Neil Young, The State of Social Media, and Music: You can teach an old dog a new trick…sometimes

Rocker Neil Young uses Twitter to connect with fans.

By: Zack Gruczkowski

The effect of social media and the Internet on the music industry has certainly been a well-discussed topic in the last five-plus years. It seems like eons ago when Radiohead turned the music industry on its head with their ‘Name Your Own Price’ campaign for “In Rainbows,” but they weren’t the first band with this idea. They were just the first to leverage social media and the Internet to gain the result of several million in revenues, a sold out world tour and, probably most importantly, an unending amount of press online which echoed into traditional media.

Then we have artists like my good buddy Allison Weiss and musician Amanda Palmer who were some of the first to show the world the true power of Kickstarter. In 2009, Allison, a musician from UGA, raised $7,711 of her $2,000 goal to record her first professional LP. Then she did it again in 2011 when she raised $30,795 of her $30,000 goal to make “2.5 records.”

Amanda Palmer has gained worldwide notoriety with her social media prowess, doing everything from major Kickstarter campaigns to international top-trending Tweet chats. Most recently she used crowd sourcing to find a volunteer touring band. This last social media strategy was a double-edged sword, resulting in both international press and controversy. The world wide music community went up in arms over her “audacity to take advantage of starving artists,” even though these amateur musicians agreed to play for free in exchange for experience, exposure, and a minute in the spotlight. The viral spread of the story online incited major industry players like music journalist and recording engineer of Nirvana fame, Steve Albini, to speak on the issue. Palmer has since agreed to pay her traveling horn section.

Fast forward to Fall 2012 when legendary Canadian rocker, political activist, and songsmith Neil Young decides to join the social realm. Young, who turns 67 this year, created his official Twitter account (@neilyoung ) on September 25 with the announcement that he was planning a Q&A Tweet chat prior to his latest release with his band Crazy Horse, “Psychedelic Pill”:

Look forward to talking to all of you music lovers. Will be doing a #TwitterLegends Q&A with fans about #PsychPill before the release!

— Neil Young (@neilyoung) September 25, 2012

The Tweet chat happened on October 24 at 12PM Pacific Time, and being a lifelong CNSY, Crazy Horse and solo Neil fan, I joined the convo here in Atlanta. It was really, really interesting.

First of all let’s put this in perspective, Neil Young joined Twitter. Neil Young is not known for his social media prowess—as a matter of fact The Huffington Post wrote a an article about his lack of social media skills in 2009, making a direct comparison of his life experiences as it applies in the social realm.

Never one to be shy about his personal opinion on music, life, government, drugs, standing up to the man, etc., I still never would have thought Neil would join a forum like Twitter. Especially when you have other influential (and fellow old school) musicians like T-Bone Burnett warning to “stay completely away from the Internet” at the Future of Music Coalition Policy Summit in 2012. While this sentiment is a ridiculous notion as we modern, socially connected humans know, we would expect Neil to lean more to the old school direction considering his history as a purist. Either way, Neil is now on Twitter and that’s great for him and his fans.

The nature of the chat was what’s to be expected from a guy like Neil. He doesn’t come across as an overly loquacious man in person, although his lyrics and books are excellent. I asked Neil five questions during the Tweet chat, ranging from “How did you like playing with the Foo Fighters in NY,” to “Why name your new record with a drug reference if you recently publically quit booze and drugs?” and “If you could duet with one modern female artist who would you choose?”

Cue the silence. I did not get one answer. Of course I wasn’t upset, my questions were a drop in the bucket of thousands of questions that were streaming every 10 seconds. Literally, every few seconds showed 40 to 60 new tweets. This Tweet chat was a HIT. #AskNeil trended to the second most popular conversation that Wednesday. Since then, all the music blogs from Rolling Stone, to Spin, to Huffington Post have written about it.

I think Neil answered 8 questions in the 45 minutes I attended the chat.

I know I said Neil wasn’t loquacious but believe me when I say answers were one word, two words, three words tops…occasionally a half sentence if you were lucky. Didn’t his manager or label tell him he had 140 characters? He answered his questions with quotations in his Tweets, so the man obviously still needs Twitter-training wheels.

The question topics were fairly predictable ranging from his favorite guitars to his new record, his classic records, to “Will you please come tour Italy?”

Then you have:

#askNeil what would happen if you were locked alone in a room with only a jar of nutella?

— Jana_Pe (@Jana_Pe) October 24, 2012

@jana_pe creative things #askneil — Neil Young (@neilyoung) October 24, 2012

…Apparently he digs Nutella.

One of the highlights of the chat was Neil’s dig on Bono:

what do you like about foster the people? #askneil btw, bono said he likes them, too… it is surprising two super stars like them..

— akemi nakamura (@akemi99) October 24, 2012

@akemi99 who is Bono? #askneil

— Neil Young (@neilyoung) October 24, 2012

I was a little disappointed with the chat overall. Neil had the whole world listening to him, begging him to share stories and long awaited answers but he really didn’t say much. Think of how he could have capitalized! He could have thrilled his long time fans, gained new fans from Gen Y and driven his audience to his new record. He could have shown the world that he finally learned social media, that an old dog can learn a new trick but he whiffed the opportunity.

Even though I’ll never know if Neil would rather sing with Florence and the Machine or Lady Gaga, I still enjoyed the whole experience. He did answer a question about whether or not he would ever make a record with Dave Grohl (YESSSSS)!! So I guess that answers my question about if he liked playing with the Foo Fighters.

We’ll never know if Neil officially understands the social light, or if long time manager Elliot Roberts and Warner Bros. told him he needed to get online to push his new record. Although, at one point he did admit that he joined Twitter to promote “Psychedelic Pill.”

I’ve always admired Neil Young because he “hiked his own hike,” and he doesn’t know any other way to do it. Will Neil’s Tweet chat help sell his new record?

Well, I fired up “Psychedelic Pill” on Spotify while writing this and I dig it so far. Will the rocker continue his social media adventures? These questions remain to be answered in the coming months but one thing is for sure: he will continue to play music and sell out tours around the globe until the day he dies. Nothing will ever change the way I feel when I hear Neil play the guitar and harmonica, not even Twitter, so maybe that’s why old dogs don’t always need new tricks.