Jonathan Coulton’s career has taken off because he’s been able to tap into the geek market. NPR’s Frannie thought that he was a fluke and compared him 2 a Snuggie. His business model has worked out for him and I believe that it can work for others also. Anyone can fulfill a niche today, but they have to use unique and creative ways to promote themselves. I agree with what he said “Nobody has to sell out Madison Square Garden anymore to make a living.”
I agree the internet is a powerful median.
Yeah, there are definitely varied levels of success. While Coulton isn’t playing at Madison Square Garden, he has been a really success artist. I mean, the guy did write the songs for Portal and Portal 2. I’d say that’s pretty outstanding for an Internet artist.
successful*
Right, and as long as you can make a decent living, what Johnathan Coulton definitely can, it’s not even necessary to play in Madison Square Garden either. Coulton has enough fans to sell his music and his merchandising products, but he does not have too many fans to live a normal and “free” life – paparazzi won’t care about him, if they can have Justin Bieber.
I agree that his model can work for others as well. I don’t think it could necessarily work for someone who wants to have the level of success as someone like Beyonce but if someone wants to have the same kind of success as Coulton than this model could help them achieve that.