Free music is the answer and artists must embrace the chaos

Lee Parsons runs Ditto Music, a digital distibutor in the UK.

In his two-part interview on HypeBot he talks about the demise of the old music business model and looks at the future of music.

Ranging from record label's reluctance to change through the need for artists to embrace technology, these two pieces are a must read.

Every new media outlet whether it is YouTube, Spotify, or LastFM has a success story, someone who caught the wave early on and accelerated their career. Artists that are constantly ahead of new trends WILL make noise. They just need the music to create a long term foundation. The ideology that musicians can make a demo, send it out and become signed has almost disappeared.

This is bad news for the few who would have become bedroom millionaires but great news for artists just looking to make and sell music easily. And any artist who clings to the notion that they are an “artist” and not a business person will be left in the dust.

Part 1 of the interview here

Part 2 of the interview here

Arcade Fire - clearly a model to revere

Pitchfork interview Arcade Fire and they get to muse on a few things that are close to my heart.

They talk about how they realised that they wanted to go their own way rather than be signed to a record label.

But, the thing that makes Arcade Fire great is that they have ambition and they have worked hard at their talent. And, for them, the music comes first. They want to be great and they work at it. The clever ideas that they and their team have come up with are innovative and since they license their music to a label rather than being signed, the choices are made together and aren't restricted by outdated major label models.

I particularly like what they say about the quality of songs on the radio when they were groing up as opposed to now - this is a band that care about quality.

If we were around in the 60s, who would we rip off? Glenn Miller? [laughs] We have some nostalgia about how music and radio used to be, but it's not a deep nostalgia. When you get into it, it was all pretty screwed up the whole time. Then again, there's an AM station in Montreal that re-broadcasts Casey Kasem shows from 30 years ago. I was listening to one from 1972 and the top 10 songs included John Lennon, Aretha Franklin, the Rolling Stones-- like, nine of the 10 were classic, and #2 was some horrible schmaltzy 70s song. I don't think I'll be excited about nine of the top 10 songs on the radio today 35 years from now, partly because I'm an old fogey.

Read the whole piece here - it's worth it.

Social Media hype kils what it creates

Thoughtful article that should be read in full - a very clear take on social networking for musicians.

I was most taken with the analogy to parents naming children who chose not to pick names that rose quickly to prominence as they dismissed them as a fad. Apparently, research shows that people have a similar attitude to music.

Similar to the way that parents shied away from overly popularized first names, the more rapidly popularized that an artist becomes, the more fans perceive them negatively, avoid buying their albums, and file-share the short-lived songs instead.

The more fans do this, the more labels are forced to create music that can go viral and become blockbusters instantly, and the faster new artists are blitzed into the mix, feeding into an ever more vicious cycle that kills what it creates. 

Read the whole piece here - it's well worth it.

SoundCloud Social Download - key tool in fan engagement

I love SoundCloud - it's a great place to host your music and the community is very influential in breaking music.

It should definitely be part of your online music promotion mix.

They have just released a great application that allows you to trade your SoundCloud hosted music file for a potential fan's tweet or share on facebook, or even email address.

You should be using this!

SoundCloud-Social-Download from SoundCloud on Vimeo.

Read the whole post at SoundCloud.

Use the internet to build a fanbase but don't forget to learn to be good!

I like this article since it looks at how some acts have used the internet to build a following and then turned that into commercial success - either on their own or with the step to a traditional record label.

An article on our blog looks at exactly what you should do to use the interent to build your fanbase.

But, the key thing for me in this article is at the end where the writer points out that you need to take the time to learn your carft - a theme that we bang on about endlessly.

While you’re waiting for your big break, you need to hone your skills in front of an audience. Getting signed is half the battle, but if you want to be a band that makes a difference, you need to perform consistently and write memorable songs on a tight schedule. 

Read the whole post here.

How artists make money from their music

This article looks at an overview of how songwriters and artists make money in the music business - a great musicians resource.

In today's world, there are a variety of ways songwriters and artists make money in the music business. These include, but are not limited to: video games, on-line streaming, traditional radio play, downloads, songs in films, TV shows and commercials, webisodes, ringtones, e-greeting cards, lyrics on t-shirts and jeans, merch bundling and more

Some of these channels generate a lot of money, others very little and some are good for promotional benefit only.

Each subset of the music business has its own set of rules, contracts, licenses, considerations and royalties and differ depending on whether you are a songwriter, an artist, or both.

Here are basics of what you need to know about how to make money as a songwriter and artist in today's world of music.

Read the whole article at Tunecore now.

Online music marketing the Hip Hop way

Chamillionaire turned up at TechCrunch's Disrupt conference for the second year in a row last week.

His attendance last year brought about a last minute Q&A on stage much to the surprise of the attendees. This year he was invited back for another rather more planned session. He talks about how he uses the web and stays up to date with technology in his take on online music marketing.

I was put on to this by a reader response in Bob Lefsetz's mailbag - Bob has all the best stories! - who pointed the video out to Bob.

I'm not sure if this bit from Bob's mailbag is Bob or the reader but it is very insightful.

I couldn't turn this off. Forget the street language, this guy is very smart and knows what he's talking about.  The interviewer is a bozo.  And Chamillionaire makes the tech startup peeps look ridiculous. One major point he makes is for an artist, FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION!  An entrepreneur can just start another company, a record label or manager can just sign another act, but an artist only gets one shot. Sure, you can change your name, but people know. So every step you take must be weighed and judged accordingly. You're building your rep, or destroying it.  Stay in long enough to where Chamillionaire says he's not gonna make another record for Universal, he doesn't want to owe them any money.  Furthermore, when he starts talking about Mashable... How many people making decisions at Universal even know what Mashable is? Whew!

How important is that quote? I'd never thought about it, but it's right. You only get ONE reputation as an artist, so you'd better get it right! 

Watch the video here - I couldn't get it to embed!