The journo's point wasn't about the pitch, the site itself or a "too cool for school" reaction from VW, it's about the band staring their own future in the face.
Blink-182 was a massively (far more so than VW) successful act, yet one of the members of the band is now hawking a web site instead of making music. It's an anecdote about the state of the industry and how that affects those currently caught in the machine.
[I can't imagine why he would even pitch to the artists in the first place; for an act of that size, that's the management, label and booking agent's territory.]
To me it means the following things: making a career out of playing music (even just for the short term), being profitable both for yourself and your label/team, being heard by a large amount of people (this includes touring and sales) and getting mainstream radio/tv play. And managing to make more than one record that gets at least a 50% positive critical response.
I've been pretty good friends with one of the band members of VW since college, and I don't think the comments stem from a "too-cool-for-school" mindset.
I remember one of my nerd friends and I talked about our approach for a poker bot to this member of VW, and he was extremely interested in the idea, even though he didn't have a technical background.
The thing that really bothers him, though, is "inauthenticity", and having a mainstream music band member play a web entrepreneur would probably elicit jeers.
One does bog-standard 3-chord power-pop-punk with standard 'rebellious' studded-crap accouterments, the other does mellifluous afro-pop in menswear from a Wes Anderson character's closet.
Perhaps, but the social dynamics are made extra interesting by the fact that the "passionate entrepreneur" is the too-cool-for-school kid of a dozen years ago, and he's having trouble coping with it.
I'm not sure whether it's pathos or schadenfreude, but there's something fascinating about the weird approval-seeking behaviour exhibited by this former cool kid towards the new cool kids, especially given the enormous stylistic gulf between the two bands.
Not sure when Blink-182 was ever too cool for anything. If you listen to their concert record, you'll see that they did not take themselves very seriously.
Everyone seeks approval. I don't understand what slight Blink-182 did to you or the other people on this board that you would feel schadenfreude towards them -- normally such is reserved for people who have done you ill.
Neither of these are the source article, which isn't online. Your nymag link does appear to predate this one, but they're independent of one another: the New Yorker is not short on print subscribers.
I assume the joke was in the delivery. But I'd agree that the concept described in the retelling seems very reasonable. Delonge seems to be a non-technical entrepreneur attempting to pitch/address a pain point that he perceives in his industry - that is how to effectively engage an audience/following and interact in such a way as to extract full value (through future evangelism by the fans and future dollars).
I really like that he termed a website an "operating system." It's funny to see what kind of weird stuff comes out of the mind of rock stars only surrounded with yes men.
That's mostly because its founder originally did so. I highly doubt that you'll find someone referring to Facebook as an operating system prior to that.
All I can say is good on him for having a go, no matter how awkward it seemed.
Being successful means being willing to look like a weirdo from time to time. I'm not seeing the smarmy reporter types achieving too much beyond saying nasty things about someone who's actually trying.
I can only imagine how difficult it is to pitch a product to someone who isn't there to listen to a pitch while being filmed by two separate crews. It would be really hard not to look like a dildo.
We've known for over a decade now since Napster that artists would need / could get other revenue from online to make up for declining music sales.
It's cool that Tom is actually trying to participate in the changes rather than just bitch about the state of the industry as 999/1000 of them do.
I can only imagine how difficult it is to pitch a product to someone who isn't there to listen to a pitch while being filmed by two separate crews. It would be really hard not to look like a dildo.
Which, to some people, would indicate that this might not be an appropriate time to pitch.
Sometimes, pitching has negative value. Looking like a dorky salesman on video is anti-marketing for a rock and roll related project, and cannot be good for the project. It makes it look like just another "big business cashing in on little guys" swindle, with the older bands now being on the side of big business.
There is a right time to be a salesman. This wasn't it.
Agreed. I have a lot of respect for someone who looks at the changing situation and decides to grab a pair and make the best of it, rather than calling his lawyers or claiming the internet needs to be changed so he can make money.
Regardless of DeLonge's bad pitch and VW's reaction, niche website tools are a good business. That's what we do and we do well. Don't forget, that's #29 on YC's startup ideas.
In a way, I see a lot of similarities to our industry (professional photography). Both are creative industries that have been quite disrupted by various technologies. Just about every well-known, experienced photographer sells training material, photoshop actions, holds workshops at $1k a seat, or lends their name to technology companies in exchange for money and/or free services.
I imagine DeLonge isn't much different. I just hope he wasn't suckered into investing his own money into someone else's idea. I also don't blame DeLonge for pitching to VW (but I admit, the circumstances seemed awkward). In niches like this, the more well-known bands you can get using your startup's product the better. Heck, I would have offered it to them for free. But, then again, I'm also a big VW fan.
I had a band in the 80's. Never famous except locally. We played the same clubs as They Might Be Giants.
In the 90's I had a startup that got some buzz. TMBG came and pitched us for tour support. There was lots of "remember the good old times?" which frankly was bs, we had some common fans but never really hung out or anything.
Looks about like what you'd imagine for something probably mostly guided by non technology types, they are trying to be a content site similar to myspace.
I think for a site like this your much more likely to be successful if you can be the only network people use. Most users of a site like this would probably still have say a facebook. A myspace with good tech would have achieved this.
Ok some I'm a member of modlife.com specifically the angels and airwaves site. And I have to say it is the perfect site for a dedicated fan, who enjoys social networking online. It is a site for people to have a more intimate look into the band members lives. We also get to hear insider news, have access to presale tickets, get to participate in private sound check parties and get VIP status at shows, we usually have live chat or webcam at least once a day with one of the members, etc. I enjoy the site very much, because I am a loyal fan.
I dont think people should hate on the site, because it is cool that the guy who used to sing about sex with dogs is trying to adapt to the changing times. It a shame more bands won't have such an open mind.
They showed up to interview him, as a west-coast artist, and instead walked into a (rather sad) pitch for a music publishing network. It would be atone to going to a party and seeing an agent and trying the agent pester them to switch record labels or something. It was awkward because it was Tom DeLonge who they respected too much to say 'what the fuck' half way through.
How can anyone see this as them being 'too-cool-for-school'?
I caught this story on AbsolutePunk this morning. Sounded terribly awkward, but for every entrepreneurial success pitch there is sure to be one of these.
I submitted the (full) source article to HN a couple of hours ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1034444