Borrowing a play from obama
Jillian Melchior
Issue date: 1/22/09 Section: Opinion
Some Hillsdale grads are attempting to pull an Obama.
The new president, during his campaign season, managed to corral the Internet to his advantage. His e-mail, Facebook and texting efforts broadened his appeal among young voters who were influential in his rise to presidency.
And the members of The Eastern Gate, best known at Hillsdale as Seraphim, are doing the same thing - only they want to become rock stars instead of presidents.
But it's the same story, essentially: the audacious underdog pursues a dream with the help of the Web. Clearly, the story resonated in the political arena. We'll see how it plays out in the music world.
Ironically, despite the campaign's parallels to Obama, they're hailing libertarian heros.
"We want to mimick [stet] a Ron Paul-style buzz using the power of the internet and word of mouth, and we've chosen iTunes as the arena," the group wrote in their mass Facebook e-mail. "We hope that an independently recorded and marketed album by an unsigned band scattered to the four winds will get their album on the front page of the iTunes store."
If nothing else, the plan is ambitious. Jan. 5, they released their CD for download. Begging their friends, the friends of their friends, the friends of their friends of their friends and so on, they managed to get a lot of people on board.
The most interesting thing about The Eastern Gate's campaign is its platform: It's not about the musicians. It's about an ideology. It's about creating history.
In their own words, "it's about connecting, sharing and participating in something bigger than ourselves - something so positive in these grim times that someone us bound to notice and want to join in along the way."
That could be straight out of the campaign rhetoric.
And, just as in politics, I'm not sure I'm buying the grandiose call encompassing, as their e-mail claims, "everyone else who's had the heart not click 'delete.' "
The new president, during his campaign season, managed to corral the Internet to his advantage. His e-mail, Facebook and texting efforts broadened his appeal among young voters who were influential in his rise to presidency.
And the members of The Eastern Gate, best known at Hillsdale as Seraphim, are doing the same thing - only they want to become rock stars instead of presidents.
But it's the same story, essentially: the audacious underdog pursues a dream with the help of the Web. Clearly, the story resonated in the political arena. We'll see how it plays out in the music world.
Ironically, despite the campaign's parallels to Obama, they're hailing libertarian heros.
"We want to mimick [stet] a Ron Paul-style buzz using the power of the internet and word of mouth, and we've chosen iTunes as the arena," the group wrote in their mass Facebook e-mail. "We hope that an independently recorded and marketed album by an unsigned band scattered to the four winds will get their album on the front page of the iTunes store."
If nothing else, the plan is ambitious. Jan. 5, they released their CD for download. Begging their friends, the friends of their friends, the friends of their friends of their friends and so on, they managed to get a lot of people on board.
The most interesting thing about The Eastern Gate's campaign is its platform: It's not about the musicians. It's about an ideology. It's about creating history.
In their own words, "it's about connecting, sharing and participating in something bigger than ourselves - something so positive in these grim times that someone us bound to notice and want to join in along the way."
That could be straight out of the campaign rhetoric.
And, just as in politics, I'm not sure I'm buying the grandiose call encompassing, as their e-mail claims, "everyone else who's had the heart not click 'delete.' "
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 3
Alex Linebrink
posted 1/22/09 @ 4:40 PM EST
GREAT article! And thanks a TON for the support. We might not have made the iTunes charts (though we're not sure yet), but we DEFINITELY inspired a lot of people to do_their_thing regardless of whether it is 'probable' that they'll make it big. (Continued…)
Josh Peterson
posted 2/02/09 @ 8:35 AM EST
Thanks again, Hillsdale for your support. As Ethan mentioned in Mark's article this past week, you believed in us before we believed in ourselves, and for that we thank you. (Continued…)
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