Music's New Messiahs: Revelations on the Future of Digital Entertainment by Gary Mraz
The grand pillars of music's temples have shaken in biblical proportions. The four horsemen of the apocalypse have crippled major recording studios with the arrow of home studio technology. Slashed funding for music and music technology curriculum in schools. Tipped the scales of music distribution striking down major music retailers like Tower Records. Finally, the Pale Horseman rang the death knell for many major record companies, succumbing to low-resolution MP3 audio and downloading. Rumor is the famed Capital Records building in Hollywood is destined to become condominiums. With traditional music retail and distribution channels disappearing how do artists find the Way, the Truth and the Light? The four Horsemen may be bearing down on us but apocalypse also brings forth new beginnings. We the artist's have become the authors of a new testament in the future of digital entertainment and can flourish by taking advantage of this new level playing field.
The Way - A new distribution model
The new successful independent music companies think in a completely different way. There are electronic distribution labels (Digital Only) that DO NOT manufacture CD's. INgrooves claims to be the world's largest digital record company and a leader in digital entertainment. The new paradigm is to let fans burn the physical media while providing them with the professional content, graphics, music and text. Warner's "e-label" will release clusters of songs online. The artists will retain ownership of their masters and copyrights while signed to the label. EMI Music CEO Alain Levy declared the CD almost entirely dead and buried. (Levy was axed several weeks after making that pronouncement). US CD sales are down 10.5% below last year and many labels are rethinking the album format all together, requesting instead for a release of 2 songs every quarter. www.ingrooves.com
As an independent artist SNOCAP's digital distribution model allows musicians to sell downloads directly from your own site rather than relying on other sites. To do this, you upload your songs to SNOCAP and then grab the bit of code they provide and plug it into your site. This creates a "store" on your site where people can hear 30 seconds of a tune, and then purchase it for download. SNOCAP makes your songs available on other sites and accepts anyone (which iTunes doesn't). You don't even need to have a physical CD. http://snocap.com:80
CD Baby has re-defined the independent model of physical CD sales and distribution. Setting the bar for independent music distribution it took them 4 years to hit the 1 million dollar payout mark. Now that can happen within a single week! www.cdbaby.com
Cell phone ring tones have become the newest mass music distribution method. In fact many artists actually make a lot more money on ring tones since they sell for 2 to 3 times more than a digital download. Imagine playing live and having a banner up during the show advertising that you can download your album right now on your iPhone, everyone holsters their mobile phone. With this strategy, fans don't even need cash or credit cards, they just pay with their iTunes account at the show. Apple's i-Tunes got people comfortable with listening to music on a hand-held digital device, and now everyone is scrambling to cut deals. CD Baby has forged digital distribution agreements with iTunes, DigiPie, iSound, Tasty Audio, Naros, Flip and more. To be successful in this market you need to understand DRM thoroughly (Digital Rights Management- Technologies to give content providers (and owners) control over redistribution and access to material) because this is how you get paid. Creating ring tones of your own music is pretty cool, you can do that at: http://www.myxertones.com/default/
The Truth – Mass media, mass marketing
Corporate giants will spend billions in aggregate (the combining of content companies, technology and software) acquisitions. These corporations sponsor, acquire and morph companies like Youtube and Myspace to corral the hearts and minds of today's youth. Imagine if Cadillac offered a selection of 20 different Internet advertising campaigns, all stylistically different. A Myspace /Youtube band site could choose an Ad that fit their taste and insert it as a 2 to 10 second pre-roll (short video advertisements inserted into online video). Each time it's played they get paid! This is the future of corporate advertising and personal web portable wireless video/cell technology. But at the moment, while corporate Goliaths battle over dominion of next generation technology (Blue Ray and High Definition DVD) the proverbial "David" slings 5 million downloads daily. Its estimated that 70% of Internet traffic is P2P, peer-to-peer and trying to make this digital content un-copy able is like trying to make water not wet.
The Ozzfest is a perfect example of a new live corporate music model. People were frustrated with overpriced CD's so they got it free online. Concert tickets were also becoming overpriced so this year Ozzfest is free! Free is one helluva good distribution method. Corporations sponsor these tastemakers (influential musicians and Blogsters that set trends and styles) who can drive traffic to their sites. They exchange free concert tickets for personal contact information from that desired demographic. Gerd Leonard, a Music Media Futurist forecasts this " free" idiom with his music like water analogy. Everybody uses water and everybody pays but tap water is virtually free yet "better quality water" generates 100 billion dollars a year. Asserting that record companies are literally starving themselves to death by basing their strategy on outmoded assumptions. Remember, consumers pay more for a gallon of "quality water" than a gallon of gas. By creatively redirecting this flow of music with opportunities for content rich, value added better quality music.
The Light - A new artistic vision
In late 2006 Barenaked Ladies grossed $978,127.99 in revenue from intellectual property in its first week music sales from their new album. Understanding this sales figure requires looking beyond the numbers on the charts, according to Terry McBride, band manager and CEO of the Nettwerk Music. McBride notes BNL released their album on their own artist-run label, Desperation Records, in multiple formats, from physical CDs to digital albums, deluxe editions, USB flash drives, ring tones, multi-tracks for remixing, streams, etc. Not only is revenue generated from all of these outlets, but also the percentage the band actually sees is significantly higher since they own their Intellectual Property. BNL actually hit as the #4 digital seller in the US and #3 in Canada. Barenaked Ladies Are Me, the first original album in three years from BNL, charted at #17 in the US with only 36,811 albums sold and #7 in Canada with only 8,008 albums sold.
Make sure your online marketing reaches the right audience. In this age of independents your website should also be an aggregate of Internet tools discussed in this article, Just a myspace,don't really tie all you needs. Inexpensive industry focused web developers like BandXpress. On the other hand the market for songwriters Scott Ray and Garrett Soden is not the general public but the producers who buy their songs. Their site skips cutting-edge features such as Flash video, blogs, and…… Instead, their site is organized like a music library, so songs are easy to find and play. They make the songs the stars and also cross promote by linking the musicians and vocalists who play on their demos and visa versa. www.clearmoonmusic.com
Broadcasting your music 24/7 on your own Internet radio station is another great way to find another audience. Live365 allow users to create their own stylistically unique format, upload original material and find new markets. I am astounded at how many times a week users add my radio station as a preset to their listening experience. www.live365.com/voodooradio
If you have compelling branding or image content sites like Cafepress can Manufacture On Demand (MOD) an entire merchandise catalog of t-shirts, coffee mugs, mouse pads, posters, etc. This is physical, branded merchandise you can sell at the shows. Also sending web traffic to these sites turns free listeners into paying customers. This doesn't cost you a single cent yet expands your merchandising possibilities. Branding your bands logos, images and music develops a Long Tail marketing strategy.(Coined by Chris Anderson, the Long Tail is potential distribution and sales channel opportunities created by the Internet that enable businesses to develop and extend that market successfully). www.cafepress.com
We musicians generally pursue our craft with religious fervor and a unique Do-It-Yourself initiative. Participate with related organizations, attend conventions and seminars and keep educated. Information for this article was gathered recently at NAMM, National Association of Music Merchants) D.I.Y. Do It Your-self Convention and I.R.M.A (International Recording Media Convention). Read trade magazines and publications like this one for relevant information. Also remember that in this digital age by the time you've read this article some markets already changed. There is a plethora of online informational websites on almost every topic. The more informed you are the better your potential of making a living in this new digital marketplace http://podcast.futureofmusicbook.com
Resurrection – Live, live, live
Play "live" anywhere, anytime, any way that you can. If you're not an established artist like Prince or David Bowie who releases and sells new music regularly online, no body knows you. The Internet gives you access to a global audience but who cares! Your mom has a Myspace and the family dog his own website. Yet one thing remains true: playing live is the litmus test of your true artistic caliber. If your talents inspire a passionate response, it's infectious. Your music, message and artistic viewpoint will spread virally (Marketing techniques that use social networks through a self-replication process) on the web and fans will buy your products. Build a physical fan-base, and then build an online community. And don't bore us- get to the chorus!
Myspace has been a successful tool for artists. Live performers utilized the online community, built friends lists for touring and new release information. Although with all the bogus friend's, bulletins and bots (Internet robots, a computer program designed for automated tasks), its a much more difficult prospect to get noticed in this social network today. A few good Myspace tips are to join other established band sites with similar musical taste. For example, an east coast hardcore band and a west coast band put each other on their top eight list; promoting each other's Myspace pages expands both audiences. Check out Ernie Halter, his fans place his live show banner in their Myspace page. You can update that banner image by simply revising the banner image while keeping the same URL. Updating all the Myspace images carrying your banner at once. With over half million-profile views to his credit imagine getting paid per view with Pre-roll advertising! http://www.myspace.com/erniehalter
The Burning Bush – Ignite your passion
Your probably creative in many ways, utilize those talents to expand your artistic opportunities. Exploit your uniqueness. Now that recording software and Internet access are commonplace, take that which makes you distinct and use it as a tool to drive web traffic your way. For example, my Studio Voodoo releases were created in 5.1 surround sound and use that medium for maximum effect. Although there are also stereo mixes of Studio Voodoo available, I've promoted the surround-sound feature because it's different. If you search for "surround sound" in CD baby, four Studio Voodoo releases come up in the first seven titles. Innovation is the new commodity.
If you're comfortable as a writer, you'll find there is more opportunities than ever to get articles published or posted online. This lets you promote your music by simply providing your website address at the end of an article. Right now Pop Matters has an open call for feature essays on any aspect of Pop Culture, past or present. www.popmatters.com
At the D.I Y. conference I bumped into Emily Arin who has a brilliant idea of a subscription based website that serves several purposes. For a mere twelve bucks subscribers receive a song monthly for a year. This not only pleases subscribers, it motivates Emily to maintain deadlines, keeps her creativity focused, and builds her repertoire for live shows. And it's working. Her subscriptions have exploded and people really enjoy the surprise of a new song at their home every month. www.emilyarin.com
The recent International Recording Media convention featured keynote speaker Mick Fleetwood. As founder and manager of Fleetwood Mac his stellar music career spans a 40-year evolution of music and delivery formats. From 8-tracks, Vinyl records, cassettes, reel to reel, Digital Audio Tape (DAT), Laser Disc, CD, DVD to downloading. He reminded us that with almost each and every transition naysayer's prophesized the demise of the music industry when actually it was revitalized. His " laws of the Jungle" proved very enlightening. "Start simply but think creatively (out of the box)" literally! Mick displayed a variety of outrageous music packaging. He stated that every "transition moment" offers new guerrilla marketing opportunities. If a system is set up for format A and format B is coming, independent artists can take transitional risks, and what if it actually works! I personally experienced this with my Studio Voodoo DVD-Audio release. Packaged in a "Super Jewel Case" it was larger than a CD jewel case so retailers had to put it in its own special, uniquely visible section. Mick also said " Quality and Integrity creates longevity" and with a long tail marketing mentality quality content can be morphed into a variety of iterations. Mick's declarations of "trust your talent, follow your heart and keep the faith" sound some how cliché when writing these axioms…..but truth is timeless
Rapture – A shining Star
You're found the way, selling songs directly from your aggregate website with Snocap and INgrooves. Your Live365 radio station broadcasts music 24/7 and CDs are available for purchase at CD Baby with digital distribution at dozens of sites. T-shirts, coffee cups and mouse pads with your bands branding are available for purchase at Cafepress. Youtube plays your videos and TAXI licenses music for TV and film. You spread the truth with Myspace, Tribe and Friendster's extensive mail list and blogs, telling everyone about your next projects and gigs. You radiate the light by playing live at bookstore chains and clubs, you're a shining star. You are the new digital Music Messiah. You can make a living with your craft in this new digital playing field because when you sell 100 units of anything its your profit. You now have the power to spread your words and music to the world! BUT, ultimately you are responsible to write compelling songs that are well produced, played and recorded by talented musicians/engineers. with impassioned lyrics sung by stellar vocalists. It is you who must divinely inspire your audience to actually spend their hard earned money… on you.
Special Thanks to Bobby Owsinski www.surroundassociates.com Johnathan Sabre www.sabreentertainment.net and Garrett Soden www.clearmoonmusic.com
Gary Mraz is a DTS Entertainment recording artist whose Studio Voodoo albums have won numerous awards. His thirty years of audio adventures include stints at Westlake Audio and Audio Engineering Associates, teaching at Citrus College and Pasadena City College, and tours through Europe and China. www.Studiovoodoomusic.com