As I described in my previous post, “Subscribe To My…..Mixtape?”, RSS feeds are the wave of the future for delivering and receiving content. I stated that a future scenario for music would entail fans subscribing to your music through feeds. Microblogs are the new social media trend at the current moment. Through real time streams such as Facebook, Jaiku, Plaxo, and Twitter, everyone is partaking in the “What am I doing now?” craze. Though there are infinite sites that cater to this the most popular is without a doubt – Twitter. Twitter is the main attraction all over the world, grabbing attention from high profile celebrities, corporations and venture capitalist. On a communal level, I’m beginning to see more artists use Twitter as a means of engaging with their audience and promoting their music. Subscribing to my content is one thing, but what about selling my content through RSS feeds? Twitpay, a platform that allows recipients to send small payments through Twitter, has introduced a new way to sell your content through Twitter called RT2Buy. If you’re a Twitter fanatic, you’ve probably already guessed that “RT” stands for “ReTweet”. The process for buying and selling content is simple: When you see someone post an RT2Buy tweet, click the link and check out the preview. If you like it, just retweet it, and Twitpay delivers the content. As an artist, with RT2Buy you’re able to promote, advertise and sell your content directly to your Twitter following. This cuts out the task of trying to lure your fans to your website to listen or to buy your music. As the web becomes more intelligent, sites such as Twitpay and RT2Buy will evolve and make it even more convienient for music entrepreneurs.
The well-known quote from Ghandi rings true in my head as I dwell on the theme for this post – “You must become the change you wish to see in the world.” The call for change resonated with the election of President Obama and the people took to heart the message. In order to see change, we must be willing to embrace the challenges that lie ahead and accept our responsibilities. Within the music community, there’s a strong cry for change. From asking for more support from the music fans to wanting more quality and substance from music artists and demanding better treatment and fairness from record labels. Being that the music artist is the central figure in the overall scheme of things, let’s concentrate on the need for creativity, quality and substance. I was reading a post by Tim Feriss, author of the book, “The 4-Hour Workweek”, entitled, “Start-up Strategy: To Change the Game, Change the Economics of How It’s Played”. Within the post he references a book entitled, “Rules of Thumb” by Alan Webber and the significance of changing the economics of how the game is played. He mentions Jerry Garcia, manager for the Grateful Dead and how he created the first social network in the seventies. His principle: “You do not merely want to be considered just the best of the best. You want to be considered the only ones who do what you do,” earned him the position as one of the top management gurus of all time. At the time, (and it’s still relevant today), you weren’t allowed to take photos or record live performances. The Grateful Dead’s strategy allowed fans to take photos, record live performances and bootleg their material. The Grateful Dead isn’t known for selling records, but they are known for their massive following of dedicated fans. The band made their money from selling merchandise. Giving their fans permission to share live recordings and photos put them in a category by themselves. I’m not writing this post to say we need to adopt the “give your music away for free” model. I made clear that that trend is dead in my previous post. What I’m saying is that we need to think beyond trying to be the best and figure out how we can change the economics of the music industry. As Murs said on his latest album, “Murs For President”, the "Time Is Now" for us to change the way we perceive music. We need not depend on the traditional way of doing things. As we can see, the music empire of the past is falling. After you finish reading this post, think of ways you can be considered “the only ones who do what you do.”
Who's WERKing?
Studio 9000
Wake the neighbors! Sound the alarm! The streets are going to be set on fire with the debut album by hip hop duo R. City (aka Theron and Timothy Thomas), on Konlive/Geffen Records. With R. City’s work behind the scenes, penning songs for Akon, Usher, Mario, Sean Kingston and Rodney Jerkins, to Nicole Scherzinger and the Pussycat Dolls, Jesse McCartney, Macy Gray, Ashlee Simpson and Enrique Iglesias, they’ve been able to produce an inferno of anticipation amongst the industry and the streets for the release of their album “Wake the Neighbors.” Currently they are having songs mixed at PatchWerk by Leslie Brathwaite with assistance by M.Pratt and Mike “Snotty” Miller.
Studio 995
When: Friday, May 15, 2009 at 9:00pm
Where: The Bench
What: B.O.B aka Bobby Ray & Friends
When: Friday, May 15, 2009 at 9:00pm
Where: Apache Cafe
What: Krs One and Buckshot Concert
When: Thursday, May 21, 2009 at 9:00pm
Where: The Loft
What: Indoor Music Festival
When: Friday, May 22, 2009 at 7:00pm
Where: 10 Krog Street
What: Devin The Dude & 88 Keys (Concert)
When: Friday, June 5, 2009 at 9:00pm
Where: AMBIENT PLUS STUDIOS
In the beginning there were newspaper subscriptions. Afterwards came the magazine subscription. As the internet found its place in society and email became the source of information, people began to subscribe to newsletters. Currently, society subscribes to RSS feeds to receive content from blogs, podcasts and/or videocasts. The ease of distributing information on a global scale is what makes the Information Age defiant. With music and the transition into the Digital Age, the ease of distributing music on a global scale has the same impact and affect. Are music subscriptions the next big trend? Music strategists and industry leaders have been debating for quite some time about music subscriptions and how that could be an alternative and a possible solution to offset P2P file sharing. We see Bittorent sites such as Napster, digital music stores such as Rhapsody and mobile phone service providers such as Nokia, offering a monthly subscription for a limited amount of music downloads. Taking it a step further, what about music labels and artists bundling their music, other media and merchandise in a package and offering it as a subscription to their fans? Imagine that you’re a rapper with a strong following of dedicated fans. You’ve taken the time to build a quality brand and your journey in the music industry is both fascinating and bizarre. Not only are you releasing mixtapes on a bi-monthly basis, but you have rare video footage of studio sessions with some well known producers and artists working on your anticipated debut album release, interviews overseas and you have merchandise that’s in high demand. Building and sustaining that anticipation for your debut album release, you can bundle all of those elements into one package and tell your fans, “For 6 months, if you subscribe to my package, you will receive 3 mixtapes, rare video footage of studio sessions and interviews and merchandise. At the end of the 6 months, you will receive a free copy of my highly anticipated CD. All you would have to pay is “X” amount of dollars to have access.” Being that you have an established brand and a strong and dedicated following, you could possibly reap more benefits from this subscription based model than hoping to sell a million records when the album is released. This is one way to use the current trends to your advantage. Trent Reznor, front man for Nine Inch Nails, is experimenting and using these models to his advantage; why can’t you? In the future, after you’ve built your brand, don’t ask your fans to buy your mixtape, simply tell them, “Subscribe to my mixtape”.
DON"T FORGET YA JUMP DRIVES!!!! WHO THE HELL BURNS CD's ANYMORE?
After Radiohead, NIN and Saul Williams introduced and reaped the benefits from allowing fans to download their albums for free, the music industry embraced this trend and the “free” or “pay-what-you-want” model became the standard. Overnight, artists felt that giving their fans what they wanted would be more valuable than making a profit from their albums. Two years after the “free” pandemic, industry leaders such as Seth Godin and Kate Bradley are beginning to question the effectiveness of the “free” model. The market is already oversaturated with new acts. To add to the matter, majority of the new acts are giving away their music for free and performing live for free. In their eyes, free giveaways and free performances equal more attention and more publicity. This is true; however, what they fail to realize is, if everyone around you is using the same technique for the same reason, before long, you will have to compete for attention. What does this mean? Artists will have to find creative ways to add more value to their “free” package to attract more attention. Or, artists can become more creative and add more value to their music to attract more fans to purchase their albums, tickets for their performances and merchandise. At the end of the day, supply and demand reigns supreme. The supply of “free” music is high while the demand for it is decreasing. The supply of “quality” music is low and the demand for it is increasing. Before you begin recording and mixing your album on Garageband or Audacity (free recording software), pressing up copies on your desktop or laptop for free and handing out free copies at your free concert, think about effectiveness, the strategy and the quality behind your “free” campaign. When Nas claimed “Hip Hop Is Dead”, I understood the underlying meaning behind his statement that we need to be more creative and bring quality to the art form. My words may not have the same impact, but I take the same approach by saying “Free Is Dead”.
How familiar are you with the Billboard's Musicians Guide to Tour & Promotions? Well while in the bookstore I caught the magazine that holds a plethora of information if your a musician. The Billboard's Musicians Guide to Tour & Promotion is your answer to obtaining exposure and income in different markets of the country. If your an independent artist or manage artist and you don't have this magazine please stop and think about why. The information is clear as day.
BONNAROO, Tennessee, U.S.
June 11-14 ($235)
The word "bonnaroo" is New Orleans slang for "the best on the streets," and the Bonnaroo festival has grown into that name over the past eight years, winning Rolling Stone magazine's "Best Festival" award in 2008. In addition to promoting mainstream and independent rock, hip-hop, and electronic groups, Bonnaroo also features a stand-up comedians' tent and a "silent disco" tent -- where everyone gets a pair of headphones that sync up with the music for late night dancing without the noise complaints. Over 80,000 people will head to the festival outside of Nashville to see headliners including Bruce Springsteen, Phish, and Snoop Dogg.
LOLLAPALOOZA, Chicago, U.S.
August 7-9 ($190)
Rocker Perry Farrell began Lollapalooza in 1991 as a farewell tour for his band, Jane's Addiction. The biggest grunge rock festival during the nineties disappeared for awhile around the turn of the century, but it was revived in 2005 as a more traditional "big weekend" destination festival in Chicago. The past few years at Grant Park have been marked by hot summers, huge crowds, and even bigger bands. The anticipated crowd of nearly 200,000 is staggering, as are this year's headliners: Kings of Leon, Tool, Depeche Mode, and Beastie Boys, just to name a few.
