Learn How to Make it
in the 21st century - The Music Business Model
How to Make it in the 21st century Music Business Paradigm
- Technology: Social Network - Defining Cultural Literacy and Technological Literacy
- Internet: Learn About Twittera social network Tools
- Music: HOW TO USE TWITTER TO HELP BUILD YOUR AUDIENCE
- Music: Music Business Success Stories Social Music Revolution
A recording artist is someone who records and that is different froma a musician. You can understand when you see them play live. For my entire life it's been about the record. You tune in the radio to hear what's good to know what records to buy. Now you avoid the radio and no one buys sxxt. Now you go hear them play live.
The concert industry may be following the recording industry down the tubes. There are no acts today who are going to fill arenas in 20 years. You've got to start small, charge little and build an audience. Which you nurture over time.
BOB LEFSETZ
Music will not die. People will not stop listening. But who is able to earn a living making it and who is able to earn a living selling it will be different. Insiders know that Ticketmaster is just a front for the acts.
Live Nation isn't in business with Doug Morris, but the kid on the street, with the new band, that's got a new manager, who hopefully will tell his agent to partner with the promoter, for the benefit of everybody involved.
How you break a band? Word of mouth.
Not via top-down carpet bombing. If something is good, EVERYBODY in the target demo is aware of it momentarily via txt, IM, old-fashioned e-mail, pitchforkmedia.com, or stereogum or hypemachine or some music blog. MOST PEOPLE STILL FIND OUT ABOUT THE BAND ORGANICALLY! Ever since the advent of overhype, with MTV, band careers have become ever more brief. Only the oldsters, who developed organically, when you couldn't get on television on a regular basis, can tour a decade after they emerged, never mind three or four.
It is the Web’s ability to create a brand at breakneck speed. Let's begin where everybody else does, MySpace. Once again, MYSPACE DOES NOT BREAK ACTS! Most people never look at the homepage. What MySpace does is give you a place to listen to the MUSIC of acts. Usurping the need for a record company. For FREE, you can have your music hosted. Where not only "friends' can check it out, but professionals too.
The only people paying attention to old media are...OLD PEOPLE! THE RAW CREATIVITY! Like all great art, you listen and say WHO CAME UP WITH THIS? That's the essence. That's the power of music, when it reaches someone who wasn't paying attention. The key is to leave your mark online. And you do that via sheer creativity.
Viral Marketing: You can build a buzz. If you're GOOD! Most bands on MySpace are bad. But now EVERYBODY expects EVERY ACT to allow their music to be heard on MySpace! Were the major labels here first? No, they're begrudgingly following along. Terrestrial radio is still number one. But the savvy, the FANS, they're constantly surfing and discovering. Which is why acts should have their music available in blogs, given away free EVERYWHERE! Because if the tastemakers have it, they can spread the word. You need a huge touring and radio presence. An act with a profile should be ITS OWN label. Watch the P2P figures of Eric Garland and BigChampagne. [1] sse What is peer to peer file transfer?
Beyond FREE: How to make money when you give it away for free
There are 8 ways and proof of concept people making money this way, but are you good enough??
FIRST EXAMPLE OF A SUCCESSFUL
21ST CENTURY BUSINESS MODEL.
Musicians / Entrepreneurs Crighton and Allison are creating the ultimate artist/fan relationship. They are asking people to give Clint the opportunity to make his own record and this is how it works:
Limited to 1000 individuals who want to be involved, Talking Moon Music (Crighton and Allison's new label) are asking them to purchase a membership for AU$100. This is the deal.
- Members will have the 1/1000 chance to be randomly selected for an all expenses paid 10 day journey to LA to witness part of the recording process as well as see the sites of LA including Hollywood, Santa Monica Beach, Sunset Strip and Universal Studio's.
- Members will be a part of the creation of an independent record which will be marketed to the world (names will be printed ON the CD artwork).
- Members will receive lifetime entry into all solo/headline performances by Clint Crighton.
- Members will receive a signed CD prior to its official release.
Once 100 000 copies of this album are sold worldwide, members will get their money back.
Launched last week to his own database Clint Crighton is already proving that the innovative idea is paying off. One individual from Prague has purchased memberships for all 5 member of the family.
Call it a loan, call it a blind leap of faith but maybe you should be calling it the future of the music industry. Regardless of what tag you want to pin to their strategy most will agree it is the most organic approach to the music industry to date and possibly the one with the most potential.
What is on offer can be viewed at the label website - Talking Moon Music www.talkingmoonmusic.com
Clint Crighton is not signed to any recording company but has a management deal in the US with Fitzgerald Hartley Co. For further information please contact
Anita Heilig - Fitzgerald Hartley Company +1 (805) 641 6441
Dale Allison - Talking Moon Music +61 (0) 409 313 837 or talkingmoonmusic@gmail.com
Music Business Success Stories
2nd example of a successful 21st century music business model for bands that show you how to cut through the white noise, with no label, no PR firm, and no money to speak of.The Circus Orientation: Marketing Your Music
How did the phrase "jump on the bandwagon" get started?
What percentage of Barnum's shows were in theaters and what percentage in tents?
The uncle of one of my clients, a country singer whose name I forget, sold so many records for RCA that during the depths of the depression the company gave him five gold RCA dogs listening to a big-horned record player. How did he pull it off? He realized that he could put on tent shows for a fraction of the price of those in theaters and auditoriums. Folks needed entertainment, and they needed it on the cheap. That's what he provided for them. This star of the 30s whose name is now forgotten hired a Dutch kid as one of his advance men a person who would go to a town as much as a month in advance and start banging the gong for the upcoming event, getting it into newspapers, putting up posters, starting word of mouth, and coming up with every press stunt he and the home office could think of to weave the event as lumpily and bumpily as possible (so it would stick out) into the community's span of attention. The Dutch advance man later renamed himself Colonel Tom Parker.
Orientation: Learned lessons from 1970's Midnight Movie TheaterS
Financial Success found by John Waters with Pink Flamingo's, The Wailers, Jimmy Cliff with The Harder They Come, Rocky Horror Picture Show. All found their audience, their culture, people believed in it, supported it, and - ! - it was all done through word of mouth.
Lesson: People will spread it around and support you if you are in the right place at the right time with the right sound.
A Personalized Word of Mouth Recommender Model
Consumer generated media; Buzz; Text mining; Sentiment analysis; Recommending agent; Self-organizing map.
Modern Marketing - Your most important team member is your Webmaster
Most marketing is done to intermediaries. Radio stations, television, radio shows. Whereas today it's about establishing a direct relationship with your FANS! Via your Website. Five Mistakes Band & Label Sites Make
You should have an update on your Website EVERY DAY! You should have a message board. You should have free music, whether streaming or downloadable, hopefully all downloadable, but at least recorded streamed and live downloadable. And you should retrieve mailing addresses. This is the ultimate goal of your Website, to establish a PERMANENT relationship.
This is not like fan clubs of yore. You don't want to charge people. And it's not like the fan clubs of today, wherein you pay for the privilege of buying supposedly good tickets. Rather this is about cementing a bond with your fans, making sure they never leave you.
Imagine a marriage wherein the husband never talked to the wife. Where she saw him on TV and in Best Buy, but never felt any personal contact. Well, that relationship wouldn't last too long. Best to make regular contact. PERSONAL contact.
The days of artists being superior is over. Stardom is something completely different. Oh, don't pay attention to the one hit wonders hyped in the media. In their case, it's about making fun of them. Even if they've had more than one hit. People might like Christina Aguilera's music, but they laugh at her implants and chicken legs. But if each and every one felt connected with the real her, it would be different.
Go to see one of those bands who survive on the road. Over by the merch table, there's a clipboard, garnering e-mail addresses, for their mailing list. Which is why, after the hits dry up, if they come at all, these bands can still work. They've established a club, a cult. And EVERYBODY wants to be a member of the group, feel like an insider. Your job is to make them one.
Don't make your site pretty, make it a fount of information. Somewhere people can find out EVERYTHING about you. And want to come back to to find out more. A place where they can not only meet you, but OTHER fans. Community is key. Everybody's looking for like-minded people. For friends, for love relationships. An artist's Website is a much better place to start than match.com or craigslist.org.
Your site should have minimal Flash work. No entrance page. It should be UTILITARIAN! As in USABLE! You should be THRILLED that anybody comes at all, and if they do, you want them to feel welcome. You don't want them to have to go through so many pages, waiting forever for them to load, that they get frustrated, so they never come back.
But the ultimate goal of your Website is to garner contacts. To get the name of every fan you have. So you can e-mail him or her and tell them you've got a new record, that you're playing in their town.
Forget those scrolls of tour dates on television. Even radio announcements. Most of the people who hear them could give a shit about the act. It's about reaching those who DO care, directly. This is what the Web affords. The Long Tail Cement and serve this relationship. Read Chris Anderson. If you do it right, you'll never have to get a day job.
How to make it in the Music Business
It's about dedication, it's about no fallback position. Your music has to sell you. Plain and simple Great music sells you.
- Read "The Tipping Point" for instruction (and buy Don Passman's "All You Need To Know About The Music Business" too, if you haven't read it, you're operating with one hand behind your back).
- Don't sign with a major label unless you write the kind of music that's played on Top Forty radio.
- Start reading hitsdailydouble.com and learn what Top Forty radio is. Look at the "Billboard" charts.
- If you're a sensitive singer/songwriter, your odds of making it on KIIS in L.A. are just about nil. Oh, it can HAPPEN, but at WHAT COST?
- Are you into the money or the artistry? If the latter, beware of signing with a major label. Their paradigm ONLY works if they can get you on Top Forty radio and television. If you don't listen to these stations or watch those channels do you want to appear on them? And, signing to a major is like being a member of a Mafia family. You can't say no. You've got to play ball, do what they say, or you're dead.
- If you're pretty, if you have a good voice (although with auto-tune this is hardly necessary anymore), if you want to party at discos with Paris Hilton and you're NOT signed to a major label, you're missing the boat. This is what the majors do. Massage you into a product, fodder for the machine. They like it best when THEY'RE the artist and you just play along.
- If you're a rapper... you BELONG on the major label. Hopefully with someone who'll put other rappers on your tracks to help break you.
But, if you're an artist who doesn't fit the Top Forty radio paradigm ABSOLUTELY DO NOT SIGN WITH A MAJOR! You won't have success and you'll soon be at a day job. I know, I know, you can't pay the rent. You want the advance. Sorry, if you can't find a way to make it all work now, you're never going to succeed big time. It's a HARD LIFE for a musical artist. It's ALL ABOUT THE STRUGGLE! Work that day job. Make that music. And play live EVERYWHERE! That's the indie label paradigm. Free music on the Web and live performance.
As for the indie label
Sure, for discs make a deal. But get a good lawyer. Own your masters. Have a brief license period. DON'T GIVE SOMEONE CONTROL FOR ALMOST NO MONEY! If they want all the rights for no bread you don't want to be in business with them. Believe me, if they want you badly enough, they'll make a deal on your terms.
But better yet... Don't sign with ANYBODY! Don't even worry about making a deal with iTunes. Just give the music away on your Website and build community. You've got to get your music to connectors, TASTEMAKERS! But now, on the Web, EVERYBODY'S A TASTEMAKER! Give away MP3s on your Website and TELL people they're free to email / IM / burn / exchange them. Say they've got PERMISSION!
Put a feedback e-mail address on your site. And answer EACH AND EVERY LETTER! If you don't have time to do this, you're not gonna make it! Play Live, with passion, play like you mean it. After you start getting some traction, focus on the sound. Buy better equipment. Give away and sell stuff at EVERY GIG! Stive to be a professional. Build your community, build your fanbase they will pay you for your music. It's about slow and steady. You've got to want it more than anything. You've got to be willing to sacrifice relationships, real estate, remuneration, all in the desire to MAKE IT!
I hate to tell you, but the more people who hear the music, who have the MP3s, the MORE CDs you're going to sell. I know, it's counterintuitive, but it's fact.
On a 99 cent download the artist doesn't even make a nickel. Sale by track will not prevail in the future. It's economic suicide. You can only profit by selling the bundle. But, since Apple came up with a solution which the labels authorized, and what a story THAT is, just speak with Roger Ames and ask what it took to get Universal on board, it's the only real game in town.
"The Chat Room". About fifty or sixty heavies get together twice a year for a debate of the major issues in the music business. Tomorrow, with Richard as moderator, I'm debating John Kennedy, head of IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry). Go to http://www.ifpi.org/ to brush up on the organization. Roger Ames said The record companies DON'T pay royalties anymore. Robert Lee told us in the firm's office that you can't even negotiate a record contract anymore. It's take it or leave it. And it turns out the MMF is just joining with the publishers in the tribunal as to digital payments. So, there's no big money involved for attorneys. God, if it goes public, if the world hears that artists only make 4 1/2p per 79p download...this is the labels' worst nightmare. And I agree with Tony Wilson, there should be no public performance fee for selling a digital download, but it turns out that's the LAW, and the publishers are scraping to get a fair share, especially since the majors want a REDUCTION! From 8.25% to 6%!
Furthermore, I heard the inside story on the Robbie Williams deal. Turns out under British tax law they can write off the FULL VALUE of the deal in the year it's inked. And then the revenues are booked as profit when they finally come in.
If you've got a story to tell, make it all one song. Or, explain it on your Website. Tell people how to sequence the downloads. Or maybe, ask THEM how they sequence the downloads and what the result means to them. If the medium affects the art, the Internet is about collaboration, get the listener INVOLVED, don't dictate to him.
Make a ton of music. Put it up on your Website constantly. So people will go back and LOOK for it. Don't tour over five months a year, so you have TIME to relax and get inspired and continue to write, which is what you're truly about, being an artist. Establish a relationship with the fan, an ongoing one, not a static one. And know that if someone is into you, they'll want everything you ever did. Which is why I comb the P2P services for live tracks by my favorite acts. THIS is the passion we need. Not fat cats lamenting the passage of the old days eliminating all the soul from the enterprise. Music is dope. Sell it that way. Get people hooked so they won't let go.
Derek Sivers of CD Baby on Music Career Perfection
CD Baby founder Derek Sivers offers timeless advice on what it takes to succeed with music. Indie Buzz Bootcamp Read Derek's latest thoughts on music, business and life at http://sivers.org/
FROM CDBABY.COM How to Legally Sell Downloads of Cover Songs - DEREK SEVERS
CDbaby is wonderful: "If you have recorded a cover version of someone else's song, and you plan to make that recording available over the Internet, the following information applies to you. You must follow these steps BEFORE you make your recording available for distribution to the public! Learn how to obtain a compulsory license to digitally distribute cover songs over the Internet to end users in the United States. If you record a cover version of a song, (meaning your performance of a song that has been released in the U.S. with consent of the copyright owner), you are entitled by law to release your recording commercially, and the owner of the copyright to the song cannot prevent you from doing so. The Copyright Act provides for what is called a "Compulsory License", which means that if you follow the steps set forth by statute, you can distribute your recording of that song on a CD or over the internet." SELL YOUR MUSIC and get ADVICE also see INDIE - what is that? Video
Music Deals: The Future of Digital Music Is Microsoft. Music is just a pawn in their game. - PDF
In the past the power of television matched with great music, could an act could blow up.
That was the paradigm employed for twenty years, use TV to blast your act into the stratosphere. Some people still believe in that game, but it's done. If you're lucky, now you've got a career. And the key isn't expanding your brand, but satiating your core, it's all about the core. The ones who come to every show, and those who know you, but haven't been motivated to come previously. Forget trying to make new fans. You can't do it, only your preexisting fans can do this. Your career is about lassoing who you can see, not going on a hunt for new pelts.
2006 licensing rights is the democratization of the music world.
Podcasters say these free-use networks have accelerated a new way of thinking -- an online infrastructure that allows bands to build their name from the ground up. Between bloggers, live radio streams, MySpace and podcasts, a band now has dozens of avenues -- outside of traditional record companies -- to develop a global fan base. What once was a hierarchy of record studios and radio stations has been flattened by a revolution of online forces which continue to redefine the model of the music industry by the month, the week and the day. The success of MySpace has encouraged the expansion of such blogs as Music For Robots (music.for-robots.com), and My Old Kentucky Blog (myoldkyhome.blogspot.com), where communities of tens of thousands now share their new favorite tunes and bands.
It also led to such streaming online radio alternatives as Live365.com, Pandora.com and LAUNCHcast (music.launch.com), which allow users to customize their own personal radio station. An endless catalogue of podcasts -- today there are around 5,000 music-only podcasts -- have, for many listeners, taken the place of radio entirely. PitchForkMedia.com what has been created through this emerging network of music fans is an entirely new system of "taste makers" -- influential voices which were once found only on radio stations and in entertainment publications -- and a new philosophy behind the marketing, promotion and distribution of music.
Late last year, organizations such as the Independent Online Distribution Alliance and its counterparts offered a solution to the final hurdle hindering podcasts: the legal issues surrounding a song's royalty fees and copyright protections. By bringing hundreds of independent record labels together, and having them approve their bands' music for free-use purposes, IODA launched a service it calls PROMONET, which distributes thousands of free tracks to approved podcasters every day. Podcasters must mention the band's name, and report back on how well the track plays with its audience. According to Tim Mitchell, IODA's vice president of marketing and business development, and Dave Warner, the creator and host of the weekly podcast Dave's Lounge, services such as PROMONET -- and others like the Podsafe Music Network -- create a win-win situation. Podcasters get new music. Bands get access to more potential fans, and information about those fans. Audiences get to hear the hot new thing.