Your Odds In the Digital Music World

[ggalen]

Regarding unsophisticated customers...I agree. We're musicians; we experience music quite differently than causal listeners. I think we tend to forget that. I know I sure do.I'll say, "Geez, that bass player is doing nothing but root/fifths when he should be really swinging it!" But the average listener says, "What a great beat! I love that song! It's really fun and the lead singer is hot!"------------Milfus, Your are right that if we want to sell our tracks, we should be cooking up food that people want to eat, not just foods that we want to cook. My problem is that I don't really enjoy doing that. Maybe people want to eat simple burgers, but frying 'em up all day can be boring.

[milfus]

gg, I totally understand that, at the same time though, its really more choosing not to get in the main stream, vs the main stream being stupid, gotta remember, even though we all spent years studying music, your average listener really didnt, its like me and jazz, they can say its genius all they want, I know the harmony rules and all that, but the fact remains, if you have to study to appreciate a song, IMHO, its not a good song.

[milfus]

oh and newf, short story is, I had to get my life together, and then ended up in school.

[ggalen]

Jun 28, 2008, 5:18pm, milfus wrote:but the fact remains, if you have to study to appreciate a song, IMHO, its not a good song.Milfus,I like that. Good insight.

[vickye]

Hey there,Interesting thread....I've been doing the indie thing for several years and have successfully avoided the day job. I will say creating a buzz is what has worked for me, but I have invested my time and money into touring because I love to perform. It's pretty easy to learn what songs or styles people are diggin when you are in front of them. The beauty of an audience is their complete honesty...you can feel it and if they are a verbal crowd, they'll definitely let you know what they like and don't. I don't feel that I write for a specific trend, but I strive to write really great songs and I believe those songs transcend what the cool kids are into because you truly can't ignore a song that is well written and performed. (IMHO..of course.)Vicky

[astroninja]

We never like stats. Stats are scary. Like scary boogiemen with bad breathe! Scary crazy tsunamis that threaten to drown us all the time whenever we put our hands in the music industry cookie jar!There is no denying knowing the stats is good. But knowing and obeying stats a little too much might create a little evil voice at the back of your head that discourages you from trying hard enough. Not everyone will ride that tidal wave to the finish but darn, it's worth a try.For us, we love making music, we love being heard. It'd be great if one day we had a Billboard hit but it doesn't really matter if we don't (considering we live all the way in Southeast Asia, it's not very likely but who dum dee doo dah!) As long as we make back enough costs to warrant a second release, it's good enough. We make money through our live gig performances anyway so that helps quite a bit (and generates a few sales)Most importantly, don't obey the boogiemen when they say no, don't listen to the talking sand between your feet that tries to drown you, listen to the stats but try your best to pave your own way by being original. Be your own tsunami!Yours,Levan ASTRONINJATAXI peeps, do add us on MySpace @ www.myspace.com/astroninary! We'd love to keep in touch!

[djdeweese]

Ms. Elberese, who wrote the Harvard Business Review article, seems to be addressing the logic of the long-tail article from a perspective of business investment: "If you are a producer, you have pressing decisions to make about product development and marketing investments. If you are a retailer, you must decide how broad an assortment to stock and whether to guide customers toward obscure selections that may yield higher margins."Digital distribution for an individual like me is pretty affordable on the investment side. I'm producing an album this summer which is made up completely of tracks I've produced for Taxi listings. I'm already a CD Baby member, so sending them a copy of a home-studio produced album and having them do all the digital distribution submission for free is a no-brainer. If I sell even a couple hundred downloads, as I did on combined sales of tracks from my last album, it is still an excellent return on investment, since I've merely leveraged my own assets into another possible revenue opportunity. Now if some of those songs get placed on TV/film, since nine of the eleven are already signed to a library, I might get lucky and get a real sales bump. This would never have been possible before digital distribution.From Gongchime:Jun 28, 2008, 1:52am, gongchime wrote: Where do you buy music? Do you download anything you have to pay money for? Me neither.You're working up some nice karma there, gong. As a musician who tries to sell original music, I absolutely buy new music downloads on iTunes and Amazon instead of stealing it as you imply. Don't you think a good song is worth a buck to enjoy for years? iTunes announced last week that they have had FIVE BILLLION downloads in the last five years, so not everyone is stealing their mp3s. iTunes has surpassed Wal-Mart as the biggest US music seller in only five years. This digital revolution is still in its infancy. The current sales numbers slant largely toward commercial heavy-hitters, but the fact that a small-time indie artist like me can get their music national distribution with no record company in the middle is significant. In this short thread, both Milfus and newf have reported success with online distribution that would never have been possible a decade ago. (Also, in Chris Anderson's response to the article, he points out significant differences in definitions of the true long-tail between his and the article from Ms. Elberese.)

[ggalen]

iTunes announced last week that they have had FIVE BILLLION downloads in the last five years, so not everyone is stealing their mp3s. ---------------Digital Music News reports that 1 billion MP3s are downloaded for free every MONTH through file sharing, and have been for some time.But overall it really is great to be able to put your stuff out there and get paid by some people, even 50 or 100 people. Pretty cool, really. And who knows how many thousands download free copies and enjoy your music? That can be gratifying, too.

[djdeweese]

Digital Music News also reports that a legal P2P music sharing system is in the works in the UK. Licensing and revenue details still have to be worked out, but there will be a way to pay artists (ala soundscan but for downloads), and as the system evolves more people will be able to pay for the music they want whether big label or niche indie artists. I don't think you can count out the potential for digital distribution as a significant revenue stream for artists as technology moves forward. I'm much happier downloading a legal copy for one dollar and knowing what I'm getting. The file sharing sites have a lot of spam, viruses, and corrupt files confused with the real files, so people who actually buy music are willing to pay for quality and convenience. And on the slim (but still real) chance that a Taxi placement gets high profile placement you can reach a lot more than 100 people right away if you have your music for sale online. Pretty cool indeed.

[mojobone]

milfus is entirely correct in that we have to be cookin' somethin' the people want to eat if we're to have any financial success, but for some artists, bowing to any such financial concern is considered stifling to their creativity; in some genres, even giving the appearance that you're trying to have a hit is tantamount to artistic suicide.I'm not interested in making music that's only listened to by other musicians. I think that's why jazz audiences have shrunk over the past quarter-century or so. Jazz musicians were so hungry for the respect classical academia denied them that they made it so you had to study to play. Once it's decided that a music has to be 'conserved', you can put a toe tag on it. The vocal jazz tradition is dying out and nobody dances to it anymore. Everything gets neatly categorized and old men will write scholarly papers and argue about it. Now that we have the 'School of Rock' it's only a matter of time. Hip hop, you're next.