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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Good blog posting about the music industry
Good blog posting about the music industry
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kudzurunner
1346 posts
Apr 18, 2010
10:41 AM
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Very interesting piece. Thanks for that.
There's one very simple fact that none of the authors, smart as they are, thought to utter: You can't autograph an mp3.
That's why CDs will continue to exist: as a way of connecting artist and consumer, particularly in the context of live performance where the consumer wants to take some music home with them and wants some artifact that testifies to presence "on the scene."
Music is about music, but it's also about community. People listen to and talk about music that makes them feel as though they are understood, as though they have a place in the world, and as though they're not really alone in the world. When people are touched by live performances, they want to take a bit of that magic home with them. The CD, or whatever material medium of exchange is current, carries that magic. This is why CDs, or whatever replaces them, won't be entirely dislodged by digital music.
You can't autograph an mp3.
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hvyj
276 posts
Apr 18, 2010
12:51 PM
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I saw Sugar Blue live on Friday. Rico McFarland was playing guitar for him. I was talking to Rico during he break between sets and there was a constant flow of fans with sharpies asking him to autograph CDs.
Then the rhythm guitar player from the opening act came up to meet him and asked if he would write "FOR SALE" on the rhythm player's stratocaster. I thought that was pretty funny, and Rico got a good laugh out of it, too.
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nacoran
1702 posts
Apr 18, 2010
1:33 PM
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Adam- Your right, you can't autograph an MP3. Flash Drives would be a cool format if you customized the cover and maybe put a strip on it like they do credit cards for a signature (only bigger). But you could also have songs that you broadcast to the audience's phones as keepsakes. You could digitally sign them as part of a 'You Where There' thing, making it separate from the actual song, so that even if they share the track with their friends that stamp doesn't go with it. Of course, you can always sell MP3's and sign the T-Shirts.
You could probably even figure out a way to put music in the shirt with RFID tags. How cool would it be to have t-shirts for your band that people could hold a reader (embed in their phone probably) up to and get a new song. People might start seeking out people wearing band memorabilia for bands. Obviously at that point you aren't trying to make your money on the music. You're trying to use the music to make money on the clothes. Instead of big bands having promotions where you sign into a website to see if your bottle top has one a song the song could be embedded in the bottlecap. Use eInk to create tickets that people will want to keep after the show.
Heck, once you had the technology in place instead of those promotions where you can win a song by some superstar get a bunch of indie artists together and approach the soda industry, or candy bar companies or T-Shirt companies, or Flash Drive manufacturers... give a few copies of songs away in a local area where you are about to give a show and a coupon for X amount off a ticket and see how much you can drive sales.
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Nate
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nacoran
1705 posts
Apr 18, 2010
3:25 PM
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MAL- I'm not sure you can cover your server costs at 1 cent. I suppose if the idea is to get people to listen to your music to support your shows 1 cent might work, and minuscule as it is that might be enough to make people download it and keep the file rather than just streaming, which would put more strain on your servers.
At that price it might just be cheaper to let the torrents loose. People use their own bandwidth. Maybe instead of DRM they should have put a tag to work with media players that would let you know about upcoming shows in your area by the artists you listen to. Come to think of it, why doesn't Media Player do that. It wouldn't have to be intrusive. Even just running it in the bottom scroll like the song name would be useful. It could even be an opt in.
I've been thinking also, about how you could help artists who can't tour make money in this system. There are musicians who can't tour for health reasons who get shut out in this system. It's a bleak retirement if you don't get royalties. There is probably are some ways to address this, whether it's just composing music for other people or musician retirement funds, but it's a question.
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Nate
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saregapadanisa
173 posts
Apr 18, 2010
3:50 PM
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I almost always buy the cd when availabe, but never ever consider asking for an autograph. A nice chat with the guy will do for me.
To me, it's just like tourists taking picture of themself in front of a sign post. Plain weird fetichism. But well, if it's needed to have the cd sold...
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MichaelAndrewLo
316 posts
Apr 18, 2010
3:54 PM
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Nacoran, do you realize that advertisers pay millions in advertising to places that offer a huge audience and prime demographic? The 1 cent would not be the money maker but the site advertising. You think radio shows and t.v. make money from you watching friends and listening to the music? NO. It's all about the advertising. They COULD have done this, now it's too late and that blog post talks about why.
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