Photo by altemark

It’s all about the image you portray to the public. We all have two sides- every person, company, organization, even our pets. You have the public face and the private face. The reason we keep the two separate is not because it’s dirty or reprehensible, it’s because the private does not necessarily reflect the interests of the entire group.

Our military kills people, but the recruiter won’t tell you “join us so you can shoot people.” That’s not our military’s main purpose.

Our mothers and fathers spank their children, but they don’t announce it to people they meet for the first time. “Hi there! I whipped my boy’s butt last night!” That’s not what parenting is about.

Public relations is all about putting your best foot forward and making the right first impression. When you know your group or company is already fighting an uphill battle, everything you say and do speaks to the conduct of all involved. The fine line between private and public image must be made clear.

Don’t be ashamed of what you do in private, but don’t be ready to jump in front of the press corps and announce it either.

To put it simply, you’ll tell a couple of friends about something you really love, but you’ll tell the whole world about something that annoys you.

It’s like playing rap music in a country bar… If all you see is a crowd of wallets, you’re going to get beer bottles thrown at you. Before you start rapping, those people are just bystanders. Once you’ve given them a dose of something they don’t want, they become a negative PR force actively working against you.

This is the reason I do not sign people up for my email list that didn’t ask for it. I’ll send invites- ONCE -but if they don’t want my emails, I don’t want to send to them. My blacklist is almost as big as my mailing list. Why? Because each person I send an email to is remotely interested in my music. If they’re not, the last thing I want to do is annoy them!

Lately I’ve been receiving auto-DM invites to a music site via Twitter. One invite? Sure. Identical invites from many different people with no way to opt-out? Now I’m never going to sign up for that service. In fact, I’m writing a blog post about it because they’ve ticked me off. I am now a negative PR force working against them, all because they wouldn’t let me opt out.

The lesson? Don’t play rap to a country crowd. No audience is worse than the wrong audience.

Photo by Angela Rowlings

“In a field as competitive as entertainment, what matters most is how well you connect with your fans,” said Ebel, who moved to Boston from Nashville, Tenn., a year ago. “The technological tools we have give us the power to not just talk to but to listen to more people on a more meaningful level. If I stopped listening to my fans, they’d stop listening to me.”
Ryan Foley, The Boston Herald

You can read the article in full at a ridiculously long URL that I’ll just say is here.

I can write about cows, ninjas, birds, and beer, but writing about myself is rather difficult. If you are a Matthew Ebel fan, you already know why you’re reading this blog. Please take a moment to read draft one of my new bio (below) and help me tell others why they should be Matthew Ebel fans as well!

Nobody but Matthew Ebel can tell stories about space pirates, talking birds, ninjas, and cows, yet still be sharing his real life. His fans know him as an honest, passionate singer/songwriter with a talent for bringing humor to any situation. More than just a consummate keyboardist and singer, Matthew is a performer who connects with his fans onstage, online, and in person.

Thanks to the power of technology, Matthew’s been able to connect with his fans in a way few other artists have managed. Once a fan has listened to his music, they’ll connect with him via Twitter, Facebook, email, blogging, podcasting, or any number of venues. On rare occasions Matthew has even been spotted in a coffee shop, replenishing his caffeine supplies with friends before he hits the studio once again.

Matthew’s 2005 release, Beer & Coffee, first caught the attention of the podcasting world. Listeners were drawn in by the solid grooves of Drive Away and the fast-paced cow-injected quirkiness of Trees. Some even sat through all eleven minutes of Latté Days & Porter Nights without losing feeling in their buttocks. What many came to realize is that the stories told through those songs stuck with them, sounding like their own lives and experiences.

Two years later, Goodbye Planet Earth pushed the envelope of a storytelling album so far it left the Earth’s gravity. Told as a single saga in 17 tracks, Matthew took his fans on a journey that brought everything from space ninjas to robots to the destruction of the planet. Still, as one fan put it, “Biting wit and sly observation rule Matthew’s lyrics, but the sheer inventiveness and mind-blowing musicianship won me over…”

Then came the creation of Matthew Ebel dot net. With the traditional album-release model behind him as his home base, Matthew has launched into a direct relationship with his fans. Rather than wait until a story is grand enough to warrant a full-length album, fans have lined up to hear new music from Matthew as a monthly subscription. Each song is its own story and every month the subscribers are taken to new places in Matthew’s world.

In the end, what keeps the fans coming back to Matthew’s music is his passion that lives in every word. As another fan said, “Ebel is quite good. He has a knack for penning catchy melodies. His sincerity is beyond reproach…and one gets the immediate sense he will continue to be heard for quite some time…” Where his music will go next, only Matthew and his fans can tell.

If there are any PR or marketing professionals reading this, I would definitely appreciate your thoughts as well. Anyone can comment below or just send me an email here. Thanks so much for your help!