Re: OT: Silliness -was- Re: Popularity/influence/etc.

[Duke Sexton <catilyne@icicle.net>]

At 08:57 AM 8/28/2002 -0700, Mark Sottilaro wrote:
>I talked a lot about this when the Repeater first came out.  I think they 
>were on the right track by marketing it toward the DJs, but then dropped 
>the ball and marketed it to no one.  I really think that for any looper 
>to 
>survive in this climate it's GOT to be DJ oriented.

I'd agree wholeheartedly, especially since, speaking in a *very* general 
sense, DJ's/Producers don't seem to be as technophobic as many other types 
of musicians.  As such, they're very much more likely to become early 
adopters for any new widget coming down the pike.  At the very least, this 
represents a huge demographic that can't be ignored if a manufacturer 
wishes to maximize it's revenue back from a given product.

As for influences, who is this market segment listening to?  Well, for 
instance, the current "flavor of the week" seems to be the Warp artists: 
Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, Boards of Canada, etc. (note: we're talking 
about 
influence -- who the artists themselves are listening to, rather than who 
the general public deems popular).  And that's not a bad thing, because 
anybody who's listened to those artists can tell you that there's some 
wicked looping/manipulation buried in their music.  In general, though, 
the 
DJ crowd aren't being influenced by the old loopers or guitar heros, 
except 
perhaps for a source from which to steal samples.  Thus, advertising 
featuring those older artists is going to have little to no impact on this 
segment of the market.

         -c-

_____
"i want to reach my hand into the dark and *feel* what reaches back"
                                                 -recoil