Last week I wrote about content phobia. And coincidentally, last week I also saw one of the most breath taking live performances of my life, by a group of artists called Drum Tao. The show blends ancient Japanese percussion with martial arts. And yes… it’s just as cool as it sounds. For a taste, check out the video below:
So what do content phobia and Drum Tao have to do with each other…? A lot unfortunately. You see, the day after the show I visited YouTube to re-live the performance. I bought their DVD on the night, but was keen to see other performances. But to my dismay, I found little more than a handful of official one minute snippets, and low quality camera uploads from the audience. Yes… Drum Tao have content phobia.
And that sucks! Because here is something truly ‘remarkable’, as Seth Godin would say. Here are a group of performers with the potential to rack up millions of YouTube views and create an army of new fans and admirers. Yet they hide their content. And by doing so, effectively hide themselves from the world! I want to show everyone how amazing they are. But I can’t. Unless I invite them over to watch the DVD one by one…
Why would a group that make a living off their audience, prevent that audience from growing exponentially online?
Presumably, it’s to protect DVD sales. But here’s the thing… they don’t sell their DVDs online. Only at their live shows. They’re not recording artists. They live off ticket sales, not CD/DVD sales. And YouTube views don’t cannibalise ticket sales in the way they cannibalise CD/DVD sales. Nothing replicates the live performance!
So while Drum Tao dwell in a state of content phobia, inferior rivals with low quality videos are reaching over half a million new fans. And if you click through to the YouTube page of the video below, you’ll find that three of the first ten comments make reference to a recent performance they’ve attended…
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the clip! What an amazing event, I’ll have to add it to my list of things to check out!
Makes no sense to ignore a powerful marketing tool like YT.
Agreed. Those low quality camera uploads do nothing to enhance a performers online presence. Wasted opportunity.
hey thats pretty cool!
speaking of martial arts, the UFC (mixed martial arts) have something similar. on youtube, you can only find 1 minute previews of upcoming matches, not the matches themselves. It really annoys me cause i want to show others how awesome the sport is. So people are left to either buy the DVD’s, purchase pay per view or obtain it illegally.
the UFC is very active in taking down videos and what it percieves to be illegal content such as live streams. however, when they shut down the illegal live streams, they actually LOST more pay per views.
As UFC commentator Joe Rogan says, “you cant fight the internet!”
Amazing performance. They should be making the most of their opportunities.