Kevin Mitnick, the most famous hacker in history, explains in his book “The Art of Deception” – which, as the nerd I am, I couldn’t help but read – that you can have the most powerful firewall in the world, but if you can convince someone to give you their password, the system falls.
It is called social engineering.
Today’s reflection is precisely this: while it is true that the music industry is driven by data and technology (algorithms, geolocal data, statistics…), if I had to think about what is most important in this world today, it is the same characteristic as always: social engineering.
In the music supply chain, social engineering is everywhere:
➡️ the ability of an A&R to make an artist feel part of a vision
➡️ the ability of a press office to “sell” a story even before a song
➡️ the 7-second snippet that tricks you because it touches exactly that nostalgic chord or that need for belonging
Modern music marketing is, one might say, a hacking of human attention. Ultimately, data is only the means to understand where the link in the human chain is most sensitive.
The true “hacker” of music today is the one who knows how to speak to people, not to servers: you can force a listen with a playlist, but you cannot force a fan to fall in love.
#BookVsMusic
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I am Andrea Corelli, Music Industry Professional and Advisor.
From Monday to Friday, I share strategies, backstage insights, or the stories behind a song on LinkedIn. On the weekend, I enjoy the flow.
If you need help with your artist, label, project, or music startup, write to me.