News Archive March 2011

10 Lessons I Learned From KISS At Their School Of Marketing
From: Mike Brandvold
Posted: March 6, 2011

Most fans here already know all of this, but I thought I would share this article I just wrote. In the last week it has been getting alot of great response in the online music marketing/business communities. It was actually tagged as a Top Tweet a couple days ago.

10 Lessons I Learned from KISS at their School of Marketing

I am a KISS fan, going back to 1976 when my mom first bought me Rock N' Roll Over. I remember taking heat in the late 70s at school for liking the band, I heard the phrase "KISS sucks" more than a few times. It also took a lot of courage to wear a KISS t-shirt to school at the time... you became a instant target. I grew up with KISS and their marketing has clearly been a influence on me and business growth. I often tell people I went to the Gene Simmons School of Marketing.

In 1998 I landed a dream job for a KISS fan, I was personally recruited by Gene Simmons to build and manage the band's new website, www.KISSonline.com. I spent the next seven years working inside the KISS world. I was associated with much of their merchandising, including helping guide and develop items such as KISSoploy and the $1000 a ticket Platinum VIP Meet and Greet packages. I was there during the 3D Psycho Circus Tour, the Farewell Tour, the rotating replacement of Peter Criss and Ace Frehley. I received RIAA Gold album plaques for my involvement in the release of the Psycho Circus album, The Box Set album and the DVD release of KISS Symphony.

Love them or hate them, there is absolutely no denying the influence that KISS has had on the music industry. KISS in the course of their 36 year career have sold over 100 million albums, has over 2,500 product licenses (coffins, condoms and credit cards), Gene reportedly earns $100,000 for a speaking engagement and don't forget the longest celebrity reality series on TV, Gene Simmons Family Jewels. Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley get it when it comes to business.

Here are 10 Lessons I Learned from KISS at their School of Marketing:

1. All press is good press. - Going back to the very beginnings of the band they were trashed by the press. Check out this quote, "I HOPE THE FOUR GUYS WHO MAKE UP THE GROUP, WHOSE NAMES DON'T MATTER, ARE PUTTING MONEY FOR THE FUTURE, BECAUSE KISS WON'T BE AROUND LONG." - SEATTLE DAILY TIMES, MAY 27, 1974. If you believe in what you are doing, in your music... don't worry about the press. Everybody is a critic, everybody has a opinion.

2. Love me or hate me just spell my name right. - This lesson is closely associated to lesson #1. Make sure they spell your name right, even in bad press. Today you want to make sure they have your URL correct.

3. Wait for the right time. - Don't rush things. When the time is right for something... a song, a tour, a album, a interview, it will happen. KISS waited for their reunion tour and the results were stellar, selling out nearly 40,000 tickets in 47 minutes to the first show on the tour. The tour lasted for 192 shows over eleven months and earned $43.6 million, making KISS the top-drawing concert act of 1996.

4. It's all branding. - Gene Simmons this and Gene Simmons that. - Even I have at times had issues with how KISS has become more of a brand than a band, but that brand is what it is all about. And Gene Simmons knows that. Ask Gene Simmons about his TV show, Family Jewels and he will act like he has never heard of it, replying "you mean Gene Simmons Family Jewels." Gene Simmons and KISS are associated with everything they do. Make sure you are always thinking about how your band is represented, as a brand. Make sure you are referred to by your band name.

5. Everything you do will not succeed. - Gene Simmons understands that everything he does will not succeed, that does not stop him. He keeps putting out business ventures, KISS product, tours, and albums. He knows that over time some of these will succeed and they will be remembered. Our attention spans are so short today that we will quickly forget the failures. Don't stress them, learn what you can and move onto the next idea.

Got a content idea for your website, try it. If your fans don't get excited by it move onto something else. That last contest didn't work, try a different contest.

You can read the other five lessons at, http://michaelbrandvold.com/blog/2011/02/10-lessons-i-learned-from-KISS-at-their-school-of-marketing/