A friend of mine sent me a Marketing Plan from Sony Music from 1994 for MCC’s Stones In the Road album. It’s fascinating stuff.

The most interesting thing is noting what is NOT there because it simply did not exist. 1994 isn’t THAT long ago (I say this because I can remember it, but it is actually 18 years ago…yikes!) by album release standards. There is lots of attention on radio, print, and TV…all things that have morphed and/or begun the process of dismantling completely. No social media…because it didn’t exist. I’m trying to remember if I was on AOL message boards by 1994. That might have even been a late 90’s thing.

I remember waiting to hear MCC on the radio…which meant…WAITING. You never knew when they were going to play her. I remember waiting for CMT to play the videos and recording them onto VHS by pressing record at the exact right time! I remember when VH-1 was a music video channel!  Stuff like this is pure nostalgia but also a good reminder…whatever we think is the absolute norm right now will change in less than 20 years…or 10…or 5.

While I was pondering what I would add to the list now if I were re-writing this plan (Facebook/Twitter/Digital Distribution/Podcasts/Blogs/etc.) it made me pause and remember that I shouldn’t get too precious about any of these things because they will all get passed over for the next big thing eventually.  Facebook might make it another 20 years, it may not.  I doubt it.  I’m working hard at cracking the social media code, but it’s best to remember there’s always a new code to crack.

That’s why one of my mantras is “Stay Nimble.”