email recipients and expect them to want to check out your new material. You have to stay on top of
your fan base building, even when there’s nothing really going on.
Number three is a mistake that people make with their website. They have all this flash animation and cool
design, but there’s no actual text on the site. When there’s no text on your site, it’s very hard for Google to
crawl the web and find you. So people who spend a lot of money and time building a flashy website, are
missing out on valuable web traffic.
IAE: What’s the next big thing in social media?
SK: I think it’s going to be real time information, kind of how Twitter is, where you can create happenings right
away. For example, Amanda Palmer put on Twitter that she needed extras for her video that she was shooting
on the beach and I think she got 50+ people to show up in costume. So more real-time and location based
things are probably the wave of the future so-to-speak.
IAE: What is CinemaTech?
SK: CinemaTech is a blog that I started in 2005. It covers mostly the film business, but often I will cover new
technologies that are impacting the rest of the entertainment business. I also talk about how people create
viral videos and why people share those videos and find them interesting enough to send to their friends and
family.
IAE: Where can people keep up with you online and buy your books?
SK: I write for Variety sometimes, but I have a blog on the Boston Globe’s website (boston.com/innovation),
and you can keep up with my latest information at www.scottkirsner.com. As for my books, people can get
those on Amazon.com and my website. I have my two most recent books that people can get on those sites,
one is Fans, Friends, and Followers, which we discussed earlier in this interview. Then there’s, Inventing the
Movies, which is a technological history of the movie industry. Inventing the Movies is for those who have a
strong interest in the movie industry. It focuses on the invention of the movies in the 19th century all the way
up to YouTube and iTunes.
IAE: So what do you see yourself doing in the next 5 years?
SK: Wow, you ask good questions (laughs)! I’m really interested in following the way that the entertainment
industry is changing, and the way that the relationships between artists and audiences is changing, so I want
to keep writing about that. I’ve also gotten into hosting various conferences, with some friends of mine, in which
we focus on mostly the film industry. We did a conference out in California last year called “The Conversation,”
which was pretty successful, as well as a day long event on the campus at USC called “Distribution U.” We’re
doing a second edition of “The Conversation” in New York this spring, on March 27th. The web site for that is
http://theconversationspot.com. So I want to do more events where people can get together and talk about the
internet and how it’s changing everything.
| Scott Kirsner - Entertainment Author & Writer |
Copyright © 2009-2011 I Am Entertainment Magazine, a publication of NFluential Holdings, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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