Tag Archive for 'Music Marketing'

Welcome to the Age of the Free Album

Published on December 28, 2007 in Blog. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Spotted on: Techdirt

A new idea has surfaced in the music business this year: giving away tons of free CDs. First Prince did it through UK newspapers, causing quite a stir in the industry. Now Big Head Todd and the Monsters are giving away 500,000 copies of their new album to radio stations and fans, splitting the cost with radio to get the copies out there. The albums will be available as giveaways from radio stations, and on the band’s site. The album is available as a free download for fans, and according to the BHTM site, the physical album is “Available SOON from our merchandise store for just $5 or FREE with any merchandise purchase of $15 or more.”

At first glance this appears to be another groundbreaking model for the industry. BHTM used to be on a major label, and has the industry recognition and viability as a touring outfit (they are preparing for a 60 city US tour as we speak) that comes with major label artist development and promotion.

Looking closer, even at dirt cheap prices (including postage), the investment here would be a minimum of $200,000. Apparently, fans are jumping at the bit to get the free album, a testament to the credibility of BHTM. But what does this action say for the rest of us in the industry? Although not as widely recognized as Prince or Radiohead (and few artists are), BHTM has the credibility and resources to launch this kind of campaign. For the rest of us who have not had major label development, access to create a quarter million in investment, tons of willing radio contacts, and the ability to book a viable 60 date US tour, this tactic may not be fruitful in the short term.

Based on the flopping CD sales over the holiday season, CDs are set to lose major amounts of retail shelf space next year, except in major retail outlets like Wal-Mart and Target. Consider that without retail shelf space, physical distributors will rapidly become obsolete. These days, selling 100,000 copies of a CD gets you high up on the charts. Give the sorry state of CD sales, it appears that musicians will need to have some kind of sure money maker (like touring) to buffer this kind of massive promo giveaway, unless one is willing to invest tens of thousands of dollars and ‘see what happens’.

So what about the horde of mid level musicians that don’t have the clout to give away half a million (or even ten thousand) CDs? It’s a brilliant marketing ploy, but without the ability to book a viable tour with sweet guarantees and juicy crowds or the guarantee of radio play it becomes a major loss leader in an industry that is rapidly losing revenue streams.

Giving away albums to generate buzz has become the modern equivalent of the single. Let the fans hear the music, and give them the opportunity to support the band live, or by buying merch or CDs. This tactic will drastically undercut the Big Four’s ability to set prices and control music distribution over 2008.

Bottom Line: It is beginning to appear that the only way to transform the music business is to devalue music and start again with a whole new model, where art is free and the money comes from something else.

The Major Record Labels are Collapsing

Published on November 14, 2007 in Blog. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

Spotted on: BoingBoing

The original article was in TheWeekDaily.com

I suggest you read the whole article yourself.? Here are a few of my favorite quotes, along with a bit of snappy patter:
“Ringtones, in fact, are now the fastest-growing source of music-industry revenue. “I find myself, when I’m signing a record deal now, asking, ‘Can this sell as a ringtone?’” said Steve Rifkind, president of SRC, a label affiliated with Universal.” - I’ll know I’ve made it when I’m #1 on Nokias…

“…seven years ago—an album would have to sell about 500,000 copies to reach No. 1. But Johnny Cash’s posthumous release last June reached the top of the Billboard charts after selling only 88,000 copies.” - The business model of major labels fails under these conditions.? Great news for indie labels though.

“The industry seems to have devoted most of its energy to largely futile efforts to prevent illegal downloading…big companies hunting and suing single moms and students has been a public-relations disaster. ”? - Is there anyone who doesn’t see this?

“The record industry has to find new ways of making money that do not depend on selling CDs for $16 apiece…the companies are devoting more resources to parts of the business that just a few years ago were mere afterthoughts or that didn’t even exist… some record-industry visionaries say the future won’t have much to do with making physical “records” at all.”? -? They knew all this ten years ago.

With every passing day, we see the continuing deterioration of the old guard.? The question becomes:? How will musicians make a living in the post major label environment?

Unbundling Albums – The Silent Killer

Published on November 14, 2007 in Blog. 5 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Spotted on: The Register

Capgemini? recently broke down album sales in Britain since 2004.? While the report is still confidential, The Register reported on a few details.? And what is the reported main source of lost revenue in the British recording industry?? Album Unbundling.? (Files sharing came in at 18% of the projection).

The iTunes music store was originally launched with the blessing and backing of the four major record labels, who thought unbundling albums would be a boon to business.? it wasn’t until the major labels unbundled their catalogs that the idea was popularized. In unbundling albums, audiences have lost the incentive to buy a whole musical work.

Considering that the major labels are upset over their falling revenue, it doesn’t seem like a shining moment when they devalued the recordings in their catalogs.

Would you buy part of a painting?? As Jim Griffin pointed out in 2004, would you unbundle books of poetry?

It is valid that many albums only have a couple of good tracks, and are mostly filler.? However, most albums are created and put together as a total piece.? Ciccone Youth released an album quite a while back titled “The Whitey Album”.? The second track is “Silence”, and consisted of a little over a minute of… silence.? Admittedly, this is not the first track of its kind (the band joked that the track was a speeded up version of John Cage’s 4:44).? This track sold for 99 cents on the iTunes store, until stories started popping up in the media.? Artistic visions are undermined through unbundling, and shorter or more experimental tracks are not always as valuable as stand alone.

What do fans lose from unbundled albums?? When I think of some of my favorite albums, I can see that I would miss some gems through album unbundling.? Polyvibe artist Zoltan Dobi has several tracks of under a minute each.? Many Pink Floyd albums are meant to be listened to as a continuous piece.? Primus‘ (Primus’s?) early albums contain many short interludes that I love, but wouldn’t buy as a single.? What about artists that put experimental ramblings or noise tracks in their albums?? Clearly these tracks are intended to be part of those musical experiences.

Does it serve artists to have their musical works picked apart?? While the single is still a viable format, it has a specific design.? A track meant to generate interest in an album, and often the best track (sometimes colloquially referred to as the “money track”).? By unbundling albums, all tracks become singles, and fans often miss the gold in favor of a single serving mentality.? Radiohead’s In Rainbows is not available on iTunes for this very reason.? The album can only be obtained the way it was created: as an album.

I’m a proponent of freedom of choice, and I believe that audiences have the right to buy the music they want, and how they want it. I’m a believer that if a song is a hit, don’t withhold the single.? When you buy your tracks in single servings, the overall cost is higher.? It costs between $2,000-$10,000 to fill a 40GB iPod, depending on whether you buy the music as albums or singles.

However, as an artist, I want my vision to be experienced.? When my albums are split apart, listeners do not get the full scope of my musical vision.? As as a lesser-known artist, the incentive for people to buy a single track over the album is apparent.? While it’s an honor to have people tune in at all, is there an incentive in creating a full album if people only buy one or two tracks?

The Bottom Line:? Album unbundling has the potential to eliminate the art of the album entirely, although it does provide an opportunity for fans to expand their musical tastes in low cost increments.

Why Are Radiohead’s Sales Figures So Important?

Published on November 9, 2007 in Blog. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Spotted on: TechConsumer

This has been all over the internet this morning. I was forwarded the link above, so TechConsumer gets the nod. Here’s the official statement from Radiohead regarding the recent sales reporting of In Rainbows, first reported by comScore Inc.

Let’s look at it from a different angle.

Consider that no one but the band’s organization has accurate sales totals, and they are not required to release those figures. While comScore may have a powerful system to approximate results, it’s still speculation. Fans don’t care how many albums the band sells, they’re buying it for the music. So why is the industry racing to release information that the ‘experiment’ is a ‘failure’, and why is the media scrambling to report sales totals for In Rainbows?

If In Rainbows proves to be a success (and I predict the band will make more money for themselves then they did on Kid A), then platinum artists don’t need major labels to promote them anymore. Major labels are scrambling to show the experiment doesn’t work to protect their interests. Their marketing machine propelled Radiohead to the spotlight, and now the band can generate media frenzy on their own. If this works for Radiohead, it can work for all artists with millions of loyal fans.

Thanks to the overwhelm of media coverage on the album, Radiohead doesn’t need to spend a penny on promotion if they choose. Once an artist reaches iconic status, they need no entity to propel their career, as long as the music is quality (and the reviews of In Rainbows are glowing). This kind of free publicity eliminates the need for huge marketing pushes. Without multi-platinum artists to buffer the bottom line, major labels are nothing more than upper-tier indie labels with massive back catalogs. Thus, the need to publicly show that the method doesn’t work. The reporting of In Rainbows isn’t about album sales or revenue, it’s about keeping mega-stars on major label rosters.

This story does not represent a shift in the music industry, it represents a shift for mega-artists. Once an artist has broken into international stardom, they no longer need the promotional muscle of major labels. The echo chamber of media almost guarantees releases from superstar artists will be plastered all over media outlets, with the hopes of generating readers, viewers, or web hits. The major label business model does not account for artists leaving the label after they are mega-stars. That’s where the major labels became major in the first place.

However, In Rainbows has little or no effect on the rest of the industry, as there are not many bands that can be compared to Radiohead in terms of success. For the 95% of artists that have not had a decade of major label development and promotion, Saul Williams‘ new release (produced by Trent Reznor) is the one to watch. Released with an option to buy or download at a lower bit rate, his sales figures are a measure of what is available for a mid level artist using this tactic. Of course, Saul Williams’ Q Score is much lower than Radiohead’s, so we haven’t heard much about this.

The story here isn’t Radiohead’s actions around In Rainbows, but rather the power they have to cause huge ripples in public conversation without the major label that broke them. Regardless of the amount of money made, In Rainbows shows that superstar acts can release an independent album and maintain their media spotlight.

The sales figures are a red herring for the real issue: Major labels have lost their ability to be the only avenue for mega-artists success, and these artists represent a huge part of their revenue.

Steve Albini on DIY Music Promotion

Published on November 7, 2007 in Blog. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

Spotted on: Gar Lives

Steve Albini speaks about DIY music promotion and bands operating in the music business.

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