New from Mikasounds

[Christine]

I love them this way, to be honest if it's any more polished then it's like reading something a computer wrote.

 

It's just a really bad combination IMO. If Mika wants to have amateur emails, that's great. I would love to see emails that he's written in his own style. But this is an obvious attempt at professionalism but it's failed because it's not correct. There aren't just spelling mistakes, there are words missing, repetitive use of words in the same sentence, etc.

 

I don't notice Mika being this careless in his blog. Most of the stuff of late appears quite well thought out and makes sense. The Q&As were very good and you'd think at least as much effort would go into his promo emails.

[sariflor]

It's just a really bad combination IMO. If Mika wants to have amateur emails, that's great. I would love to see emails that he's written in his own style. But this is an obvious attempt at professionalism but it's failed because it's not correct. There aren't just spelling mistakes, there are words missing, repetitive use of words in the same sentence, etc.

 

I don't notice Mika being this careless in his blog. Most of the stuff of late appears quite well thought out and makes sense. The Q&As were very good and you'd think at least as much effort would go into his promo emails.

 

 

Well, that is exactly what I was trying to say; One thing is a "natural spontaneous Mika", and a very different one a sloppy, unprofessional image.

The way the communication emails are now, to me just shows carelessness, and not naturality (if that word exists ).

I'm sure that he would like to be presenting a better image than that, but sadly it just looks like the people in charge of it are shortchanging him by doing a mediocre job.

Heck, I would write him better emails than those!! It's -I feel- a bit like the MFC situation: his techies are incapable of fixing the site and it's down for days.

In comes Andrew, who is not employed by him and is merely doing it out of the goodness of his heart (and, presumably, his love for Mana, but that is a different story ), and the site is back up and running in no time.

I don't want to be offensive, really, but what sort of monkeys is Mika employing here???? It's only a website. Quite straightforward if one has the bare minimal knowledge, which you would expect his "techies" to have.

I just can't believe it . And to be honest, I also wonder if all this gets to him. Does he know that the site was only fixed when Andrew stepped in? Does he know what his guys were doing? Etc etc...

I often wonder if they just keep him out of the loop, because it's the only way that I can imagine him being ok with his people being so freaking incompetent: if he doesn't know that they are.

[dilek]

first time i saw the mail's title i thought mika was just wishing us a happy christmas! how sweet! then i saw the PDP .....oh well:fisch:

 

There aren't just spelling mistakes, there are words missing, repetitive use of words in the same sentence, etc.

 

 

i agree especially on this part.

 

it sounds like .... i wrote it:roftl:

and it also sounds a bit commanding to me ,or like a teacher teaching us smthng:blink:

 

i can't spot the spelling mistakes because i do a lot though even i could see that ther's something wrong with that e-mails

 

 

i also agree with sariflor's post,it explained my feelings very well, took me 20minutes to read+understand though:insane:

[sariflor]

first time i saw the mail's title i thought mika was just wishing us a happy christmas! how sweet! then i saw the PDP .....oh well:fisch:

 

 

 

i agree especially on this part.

 

it sounds like .... i wrote it:roftl:

and it also sounds a bit commanding to me ,or like a teacher teaching us smthng:blink:

 

i can't spot the spelling mistakes because i do a lot though even i could see that ther's something wrong with that e-mails

 

 

i also agree with sariflor's post,it explained my feelings very well, took me 20minutes to read+understand though

 

 

Always glad to help you, challenging your brain !!!! :roftl:

[Soaring Simpson]

I agree with the comments about the standard of the email from Mikasounds (though I probably won't receive it for days - seem to take forever to reach me).

 

Though it's better than that awful intro/write-up that came with the DVD.

 

I just get the feeling that these things are churned out by people who don't actually care that much about Mika.

 

Quoting Sienna

Silver and Sariflor, as you know I’m not exactly the right person trying to judge something written in English, but I listen to what you have to say and this is not a good sign how the email is written.

My heart is bleeding for Mika if it really is a fact that the people who are talking in his name doesn’t care so much for him and his image.

I don’t like it. We want him to have a professional and carefully prepared “packaging” it makes a so much more good impression!

 

And btw “slopiness” doesn’t exist in my dictionary; I still don’t know what it is…but I’m good at guessing:wink2

 

I feel a bit of a bitch saying it but, far from agreeing, this sort of thing always makes me wonder if Mika's got his family doing the job of professionals again.

Edited December 17, 2008 by Soaring Simpson

[Etoile2roses]

I don't care if there are mistakes or not the good punctuations inside those mails, I mean I have never saw Mika as a packaging and I guess he does not see his family and his staff like that too... He is one person that works with people close to him (friends, family), and that's really beautiful. You won't read one of your friend because his english is not fluent or he/she makes mistakes ??? If you are not being able to see the difference between the professionnal that does not care about the fans but only cares about the money, and the artists and the staff around them that cares about what's really important I guess you miss the point.

[Christine]

If you are not being able to see the difference between the professionnal that does not care about the fans but only cares about the money, and the artists and the staff around them that cares about what's really important I guess you miss the point.

 

But this is exactly the point. These emails come across as marketing ploys that have nothing to do with caring about the fans. Mika speaks directly to his fans through his blog. These emails on the side are meant to promote Mika and his products. If you don't believe that then ask yourself why there are photographs and links to buy his DVD smack in the middle of a Christmas message.

 

And there's nothing inherently wrong with that. His record company and his team are supposed to market him. That's their job. We're saying that they're not doing it particularly well. Whether the tone of the emails are chit chatty and casual or formal and slick - they need to be well written.

[xlindee]

I don't like that email.

I don't care if he needs to be marketed. The email is just like: blablabla great year for MIKA, blabla Paris this, blabla Paris that, buy the dvd blablabla MIKA is fantastic, blabla oh and by the way Merry Christmas to you all.

I just don't like that.

[Marilyn Mastin]

I don't want to sound ungrateful, because I do appreciate the news and the thank you, but I really wish that the Mika operation had a more professional look to it.

There are a few punctuation mistakes in this email (as usual) and the whole "feeling" of the writing I find a bit confused and, dare I say, amateurish?

I am now comparing these to the emails that I get for Katy Perry, who is also with Universal, and everything that they send out for her has a far more professional and polished flair to it. It's hard to explain why, but if anyone has compared them both (or possibly other artists' emails) they will probably know what I mean.

Of course I want Mika to be unique and to not be one of the masses of heavily "marketed" artists, but, at the end of the day (note correct usage of this expression ) this is a marketing operation.

There is a fine line between uniqueness and slopiness, and sometimes I feel that he/they are going down the "homemade" route too much and that this affects how seriously people will take him. Like Mika himself says, packaging is everything, so I wonder why he's not ensuring that his own packaging (so to speak ) is better.

Anyway, that is my opinion on the emails. As you can seeI always have a lot to say which will not necessarily please others, but hey, it's how I see it.

I sort-of agree with you. Okay, we don't want the emails to be cold, unfeeling and clinical, but they should at least look as though someone of 'literacy level two' standard has written them. Another thing which I've mentioned before somewhere, is that there is never much marketing outside of the fan club, and the people who go one Mikasounds. I know people don't want MIKA to be marketed to the extent that he is everywhere, and people get sick of seeing his adverts etc, but there is a difference between the hard sell of his products, and letting the public know his DVDs etc, are available. Surely there can be a happy medium. I really do not think he is marketed enough. I expected some TV ads for his PDP DVD, but there hasn't been one that I have seen, and there wern't many for the LICM DVD.

I know Mika is worried about the credit crunch, but if he wants to sell HIS stuff, he needs to stop his marketing people from preaching to the converted (US FANS) and get them to advertise his products to the wider public who possibly would buy his products if they realise they are available.

Edited December 19, 2008 by Marilyn Mastin

[willywonka]

Exactly my point and as previously said here, i wonder why Mika doesn't solve this matter being such a perfectionist over "his packagings"...

[dilek]

i wonder why Mika doesn't solve this matter being such a perfectionist over "his packagings"...

 

maybe he never gets those e-mails because he didn't subscribe to "mika newsletter":roftl:

[AKateisaKate]

OH MY GOD I detest the grammar in the Mika emails. Every now and then, I read something that I just want to tear up with a red pen. It is always one of those emails. The sentence stucture is just horrendous and the whole email just makes me feel awkward. It actually reminds me of one of my editors last year who couldn't write at all, and it was just really cheesy and... flipped my ish. So in conclusion, hire me Mika.

[Marilyn Mastin]

Exactly the point. I actually get a bit embarrassed, if I'm honest, with all the "Mika is great! Mika has done so well. Mika won a Brit. Mika's done this and that." As his fans we are WELL AWARE of his achievements and don't need to keep being told about how great he is! We are more interested in finding out when his new album is likely to be out, and where in the world he is going to do his accustic tour. If that means we don't get as many emails, I don't mind that! I'd sooner get fewer emails, with real news about Mika, than another, "hasn't he done well." email every few weeks. I actually think someone from the MFC could do a better job for Mika than those people who do the job now.

[sienna]

Exactly the point. I actually get a bit embarrassed, if I'm honest, with all the "Mika is great! Mika has done so well. Mika won a Brit. Mika's done this and that." As his fans we are WELL AWARE of his achievements and don't need to keep being told about how great he is! We are more interested in finding out when his new album is likely to be out, and where in the world he is going to do his accustic tour. If that means we don't get as many emails, I don't mind that! I'd sooner get fewer emails, with real news about Mika, than another, "hasn't he done well." email every few weeks. I actually think someone from the MFC could do a better job for Mika than those people who do the job now.

 

I really agree with you there MM!

[Niki27]

OFF TOPIC: Since we're discussing grammar and spelling, when someone adds provocative rude tags, could they at least make sure they're grammatically correct? Sorry but the tag in question hurt my eyes so I deleted it.

[dilek]

OFF TOPIC: Since we're discussing grammar and spelling, when someone adds provocative rude tags, could they at least make sure they're grammatically correct? Sorry but the tag in question hurt my eyes so I deleted it.

 

yeah i wonder what it means?

[Christine]

As his fans we are WELL AWARE of his achievements and don't need to keep being told about how great he is!

 

We are not the target audience for these emails. There are tens of thousands (possibly hundreds of thousands) of people on these lists. People who may have stopped by Mika's website once in March 2007 for example and would have had no idea he had a DVD available at the moment.

 

But that's why it's critical that these emails are well written. These people are not going to say "Look at those grammatical errors. This guy doesn't hire professionals because he really cares about his fans."

 

I find such emails from Lily Allen and Paolo Nutini useful because I don't follow their careers (i.e. stalk them ) as closely as Mika. And MySpace seems to be heading towards obsolescence so artists need a more direct route to make announcements to casual fans.

 

We are more interested in finding out when his new album is likely to be out, and where in the world he is going to do his accustic tour.

 

You've got that right!

 

But I'm sure we'll be hearing about it directly from him before any emails go out.

[Mika4Life13]

Oi oi oi oi oi.

[sienna]

 

But I'm sure we'll be hearing about it directly from him before any emails go out.

 

This is for your positive mind...

[chickadee]

maybe he never gets those e-mails because he didn't subscribe to "mika newsletter":roftl:

 

True, true!

 

We are not the target audience for these emails. There are tens of thousands (possibly hundreds of thousands) of people on these lists. People who may have stopped by Mika's website once in March 2007 for example and would have had no idea he had a DVD available at the moment.

 

But that's why it's critical that these emails are well written. These people are not going to say "Look at those grammatical errors. This guy doesn't hire professionals because he really cares about his fans."

 

I find such emails from Lily Allen and Paolo Nutini useful because I don't follow their careers (i.e. stalk them ) as closely as Mika. And MySpace seems to be heading towards obsolescence so artists need a more direct route to make announcements to casual fans.

 

As usual, you say something to provoke me thinking... Just curious as to why you say MySpace seems to be heading to obsolescence?

I must confess, apart from discovering Mika on there (for which I will be eternally grateful and which was completely by accident), I've never really used MySpace to find musicians, so it's been practically obsolete for me from the beginning. But it also means that I don't track the "vibe" or whatever and therefore have no idea what's actually going on (so true in so many areas of my life!).

 

 

And just on the subject of the correct use of grammar and spelling... Whoever writes these emails should come and hang out in the Aussie thread sometime... Bloody bunch of pedants in that thread. They would soon get sorted out!

 

Mind you, we've had OKD in there for 12 months and still haven't managed to sort her out

[Christine]

As usual, you say something to provoke me thinking... Just curious as to why you say MySpace seems to be heading to obsolescence?

 

Facebook took off in Canada among adults about 18-24 months ago. Literally one-third of the population of Toronto had an account in 2007. But now it's popular everywhere and it's not an ugly bloated mess like MySpace.

 

Vlogs are replacing blogs and YouTube is the place for that especially since they are really jacking up the technology with high definition videos.

 

MySpace just seems to be trying to play catch up with everyone else by implementing their features several months later.

 

Look at Mika, he has very little use for MySpace these days.

[Big Girlie]

OH MY GOD I detest the grammar in the Mika emails. Every now and then, I read something that I just want to tear up with a red pen. It is always one of those emails. The sentence stucture is just horrendous and the whole email just makes me feel awkward. It actually reminds me of one of my editors last year who couldn't write at all, and it was just really cheesy and... flipped my ish. So in conclusion, hire me Mika.

 

haha but maybe those mails were written by fans from another country without english as mothertongue (I think in this sentence here are mistakes xD but I don't see it at the moment!? )

[sariflor]

I sort-of agree with you. Okay, we don't want the emails to be cold, unfeeling and clinical, but they should at least look as though someone of 'literacy level two' standard has written them. Another thing which I've mentioned before somewhere, is that there is never much marketing outside of the fan club, and the people who go one Mikasounds. I know people don't want MIKA to be marketed to the extent that he is everywhere, and people get sick of seeing his adverts etc, but there is a difference between the hard sell of his products, and letting the public know his DVDs etc, are available. Surely there can be a happy medium. I really do not think he is marketed enough. I expected some TV ads for his PDP DVD, but there hasn't been one that I have seen, and there wern't many for the LICM DVD.

I know Mika is worried about the credit crunch, but if he wants to sell HIS stuff, he needs to stop his marketing people from preaching to the converted (US FANS) and get them to advertise his products to the wider public who possibly would buy his products if they realise they are available.

 

You hit the nail on the head there- This is something that keeps happening and happening. I really don't think that he is marketed at all.

If I hadn't been on mfc and following his blogs (in short:already a fan), I would have not found out about his DVD. Surely he's missing out on a massive potential audience there?

I just don't get it . After all the effort that went into the show itself, both creatively and economically, and Mika even openly saying that he had used some of his own money for the show, how can he not get it pushed out there and advertised?

It seems so strange.

But yes, in any case, I really think that the standard of the emails needs to be A LOT better.

 

maybe he never gets those e-mails because he didn't subscribe to "mika newsletter":roftl:

 

Have I said lately that I love your posts?

 

*Note to self: remember to subscribe the Mikaquestions email address to the Mika newsletter*

[Mika4Life13]

Not sure if this fits into the sara - Marilyn Mastin conversation but, I completely agree!

 

I said to my friends "I really, really like mika."

they said. "We've known this for almost 2 years now. Thanks."

"I wish you guys liked him."

"Well, we'd like him if he had a bit more new...stuff. I hate hearing relax, over and over."

"He has new stuff!! But...it's all Holy johnny, and HMDYLM, which isn't marketed onto the radio.."

"See, I had no idea."

"....*starts strumming invisible banjo* MY MATE JOHNNY'S A LOOKER!"

[sariflor]

Not sure if this fits into the sara - Marilyn Mastin conversation but, I completely agree!

 

I said to my friends "I really, really like mika."

they said. "We've known this for almost 2 years now. Thanks."

"I wish you guys liked him."

"Well, we'd like him if he had a bit more new...stuff. I hate hearing relax, over and over."

"He has new stuff!! But...it's all Holy johnny, and HMDYLM, which isn't marketed onto the radio.."

"See, I had no idea."

"....*starts strumming invisible banjo* MY MATE JOHNNY'S A LOOKER!"

 

Don't forget about Rain...