Saturday, September 17, 2005

Blind Faith

Directly from Wikipedia, a case of heightened –and unmet- expectations in Rock music:

Blind Faith was a band formed in late 1968 when Eric Clapton (ex-Cream) and Steve Winwood (ex-Traffic) were at a loose end following the demise of their former bands and began to spend time together again (they had previously collaborated on record as Powerhouse), jamming and working on new material at Clapton's house in Surrey. At Winwood's instigation, Cream's former drummer Ginger Baker was invited along and they subsequently spent some time recording in the studio.

(snip)

News of the formation of the group created a buzz of excitement among the public and a free concert was scheduled for London's Hyde Park on June 7 1969. Their small repertoire was reported by the music press as having disappointed the crowd of 100,000 who were also expecting to hear songs from the days of Cream and Traffic.

(snip again)

Audience reaction in the USA was similar to that in the UK and the band was forced to appease them by playing a couple of Cream and Traffic songs. The management pressure to cash in on the hyperbole (the Press dubbed them a 'supergroup') and Baker's view that the group was a continuation of Cream soured feelings within the band and they disbanded immediately after completing the US tour.

(snip)

Moral of the story:

Customers –in this case, Traffic and Cream fans- expected a ‘supergroup’ merger of both bands. What they received was something different from their expectations, hence their dissatisfaction.

Are you giving your customers what they expect?