"So maybe instead of getting your company on twitter, paying marketers to mention you are on twitter, and paying people to blog about your company, forget all that and just make awesome stuff that gets people excited about your products, hire people that represent the company well, and when your stuff is so awesome that friends share it with other friends, you may not even need “social media marketing” after all."
—

- Matt Haughey of MetaFilter, on social media.

The web amplifies the idea that things genuinely high in quality, intelligence, elegance and superb execution win over all others regardless of how well-funded, connected or loud those others are.  This is my favorite part about the web and one of the core reasons I started the Hype Machine. I am thrilled to be able to support this model in the world of music.

The sentiment above is repeated countless times at conferences talks and in books.  That doesn’t seem to matter though, as most people still believe they can find a shortcut and so we have Izea (‘sponsored blogging’), and tons of related efforts to get twitter followers, facebook friends, etc to market your brand, widget, or etc.

Lets try this again: there are no shortcuts.

(via fascinated)