You get your first guitar, learn all of your favorite band's songs, and play them in your room with one foot on your chair, as a small fan blows your long, metal hair into a messy array of tentacles whipping oxygen into carbon dioxide, effectively killing all living things around you (well, besides the plants). At least, that's how it goes in your head, as you imagine yourself on stage, in front of thousands of fans throwing up their rolling fingers, motioning “meedly meedly” with their mouths. (This is all happening in slow motion, of course.) Along with that is the assumption that you're not playing on your $300 dollar guitar and a tiny amp that's hooked to your belt. You've got a wall of cabs behind you, right? I mean, after all, you're banking hard.
It's the rockstar dream. We've all been there, at least once, before we accept that it'll likely never happen. Some of us keep telling ourselves that we don't care. In fact, we'd rather be underground, poor, and doing it for ourselves, our fans, and for the love of the music. It's almost tacitly assumed that we're either rich or we're poor in the music industry. But, does it have to be that way? Not any more.
The Music Industry: Then And Now
Let's look at how the industry has changed. Paul Resnikoff of Digital Music News released a series of charts portraying the difference in revenue contributions by format over the last 10 years. (Note: The information in the charts comes from data based on RIAA figures.)
Here's what the music industry revenue scene looked like in 2000:
CD sales dominated alternate revenue streams, mostly for the reason that 2000 was largely prior to the advent of the digital music age. (MySpace and the iTunes Music Store weren't even founded until 2003.) For a band, that means the distribution of their music relied heavily on creating a physical product and spreading it as far as their little arms could reach. Tour, tour, tour and pass out as many CDs as possible. That costs money and that's exactly what a new band lacks.
What does the industry look like today? (Well, last year. You can see the change, year by year, here.)
You'll quickly notice that, not only have CD sales drastically decreased, but all sorts of new formats have cropped up: Mobile, Subscription, Download Album, Download Single, etc. These are the kinds of formats that people are using to consume music. You want to be on the up and coming and that's digital distribution. Physical CD sales are dropping. (An interesting point is that LP/EP sales have increased. Now that physical copies are no longer as heavily desired, when we do get physical copies, it seems some are opting for the more interesting, novel formats.)
*If you're going to do physical media, do something unique. Include a free digital download coupon, if it's Vinyl.
All of this should seem fairly obvious to you. Physical is moving out and digital is moving in. It's been here a while, actually. Now you just have a graph. But, here's where we get to the important bit: You now have more power than ever. The creation of a physical product (including recording costs), along with distribution and, most importantly, marketing that product to the masses, was an expensive endeavor. Now that these digital formats are so popular, we can play the game in a whole new way.
Creating The Album
Record your own music. You can get an Mbox with Pro Tools for less than $300 dollars. In fact, you can get all kinds of interfaces that include a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) on the cheap.
I think a lot of bands are initially turned off by this. (Although, this is becoming less and less the case.) First, it's a hell of a lot of work. You're going to have to learn how to use the software. The learning curve is not exactly forgiving. Inevitably, some of your sonic potential will be suppressed by your ability to merely operate the virtual knobs on the screen – and that's after you figure out what they're suppose to do. But, why isn't that okay? Surely, some of the music you write is already suppressed by your ability to play your instrument. What do you do? You practice and you get better.
Second, recording at a studio, or even having a friend do your recording at a low hourly rate, can get expensive, real quick. The studio is where you find out the bass player didn't actually know some of the riffs and that the drummer never actually set those fills in stone. It's when you find out the guitar player is smooth as butter on stage and shaky as a vibrator when that little red recording light is flashing. Time is money and by the time you're done, you could have probably bought all the equipment you needed to do a rough take of your own. Sure, it might not be as good, but you've just gained a skill. You put out what you can, to the best of your ability, and use the momentum it drives with shows and the money you make from merch to work on the next one. On the plus side, now that you own the equipment, you can take as long as you need.
There are also sites that will help you raise the money you need to create an album. Of course, in order to rally support, you'll likely need some kind of following to begin with and evidence of your dedication. Look in to these sites after you've taken matters in to your own hands by doing some recordings of your own. There are people out there who will support good music with their hard earned cash and you can use that money to improve the quality of product you're able to make by buying the equipment you need.
Kickstarter is an interesting way to raise funds for a project. You keep all the rights. If you aren't able to raise your goal, all the money is returned to the supporters.
On Kickstarter's second birthday, April 28th, they released some great data regarding their projects and their success rates. The following graph indicates fan-funding by category.
You'll see Music standing proudly in second place, just under Film. Over the course of 2 years, fans have poured $13,094,547 of their hard earned cash into various music related projects.
Of more than 20,000 projects (spanning all categories) that have launched on Kickstarter, over 90% are successful if they are able to raise at least 30% of their projected goal. Kickstarter reveals that only one project that raised 30% of its goal failed to, in the end, successfully reach its goal.
The overall success rate for a project started on Kickstarter, according to data accumulated over the past 2 years, is 43%. This is much higher than their expected success rate of 5%, but, they concede, it's hard to say what is good or bad on this new model.
It should be noted that not everyone agrees that fan-funding is necessary. Brian Hazard of Passive Promotion, for example, has argued against fan-funding.
Marketing & Distribution
Keep up with technology. If you planned on just making a bunch of CDs and selling them at shows, you're screwing yourself. Remember that chart? There are all kinds of ways that people will hear about your music and you've got to have the options in place to handle those requests. Never let someone steal your music because they couldn't find out where to purchase it online. Then, it's practically your fault, isn't it? If they're going to steal it, let your hands be clean of it.
So, how do you get your music to where all the people are? Check out some of these services, if you haven't already.
Aside from the services being offered, there is something a little more subtle you can take away from this video. You should be treating your band like a business. Each member needs to take on some responsibility, such as distribution, social media/marketing, and recording, to name a few.
One of your first questions might be, “How much?” It's $9.99 a month. (Sell a shirt?) If you want a recorded demo of the features, check out this video.
For an upfront fee ($10/Single, $50/album), TuneCore can get your albums on iTunes, Amazon MP3, eMusic, Zune, and several other digital distribution services. Of course, some of this is possible to do on your own, if you're willing to put the time in to it and keep track of everything yourself. The nice part about TuneCore is you have a centralized location to view sales and collect your money.
The Point
The music industry is changing and the power is shifting into the hands of the bands. New technology is allowing artists to fill the role that record labels have been/should have been filling for a long time. In fact, some record labels are using web tools like TopSpin, themselves. Why not cut out the middle man? As musicians, we need to have a mindset that matches the current state of the industry. Treat your band as an entrepreneurial start up. Take time to read news, keep track of technology, engage your fans and don't be afraid to market yourself. Lose the getting-signed-will-solve-our-problems mentality. If you treat your band like a business, you're building a foundation that can allow you to succeed doing something you love, even if you're never picked up by a label. And, maybe you'll never need one at all.
Please post a chart of the following things Meatloaf would do for love:
ReplyDelete1. Anything
2. That
okthnxbia