At Sixthman, we realize that the power of “Word of Mouth” is what has given us the opportunities we have had in the past 8 years.  However, “Word of Mouth” is kind of like “Mojo”.  You may think you have it but you don’t know how much you have, if you have it at all.

I read an article recently about something called the “Net Promoter Score”.  We decided to incorporate this question into all our surveys and have adopted it as a key metric in our company to measure our performance and the caliber of the experience.

It works like this:  Ask your customers “How likely are they to recommend your service to a friend or colleague?” and give them a choice of 0-10 (0 being “not likely” and 10 being “very likely”).

Add up the number of people who gave you a 9 or a 10 and divide by total number of responses.  Then add up the number of people who gave you a 0-6 and divide by the total number of responses.  Subtract the second number from the first and that gives you your NPS or Net Promoter Score.

The highest scores recorded are by Apple with a 79, Barnes and Noble with a 74 and Google with a 73.

Sixthman is proud to boast some strong numbers so far (although we know our sample is smaller).

Simple Man Cruise- 75, The Rock Boat – 83, Ships & Dip – 69 & Cayamo – 90.

What is your Net Promoter Score?

-Andy

It’s Friday! Time for a game! 

On board the last few cruises, we have been hosting an “Ask Sixthman” panel, which is basically 4 or 5 of the Sixthman staff with a few mics, fielding questions from our community about anything and everything. One question we get a lot is, “What artists would be on your dream cruise?” Then we each answer, which is when I realized I didn’t know much about my Sixthman compatriots’ musical tastes prior to that. Obviously, a big part of our lives revolves around music, and it was so interesting to find out what really gets us all going (music-wise…)

In that spirit – lets learn more!

*Put Your iTunes (or whatever) on shuffle
*For each question, press the next button to get your answer (no cheating!)
*Write down song/artist, even if it doesn’t make sense

1. What do your friends say about you?
Thank You Too - My Morning Jacket (that is a nice start!)

2. How would your coworkers describe you?
The Game – Jurassic 5 (strictly business is not good for the soul)

3. How would you describe yourself?
Shake Everything You Got – Maceo Parker (!?!)

4. What do you like in a romantic partner?
Pressing On – Bob Dylan

5. How do you feel today?
Touriste D’une Ville – Paris Combo (where are we?)

6. What is your life’s purpose?
Manifest Destiny - Guster (I better get started)

7. What is your motto?
No Sugar/New Mother Nature – WSP (if you know me – and the alternate verse I have written for this song – you are laughing) 

8. What do you think about the most?
Did I Shave My Legs For This? – Deana Carter (this is beyond embarassing. at least you know I am not cheating)

9. What are you going to do on your next vacation?
Periscopes - The Beautiful Girls

10. What do you think of your first love?
Why You Wanna Lemme Down – Ryan Adams (that is a little depressing!)

11. What is your life story?
Spanish Flowers - Sprout House Band (there are no words to this song. Interesting. Unlike me, apparently)

12. What did you do yesterday?
To Be a Good Woman - Cat Power (I try)

13. What do you think of when you see the person you love most?
Heart of Matters - Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals

14. What describes your wedding?
If It Kills Me – Jason Mraz (if you know me you are laughing, pt.2)

15. What will they play at your funeral?
It’s Tricky – Run DMC (Holla)

16. What is your obsession?
Truckin – Grateful Dead (who knew)

17. What is your biggest fear?
In A Future Age - Wilco (but I am coming to terms with this. here I come, 31!)

18. What is your biggest secret?
Burning Photographs – Ryan Adams

19. What is your biggest turn-on?
The Last Laugh Of The Laughter – Travis (I do like ‘em funny)

20. How do you describe your friends?
La Cinega Just Smiled - Ryan Adams  

21. What would you do with a million dollars?
Merry Christmas From The Family – Robert Earl Keen (gifts for everyone!)

22. What is your opinion of sex?
Sabotage – Beastie Boys (uh oh)

23. What is your biggest regret?
You Haven’t Told Me Anything – Keane (this is a whole blog of its own. oh, my.)

24. What would you rather be doing right now?
Saint Dominic’s Preview – Van Morrison

25. What will you do tonight?
The Ballad Of Love And Hate - The Avett Brothers (with a focus on the former)

Fun. And funny how many Ryan Adams songs popped up. I think iTunes is partial, sometimes. Click on the blue links for a listen to some of the less embarrassing picks. 

Your turn!

Alright, so we’re off the ship, we’ve regained our equilibrium, and we’ve had a full 4 or 5 days to digest the awesomeness that was Cayamo 2009.  As most of you know, I was lucky enough to have my parents on board this cruise as guests, so I asked them to keep track of their adventures and observations.  You can read their thoughts further down.  There’s one more band previously unknown to me that I have to recognize:

Girlyman - Boy am I glad I stumbled upon one of their early sets, because I probably would have missed them otherwise.  I remember a few weeks back reading the band name Girlyman and thinking “oh, that’s a weird name,” and then moving on.  They even did a special funny video for us about how to pack for Cayamo 2009.  Now, when I put those two together, the band came across like kind of a quirky light-hearted group that might be fun on board.  Oh how little did I know…

There was one day on the ship where I walked from our office out onto the lido deck and heard this achingly beautiful three-part harmony coming from the stage.  I asked the guy next to me who was performing, and he looked at me and said “Girlyman!”  Wow.  These guys have such a unique sound and incredible stage presence that it’s hard not to get caught up in the moment.  All three band members took turns as lead vocalists while the other two mixed up different instrument and provided the back up; by the end of each song all three voices would come together in perfect unison and blow everybody away.  If you missed them on the ship, you missed truly missed an amazing group…so catch them the next time they come through your town.

As promised, here is my Mom’s take on Cayamo:

Wow, where do I begin.

The last and only other cruise we were on was about 15 years ago and it could have been nicknamed the “Devil Ship”, “Hell on Water”…you get my point.  Consider me a changed woman, because this cruise blew me away.

We loved the free styling aspect of the cruise and were made to feel most welcome everywhere we went.  We’re trying to figure out if it’s a good thing that many of the pool deck waiters know us by name.  We laughed when we finally saw a woman wearing a “beer helmet” in the elevator.  Glad we weren’t the only ones having fun on this thing!

I loved the concerts in the main venue every night and it was wonderful when other artists on the ship joined in for a song.  Particularly when Vienna Teng sang “Let it Be” with Brandi Carlile – amazing!  I can’t wait for the release of Brandi’s new CD.  Glad she brought along “The Twins”.

I heard some remarkable bands and singer songwriters, many new to me – Bonepony, Oakhurst, Vienna Teng, Emerson Hart (pretty fun monologue too) and I stayed up till the wee hours of the morning loving Roddie Romero and the Hub City All Stars (my feet are still tapping), Shawn Mullins, and Marc Broussard. We can never get enough of Zac Brown-what a wonderful performer.  We made sure we set our alarm clocks for the late shows and had our front row seats on the Pool Deck!  So much electricity, so much fun!

We just followed our handy little programs and made it a point to get to as many acts as we could.  What was really nice for us on this cruise was the ease of doing what we wanted, when we wanted.  We loved meeting our new friends and had many laughs all week long.  I meandered around and complimented the artists that I passed throughout the cruise; they all were gracious and appreciative.  They seemed to be having just as much fun!

I still laugh out loud when I think of the 600-lb Cabana Boy and his morning announcements.

Well, it’s back to reality tomorrow.  When my husband asked if I wanted a glass of wine, I asked if he could put on a pair of navy blue shorts, a red shirt and wear a nametag…just one more time!

-Steve’s Mom

And here are my dad’s thoughts on the cruise:

I can’t believe a SEVEN day cruise went by so quickly!  I loved “discovering” bands that I had never heard of, seeing some big names that I’ve followed, and meeting singers that I am looking to forward to hearing again soon.  We met 20 – 30 new friends that were a lot of fun to be around.  I ran into a lady from my company that I’ve known for 20 years, and had no idea that we would be on the same ship together!  We shared a lot of the same musical interests, which gives me hope that we’ll reunite on next year’s cruise.

I’m writing this on Sunday night, after returning home.  I keep opening doors, hoping to see a live band.  I’ll have to settle for some of the CD’s we bought.  In no particular order, my favorite bands were; Zac Brown, Roddie Romero and the Hub City All-Stars, Oakhurst, Brandi Carlile, Bonepony, Vienna Teng, Lyle Lovett, John Hiatt, and the Indigo Girls (Isn’t THAT an eclectic range of music!!)

I keep hoping that I’ll wake up tomorrow morning to “have a cracker jack smashing good day!”

-Steve’s Dad

I’m scheduled to blog again on Tuesday, so I would like to give you guys a platform to talk about your Cayamo experiences.  We don’t have a guest blog email thing set up yet, so in the meantime if you’re interested in writing a paragraph or two about Cayamo 2009 and what it meant to you, send them in an email to podcast@sixthman.net and make sure the title of the email says “CAYAMO 2009″ and then the subject of your story.  Before next Tuesday we’ll read through all the submissions and post some of them in the blog!  If I don’t get any submissions, no worries, I have plenty to write about.  However, if we get at least a few we’ll certainly put them up there for the world to see.

-Steve

In this 10th podcast, Steve and Lauren discuss their favorite moments on Cayamo 2009 and the exciting announcement of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Simple Man Cruise 2010.  Later on, Andy and Steve sit down with Marc Broussard and his dad Ted who discuss Rock Boat memories, thoughts about their first Cayamo, and end with an acoustic performance of “Saying I Love You.”

SIxthman Podcast #10 - Marc Broussard [ 33:55 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I spent my first year at Sixthman being a pretty kick *ss phone ninja. I had never had an office job, and barely knew how to use a computer, let alone the phone system. My first day involved a quick crash course in the process people have to go through to book, and then we were off! I jumped right in, booking people, making up answers to questions, trying to get through the day without messing anything up too much.

A few months later, I came on full time, and worked alongside Lauren and Melissa. They got moved out of the call center, and we had to find some new blood. Jill Bessey came over from Carnival, and whipped us into shape, and we hired Joy. May soon followed, and we were one big happy call center.

We had some crazy times- the 4 o’clock dance break, breaking the internet on a regular basis. While we were at sea for almost a month, I remember looking at the email inbox and answering emails for 14 hours straight. I looked at it later that night, and it was like I hadn’t done anything. Hadn’t even made a dent. It was hard, but I love a good challenge. That challenge made me cry.

Eventually, I got moved up to marketing, which I love. However, for the last few days, we have been selling cabins for our Elvis Cruise, and anyone who has been involved in a pre-sale knows how crazy it can get. The call center is backed up, so the rest of us are taking turns answering the phone, the chats and the email. I’m probably driving Jill crazy asking questions about every little thing. It’s almost like riding a bike. I finish one call, and the phone begins ringing again before I have a chance to take my hand off of it. I could really use a headset- my neck is already cramping.

Ah, I’ll get over it. Phone ninjas, my hat’s off to you!

-Barb

As we debarked from Cayamo, and helped get all our guests and artists safely off the boat, our staff was pretty… well… worn out.

7 days of an event with 3 shows a night, a secondary lounge with a great lineup, more than 40 musicians onboard, and 1900 paid guests is, to put it nicely, long.

And as most of our staff headed to the Ft. Lauderdale airport to board a plane and recover the rest of their weekend, I rented a car and drove  up 95 North. I was trying to make a 5pm baby shower in St. Augustine, followed by a Sunday in Jacksonville going to church, lunch with my friends, a ‘sip and see’ for another friend whose 8-week-old is the most precious thing in the world, and then dinner with the family.

Whew!

What I expected, was to get home after those 2 days even more exhausted and behind than ever.  But what I realized after those 2 days with some of the most incredible women I know, is that my energy is completely drawn from within me. 

Being with my old college roommates, and laughing at stories from the past, and celebrating the lives of one child to come, and goggeling over one child who is healthy, and talking about the real things in our lives, left me nothing but on a high as I made my way back to Atlanta. And i’m still going!!

And I don’t think im that much different from anyone else.  Think about the last time you felt completely worn out and exhausted.  If you then surrounded yourself by people or things that are true, and pure, and genuine… my guess is you automatically felt like yourself again.

Can you remember a time like that? What was it that gave you energy?

ape

As part of the weekly series here on the Sixthman Blog, we’ll be highlighting a Mayercraft Carrier artist every Monday afternoon from now until we set sail on on this floating musical fiesta on March 27th, 2009!  For those of you newbies, this will give you a chance to get to know some artists that you might not have heard.  Without further ado, let’s shine that spotlight on two artists:

Brendan James

Though Brendan James was always told he had a powerful voice, he didn’t begin writing songs until his sophomore year at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. While at home in Derry on Christmas break, James was approached by a local music teacher, Kevin Kandel, who had heard him sing “Candle in the Wind” at the funeral for James’ best friend’s mother. “Kevin said to me, ‘I can’t get your voice out of my head. You have something very unique inside of you and I think you should learn to play an instrument and try to write your own songs.’  We then spent the whole night listening to hundreds of records by classic artists like the Beatles and Bob Dylan and Stevie Wonder, and he’d point out the phrasing and songwriting style of each one. By the next morning, I was hooked. It just fueled this thing inside me and I went back to school with a brand-new fire.”

James taught himself to play piano and took a year off from school to spend time in L.A. writing songs. “I was so passionate about songwriting, I wanted to get involved in the music scene and start performing,” he says. In 2002, he returned to Chapel Hill, graduated, and moved to New York City, where he toiled at Urban Outfitters by day and performed at open mics around Manhattan’s East Village at night. To gain access to a piano to practice, James would sneak into hotel ballrooms around the city. “I’d dress to look like a guest at the Plaza Hotel, so I could walk in there unnoticed,” he says.

In 2003, James’ manager was able to get a demo James had made to Carly Simon at her home on Martha’s Vineyard “just to see what would happen,” James says with a laugh. Two weeks later, he received a call from the legendary singer/songwriter, who told him that she couldn’t get enough of his voice and had begun singing his songs around the house. “It was surreal,” James recalls. “She was so complimentary, not only of my voice, but of the songs. She told me I needed to keep writing.” Simon asked James to come to Martha’s Vineyard, where the two recorded a version of her Oscar-winning song “Let the River Run,” for the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.

What a freaking cool story!  Brendan sounds like a guy I can’t wait to catch on the Mayercraft Carrier.  Here is the video from his song, “Green.” You have to check out this song.  You’ll be singing it all day.

James Smith

A banking and finance lawyer by profession, James began performing comedy and public speaking while at Law School. In 1995 he was selected to debate in the World Debating Championships at Princeton University, USA and again in 1996 at UCC, Ireland. Also in 1995 he won The Australasian Public Speaking Competition at Parliament House, Melbourne.

While practicing law James decided to trade the courtroom for the stage, and became a professional comedian. His success was meteoric; within two months of his debut he progressed to the national final of the “Comic of the Year” at the Sydney Comedy Festival.

In 2001 James won Star Quest which is the most prestigious quest of its kind in Australia. As a writer James won the Triple M Parody Song Writing Competition and subsequently became a permanent writer/performer at radio station Triple M, part of the national Austereo Network.  Not  bad for a lawyer!  Check out some of his act right here:

James Smith Stand Up

Brendan James and James Smith, glad to have you guys on the Mayercraft Carrier 2, we certainly look forward to having you on the ship!

A lot of you have asked me about my feelings on the proposed Ticketmaster / Live Nation merger.  Ticketmaster fulfills the sale of concert tickets and now owns the largest artist management company led by Irving Azoff.  Live Nation is the largest concert promoter (guarantees the artist a fee, markets the show, sells tickets and produces the concert for a percentage of profits).

Here is why I am excited about it.

This should be some good watching.  There always has to be a villain in the music business that prevents the fan from sitting on stage for free and riding in the tour bus with the artist.  The artist puts out this image that they are all about the fans and if it were up to them, they would sign every autograph and play for free, but only some of them are genuine about it.  In the past, there have been record companies, promoters, booking agents and managers shielding the artist.  The record companies have been removed from the equation and now there is only the promoter, the agent and the manager remaining.  This deal bringing the promoter and manager (agent works for manager) to serve the interests of their shareholders.   It would be like having Ann Coulter and Bill Maher in the White House as President and Vice President.  The artist will ask for a guarantee, the show will underperform, the manager will now have to either collect the money to give to the artist and create losses for its own company, or ask his artist to take less (the right thing to do in my opinion) and have the artist question the loyalty of their manager.

Once fans realize that the artists and their managers are the ones making the decision on how much to charge for tickets, how much to add for a service fee and who gets to scalp them, there will be no one to hide behind.  The expectation will certainly become for more access to artists, tickets to be cheaper, fees to be reduced and scalping to end.

I am only 38 and no where near as wise or experienced as the people leading these other companies.  I like the deal for the wrong reasons.  I think every artist should have to be their own promoter and only get paid for the tickets they sell. (I do believe the promoters should be accountable for doing their job and have SOME skin in the game with the artist.) In the past, artists have demanded insane guarantees that have put promoters out of business when a show didn’t sell enough tickets yet only allow promoters to make a small percentage on shows that sell out.

When we worked with John Mayer to do a cruise for his fans, I begged them not to ask for a big guarantee.  His team put up no fight and said it wasn’t Sixthman’s  job to sell out the cruise, it was John’s.  Our job was to take care of his fans and produce a great experience.  That is the kind of artist we need more of and I believe some artists will lead the way and then the rest will have no choice but to follow.  Irving Azoff, who leads Ticketmaster and manages some of the biggest artists in the world is the only person that can shift this paradigm.  He is known for taking care of his artists and is in a great position to hold them accountable by letting them know we live in a new world.  I have had the chance to meet Irving and work with his company on several of our cruises.  He is a genius and can help return a good balance to the music business.

I can’t wait for the day when the artist has to earn every ticket sale.  No different than a PGA golfer having to make a 3 foot putt to earn a paycheck.  Can you imagine how innovative these creative artists will be in improving the fan experience?  I can.  I witnessed it this week watching Brandi Carlile take every opportunity on our Cayamo cruise to sit at any piano on the ship and play for 30-40 minutes to 100 people or so.  She would invite guests up to sing with her and she even organized and hosted her own fan club party.

If this merger is what it takes to get there, then lets get it on.

-Andy

As I said in my previous blog, there are always a number of musicians on these cruises (Cayamo) that make immediate and lasting impacts.  As a twenty-four year old with limited exposure to Americana music growing up, Darrell Scott’s talent had evaded my knowledge until Cayamo.  Seven days later, I’m happy to say that I am now a huge fan.

Although I hadn’t heard his music prior to Cayamo, I heard Darrell’s name come up in hallways, on elevators, and at dinner since the first day on the ship.  On the last night, we had an all-star jam featuring “The Know-Buddies,” most of the artists on board who knew Buddy Miller and wanted to perform in his honor.  While I was ushering this show, Darrell came out on stage during the jam and performed two songs that rocked my world [one of which was “Hank William’s Ghost,” I believe? Please correct me if I’m wrong].  He left such a great impression on me in those two songs that I made sure to sprint upstairs between shifts to catch some of his final performance in the Spinnaker Lounge.

I wasn’t disappointed.  During this set, Darrell did something I’ve rarely seen: he reached out to the crowd and simply asked them what they wanted to hear.  At most concerts you hear drunk idiots screaming out songs at the band in between songs, often disrupting the performances and annoying everybody in the crowd.  Well, this was an artist simply opening up his entire catalogue to a small group of people, asking what they wanted to hear the most.  These environments that make the artists feel so comfortable are things that I feel truly set Cayamo apart from any other musical experience.

The first person requested “Colorado;” Darrell picked up his guitar, thought for a few seconds, and then said, “you know what, I’m going to play this one on the piano instead.”  He moved to the piano, picked a different key than normal to play the song in, and then belted out a song that is now emblazoned into my memory.  Unfortunately, all efforts to find the song anywhere on the internet have thus far gone poorly: I Google’d “Darrell Scott Colorado” and 40,000 hits come up about a college football player.  If anybody knows where I can find it, please leave a comment at the end of this blog so I can end my search!

So, after watching the rest of Darrell’s performance I feel like I am no longer allowed to say “I play the guitar.”  If Darrell’s mastery of the guitar is considered “playing,” then I have no idea what the heck I’d do when I put one in my hands – it certainly isn’t playing.  Vocally, Darrell’s deep voice and range created such unique pictures in my head.  He talked about an album of cover songs he’d recently put out…I’ll bet that his versions often outshine the original.

Thanks Darrell, you truly embody the spirit of Cayamo, and we were so lucky to have you on board with us.  For you cruisers, which albums would you recommend I pick up first?

-Steve

And we’re back, having just completed the longest (and surely one of the most successful) cruises in Sixthman history.  I’ve finally had a chance to catch my breath and look back upon the past seven days.  Here’s the beginning of my introspective, retrospective reflection (actually I’m not quite sure if it’s all of those things, but at least it sounds good).

Cayamo is a not just a cruise about watching your all-time favorite musicians, it’s also a place where you can discover new music and get to know the musicians behind the instruments.  As a Sixthman employee, working twelve to fourteen hour days isn’t exactly conducive to discovering new music; when we’re not out trying to find ways to make sure all the guests on board are having the time of their lives, we’re in the production office working on emails, websites, and productions for our other cruises.

Because of the long days, a small number of employees, and an insane amount of performances on board,  we generally only get to check out one or two songs from a musician here or there as we run from one job to the next.  Luckily, Cayamo 2009 was overflowing with talent, so one or two songs was more than enough to get us hooked on new music; for example, Vienna Teng blew me away and it only took 5 minutes.

Let’s rewind: earlier in the cruise, I was told that my next interview would be with Vienna, an artist I had heard great things about but never seen perform.  Lauren and I sat down with her and had one of our best interviews yet; she was hilarious, genuine, and extremely appreciative of Sixthman.  By the way, I am still dumbfounded every time an artist thanks us for the experience…we can’t thank YOU guys enough!

A day later, I was literally running from one end of the ship to the other while working and I had to pass through the atrium.  I froze in my tracks as my ears picked up on one of the most beautiful voices I’ve ever heard.  Vienna was singing a song in a foreign language; I later found out it was a folk song her mom taught her to sing.  I’d describe how beautiful the song was, but my words would not do it justice.  Instead, I’d like to borrow another quote from the Shawshank Redemption (how unusual, I know).  Imagine the scene where Andy took over the record player and projected Italian music out into the prison yard:

“I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don’t want to know. Some things are better left unsaid. I’d like to think they were singing about something so beautiful, it can’t be expressed in words, and it makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you, those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a grey place dares to dream.”

I have no idea what Vienna’s lullaby was about, and I don’t want to know…some things are better left unsaid.  Just like in Shawshank, everybody went completely silent and watched with eyes wide, ears open, and mouth agape.  It was that good.  After this brief five minute exposure to Vienna’s music, I made sure I went out of my way to catch a song or two every time she stepped on a stage.  Wow, that cruise was awesome.

-Steve

PS – Does anybody know the name of this song?  A little help would be most appreciated!