Tool's marketing strategy

[Synthemesk]

Ok this post is in response to Corgansthirdeye thread about listening to Tool for the beauty of it, But I think it deserves its own thread and I wanna hear peoples responses to it.

again, as I've said in past posts of mine, you've got to blend and balance between analyzing and superficially listening to Tool's songs.

When I first started listening to TOOL years back, I hated them. One of the things that intrigued me though was the fact that Maynard's voice and lyrics were incredibly hard to pick out(I started listening to Aenema first.) I thought how good could the band be if they mixed their tracks so you can't hear the vocalist clearly. So I listened to TOOL off and on, the only thing sticking in my head was the rhythm and guitar parts. But eventually the fact that I couldn't hear what the f- Maynard was saying drove me crazy which actually ended up leading me to Toolshed for the lyrics.

So what does this mean about TOOL. Even in their shows, and in the press Maynard is last to accept the spotlight. Recall who accepted their grammy award? Someone in another post somewhere chalked this up to the most ingenious marketing ploy ever. I agree. But you can't deny the fact that TOOL's music and mystery drives you to delve further into their meanings, and I also translate that to my life as well.

[greenblazepheno]

I agree on some things. The strategy to keep the mystery of the band omnipresent, and to stress the ambiguity of their existence is so obvious. They know that they'll survive/prosper for longer without having their singer in the spotlight so much.

They're just preventing overexposure.

I mean, why else would Maynard suddenly take his post in the back corner of the stage for the entire 18 month tour? It's one thing to not want to steal the spotlight from one's fellow musicians. It's another to make that decision 9 years into one's career- almost like one hadn't thought of it before.

I think, as a band, they're as insecure as any of us. They're scared of becoming boring (see Maynard's endless talks about bands being deemed irrelevant after 3 albums as evidence of this fear) and so they make the clever decision to be "quiet", "ambiguous" and "mysterious".

At the end of the day, we know that more people can identify with a message that isn't clear than can with a message that is transparent and obvious.

Tool often claims their motivation to inspire fans to think and wonder as the reason behind many of their decisions. However, I don't think it ends there. I think they're using that as an excuse to a certain extent.

They might just want to be different as part of their unique selling proposition.

[Karf]

When I first heard tool, it was my friend playing 'The Gaping Lotus Experience', and all the chanting of Satan turned me off to it as a little mormon boy. Years later, and as this friend talked more and more about tool, I decieded to listen for myself. It was all heavy, and deep, and the singer had an amazing range on his voice, and easily sung out pure emotion. I also didn't know the lyrics, so I listened enough to have my own lyrics in my head, and then I hopped on the computer and looked at toolshed's.

I wasn't very close on the lyrics, but I learned this new set of lyrics. As time went on, and APC came out. This is what really threw me back to tool, I was starting to not listen that much anymore. Now when I listen to tool, Maynards lyrics stand out so much that I don't have any trouble understanding what the lyrics are. They just sound like thier louder and clearer. I know the differance is in my head since I know the lyrics and listened so much that I can listen to any tool album in my head. But that's all besides the point

If tool would have had insanly obvious lyrics, and vocals, I doubt I would be listening to them as the --main-- band I listen to and feed off of.

[AsproClear]

As we all know, we are living in a world where we are constantly bombarded with information, and where everything is spoonfed to us. The satisfaction associated with exercising the mind and learning for oneself is almost lost.

I think this also applies to the music industry. The music video has become one of the music industry's biggest marketing weapons - image is everything and it's all right in front of us. There is no mystery and imagination in music anymore. I like opening a cd booklet and NOT seeing any elaborate spreads of my favourite band on the inside. It adds to the mystery. If you are deprived of something, it naturally makes you more hungry for it.

By ensuring that they are not seen in any of their film clips and that no photos or lyrics are provided in cd booklets, I think Tool are reinforcing the message of their music - teaching us to be more patient and to seek out what we want to know. As most of us here can vouch for, it is a much more rewarding experience.

I do agree that this 'mystery', being a deliberate and concious direction taken by the band, must be part of their 'marketing' strategy. And a very clever one at that. No band is able to avoid 'image,' because participation in the 'industry' demands one of you. I think Tool have struggled with this point (made evident in Hooker with a Penis, "I sold out long before you'd every even..etc..") and have served themselves and their own image well by being strategically allusive.

[RNS]

I am a fairly recent convert to all things Tool, like many people i suppose i'd heard the name but because of the lack of promotion and general media stuff surrounding the band, it took a friend's recommendation to get me interested. Since that moment and a live show later I am a fan. The thing that makes Tool's marketing so interesting is that while it's frustrating that it's difficult to find out information about them,it's that mystery that keeps people holding on for years between albums. It's like Star Wars, you love it and can't wait for more, but you are prepared to wait 3 years because you know when it comes it will piss on everything else from such a great height that it was worth the wait. The marketing of Tool , or "non-marketing" technique is genius, but this technique would not work with just anybody, if you make people wait for something and then don't deliver , they're unlikely to wait again, Tool know how good they are and know that they can afford to do it their own way, which makes the mystery compelling. The little information that is available can be detremental though (which illustrates the whole point), when i read stuff on toolband.com about Maynard's wine collection and Danny's weird books , i think, so what , i don't give a fuck what the guy does in his spare time, tell me about the music, the equipment, the show how it's put together, stuff like that. I love Tool's music, and videos (even though they freak out my bird) but if I was Maynard and the others i'd keep even more of a lid on it than there is now- lets have a real mystery.

[haftelm]

I agree. Tool's marketing ploy is to not market. It is sort of a paradox. But I too, would like to see more about the music and how it is put together and the live shows than about wine, and books....etc...at toolband....but it is still entertaining and i usually have a good laugh when i read what blair and camella have to say.

[megadan]

I think Bill Hicks said it best...

"By the way, if anyone here is in advertising or marketing, kill yourself. Thank you, thank you. Just a little thought. I'm just trying to plant seeds. Maybe one day they'll take root. I don't know. You try. You do what you can. Kill yourselves. Seriously though, if you are, do. No really, there's no rationalisation for what you do, and you are Satan's little helpers, OK? Kill yourselves, seriously. You're the ruiner of all things good. Seriously, no, this is not a joke. "There's gonna be a joke coming..." There's no fucking joke coming, you are Satan's spawn, filling the world with bile and garbage, you are fucked and you are fucking us, kill yourselves, it's the only way to save your fucking soul. Kill yourself, kill yourself, kill yourself now. Now, back to the show.
'You know what Bill's doing now, he's going for the righteous indignation dollar, that's a big dollar, a lot of people are feeling that indignation, we've done research, huge market. He's doing a good thing.' Godammit, I'm not doing that, you scumbags, quit putting a godamn dollar sign on every fucking thing on this planet!"

But seriously... I think that Tool has chosen not to advertise themselves, and with good reason, it seems to me that it would be rather hypocritical of them to do so, given many of the ideas they seem to support.

[doubleyewdee]

Maybe there really isn't any strategy and it's just four guys having fun making some music because they like making music. I mean... not everyone/not everything needs a marketing strategy, or has a marketing strategy. I guess if there was a strategy behind the music-making this would be a pretty good one... biut I prefer to take the Occam's Razor view of things and say there is no strategy. You don't need a marketing strategy to make good music, do you?

[aeonblue]

I first heard about Tool through other bands that I loved, and I decided to find more out about this band everybody seems to praise so much. And there's no wonder why. It wasn't about the mystery or press-shyness to me, but all those amazing guitar riffs and the passionate music. Lyrics that range all the way from eerie growls into real beautiful melodies and then back into flesh-mutilating screams. I went, wow. I instantly thought that this is my band, they do this for the music and they are serious and passionate about it. And that's what I still respect the most about them. It's great that some band can take risks by not doing what people tells them to, but doing exactly what they want. They are original with their style and faithful to themselves. And they haven't let their egos grow into enormous, goof-ball like idiots, they still have their feet on the ground and their brains in their heads. They are being human, as vulnerable and insecure as we all are.

[spook]

I, personally, miss the days when Tool was heard and not seen. That made them perfect. Now, I sicken myself by seeking out information on them! I really wanted/hoped that they would be different. But, now we have toolarmy and Maynard fancies himself an ACTOR. I think, inevitably, a celebrity is bombarded with so much bullshit that he or she just starts eatin' it up. I actually kinda hope I'm wrong and that when the time comes , these guys will fake their own deaths and live among us anonymously.

[2lapcfan]

On the subject of marketing, I thought Toolarmy was a slap in the face. As if paying money to belong to some fan club and access to a website makes you a better Tool fan. Any moron can pay out, that takes no effort. It certainly doesn't make you a bigger Tool fan. Being able to decipher Blair's obscure newsletters, and knowing if Danny wipes his ass with purple toilet paper doesn't make you a better Tool fan. I determine what makes me a big tool fan, nobody else. I wouldn't say I'm the biggest Tool fan, as by my own standards I'm sure there are bigger fans out there, but there's more to life than Tool. If it's a part of you and is manifest in you and your everday life, what more could be asked of a fan? If that's not the point, I don't want to know what is.

[Ænimic]

yeah fuck toolarmy. that tshirt you get free with it looks shit anyway

[betwixt]

i think tool are able to do whatever they want and they just do it.

not like all those britneys and o-towns and whatsoevers.

i like that.

[Synthemesk]

2lapcfan,

I haven't responded to my own post in quite a while, but hope you still check up on this. I agree with your point 2lapcfan. When i checked up to see what the deal with Toolarmy was I made two clicks with my mouse. One was to enter the site. The second was to click that little funny box that has an 'X' in it in the top right corner when i found out you had to pay.

There are many levels of being a fan, no better or worse than any other. I went to see them 4 times this past tour, following them around ny state. This makes me no better or worse a fan who couldn't afford to do what i did, or someone who is insane about understanding the lyrics, or someone who just fucking listens to Tool.

If you are going to pay money somewhere, GIVE TO KABIR and TOOLSHED.DOWN.NET for running these opinion boards which some use so profusely.

Thats my public service announcement for the day. Thank you, God bless. :-P

[Dhalz]

Surely the beauty of music is that it is not a competition but an artform. Is tool army really not worth it because i considered joining. and anyone who thinks they are a better tool fan than another should have a long think.