The question of whether it is possible for recording artists to make decent money from the web is one that is not answered as easily as crunching the numbers on potential sales and fan reach.
I think just about everyone accepts that, with virtually unlimited supply, there was never going to be as much money in it. That is, not enough for Rock Stars to live the “Rock Star” lifestyle that so many dream about.
But could it be enough for those who have genuine passion for music to make a living from it?
This info-graphic by the guys at informationisbeautiful.net is quite interesting, but while it shows how difficult it is for bands to make money online (from the perspective of a traditional business model), it does not represent the opportunities and hopes of the many artists who, in my opinion, will make a living from music online.
The graphic represents how much artists are making from soft sales compared to physical media
This is the image that the big record labels and traditional media corporation are trying to sell to the content creators and consumers, through initiatives like their campaign to have the Digital Economy Act (#DEACT) passed through parliament.
But it is not as simple as this. The business model that the big record labels had always operated under is one where there was very little competition, replication could only be done by professionals (without losing too much sound quality) and that because of that they could make massive amounts of money from the few artists they decided to back.
Fast-forward to 2010 and competition is (or should be) endless, as bands can very easily record decent material from their bedrooms. Replication is quality-perfect and songs and playlists can be shared with all your friends through social media – in seconds.
So what the old-guard are trying to do is say: ‘Hold-on, technology and innovation are not good for our business, therefore development and the openness of the web must be reigned back’.
But shouldn’t the message be that the music industry, as we know it, is dead, and we need to invent a new music industry… one that is aided and not hindered by technology and the spitit of a free and open web?
3 Comments
daveJune 3, 2010 7:59 pm
Lee, I think you’re right… not a lot of money to go round with sites like that. Not as much with downloads and definitely not enough with streaming. Point is this though…
The reason there is a lot less money in it now is that there is a lot more music to chose from online, but bands like radio head have realised that selling your content for a price is not the only way to make money. imagine this scenario…
A small local band record some material in a decent local studio they have chipped in for. they draft in a local budding rock producer to do put together the tracks. they publish these online through a creative commons license and do a really good job at using social media to promote themselves. then one of their songs gets picked up by a young budding film director who, as it is free to do so, uses the track in an awesome video which goes viral on youtube. millions of people see the video and ask themselves, that’s a cool tune.. what band is it? Then they are able to listen to all of their stuff, for free.
The band now has a massive international following and promoters, touring managers, and merchandise business developers come knocking on the door. they continue to give their music away for free, but make a lot of money from touring, dvd’s t-shirts… and if they make it really big… multimillion sponsorship deals from Pepsi and Apple, who want to have their sound associated with their brands.
How can this happen without a major label and millions thrown at advertising campaigns? The p2p technologies that enabled their work to spread like wildfire through the net, and Social Media.
Free word of mouth is and always will be more effective than expensive advertising. Of course, that means that success is no longer limited to those that have the spending power, so instead of a few Mega Rock Stars, in this world we would have many many mini rock stars sharing the wealth.
And the beauty of this world would be…
No more fat suits having any say in creative matters “because research shows this will be make more money”.
Lee McAndrew @frogfunky June 04 2010 07:46 am
Also there's money to be made from merchandise.
I loved it that Juno featured songs by Kimya Dawson/The Moldy Peaches, I would have never expected music like that to have made it into a popular film.
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Lee McAndrewJune 2, 2010 8:11 am
As a big fan of obscure/underground music I like the idea of such bands making a living without having to prostitute themselves to the record labels.
However I will play devil’s advocate and point out that the record labels will fund the studio sessions (and the sound quality of the recordings generally turns out a lot better than the recordings at the kind of studio the band could afford by themselves).
Also advertising is a biggie. Krist Novoselic once said that the only REAL alternative music is music that is not advertised. Maybe it’s true, maybe it’s not, but advertising helps spread the word. The amount of money the record label invest in this regard an up and coming band could never hope to afford by themselves.
The big question is this – how many artists DO actually make a living from sites like CD Baby? I would hazard a guess and say very few, maybe less than 10 (I’ve got no statistics to back that up, it’s just a hunch).
A lot of bands need that “leg up” in order to hit the big time and make the kind of money we’re talking about (even if most of it is going to the label).
Apart from the creative freedom issues I touched upon earlier, the downside to this “service” the record labels provide is that the artist gets a pitiful amount in return for their hard work and creative genius.
Don’t get me wrong, I want bands to thrive on sites like CD Baby I really do, but I think we also need a revolution in the mindset of the media. It’d be great if mainstream media would give more of a spotlight to such artists. Get them on shows like Jonathan Ross and Jools Holland alongside the signed bands, incorporate them on public and corporate radio, etc. The media should be checking out such bands for the purpose of actively making new stars (and we’ll all love a good rags to riches story), rather than just jumping on the bandwagon after the next big thing has already established itself.