Your Odds In the Digital Music World

[ggalen]

mojobone,I just got wind today (over in The Songwriters Nook here) of more and more younger folks getting wild about "retro"...soul music and R&B.To me Jack Johnson, who is wildly popular today, sounds a lot like he just added melody and guitar chords to an urban rap-like sound. His vocals that I have heard, have that "rap rhythm" to them. People NEED melody with their beats. They just don't know it (if they've never had a good taste of it). But once they taste it, they're hooked.So I do think times are ripe for more traditionally sophisticated music to make a return.One can only hope.We do need good filters and recommendation methods.

[mojobone]

Oh, there's already a backlash. Mountain string band music is more popular than it's ever been in these parts.(meanin' the Midwest) Even hiphop is celebratin' the soul and R&B roots more than in years past. We go through these periodic waves of technology driven music from time to time. Remember the drum machine beats and gigantic digital hall reverbs from the eighties? (actually I'm seeing a resurgence in popularity for that, as well) As ever, it's original artists that are up against it in times like these, but when was it ever any different?

[gongchime]

The place to sell CD's is at shows, not on the internet. The internet is for letting fans know when and where your shows are going to be. And also for driving potential fans to your site so THEY can find out about your show. Put CDs for sale everywhere you can on the net but it will only be less than 10% of your sales even if you're Sting. Where do you buy music? Do you download anything you have to pay money for? Me neither. People buy in CD stores and in the heat of ecstacy at your performance. Next up, how to drive traffic to a music website. Hint, find out what your fans are looking for when they're online and then give that to them for free.

[ggalen]

Here is the link to that article. http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvar....7H&pageNumber=1Here's most of the executive summary:"The blockbuster strategy is a time-honored approach, particularly in media and entertainment. When space is limited on store shelves and in traditional distribution channels, producers tend to focus on a few likely best sellers, hoping that one or two big hits will carry the rest of their lists. But online retailing and the digitization of information goods have changed the commercial landscape: Virtual shelf space is infinite, consumers can search through innumerable options, and the marginal cost of reproducing and distributing products is low. What does that mean for the blockbuster strategy?In his 2006 book, The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More, Chris Anderson, editor of Wired magazine, argues that the sudden availability of niche offerings more closely tailored to their tastes will lure consumers away from homogenized hits. The “tail” of the sales distribution curve, he says, will become longer, fatter, and more profitable.Elberse, a professor at Harvard Business School, set out to investigate whether Anderson’s long-tail theory is actually playing out in today’s markets."

[milfus]

I dunno, my experience points to the opposite, I think generating buzz is the key, that and just really enjoyable music.

[mojobone]

"consumers can search through innumerable options"But casual fans don't want to work that hard. they're not passionate, they're not picky. They'll take the low hanging fruit of free downloads. Actually, I've kinda got a problem with the term "consumer" when it comes to music. What, exactly gets consumed? To me this just indicates that Harvard's "business" school doesn't understand music.

[mazz]

"Consumers" have never been particularly sophisticated. These days, it's easier to listen to music anywhere with iPods and such but does the average consumer with an attention span of 15 seconds really spend a ton of time searching out "good" music? I think that's a rare person, just like it was back in the days of vinyl and radio. Most of my friends in school bought what they heard on the radio and didn't seek out anything beyond that, and they were totally happy with it. If I had played them my Mahavishnu Orchestra or Miles Davis Bitches Brew or Frank Zappa records, they would have run screaming from my house (maybe that's why I never had a date in school, hmmm).It's the same now as it ever was: how do you get people to buy your music? Back in the day, you needed a record contract, now you need to figure out a way to cut through all the background noise of the mostly crappy self-released stuff out there. Same issue, different world.

[milfus]

yeah but thats what I am saying, if the market isnt for miles davis, you dont do miles davis music, not if you are trying to move units anyway, gotta liven up the music, basicly if you hit a cross analysis of what you like doing vs whats getting the most play, you can make music that puts you right in the "trendy" spot, then its just a matter of putting yourself in the path of the "cool kid" train, and everybody will nab your stuff, gotta laterally apply your biz tactics, you arent a label, trying to act like one isn't goin to work, the advantage of indie musicians is obscurity, and mobility, you can genre hop without having the stigma of a label (i.e. oh, hes a country singer) from your previous songs, esspescially if your older songs stop moving.its the same as taxi, targeting is key, who, when, and with what, if you have those three answers and drop a song using that info, you stand to clean up at least a little. I have had about 2-3 good runs so far, just seem to fade out after a bit, probably cause I keep going back to school and stop releasing music.

[neuphoria]

well thank goodness for the interweb-- i'm definitely benefiting from the long tail and digital distribution-- avg. about $1000.00 in d'load sales/month now for the last 5 or 6 months. (jan. was top month w/$1365-- now of course that's not champagne & limo money but hey...) & most of that $ comes from selling individual tracks... and over 20 tracks have sold more than 100 units (top track has sold well over 1000 units) anyway the point is that people ARE buying music. so there's digihope.

[neuphoria]

also hey milfus --what happened w/your soundclick stuff? sounded like was doing very well... it just stopped after 8 mos?