Are You Too Old to Rock?

I love music. From the days of 4-track and 8-track tapes, music has played a key role throughout my life. For those of you who wonder what those are, I have added Wikipedia reference links.

I’m a hack drummer and enjoy going to live concerts. Occasionally I will watch the well-produced concerts that are broadcast on TV. These are filmed in HD so they look and sound great.

Recently, I stumbled upon a Brian Wilson concert from the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas. Brian is one of the creative forces behind the legendary Beach Boys. The concert band was made up of old and young musicians.

Brian seems to be a bit comatose while singing and playing a beautiful white grand piano, but he is still getting the job done. Al Jardine, a prominent figure in the Beach Boys’ 50-year history, was wearing a bright white suit (right out of the ‘70s). Someone I wasn’t familiar with took the lead on a couple songs. I learned this was Blondie Chaplin, a short-term member of the Beach Boys.

Watching this concert, it’s evident that these guys are old! Al Jardine is 72 (born in 1942), Blondie is a spry 64 (born in 1951) and Brian Wilson is 73 (born in 1941). Blondie, the youngest of the old guys, looked the oldest to me, but can still bring it, as shown in the video of “Wild Honey” from this show. Perhaps it’s from hard living. He did play at times with The Rolling Stones and other rock acts.

While these musicians are in their “senior” years, they have retained most of the skills that brought them success throughout their careers. This is not to say they don’t miss a note or can play to the level they did in their youth … but they are not too old to rock. Not by a long shot.

While no one is getting younger, some of us still think young. I love the passion that’s in PromoKitchen, an organization that pushes forward the value of education and promotes mentorships in our industry. Personally, the younger generation of industry leaders excites me and, frankly—at the risk of offending a few—old people who think old and are content with how things have always been done bore me. And I am an “old” person!

Our industry offers creative and innovative ways to share a business or organization’s message. That hasn’t changed. Yet some are content to do things the same way they always have, seemingly oblivious to a completely different marketplace. I feel sorry for them.

In this short video, a savvy distributor shows how she uses the tools my program, FreePromoTips.com, provides, showcasing a SnugZ USA video. This has been very effective for her, and she has the Google analytics to back it up. Any distributor can do this, and any supplier can showcase its products in ways that are effective in today’s marketplace.

Several key things drive the new marketplace, and you don’t have to be younger in age to do these. Here are just a few: