Stepping Stones.

I’m constantly looking for and  thinking about new and (in my opinion!) interesting ways to present new music to people, so when I hear about a terrific one, I’m only too keen to share!

It is often assumed that the pop world is so wonderfully popular that it doesn’t need to bother with exciting promotion and engaging with the fans, but nothing could be further from the truth. There’s so much competition that they simply can’t afford not to!

Step forward Oasis.

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, there’s no escaping it: Oasis are huge.

The release of any new album can be scary: true fans will buy on spec, but the far larger audience, the floating fan, needs to be convinced. This can only really happen through exposure to the material which leads to comfort and faith that it is good.

So what did Oasis do?

In the weeks leading up to the launch, they rounded up New York’s most prolific buskers and taught them the singles. They asked them to play them in their regular sets in amongst busker classics: they removed the stepping stone of radio and went straight to the public voice.

It’s a big idea and I don’t know if it actually boosted the sales, but I don’t think it hurt them in any way.

So the question is: how do we apply this to the classical world? What is the stepping stone we need to remove in order for more people to experience our music in their own comfort and “discover it” on their own? I’ve got a few ideas, but I’d love to hear yours too!